Chapter 77 - Survivor Who Hunts

Being a survivor in the game’s ‘Pet’ feature release hide-and-seek event wasn’t easy. If they didn’t have a well-thought-out plan, their chance of winning against the hunters who were immediately equipped with all their equipment was minuscule.

Still, the event wouldn’t be fun if the survivors had no chance of winning. One of the ways the game master facilitated them was by hiding chests with useful items like buffs, weapons, armor, or even the survivor’s own equipment.

Even special weapons and armor with high stats were hidden in the maze.

Hiro felt extremely lucky for getting the chest with his own equipment inside. He had to put in quite the effort for it, but the result didn’t disappoint.

Ding!

[You have obtained Blood-Eater Vampire]

Light suddenly shone on Hiro’s back before it solidified into a greatsword with a faint purplish glow.

He quickly pulled it out and swung it a few times. Even though it had only been several minutes since Hiro and his greatsword were separated, it felt like forever.

His lips formed a victorious smile as his eyes reflected the blade’s light.

“Let’s end this game!” Hiro whispered to the Blood-Eater Vampire. Now that the legendary weapon was in his hands, his confidence skyrocketed to 100%.

“Whoa! That’s really something you found!” The man Hiro saved walked closer to admire the greatsword with him. Even though the glow had disappeared, it still retained its majestic appearance.

“Let’s gather with the others. I need everyone to be together if I want to save them.” Hiro continued with the second strategy.

“Huh? You want to gather everyone in one place?”

“Yeah, it’ll be easier for me to protect them that way.”

The man knitted his brows. “Are you serious? This isn’t the time to be playing hero. If we gather in one place, it’ll be easier for the hunter to catch us.”

While it was true that Hiro successfully rescued him, protecting everyone was an entirely different thing.

Hiro ignored the man.

It might be safe for them to be spread out now, but if the hunters find out about the method they could use to win fast, everything would’ve been too late.

“Follow me.”

Hiro ran without a word. Now that he had his weapon on his back, he no longer needed to run from the hunters.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

The notifications of survivors lighting up the fire torches continued to pop up in his HUD system, but so did those of eliminated survivors.

Hiro freed all the survivors he found for his other objective of beating the first-place holder in the survivor team, Noah.

After an hour, the top position was still occupied by the survivor team. They had already lit up 55% of the torches hidden in the maze, while the hunters had only eliminated 10% of the total survivors.

Judging from the statistics, Hiro was sure that the hunters were still playing by the game master’s rules.

At least this meant that he still had about two hours to gather all the remaining survivors.

…

As time passed by, Hiro managed to rescue over 20 survivors within one hour. For all the survivors he saved, he asked them to continue following him at a safe distance and destroy all the Eliminator Rockets they saw.

Of course, they also lit up unlit fire torches on the way.

The more fire torches lit, the brighter the giant maze became. The tense atmosphere lessened as there were fewer ambush spots for the hunters, but the light wasn’t only advantageous for survivors.

“Gotcha!”

Five hunters suddenly appeared, blocking Hiro and the others who were running toward a three-way junction in the maze. Because of these hunters’ appearance, they had no other way to go.

The five hunters smirked with confidence when they saw Hiro and the other survivors behind him. Hiro also had a confident look on his face, but the female survivors behind him shrieked in panic.

Some of the survivors even ran away because they didn’t trust Hiro’s abilities.

[Firebolt]

A fireball suddenly shot out from one of the hunters’ staff. However, unlike Noah’s fireball, this lady’s fireball was easy to avoid due to its small size.

Whoosh!

Hiro spun his body in the air while pulling out his greatsword. He would no longer just jump past them this time.

SPLAT!

“Arghh!”

Two of the hunters were flung backward, while the three who weren’t hit by Hiro’s slash had swung their weapons at him altogether.

A pickaxe, a sword, and a large hammer.

Clank!

Swish!

BANG!

Hiro managed to parry the sword and the large hammer with his long greatsword. Meanwhile, the pickaxe wielder received a hard kick on his stomach before his weapon hit Hiro’s foot as he jumped.

[Sword Combo Skill is ready]

SPLAT!

SPLAT! [2x Critical Hit Combo]

SPLAT! [3x Hit Combo]

SPLAT! [4x Critical Hit Combo]

Hiro didn’t stop slashing until his opponents’ backs touched the tendril-covered labyrinth wall behind him.

“Have you ever seen a survivor who hunts hunters?”

Hiro’s lips curved. His sharp eyes looked straight at the hammer wielder who was shaking in fear.

SPLAT! [6x Critical Hit Combo]

[Fatal Damage]

[1 hunter can no longer hunt]

[1 hunter has been eliminated from the game]

The four other hunters were filled with disbelief when they saw their fellow hunter’s body turn into light shards and disappear.

“A survivor hunting? That’s against the rules!”

“You’re cheating!”

They protested against Hiro’s actions with shaky voices. However, when Hiro walked closer to them with his greatsword on his shoulder, they immediately shut their mouths.

After being flung until their bones felt broken and their HP was almost at zero, the four hunters could only crawl on the ground.

“Am I?” Hiro asked with a smile. “Maybe, you can say that again.”

The hunters’ eyes lit up when they heard that, but it was quickly replaced with fear once again.

“Let me try again then. If the system eliminates me, then you guys are right.”

Hiro couldn’t contain his chuckle as he looked at the powerless look of the hunters in front of him.

“Don’t worry, I’ll send you off fast so it won’t hurt.”

“N-No, wait!”

SPLAT!

[Fatal Damage]

[4 hunters can no longer hunt]

[4 hunters have been eliminated from the game]