Online Game: My Hidden Class Is Dragon Sovereign!

--Chapter 34--

Title>> PvP: Vagabond’s Hunt [II]

With the devious smile still broad and relentless on his visage, Vagabond made his way through the land, shuffling between leafy trees and snapping the occasional fallen branch beneath his boots.

He had a clear destination in mind. Another firing lane overlooked a narrow animal trail where thick roots forced anyone crossing it to slow down. Beside it rested a moss-covered boulder leaning against an old ash tree, offering just enough cover for another shot.

Vagabond had picked the spot while setting up the ambush for his present prey.

Making sure to be more cautious this time, Vagabond watched curiously as the fraud retreated like he hadn’t just taken a rifle round to the chest moments ago.

The retreat was so well coordinated that it confirmed one thing.

This wanker, whoever he was, might not be a total fraud after all.

Usually when he hunted like this, the players he chose, whether newbie or veteran, panicked in remarkably predictable ways.

Some crawled in surrender because there was simply no escaping the Hunt. Others sprinted blindly, convinced distance alone would save them.

The smartest ones didn’t bother with either. They logged out the moment they realized who was hunting them.

All that was in the past now. Back when he went by a different moniker and lived a different life.

Before all this became real.

Yet even after everything had changed...

He still enjoyed the Hunt.

Even more so when his prey was walking around with a name too heavy to fake.

’Time to make him answer for his transgressions,’ he thought.

Absentmindedly, he adjusted the battered rifle, tugging at the loose fittings of the Uncommon-tier equipment.

’if only this excuse for a rifle had been worth a damn, I’d have taken the fraud’s head clean off.’

The thought lingered longer than he cared to admit. It still didn’t make sense.

The shot hadn’t simply missed. Or am I getting rusty?

Imagine wasting a custom bullet on a fraud...and still failing to take his head.

***

Arriving at his next nest, Vagabond steadied himself against the moss-covered boulder as the excuse for a scope rose to his eye.

The narrow animal trail lay directly beneath his new position, framed by towering trunks and tangled roots that broke up movement without completely hiding it. It was exactly the kind of terrain he liked.

With his sights fixed on the target’s last known position, Vagabond opened the Hunt Chat and sent the first message of the exchange.

[Vagabond X: Take Hunter X off your player name, mate. Or I’ll take your head with it.]

He quietly worked the bolt and settled behind the rifle once more.

***

While Vagabond relocated, Xavier had done exactly the same.

The moment his Mana Bullet disappeared into the vegetation, he rolled sharply onto his right side before forcing himself upright without hesitation.

He sprinted through the woodland, weaving between trees and thick, exposed roots that threatened to catch his footing with every stride.

The undergrowth grew denser the farther he ran, forcing him to zigzag through narrow gaps rather than move in a straight line.

Dread Cloak activated, its camouflage helping him melt into the shifting woodland as he moved.

He knew from experience playing this role or watching others do it, that Vagabond hadn’t only prepared a single firing position.

So the next shot could come from anywhere.

Dropping behind a cluster of massive intertwined roots, Xavier pressed his back against the old trunk they belonged to.

The roots wrapped around the tree like a natural barricade, shielding him from three directions while leaving only a handful of narrow angles exposed.

It wasn’t perfect cover, but for the first time since the Hunt began, it gave him enough breathing room to think.

His chest rose and fell heavily. Blood had already soaked through both his Flayer’s Vest and Dread Cloak.

He barely spared the wound a glance before the System forced reality back into focus.

[HP: 90/210]

Seeing the number brought an uncomfortable clarity to the situation.

Another hit from Vagabond’s rifle was practically GG.

Instinctively, and rather uncharacteristically for someone who usually planned several moves ahead, Xavier reached into his inventory and tossed a Minor Healing Pill into his mouth.

[+50 HP]

[HP: 140/210]

The number climbed, but not nearly enough to make him feel safe. Xavier resisted the urge to swallow another pill immediately.

The problem wasn’t his Health anymore.

It was the bullet.

His eyes drifted to another notification, finally noticing what he’d overlooked in the chaos.

[Debuff: Bleeding]

[Effects: -5 HP, -2 Agility per minute while the bullet remains inside the player.]

He’d been in too much of a hurry earlier to notice.

When it came down to it, even he was human. Panic was simply part of the design.

Two things became immediately obvious. The System still considered the wound an active injury, meaning a Minor Healing Pill could only delay the consequences instead of removing them.

Worse still, as long as the bullet remained lodged inside his body, the penalties would continue to stack.

For now it was Health loss and reduced Agility. Left untreated, there was every possibility the debuffs would escalate further and begin affecting other attributes as well.

Simply jamming his fingers into the wound and ripping the bullet out wasn’t an option.

He might have been a dropout. But he wasn’t an idiot.

Ripping a strip from his Dread Cloak, Xavier pressed the cloth firmly against the wound to slow the bleeding. He couldn’t afford to lose any more blood.

Then he activated the Alchemy skill, and the world of Arillion shifted before his eyes.

The woodland remained the same, yet every plant surrounding him seemed to gain a second identity.

What had looked like ordinary vegetation moments ago now came with purpose, its properties unfolding before him as though the forest had become a textbook.

His gaze settled on a broad-leafed shrub with faint purple veins running through each leaf.

[Purple Ruby Fern]

[Effects: Itching]

His eyes shifted again, settling on a green flower crowned with tiny orange pollens.

[Dusk Daisy]

[Effects: Antiseptic]

The descriptions were basic, almost insulting in their simplicity. Yet with every plant his eyes settled on, knowledge surfaced instinctively. He understood which parts to harvest, how to prepare them, and what each ingredient could contribute on its own.

His eyes continued moving across the surrounding vegetation.

Some plants cooled the skin. Others encouraged clotting with pain dulling properties.

Some were simply poisonous. Others were nothing more than weeds with no practical value whatsoever.

Armed with this knowledge, Xavier carefully gathered a slim-leaf plant capable of numbing flesh, a patch of clotting moss and a bitter root known for suppressing inflammation.

Individually, each ingredient was crude. But together. They would buy him a few precious minutes..

***

Xavier crushed the final leaf between his fingers before folding the crude mixture into a broad strip of bark.

It wasn’t clean. It wasn’t even proper alchemy. But without a mortar, pestle or even a simple vial, this was the best he could manage.

Just as he reached for the wound, a crimson notification slid across his vision.

[You have received a Hunt Chat message.]

His brow furrowed.

The interface unfolded almost immediately.

[Vagabond X: Take Hunter X off your player name, mate. Or I’ll take your head with it.]

Xavier stared at the message for what seemed like forever, his expression twisting into genuine bewilderment.

"...What?"

Hunter X was his player name, the same on he’d used for years. It was exactly what the entire gaming community knew him by.

What exactly was this lunatic talking about?

His first instinct was to reply.

Are you out of your mind?

But his finger had barely drifted towards the Hunt Chat when another notification abruptly forced itself over the interface.

[Warning.]

[Sending Hunt Chat will disclose your approximate location to the opposing participant.]

Xavier’s hand stopped. "..Approximate location..."

He read the line again. Then his eyes narrowed. If replying exposed his position...

...then Vagabond had already exposed his own approximate location.

"Damn... I’d almost forgotten Hunts worked like this."

The realization settled in his mind as quickly as it rose.

It wasn’t anything close to a precise location. No glowing waypoint. No convenient marker hovering over Vagabond’s head.

Just a general direction. A section of the battlefield. It was far from enough to locate the Hunter.

But it was enough to know where the greatest danger would most likely come from.

Acting on that realization, Xavier quietly shifted his weight, angling himself behind the thickest section of the intertwined roots.

He had barely settled into position.

Crack!

The deafening report shattered the woodland.

A heartbeat later, splinters erupted from the trunk exactly where his head had been.

–End of Chapter–