Online Game: My Hidden Class Is Dragon Sovereign!

--Chapter 37--

Title>> PvP: Vagabond’s Hunt [V]- Escape

Xavier was barely thirty seconds into the seemingly open northern path that led away from the forest when a sharp sting of unease crawled up his spine.

Even with the Dread Cloak’s passive camouflage, he felt like he was being watched.

Almost like it was second nature, or maybe just apprehension, Xavier slowed to a halt and studied the terrain around him.

The lanes between the trees were unusually clear. The cover looked simple enough to move between with ease, yet every opening created the exact kind of sightline a Ranger would pray for if given enough time to prepare.

’This smells fishy,’ he thought.

After getting shot at multiple times already, caution had become a default setting.

A moment later, and right on cue, the first shot cracked through the heavy canopy.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t aimed to kill him. But it passed close enough to force Xavier onto his heels.

Turning like an Olympic athlete, he dove behind the nearest tree. His pulse quickened as his fingers dug into the rough bark.

The trunk was barely wide enough to serve as realistic cover.

Worse still, the closest tree to his left required him to expose almost his entire body before he could reach it.

Deciding to wait until he could at least pinpoint where the previous shot had come from, Xavier stayed still.

But he never got the chance because the second shot followed almost immediately.

This one came from an entirely different angle and slammed into the side of the trunk, carving a deep gash through the bark.

Xavier frowned.

His confusion only deepened when a third shot tore just above his hairline, coming from an angle that had no business having a clear line of sight to where he was standing.

Without hesitation, Xavier twisted around the trunk and burst toward the next tree on his left.

His boots crushed fallen leaves as he crossed the short distance.

Arriving behind the new cover, both palms pressed hard against its jagged bark, earning several shallow cuts.

[Thorn Erudite Tree]

[...]

Xavier barely spared the notification a glance.

The stinging cuts meant nothing compared to the realization settling inside his head.

His brows furrowed, his teeth grinding together.

Vagabond hadn’t simply wandered into this forest and found a few good sniping positions.

He had prepared the entire northern route for his downfall, very promising path, favourable sightline and realistic escape route were under his watch.

This left Xavier with only two realistic choices.

He could either retreat back the way he came or force his way east and abandon the northern route altogether.

He wasn’t done deciding when the system interrupted, reminding him that this Hunt was becoming a death trap regardless of which direction he chose.

<< HUNT ZONE CONTRACTING >>

[Hunt area has been reduced.]

[Current Radius: 0.9 km]

[Time until next contraction: 2 minutes.]

[Projected Radius: 0.6 km]

"Hahahah..." Xavier laughed inwardly. "What a mess."

He was in quite a tight spot. But he was also Hunter X.

And Arillion?

This was his playground.

Quickly, he pulled up the map. The shrinking boundary was immediately obvious, slowly closing in from every direction and squeezing both hunter and prey into an increasingly smaller battlefield.

It wouldn’t be long before running stopped being an option altogether.

His gaze shifted to the northern route one last time before settling on the Wanderer’s Compass.

The restless arrow was still pointing west.

After everything that had happened since The Realm of Untold Tales, Xavier had learned one thing.

The compass might be strange and annoyingly persistent.

But it hadn’t led him astray yet.

With a quiet sigh, Xavier pulled the torn Dread Cloak tighter around his body before activating its secondary effect.

Almost as though a massive slab of stone had suddenly been strapped to his shoulders, his body sank into the earth and merged with it.

He’d avoided using the skill until now because of its one-minute cooldown.

Now he no longer had a choice.

Several metres away, Xavier emerged from the ground and immediately checked the compass again.

The compass arrow hadn’t changed.

Without another moment’s hesitation, he broke into a sprint towards the west.

The trees grew thicker around him, their overlapping canopies steadily swallowing the light above while tangled roots twisted across the damp forest floor.

The denser terrain narrowed every sightline around him.

Exactly what he needed.

***

From his crouched position, Vagabond immediately noticed the sudden shift in his prey’s movements.

His first three shots had never been intended to kill. They were meant to pressure the fraud into making a decision. Charge north through the prepared killing ground or retreat and let the shrinking Hunt Zone force another mistake.

Instead, the prey had done neither.

Somehow, in less than a minute, the man had slipped away from the exact position Vagabond expected him to commit to.

"Bloody hell...who is this guy?"

The words left him almost under his breath as he pulled the rifle from his shoulder and began moving again, weaving through the land with the simplicity of a seasoned marksman.

He finally caught sight of the prey emerging from the ground several dozen metres away.

The camouflage itself was laughable. Even from this distance, Vagabond could track the movement without much effort due to his enhanced vision.

The merging skill, however...that was unexpected.

Before he could settle into position and balance the rifle for another shot, the man had already broken into a full sprint.

Vagabond watched him disappear between the trees before a slow smile crept across his face.

"I guess all good things must come to an end, mate."

Without rushing, he lowered the rifle and changed direction.

He knew exactly where the western path led. And it wasn’t anywhere that was pretty

***

After about a minute of sprinting west, Xavier noticed the landscape beginning to change.

The trees gradually grew thinner, giving way to moss-covered rock formations that pushed through the damp earth. The air had turned noticeably colder, far colder than the smell of wet soil and rotting leaves could explain.

Without gunfire ringing through the forest anymore, he could clearly make out the sound of rushing water somewhere ahead.

He wasn’t too worried about Vagabond’s silence.

The man was probably doing exactly what Xavier would have done in his position.

Tracking him, properly repositioning,. choosing another nest and waiting patiently instead of wasting ammunition.

After all, just ahead of him was a cliff, or at least what Vagabond believed to be a dead end.

To Xavier...

It was either another unknown or a possible escape route.

To find out which, he needed to buy himself time.

And he needed to buy it quickly.

As he sprinted through the changing terrain, the Alchemy skill remained active, feeding him information whenever his eyes swept across unfamiliar plants.

Normally, Xavier would’ve stopped to admire them, maybe even picked a flower or two for Grace. But not today.

Among the vegetation lining the trail, one cluster immediately caught his attention.

[Mist Bloom]

[Blinding and itching pollens.]

Xavier’s gaze shifted from the flowers to the leaves around them. They barely moved.

Meaning there was no wind.

’Perfect.’

Paying attention to the way the shrubs bordered the trail, Xavier made his decision.

He stopped at the edge of the path and immediately activated Chains of the Bounded.

The range of the skill wasn’t impressive enough to use as a direct attack against Vagabond, so he used it for something else.

The metallic chains burrowed beneath the forest floor, weaving through roots and undergrowth until they wrapped themselves around the Mist Bloom shrubs.

Without hesitation, Xavier pulled. And the forest erupted.

Entire clusters of Mist Bloom tore free at once, releasing a rapidly expanding cloud of pale-yellow spores that rolled through the woodland like a curtain, swallowing the trail behind him in a thick yellow haze.

Xavier didn’t wait to admire his handiwork. He turned and continued sprinting.

Somewhere behind the growing cloud... Someone coughed. But Xavier didn’t care to look.

A short time later, Xavier arrived at the edge of the cliff.

Jagged rock formations jutted out along its edge, sharp enough to tear apart anyone unfortunate enough to make contact with them.

Beyond them, a thick blanket of cold mist swallowed the cliff face, hiding everything beneath it until the drop simply disappeared into white.

Xavier’s eyes narrowed as his hands slowly curled into fists.

He looked at the Wanderer’s Compass. And for the first time since obtaining it...

The stupid thing had stopped trembling.

"Are... are you kidding me?" Xavier hissed.

The arrow was still pointing down.

Behind him, the coughing had stopped. In its place came the unmistakable sound of snapping branches.

Vagabond was only moments away from reaching him.

As if that wasn’t enough, the bloody system decided to remind him how much of a bastard it could be.

[HUNT ZONE CONTRACTING]

Glancing at the map, Xavier saw the shrinking boundary almost on top of him now.

"Damn... Damn it all..."

His eyes darted back toward the fog just as the steel muzzle of a rifle slowly emerged through the yellow haze.

But just then... It clicked.

The Hunt ended if the prey escaped the Hunt Zone. And right now, the cliff wasn’t the end of the Zone. It was the edge.

Which meant whatever lay beneath that fog meant he was outside and it counted as escaping.

Xavier made his decision.

Just then, another notification appeared at the edge of his vision.

[The Empress of Errors smiles at you.]

[Jump!]

In that instant, every trace of hesitation disappeared.

Xavier pushed off the cliff, diving headfirst into the sea of fog below just as Vagabond’s bullet screamed past the space he’d abandoned.

His body became weightless as he fell.

Jagged rocks scraped against him as he fell, carving thin lines across his skin before the mist swallowed him whole.

And then everything around him changed. His thoughts blurred together, but one notification remained perfectly clear.

<< HUNT ZONE BOUNDARY CROSSED >>

[Escape Verification Initiated.]

[00:29]

Vagabond burst onto the edge of the cliff, rifle already raised.

His scope swept through the endless fog but he found nothing clearly defined.

[00:28]

His reddened eyes searched harder, moving from one patch of mist to another.

Still nothing.

[00:25]

..

..

..

[00:01]

Ding!

<< HUNT COMPLETE >>

[Outcome: Prey Escaped.]

--End of Chapter--

A/N: Please Keep supporting and gifting. Your gifts motivates my pen.

As always, T for Thanks.