Chapter 53 -53-The Hunt Begins
When they saw that the Abyss Wolf was down to its last sliver of HP, the players no longer needed the Alliance Leader’s command.
As if by unspoken agreement, they all stopped attacking and began to fall back.
Relief showed on their faces.
After all, they had paid an enormous price to bring down this Gold-Grade Boss.
Now that the job was finally done, it was time for the Lord-Class Player Link to land the finishing blow.
"Your turn," the Alliance Leader urged as he looked at the Abyss Wolf, now barely clinging to life.
Link gave a slight nod and prepared to activate his skill to finish off that final bit of HP.
Once that happened, he would be able to claim the Gold-Grade Boss’s first-kill reward,
and narrow the gap between himself and John as much as possible.
However, just as he was about to summon his creature to secure the kill,
the Abyss Wolf suddenly opened its savage jaws and spewed out a massive cloud of black wolfsmoke.
In an instant, the entire valley was swallowed by smoke so thick that one could not see even a hand in front of one’s face.
Link’s expression changed sharply.
He had lost his target.
And without a target to lock onto, summoning his creature would be pointless.
His summon could only attack after an enemy had been locked in.
"Damn it, this Abyss Wolf is trying to run!" the Alliance Leader cursed, his face changing as well.
"We have to chase it. We can’t let an Abyss Wolf with only a sliver of HP left escape!
Otherwise, all our previous effort will have been for nothing."
Link immediately prepared to leap down the cliff and lead his summoned creatures into the smoke in pursuit.
"Wait!" the Alliance Leader called out to stop him. "It’s too dangerous for you to go alone. That Gold-Grade Boss can still kill you in a counterattack while hidden.
The best option is for the two of us to go together. At the very least, that way we can make sure we won’t both get instantly killed."
After thinking for a moment, Link nodded.
"Fine. We’ll go together."
The two of them jumped down from the cliff at the same time, landing inside the smoke and giving chase.
Link released his summoned creatures to scout and clear the way ahead.
The Alliance Leader stayed behind him to provide cover.
One in front and one behind, the two of them advanced into the smoky gray mist.
...
No one knew what kind of substance the wolfsmoke released by the Abyss Wolf actually was.
Even with specialized lighting tools, visibility could not extend farther than five meters.
Link and the Alliance Leader had no choice but to proceed cautiously.
Before long,
after traveling several kilometers through the valley,
the smoke suddenly thinned considerably.
That only made Link and the Alliance Leader even more vigilant, because it was hardly a good sign.
There was a very real chance that the Abyss Wolf was already preparing to counter-kill them from ambush.
They went forward another few hundred meters.
Then suddenly—
Link’s pupils contracted.
He saw a massive figure ahead of him, sprawled on the ground like a fallen hill.
It did not move at all.
The air was thick with the smell of blood.
Link approached cautiously, only to discover that it was the Abyss Wolf that had escaped.
But at this moment, the Abyss Wolf had already lost all signs of life.
Someone had hunted it down!
This was the very Abyss Wolf that Zone 4’s players had worked so hard to grind down to its last sliver of HP.
"Who was it?!" Link roared inwardly.
Then, all at once, he sensed that something was wrong.
Link spun around violently, only to realize that the Alliance Leader, who had been following right behind him the whole time, had vanished!
"Damn it! This is a trap!"
Link’s guard instantly shot to the highest level.
At the same time, all sorts of speculations flooded his mind.
"Was there a traitor inside the guild who secretly killed the Abyss Wolf?"
"Why did the Alliance Leader suddenly disappear? Could this be a trap aimed specifically at me?"
"Has he already secretly defected to John of Zone 5?"
One possibility after another flashed through Link’s mind.
The more he thought about it, the more nervous he became.
Immediately, he prepared to activate Repelling Halo, just in case.
A staff appeared in Link’s hand.
He slammed it hard against the ground.
"Repelling Halo, activate!"
Crackle, crackle, crackle...
Yet to Link’s shock, the Repelling Halo that should have appeared instantly showed no response at all.
No matter how he tried to activate it, his staff only sputtered with a few tiny sparks.
It could no longer form the massive ring of fire that had once protected him.
"Something really is wrong!"
Panic rose in Link’s heart.
At once, he tried to summon Armored Shade as well.
But once again, there was no response.
The surroundings were so silent that he could hear his own breathing.
Every skill he possessed felt as though it had been sealed away.
None of them worked.
"How is this possible? Damn it!"
Link hurled the staff in his hand to the ground and began cursing loudly.
At that very moment, he heard a distinct series of footsteps.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The footsteps came from far away, gradually drawing closer.
Link’s eyes snapped toward the front-left.
Through the smoke, he saw a figure in a brilliantly conspicuous white robe slowly walking toward him.
"Y-you... who are you?" Link shouted, suppressing the fear in his heart as he demanded an answer.
The white-robed figure said nothing.
It simply kept walking closer, step by step.
Only when it drew near did the person’s face finally become visible.
The moment Link saw that familiar face—the one that so often dragged him into nightmares—his pupils shrank violently, and a freezing chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his skull.
"It’s you—ugh!"
Before Link could finish speaking,
a strange crimson line suddenly appeared across his throat.
Thud!
Link’s head rolled from his body and hit the ground, his eyes still open in death.
...
Outside the mountains,
Zone 4’s players had already withdrawn from the wolfsmoke.
They waited patiently outside for Link and the Alliance Leader.
At the same time, anticipation quietly stirred in their hearts.
"Do you think that after this kill, we’ll overtake the current number two on the Power Rankings?"
"That’s guaranteed. Zone 5 only has John going for them. Without John, what are they even worth?"
"At this rate, I bet we’ll take first place soon too. When that happens, the reward for returning to reality will belong to Zone 4!"
"Look, everyone! I think Boss Link and the Alliance Leader are coming back!"
Someone suddenly shouted.
All the players looked toward the depths of the mountains.
Sure enough, two figures emerged one after the other from the mist.
They were Link and the Alliance Leader!
Seeing the two of them return safely, the entire crowd erupted in cheers.
"Looks like that boss was taken down in the end!"
"I knew it—once Boss Link made his move, the kill was guaranteed."
"After grinding for so long, we finally got something out of it. This world announcement is finally going to belong to Zone 4."
"This is but a small step for Zone 4, yet a giant leap for mankind!
The order of the new world will ultimately belong to us."
They had spent far, far too long grinding this Gold-Grade Boss.
Now that it was finally down, the weight in everyone’s hearts had finally lifted.
Amid the cheers of Zone 4’s players,
Link and the Alliance Leader returned to the crowd.
They were immediately surrounded, receiving everyone’s congratulations.
And yet, throughout it all, Link and the Alliance Leader remained expressionless, as though they did not care about the operation at all.
It was almost as if the people being celebrated were not them.