Online Game: My Hidden Class Is Dragon Sovereign!

--Chapter 35--

Title>> PvP: Vagabond’s Hunt[III] - Head Hunter

Xavier let out a small sigh of relief. If he hadn’t moved the moment he did...

If he hadn’t immediately grown cautious the instant Vagabond’s message revealed an approximate location...

Then it would have been his brains splattered across the forest floor instead of the shower of wood splinters erupting from the trunk behind him.

That confirmed two things.

His position was already compromised, which was only expected against a Ranger. More importantly, Vagabond’s message hadn’t just been trash talk. It had been bait.

Reading it had created the opening for the shot.

At this point, even opening the Hunt Chat had given Vagabond another opportunity to line up his sights.

"Smart guy..." Xavier muttered inwardly.

But Xavier knew better than to duck a fade.

If the Hunt Chat could distract him...then it could definitely distract the sniper too.

There was no point staying silent. Vagabond already knew where he was, and was well aware he was slowly bleeding out.

This was a waiting game for the sniper. Why not keep him entertained?

The Hunt Chat unfolded before him.

[Hunter X: Why exactly are you trying to send me back to the starting zone?]

Xavier sent the message, doing his best to downplay the severity of his own situation.

Vagabond might have scouted the Hunt Zone and prepared every worthwhile firing position beforehand.

But Xavier doubted the man knew he was an Irregular.

So, while trying to understand why any of this was happening, he also intended to tease the Hunter a little.

In an ordinary game, someone coming after Hunter X would’ve made perfect sense.

But inside a death game...Not so much.

Still, there was no point dwelling on that now.

His priority hadn’t changed.

The bullet had to come out.

***

Bringing the crude alchemical mixture closer, Xavier carefully coated his fingers with it.

This was probably the only window he was going to get before Vagabond lined up another shot.

Taking a slow, steady breath, he reached into the wound.

He didn’t have to search for long. It was his own body.

A few painful seconds later, his fingers closed around the deformed bullet lodged dangerously close to his heart.

The pain should have been enough to leave him shaking.

Instead, it came through as little more than a dull, burning ache. Between the numbing effects of the crude mixture and the pain suppression granted by his dormant demonic bloodline, the agony never fully reached him.

He immediately packed the wound with the remaining mixture, pressing it firmly against the injury to slow the bleeding.

The crimson Hunt Chat interface slid across his vision before he could finish.

[Vagabond X: You do not deserve that name, mate. You’re a fraud.]

Seeing the message, Xavier’s jaw clenched.

He reached into his inventory, pulled out another Minor Healing Pill and crushed it between his teeth.

[+50 HP]

[HP: 180/210]

Warmth spread through his body almost instantly.

The bleeding debuff had disappeared the moment the bullet came out, and with the healing pill working alongside the crude treatment, the wound finally began sealing at a noticeable pace.

Only then did Xavier lower his gaze to the bloodstained projectile resting in his palm.

He rubbed the blood away with his thumb.

Then his expression froze.

Engraved neatly into the casing...

...was an X.

"Seriously..." Xavier muttered under his breath.

For a few seconds, he simply stared at it, even as Vagabond’s message lingered at the edge of his vision.

To think this lunatic had gone through the trouble of making custom bullets engraved with his signature...

...only to turn around and call him a fraud.

"Fucking diabolical."

Xavier cursed inwardly, opening the Hunt Chat where another message was already waiting.

[Vagabond X: You’ve mistaken my intention, mate. This is by no means a Hunt.]

Almost as though he could tell Xavier had finished reading it...

Or maybe he could.

Another message followed after a brief pause.

[Vagabond X: This right here is an Execution.]

[Vagabond X: Duck.]

"Duck?"

Xavier’s eyes widened at the sudden instruction.

For the smallest fraction of a second, instinct urged him to obey.

But the threat itself snapped his thoughts back into place.

Instead of ducking, Xavier twisted his body sharply to the left, rolling behind another section of intertwined roots.

Bang!

A heartbeat later, the bullet ripped through the space where he would have been, tearing into the exposed roots through the tiny spaces in between.

Without waiting to confirm the result, Xavier immediately retaliated.

Rolling out from the opposite side of the root cluster, a blue wisp of mana escaped from his fingertip as he released two Mana Bullets in quick succession.

The projectiles streaked toward the brief muzzle flash that had betrayed Vagabond’s position.

Xavier wasn’t a Ranger. And his aim wasn’t perfect either.

But the repeated Hunt Chat messages had narrowed the Hunter’s approximate position enough for a counterattack.

The first Mana Bullet tore through the bark of an old ash tree beside Vagabond’s nest.

The second slammed into the moss-covered boulder serving as his cover, sending cracks racing across its surface and fragments of stone flying into the surrounding brush.

Vagabond reacted in the nick of time, pulling himself behind the boulder before either shot could connect.

"Tch... forty metres," The sniper moved again.

Now he understood the effective range of Xavier’s Mana Bullet.

Xavier, on the other hand, finally looked back toward the spot where Vagabond’s bullet had struck. It wasn’t the trunk like before.

This time, it had hit exactly where his head would have been if he’d instinctively ducked, just as most people would have.

The realization settled over him almost immediately.

"Headshots..." Xavier murmured.

"He only goes for headshots."

His breathing gradually slowed as he eased himself back behind the cover of the massive roots.

One thought now bothered him more than anything else.

If this man deliberately hunted headshots...

Then how had the very first shot missed his head and struck his chest instead?

Xavier’s legs pressed against the damp forest floor as the possibilities ran through his mind.

It was either this man had been toying with him from the very beginning.

Or... Was it what she said ?

"You are being watched."

--End of Chapter--

A/N: Happy New Month to all my readers. I’m really grateful to you all for the support so far.

Pls... Keep supporting. It’s a new month so this needs your G.tickets and P.stones.

T for Thanks.