Chapter 15 - 15: The Hunt

Chapter 15: Chapter 15: The Hunt

After the announcement everyone was slightly stunned, including the teachers. After all, this wasn't a practice test or a duel against an instructor but a real hunt, with real monsters that were coming at you with the intent to kill.

Lake looked around him and saw that most people were still stunned as they tried to process the information they just received. Since no one was moving, Lake quietly walked towards the group of instructors near the woods. Seeing Lake walking towards the instructors made Kate and the rest snap out of their daze before they quickly followed behind him.

When other students saw that Lake and the rest were walking towards the instructors, they also snapped out of their daze as they all began to rush towards the instructors in order to receive their equipment.

Since Lake was the first to walk out, he managed to get the watch and protective gear. The protective gear came in the form of a black chest piece that seemed to be made from a flexible material.

After equipping the chest piece, Lake then looked to the side where a row of weapons were lined up for him to pick from. There was a wide variety of weapons to choose from but most of them required prior training and a certain level of proficiency in order to use properly, something Lake didn't have. After some thought, Lake pulled up the system status screen and took a glance at his current stats.

[Stats]

Strength = 1.36

Agility = 1.35

Stamina = 1.11

His strength and agility were fairly even which would allow his strikes to be fast, strong and accurate. However his stamina was low compared to the other stats, so he definitely didn't want to be in any prolonged battle that required him to be on the frontline.

One shot, one kill. That's the kind of weapon Lake would need with his current stats. After thinking a bit further, Lake stretched his hand out before picking up a sharp dagger. Ideally, he would have wanted to use a bow or some form of long ranged weapon with his current stats, but he simply didn't have the proficiency with any, so he settled for a close combat dagger.

Lake took a quick glance at what the other students were choosing. Looking around he saw that most people choose either a sword or spear. A few students also picked up bows and arrows, one of which was Kate. Lake wasn't surprised to see her pick them up as he had seen her training with the bow when he had peered into her past back at the Association. Looking on, he also saw the Lightning Emperor, the name he gave to the boy whose fate he couldn't read, pick up a metallic rod, something that left him slightly stunned.

Lake continued to look through the crowd of students and their weapons as time passed. Soon 20 minutes passed.

The instructors in front of the woods began to move out with some of them dashing into the forest before vanishing from the views of the students. Soon after an announcement sounded from everyone's wristwatch signaling the start of the test.

Upon getting the notification, the students began to enter the forest. Some matched in groups while the others walked by themselves. Lake moved alone as he entered the woods. Seeing that most students were walking towards the northern parts of the woods by using their maps to navigate, Lake knew they were heading towards the nearest boss tier monster.

The island was fairly large and due to the time limit, the association separated the area where the exam would take place into three major zones. The first zone was the woods that Lake and the rest were walking through. The woods were fairly large and covered almost the entire eastern side of the island. The woods held one of the four boss type monsters called The Blood Raptor.

The second zone would be the grassland where a flat plane of grass could be found closer towards the center of the island. The grassland was home to two of the four boss monsters who were said to work in a pair. The monsters here were The Goblin King and The Great Boar.

The third zone was a mountainous area with large mountains and numerous hills that made it difficult to navigate. The last of the four boss monsters resided in this mountainous zone, a flying creature called a Starlock.

Lake had already taken a look at the map before entering the woods and already had a destination in mind. Since most people would be spending their time in the first zone, Lake decided to head straight to the second zone, this way he wouldn't have to waste time fighting over points with others.

As everyone walked towards the north, Lake kept away from others as he moved towards the center of the island. Since the first zone was fairly large, it was going to take Lake at least half an hour to make it to the grassland even if he ran with the speed of his that had surpassed man's natural ability. However, to keep himself concealed from monsters that could be lurking, Lake moved at slow but steady pace while keeping an eye on his surroundings. Of course, slow for Lake would be the same as running for normal people, so he estimated it would take him a little less than an hour to cross the woods and reach the plains.

The further he moved towards the center, the less students he spotted in the surrounding area. Eventually after moving for over 10 minutes, he could no longer see any students nearby. Instead all he got in return was the occasional sound of growling and the leaves rustling in the wind.

After walking for another 5 minutes, Lake finally came in contact with his first monster. As he hid behind the cover of some bushes, Lake watched as a strange hound-like beast was devouring the fresh corpse of a deer. The beast had beady red eyes and two curled horns atop its head. Its fur was black and it had a skinny body where its bones could be seen protruding from underneath its skin. Spikes were poking out from the creature's back as it followed the spine down towards its long tail.

As Lake tried to stay silent and still as much as possible, he carefully took up his wristwatch before analyzing the creature's data to help him identify it.

Fairly quickly, a screen with a row of data appeared in front of Lake as he quickly examined the information.

[Species - Black Reaver (High Tier Monster). A small and relatively weak creature. It's greatest strength is its sharp teeth and quick speed. Its weakness is its weak physique that comes from malnutrition. Be wary of the creature's strong sense of smell. If you think you've snuck up on it, know you have already been discovered. ]

As Lake read the description of the creature, a system notification suddenly appeared, but before he got the chance to read it, he suddenly felt a chill up his spine. Looking up he saw that the creature had already moved from the corpse of the deer. Suddenly Lake heard a rustling sound coming from his side.

Without hesitation, he leaped out into the open as fast as possible just barely escaping the jaws of the Black Reaver that had snuck up behind him. Lake's heart was beating rapidly as he looked at the sharp teeth of the hound that was still covered in the blood of the deer.

He had almost been knocked out of the test without even a single point. Steadying himself quickly, Lake raised his dagger just in time to deflect the hound that had suddenly lunged at him.

However the hound quickly attacked again right after giving Lake little time to catch his breath. Looking at the leaping hound, Lake dodged to the side as the hound flew past him. This time however, Lake didn't give the creature the chance to land. He quickly grabbed the hound's tail as it flew past him before slamming it into a nearby tree.

The Reaver yelped in pain but Lake didn't let it affect him as he quickly rushed up and jammed his dagger into the creature's side.

The hound began to thrash about and howl in pain as it desperately struggled to get free. However, Lake's strength was far greater than the creature's, allowing him to fully overpower it and hold it against the ground.

As the creature struggled against him, Lake felt its blood spray onto his face. As the creature struggled, Lake noticed something that caught his eye, floating right above the creature's head.

A black and white thread of Fate hovered above the creature's head. Seeing the thread left Lake slightly stunned but he didn't get distracted as he proceeded to finish the hound off. After struggling for a bit longer, the hound finally started to quiet down as Lake watched the black strand of Fate before him begin to waver.

When the hound finally stopped moving the strand of Fate detached itself from the hound's head before slowly flowing away. As Lake watched the strand fly away, he instinctively reached out his hand to grab it.

When he finally did grab it, the strand of Fate disappeared before a set of system notifications appeared in front of him, nearly overwhelming him. After adjusting to the system notifications, Lake started reading from the first notification that had appeared before the battle.

[The system has detected that the host has come in contact with an otherworldly creature. Generating quest...]

[Quest Successfully generated!]

[Quest Name: The Hunt.]

[Quest Description: The system has detected a large group of otherworldly creatures near the host. Please clean them up.]

[Quest Objective: Kill as many otherworldly creatures as possible within the time limit. Current Time remaining = 4 hours and 41 minutes.] n0veLusb.c0m

[Quest reward: The more creatures the host kills, the better the reward.]

[Current number of creatures killed = 1.]

[Detected that the host has come into contact with a free strand of Fate. System automatically begins the absorption process.]

[Strand of Fate absorbed. The host has received 1 RP]