Chapter 404 The Island Hunt (2)

Styx's team consisted of Neo, who was responsible for scouting; Addie, a female Mercenary Hall member with short wavy blonde hair and light brown eyes, specializing in wind magic; and two Chamber of Commerce members. They were twins who both had dark brown hair and green eyes. Mitchel possessed support magic Bind; the other was a combat mage specializing in crossbow, Archel.

All of them wore black coats on top of their usual uniforms for this event.

The coat was embued with magic and physical enhancements and protections prepared by Chairman Noir.

Of course, Neo was the only one who knew that the one who actually made the enhancements was Kyran. But they did not need to know that.

As soon as the Courtenay representative, who also served as the event's announcer, declared the start of the hunt, the Royal Army made a beeline toward the island's northern area.

Styx and the rest, perplexed by their sudden action, followed suit.

They pretended to follow because they were supposed to look for the baby Echidna. After all, Disciple Tyr had 'asked' them to.

Soon after they entered, they encountered a group of medium-sized beasts called Cretan bulls. These bulls had large frames, almost the size of the 'smaller' large-sized beast. Their furs were white and had dark red horns on their forehead.

These bulls were not hard to deal with. However, they still had to be careful because their attack could become troublesome. Because their horns could shoot out laser-like fire magic randomly, and if they were not careful enough, they would get hit by it, which could easily drill a hole in thick metals.

The moment they made contact with them, Mitchel used his magic to bind the bulls in place. Then Archel made use of this chance to aim at their horns. In this way, they could no longer launch an attack.

After that, Addie summoned blade-like wind attacks and aimed at their neck, cutting their heads and making quick work on them.

The leaders from the other factions watching them through the live feeds were amazed at how fast and efficient they had disposed of the bulls. Not to mention, two of their members, Styx and Neo, had not even made any move.

Still, most of their attention was focused on the five members of the Royal Army, who completely ignored the beasts they encountered and continued moving toward the northern part of the island.

They immediately understood that the Royal Army aimed to clear the event by subduing a legendary beast.

Styx frowned slightly as he glanced in the direction where the Royal Army went.

They had just finished storing the Cretan bulls in a space storage the Courtenay Family supplied them with to collect their hunt. After the event, they would then score them according to the number of beasts they had accumulated inside the space storage.

"Leader, it seems they are really going after the baby Echidna," Addie remarked, looking in the same direction. "If they used the coordinates Disciple Tyr told us..."

"Something doesn't seem right," Styx's response differed from what they expected.

"What is it?" Archel asked while securing the crossbow at his back.

"They got the coordinates from us, and they probably confirmed its authenticity from their end, but the way they just charged into the heart of the island seemed to me as if they knew exactly where they had to go."

Mitchel crossed his arms with a thoughtful expression, "Now that you point that out... They did move very decisively."

Styx turned toward Neo, who had been silent all this time, "What is the first thing you would have done once coming into unfamiliar terrain?"

"Confirm my position."

"Exactly."

"Oh!" Addie, Mitchel and Archel exclaimed in realization.

"All the more so, since we have just travelled by sea before landing. The Courtenay Family might have told us the dock's located at the south but since our sense of direction is pretty whacked up after travelling through the sea, we have to get a proper hold of our sense of direction."

? "And those guys did not do that," Archel supplemented.

"So you mean to say—."

"Stop," Styx interrupted Addie before finishing what she was about to say.

They all looked at Styx, whose eyes furtively looked to the right.

Immediately, they noticed a glittering orb floating nearby and understood why Styx had told them to stop.

There was no telling if the people from the Royal Army were trying to read their lips and spying on their conversation.

While the Magic Interference Array was currently active within the island and outside communication was prohibited, there was another form of communication that the array would not be able to stop.

And that was through telepathy.

Right now, there was no one on their side watching the Beast Hunt who could telepathically send messages to them. But that was not the case with the Royal Army.

Because of this, as much as possible, Styx wanted their conversation not to leak outside. They did not wish the Royal Army to find out that they already knew something was amiss.

"What are we going to do then? If they are going after the baby Echidna, then we will have to fight them," Addie said instead.

"Neo," Mitchel looked at Neo and asked, "Do we have any information on where the other two legendary beasts are?"

"Nope," Neo answered with a shake of his head. He turned to Styx and said, "Leader, I think we should go for plan D."

In an instant, Addie, Archel and Mitchel frowned at him.

Styx told them four plans while waiting for the Courtenay representative who would take them to the island that morning. Before disembarking the ship, he said there were a few changes, but they had not discussed them yet.

In any case, for Neo to suggest going for plan C when they had not tried plan B yet did not sit well with them.

For the record, plan A; was to target a legendary beast that Chairman Noir's side found before the start of the hunt— in this case, the baby Echidna. If that was not possible, they switch to plan B, where they search for a different legendary beast.

It would take a while to accomplish. But since they had the baby Echidna's coordinates, they could use that as a reference to pinpoint the location of the other two (legendary beasts were territorial, so there was no way the other two beasts would be near the baby Echidna).

Plan C was to go after the Royal Army, disrupt their hunt, and try to 'steal' their prey.

And finally, plan D was to discard the thought of looking for a legendary beast and instead aim to kill as many medium to large-sized beasts as they could before the time was up.

Seeing the displeasure on his teammates' faces, Neo immediately raised his hands as if in surrender.

"Please, don't look at me like that. I have a reason why I said this."

Styx, who did not react to his suggestion, finally spoke and asked, "Depending on your reason, I may consider it."

"Alright. Please wait a moment," Neo said and went under a huge tree that was obscuring the view of the nearby crystal orb.

"Please stay where you are," Neo said when Addie moved to join him. "We don't want the 'others' to think we are discussing something very important."

Addie raised an eyebrow at him, "I think us staying here like this is already suspicious."

"Ah! You are quite right, Ms. Addie."

The three could not help but exchange glances. They found Neo quite eccentric as if he was sometimes missing common sense.

Styx, however, did not find Neo's behavior strange and gestured for him to continue.

"Actually, I realize a flaw in the rules...."

And for the next few minutes, Neo told them about Kyran's suggestion, albeit he made it sound like it was his own idea.

Once he was done explaining, Styx and the rest wore thoughtful expressions.

What Neo had said made sense, but at the same time, it was easier said than done.

Hunting all medium to large-sized beasts would also take time.

But Neo was also right to point out that if they went for plan B, they would still encounter some beasts along the way.

Apart from this, their mage level was not high enough to evade the detection of most beasts on the island. They were not like those Royal Army who could easily ignore the beasts, not to mention they appeared very familiar with the island's structure.

Plan C was also a no-go for the same reason as those mentioned earlier.

The Royal Army members' mage levels were higher than theirs. They would not be a real threat or even succeed in stealing their prey.

"To accomplish this before those guys subdue the baby Echidna, we will have to split up," Archel was the first to voice his opinion.

"Not necessarily," Neo told them with a smile.

"What do you have in mind?" Mitchel asked.

Neo smiled, "It's simple. We just lure them in one location and make quick work on them."

Addie, Archel and Mitchel looked at him with wide eyes.

And as for Styx, he sneered and looked at Neo in amusement, "You got some fucked up ideas. But I like it."

"Huh? Are you serious?"

"Its one thing to hunt them around, but luring all of them in one place? That is impossible!"

"There's no way we can accomplish that without exhausting ourselves first."

Addie, Archel and Mitchel said one after another.

"What are you all talking about? We have Leader Styx. With his magic it will be a piece of cake. Besides, luring them all in one place will be my responsibility so you guys will not be exhausted," Neo insisted.

Styx nodded his head. He could somehow follow what Neo had in mind and told the other three, "Let's not waste time. We'll find a good location to set up an ambush."

Then he turned to Neo again and said, "I'll leave the rest to you."

Neo did a clumsy salute, "Leave it to me."