A Level Zero's Struggle (part 17)
Earlier when Qiao was looking around the Guild, searching for Linwin, he had spotted the two guys who had robbed him earlier in the morning. He remembered that they had taken advantage of his situation of being gravely injured after exiting the cave to snatch away the couple crimson gems he held.
It was then that he had already made up his mind to prepare for revenge. This also why he took up to proposing to Linwin to join him in getting stronger.
To settle this grudge became one of his priority now. To keep small term goals like this would be beneficial for his growth he thought.
He was not like this before, but due to the environment in this world, the fierceness, the brutality that he was treated to, all of these had already changed his attitude slowly.
If he kept on waiting to settle this grudge, then he might never be able to do it.
Debts and grudges should always be settled, as he thought such to himself, he fell asleep.
The door was locked so it was safe to take some rest.
...
Early morning, the team gathered and was ready to take on another quest. But presently there was no information about any available mission.
The senior on the reception had not showed up yet. The leader stood in the hall, was waiting.
It was better to take mission from here, rather than to wander in the forest and get caught with uncertain types of monster like before.
They barely made it yesterday but luck cannot always help them out.
Qiao was also thinking the same. Before reaching the level one peak he should not take a lot of risks.
Now he knew why that wicked hunter had sent him in this world. In this world he could easily be killed by stronger chasers or hunters, not leaving him a chance at survival. But he was still not clear about what was the goal of this evil being.
But this brutal environment forced Qiao to use any means for leveling up to ensure his survival.
The scheme seemed perfect and flawless but if the hunter was really able to succeed in his scheme then Qiao would really feel too stupid. If he wasn't able to outsmart this evil villain with his knowledge and intellect and overcome the difficulties of this small world of monsters and hunter, his advantage of coming from the 21st century would really be for null.
….…
Finally, the senior arrived sometime later. He sat and opened the dusty register and went through it, there were no new entry about mission for today yet.
"You'll have to wait until someone comes with the fresh lists," he dryly spoke.
The team leader nodded and went to sit on the bench to wait. He had nothing else to do as his team had already prepared after yesterday capades.
Qiao and others followed.
Linwin was the only one excited in the team.
He had heard that no one ever takes a zero in his team as a member until he reaches level one or up, but she was fortunate to be friend with Qiao.
At least, the team would be working under collaboration and not using him as a bait. And he would not be thrown aside as a rag doll, be saved from ordeal of life and death.
After waiting for half an hour, a level four chaser came into the hall and handed a paper to the reception man.
Team leader stood up before anyone else could reach there. The Guild hall was filled with the chasers and teams, so it was first come, first serve.
Still two other leaders were able to reach before him and he stood behind them. The man at the reception seemed lazy but when it comes to showing anger, he looked like an angry monster ready to trample them all.
His token was under his clothes and he was actually a level six hunter and handed the responsibility to handle the matters at the reception for six months. The duty will change after six months and there will then be a new face to glare the low-level chasers.
The high-level hunters and members of the Guild rarely showed up in the crowd.
The man handed the over to the leader a small instruction paper and the team leader read it after reaching the team so that other members could also have the same information.
They left the Guild and chose the correct direction according to the information imparted to them.
It was the same lower edge of the forest but in a different direction. This lower edge of the forest was divided into minimum of over thousand small areas. Here many monsters were spotted every once in a while. This place was safe for most lower level chasers as only low level monsters chose to stay in this place.
The reason was that the lower level monsters cannot fight against higher level monsters either if they ended up across each other. Monsters especially against their own kind had to be careful. Their world was even more cruel as they devoured and destroyed each other to survive.
And the chasers sometimes even took advantage of their personal grudges.
The world seemed like a never ending battle field and whoever was living and breathing would either continue survive or end up dead.
After continuously walking at a steady pace for a while, they were near the area which was marked for the monster.
They stopped a fair distance away and started to plan.
"First of all, we have to observe the monster and then decide which formation would be best for attack," the leader suggested and they nodded to tell that they understood.
They were hiding behind the bigger trunks of the trees, if the trees had some leaves on them then it would have been a given choice for them to hide properly in the branches but they had to live up to what was available.
Linwin was kept behind towards the end as he was a newbie.
Team leader sneaked from behind and he was speechless, the monster was not there anymore, they saw him once and then lost.
The leader carefully sneaked a look from behind the large trunk that he was hiding at to make sure of the monster's position. He was able to spot it easily. As he shifted his position a bit, he took cover for a second and when he again looked at the spot, he was astonished.
The monster had vanished from where he was just seconds ago. The leader turned back to report that he had lost sight when suddenly from above a shadow fell,
"Damnn.." The leader yelled.