Online Game: My Hidden Class Is Dragon Sovereign!

--Chapter 38--

Title>> Beyond the Hunt

Behind the dark cloak, Vagabond’s reddened, irritated eyes kept searching the dangerous depths of the valley, but the stagnant fog gave him absolutely nothing to discern.

On the contrary, it only worsened his already deteriorating vision, forcing him to strain his eyes even further.

Vagabond lowered the scope of his rifle. There was no point forcing the issue anymore.

Instead, he focused on the Hunt countdown that had been ticking silently on the edge of his vision.

[00:15]

Puff!

Vagabond let out a small poof of air, blowing aside the strands of silver-white hair that had escaped from beneath his hood.

The pesky strands always found a way to fall across his face whenever he did anything particularly exerting, even back in the real world.

And without doubt, chasing a prey through the woods for close to thirty minutes definitely qualified.

Resigning himself to the fact that he couldn’t find his prey anymore, Vagabond simply waited for the countdown, hoping the outcome would somehow change.

[00:04]

[00:02]

[00:00]

Ding!

<< HUNT COMPLETE >>

[You have failed the Hunt]

[Outcome: Prey Escaped]

"Escaped?"

Vagabond repeated the word quietly behind an unreadable expression, as though he didn’t quite trust the integrity of it.

He had barely finished speaking when a private communication channel opened before him.

A notification quietly materialized in front of his eyes.

Unlike every other notification he’d received today, this one carried no sender, no portrait and certainly no reward.

Only a single question.

[Report?]

Vagabond blinked rapidly, tears continuing to trail from his reddened eyes.

"He escaped..."

[Alive?]

"Of course. Don’t you know what the word ’escape’ means?"

[...]

Vagabond glanced at the empty response, biting lightly against his lower lip.

Barely a second later, an overwhelming pressure descended upon him without warning.

His knees weakened. His body suddenly felt as though it had turned to jelly from the inside out, threatening to collapse where he stood.

Even so...Vagabond endured it as best he could. The first time he’d experienced this presence, he’d nearly pissed himself like a child.

Now...

He simply twitched and endured. "Okay... okay, i’ll keep investigating him."

[Good]

The message blinked. Then the channel disappeared as abruptly as it had arrived.

"How annoying..." Vagabond muttered, slinging the rifle over his shoulder.

The Hunt had been quite interesting, to say the least.

He’d gone into it believing the fraud was going to be an easy target.

Instead, the prey had proven to be surprisingly ingenious and, somehow, had the goddess of luck smiling on him as well.

To jump off a treacherous cliff without hesitation and somehow survive...

That took guts. Honestly...

It took more than guts.

Vagabond’s thoughts lingered there for a brief moment, but he hated where they were trying to lead.

Even if it was impossible that this man was Hunter X...

He had to admit.

"That bastard has the X Factor," the words left him almost begrudgingly.

Turning away from the cliff, Vagabond made a silent promise to himself.

He would find this fake Hunter X again. And the next time they meet...

The hunt wouldn’t end with an escape.

***

Beyond The Fog...

"Ooowwww..."

Xavier groaned behind half-lidded eyes, the taste of blood still lingering in his mouth.

Every muscle in his body ached. His bones felt unusually heavy, as though gravity had suddenly decided to focus on him alone.

Fresh cuts appeared across both his hands that stung where he had scraped against the jagged rocks during the fall.

"What the hell?" he cursed in a low murmur.

He hadn’t felt this much pain while facing Vagabond earlier.

Now it felt like the floodgates had been thrown open, allowing everything his body had held back to come crashing into him at once.

The Demonic Bloodline’s pain suppression had kept him together while his life was in danger.

Now that the fight was over, the suppression had faded, and every suppressed sensation came rushing back. Or should he say the new ones.

Xavier flexed his fingers experimentally.

Surprisingly...they answered.

"That was good..."

At least nothing felt broken. It was nothing another healing pill couldn’t solve or at the very least relieve.

Then it suddenly dawned on him. Why exactly wasn’t he drowning?

He had jumped from the edge of the valley, disappeared into the fog...

And somehow ended up here.

’Where exactly is here?’ Xavier slowly turned his head from left to right.

Cool blades of grass brushed against his cheek while the scent of fresh flowers drifted lazily through the still air.

Only then did he realize he was lying in what looked like a small garden.

He couldn’t wrap his head around how he had ended up here instead of at the bottom of a river.

But one thing was for sure. This trust fall he’d participated in had definitely yielded rewards.

The evidence floated quietly before him in the form of several system notifications.

<< HUNT COMPLETE >>

[Outcome: You’ve escaped your hunter.]

[You’ve won your first hunt.]

[You’ve Levelled Up!]

[Current Level: 11]

[Attribute Points to Share: 6]

"Nice..." Xavier smiled faintly.

Being able to level up was always a pleasure. But there should be more.

And almost as though it had read his thoughts, another notification appeared before him.

[Hunt Rewards]

[You have received 20 × Silver Coins.]

[You’ve Unlocked a New Skill: Survival Instinct]

[Type: Passive]

[Description: The user receives a brief warning before a lethal strike hits. Scales with Intelligence.]

"So... a low-budget spider sense."

"I like that."

The rewards weren’t particularly flashy, but they were useful. The silver coins solved his immediate money problem, while the passive skill might very well save his life someday.

Yet even as his eyes lingered on the rewards. Something immediately felt off.

Xavier’s lips thinned to a line.

Absolute Drop Authority hadn’t activated. There was no golden border and the particular scanning sequence that placed a smile on his face.

For a brief moment, Xavier wondered if the talent had somehow failed him.

"Ooh..." his eyes widened in slow realization.

The Hunt hadn’t ended because someone died. It hadn’t ended because an enemy had been defeated. It ended because he escaped.

So there was no corpse. And no loot table.

So naturally...

There was nothing for Absolute Drop Authority to force open.

"Makes sense..." Xavier murmured quietly, letting the thought drift away.

"Okay... let’s go."

The words had barely left his mouth when another sound reached his ears.

What he heard were voices and with how fast they overlapped. He could tell it wasn’t one or two.

He couldn’t make out what they were saying but the language sounded strangely familiar, close enough that he almost understood it, yet every sentence slipped away just before it became complete.

"...awake..."

"...outsider..."

The fragments drifted into his ears one after another, and curiosity got the better of him.

Xavier planted one hand against the ground and slowly tried to sit up.

The atmosphere changed immediately. The voices stopped sounding casual.

They became sharp.

Alert.

He heard hurried footsteps.and the sound of shifting metal.

A brief exchange followed between two unseen people before one voice fell completely silent.

Xavier slowly leaned back against the ground again.

His body wasn’t ready for negotiations. And if those voices belonged to enemies...

He certainly wasn’t winning any fight in his current condition.

So if this somehow threatened to go south, he’d have to finesse his way out of it.

Remaining still seemed like the smartest move. So Xavier listened.

The unseen discussion continued around him, the unfamiliar language flowing back and forth in quick exchanges he now slowly understood.

"...He’s corrupted. Kill him."

"Where is the corruption?"

"How did he get here if he isn’t corrupted?"

"I don’t know..."

"So shut up."

"Don’t tell me to shut up."

The argument steadily rose in pitch, threatening to erupt.

Then one voice that didn’t need an introduction spoke.

It was calm and steady, sounding like it was completely in control.

It was the kind of voice people naturally listened to.

"Enough."

The moment the word landed... silence followed behind it.

Every other voice disappeared as though it had never existed.

Xavier gulped.

A small lump formed in his throat before disappearing.

--End of Chapter--