Chapter 3: The Hunt Begins

Hunter Rats are a dog-like, rat-type magic beast.

They are omnivorous, with sharp, powerful teeth and claws, long limbs, and agile bodies; they usually hunt in packs of three to five.

Ordinary hunters hate encountering this type of magic beast the most.

Not only are they difficult to kill, but killing one will often draw in the entire pack.

Fortunately, their numbers have never been particularly high.

The Hunter Rat King, however, is the strongest among them—larger in size, with sharper teeth and claws, and possessing a high degree of intelligence.

Known as the King of the Near-Forest, its appearance usually signifies that the population of Hunter Rat packs has spiraled out of control.

Once the Hunter Rats form large swarms, their daily demand for food increases drastically, and other magic beasts unable to fight them have no choice but to flee the forest in droves.

“No wonder the magic beasts have been fleeing to the edge of the forest lately, forming several monster tides.”

“Exactly, so you can rest easy; every member of that team is an expert among experts,” the muscular big brother said with a proud expression.

“Rest easy? That makes it even worse!”

Will was about to face the King of the Near-Forest head-on!

****

“Aaaaah!!!”

Will screamed and hid behind a tree, shrinking back in terror, afraid the distant Hunter Rat King would discover him.

He had previously clung to the hairy leg of an Armored Earth Lizard, struggling all the way to the farm.

Then, while everyone was busy setting up camp, he had quietly squeezed into the luggage pile of one of the carriages.

He had heard the mercenaries chatting on the road, saying that this carriage belonged to the elite team and that they would enter the Misty Forest directly after a short break.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Hiding in the luggage pile, Will watched as the azure sky was gradually replaced by deep, dense trees.

Rustling sounds came from the bushes, and from time to time, birds and beasts were startled into flight.

Will’s boiling blood finally began to cool, and he at last realized that he was merely a weak human boy.

The Misty Forest was the place the residents of Lige Town feared most.

While it held countless riches, it also served as the graveyard for many townspeople who relied on the forest for their livelihoods.

Will’s parents had also stepped into this hell of no return on a bright, sunny day just like this, carrying both fear and hope.

Now, it was Will’s turn.

Just as Will was secretly regretting his impulsive behavior, the steadily moving carriage finally stopped its wheels.

The coachman jumped down, held the reins, turned around, and asked the interior respectfully, “My Lord, this is where the Hunter Rat King was last seen.”

“Then let us begin.”

A blurred human voice came from within the carriage; Will only thought the voice sounded very pleasant, just as pleasant as Sister Anna’s voice.

In the next second, the members of the team scattered.

The elf took to the trees, the mages clustered around the carriage, the swordsmen took the front, and the knights were split between clearing the path ahead and guarding the rear.

The coachman sat back on the carriage, took out an exquisite small copper box from his robes, removed a cloth bundle from it, and carefully hung it onto the carriage’s lamp.

The entire team began to move slowly toward the depths of the jungle.

Everyone was on high alert, paying close attention to their surroundings.

Will was also affected by the solemn atmosphere, holding his breath and tensing his nerves, terrified that something would suddenly pop out.

Are they here to catch the Hunter Rat King?

Will was thinking this when, in the next moment, he felt the world spin as he was launched into the air!

“Enemy attack!”

The Hunter Rat King they were searching for had actually delivered itself to their doorstep, burrowing out from beneath the carriage and flipping it over.

The coachman dodged with a roll, a white silhouette leapt out from the carriage, and the rest of the people scattered.

Will, who was in free-fall in mid-air, was caught by someone.

After landing, he was pushed aside.

The knight who saved him drew the longsword from his back, pointing the blade at the roaring Hunter Rat King.

“Attack!”

In an instant, various beams of light flashed in the dim woodland.

The mages’ staves poured out spells, the swordsmen brandished their blades and charged at the magic beast, and the elf’s sharp arrows found every opening, trailing cold light as they pierced the Hunter Rat King’s flesh.

The sounds of slaughter intertwined with the roars of the beast, terrifying Will to his very core.

He squeezed his eyes shut in fright, covered his ears with his hands, and huddled into a ball by the roots of a tree, trembling all over.

It’s so scary, so scary, the Misty Forest is so scary!

Dad, Mom, were you also this scared?

Were you hiding helplessly to the side like this, waiting for an unknown fate?

What should I do?

‘I’m sorry, Sister Mary. Where are you? I’m so scared…’

****

Mary was on her way.

Mary followed the emergency reinforcement group into the Misty Forest.

Originally, tracking the elite team by the marks they left behind would have been effortless.

However, the strange thing was that shortly after entering the forest, they encountered several waves of Hunter Rat packs blocking their path.

“They’ve likely alerted the Hunter Rat King already.”

The muscular big brother dispatched a Hunter Rat with one strike of his blade; the dying rat struggled to bite him, but he crushed it under his foot.

Mary raised the wood-cutting knife she had brought from the farm and forcefully slit the throat of a magic beast lunging at her.

“This isn’t right. When Hunter Rats encounter magic beasts smaller than themselves, they never let them go; they always devour them completely.”

Now, however, they were mixed with these other magic beasts, launching endless attacks against humans.

“Boss, more magic beasts are coming!”

“Form ranks!”

Five men stepped forward.

With a flash of light, a massive shield-like curtain of light rose before them.

It appeared to have no physical form, yet it blocked all the charging magic beasts outside the curtain, preventing them from advancing an inch.

“Shift formation!”

At another command, the light curtain began to curve and extend, encircling the magic beasts.

As the space grew smaller and smaller, the magic beasts finally realized their situation was dire and began to frantically ram against the closing curtain.

Some even started tearing at each other in a desperate attempt to escape the crowded space.

“Kill!”

The mercenaries swarmed forward, their sharp weapons passing through the light curtain and landing on the magic beasts one by one, successfully harvesting their lives.

“Wow, what is this? They can go in but not come out?”

Mary was truly seeing something new.

“Hmph hmph, this is alchemical protective gear I bought for a high price.”

The muscular big brother crossed his arms, a proud look on his face.

“Unfortunately, it needs to cool down for four hours after one use. It can only be used six times a day at most.”

In a short while, the attack from the magic beasts finally ended.

Everyone began to clean the battlefield.

The carcasses of the magic beasts were piled in one place, and specialized mercenaries brandished small knives to dismember them, taking useful parts for personal use or to exchange for money later.

Magic beast meat was a hard currency in the market.

The remaining mangled limbs were thrown into a freshly dug pit, sprinkled with combustion-assisting powder, and covered with firewood to be burned clean in a large fire.

This was to prevent other magic beasts from being attracted to scavenge the remains.

While magic beasts varied in size, their path of evolution was uniform and unique: they devoured other magic beasts.

Over time, this made it easy for mutations to occur, just like today’s Hunter Rat King.

“Big brother, can we still find their tracks?” Mary asked, full of worry.

“The footprints were largely ruined by the beast swarm’s attack, but who do you think I am? I’m the Mercenary King, the Guild’s Trump Card! As long as I’m on the case, finding their trail is as easy as pie.”

“Boss, stop bragging; the direction has been found.”

“Tsk, I know. Everyone pack up and let’s go!”

Soon, the team was reorganized and continued following the discovered traces.

Mary sat on the Armored Earth Lizard that the muscular big brother had assigned to her.

The bushes they passed were frequently parted by the lizard’s powerful frame, scraping against Mary’s arms and shins.

She also had to bow her head from time to time to avoid oncoming branches.

There were no roads in the Misty Forest, only beast trails formed by the passage of magic beasts.

However, soon even the beast trails could no longer be found.

Overwhelming vegetation seemed to surround the team, layered and dense.

Mary thought of the magic beasts trapped by the muscular big brother’s alchemical gear.

At this moment, they also seemed to have become trapped beasts.

“What’s going on? Kid, did you find the wrong path?”

The muscular big brother raised his hand to halt the team.

“The people who went ahead were driving such a large carriage. You tell me, there’s no road left here—how is a carriage supposed to pass? Did it fly over? Huh?”

The mercenary leading the way scratched his head. “That’s not right. The traces were definitely heading this way.”

He leaned down to observe the ground. “Look, Boss, the wheel ruts are still here!”

The muscular big brother’s expression turned grim.

“We’ve encountered the Wandering Woods.”

Mary nudged her Armored Earth Lizard forward to the very front of the team.

Besides ferocious magic beasts, there were also mysterious plants in the Misty Forest.

“This kind of plant usually appears at night. Other than wandering around, it won’t actively attack humans.”

Mary carefully observed the tangled and messy plants before her.

“But it’s noon now. Something that shouldn’t be here has appeared at a time it shouldn’t.”

“Someone must have disturbed it.”

Mary extended her hand and pointed. “There, that is the main body. Use fire to scare it away.”

Soon, several lit torches were passed forward.

Mary took one and thrust it toward the bushes.

The bushes that had been packed air-tight immediately parted with a rustle.

Under everyone’s gaze, a clump of vegetation pulled its “legs” out of the soil and quickly moved away from the humans, leaving a gap.

“It works!”

Seeing that the obstructing plants actually moved out of the way, the muscular big brother quickly had others take torches to drive away the other plants blocking the path.

The vegetation clumps, fearing the flames, all fled, and the traces left by the carriage were clearly revealed to everyone.

“The path isn’t wrong. Continue advancing!”

Mary watched the broken branches and leaves hacked by swords slowly vanish behind them, and she finally understood why the Wandering Woods, which normally only moved at night, appeared at this time.

She couldn’t help but think that this team was large and carried many living things.

Even if everyone tried not to make noise, the commotion they created was still significant.

At least half of the magic beasts from before had been attracted by the sound.

So why hadn’t the Hunter Rat King appeared yet?

Did it feel there were too many people and didn’t dare to show itself, or had it already encountered the elite team?

After traveling for some time, sunlight filtered through the gaps in the lush forest canopy, striking the leaves of the lower-tier plants.

The surroundings were deathly quiet; even the cries of birds and beasts that could be heard upon first entering the forest were gone.

“Snap.”

The young man scouting ahead stepped on something.

He looked down and saw a blood-stained arrowhead.