My Last Hunt

Level Four (9)

The team who wanted to create trouble:

Now they were in the muddy part of the region opposite to the dead hill. The monsters in this region were not immune to the cold and would dig deep into the ground to find a place to hibernate. They had to spend the two months of harsh winter through this method. Even though the snowflakes kept falling throughout the whole year, it was only in the winters when the coldness reached an unbearable point. 

These monsters were in the middle phase of learning how to use their bodies against the weather and attacks of hunters. 

"There is one with a thick layer of skin, probably level four." Qiao alerted them. 

The team stopped and the team leader looked at him suspiciously. "What do you mean by 'probably'?" 

If he was not clear about the level, how could they hunt it out of the blue. "Probably because I have never seen this layered monster." Qiao shook his head. 

"Haha, little kid if you are worried and have never seen this monster then you should not take the risk." A heavy and strong voice surprised them at that moment. The team leader, Qiao and the men turned to see who it was. 

Qiao was the most baffled with shock when he looked at the person. Such humans exist here? He had only seen some Sumo slammers in the international sports not in real. He thought that reaching level four, he had built his muscles, his thighs became thick compared to his previous self. He no more looked like a weak young man, but in front of these bulky humans he was rightly labelled as kid. 

They were not wearing fleeces to cover against cold, instead just a clothe around their waist, their layers of fat were jiggling when they laughed to make fun of this team. The team leader gulped and it took him some courage to speak back, "What do you mean by that?" 

"I don't think I need to be more precise than that? Do I?" The fat hunter brought his big face in front of the team leader and blinked. In his eyes, they should have understood by now that they were not suitable to fight against them to get this monster.

Qiao understood that this man was asking them to leave in a plain way and allow to let them handle this monster. The team leader lowered his head and gestured his team members to walk away. What could he do against those five monster like humans?" Qiao followed his team speechlessly. They were consecutively being bullied again and again in various ways. 

Those giant humans only set their eyes on certain types of monsters in order to hunt and consume the meat, so they won't let this team hunt it down and cut open every part of skin to search the spoils, thereby ruining the meat. 

"Are we going to search for another monster?" the team member who could not digest the present situation spoke in a sarcastic manner. No one gave an answer. Half of the day had passed in their search and still they were empty handed. Qiao started getting worried, as if this went on his precious time would go to waste. He had resolved to reach Hightown before the end of the Winter and here he was being mocked by Sumo hunters. 

"Don't get dejected we will find another monster soon." The team leader patted his shoulder and walked forward to actively search for it. This time he would not back off if someone tried to bother him. He was furious now. His ego was triggered and Qiao now felt troubled by this. Not because they would be offending others because of the leader's recklessness, but it might bring trouble for the team. 

He took a deep breath and followed the team. The eastern region had a warm water lake where the level four monsters usually wandered to spend the winter. Only stronger teams dared to venture to that part. Since Qiao and their team were newbies in this place, they were unaware to the direction where they were heading off to. 

To find the way back, they could follow a rough pointer given by the organization. 

'Where the light diminished last was the place of encampment.' 

Yet, right now they were not heading back, but instead were looking for monster like a desperate team. 

As they moved forward, they soon saw the number of monsters gathered and stopped. If they advanced any further, they would be ripped apart by the number of monsters. 

"Retreat." the hoarse voice of the team leader reached their ears.

They lowered to the ground and retreated in a steady pace while crawling on the ground like insects. When they could see the encampment from some distance, someone shouted at their back. "It was a wonderful mission today." 

Team leader turned to see who was flexing openly at their back. Pretty sure it was the team which was residing in the same part with them and had happened to take advantage of them by stealing their mission. The team brushed past them mocking as they seemed not care about anything. 

Qiao did not bother instead team leader glanced, 

"I will settle this soon." The other team immediately stopped and one of them asked, 

"How soon? Do you dare?" The team leader raised up his hand to slap the man but Qiao stopped. They were standing in front of the encampment and many teams were passing by them. It was the end of day and they cannot bring trouble to themselves by bothering this team of shameless hunters. 

The team leader barely held his anger and walked inside the encampment. Qiao glanced back at the all members of opponent team to see what specific traits of hunters they hold. For example, better weapons, expensive clothing or much experience of hunting. None of the trait matched. They were common hunters from another Guild with only their scheming nature as to how take advantage or bring trouble for others. 

They had intentionally spoken to anger the team leader so that others around would notice who was at fault and thus put the blame on them.