Chapter 30 - Tutorial (Hunter) - 16
*CLICK*
The front door slams shut, trapping Noah, Zillion, and Anna before they can escape.
Outside the house, Brad waits for the crawler to spawn. When he notices the door automatically closing, he startles.
"What's happening in there?!"
Abandoning his mission, Brad dashes toward the door and tries to open it, but it's locked from the inside.
"Dammit! A hunt now?!"
Brad twists the doorknob and pushes the door, but it doesn't budge. He peeks into the house and shouts at the three inside.
"BE CAREFUL! THIS STAGE ISN'T FOLLOWING THE TEMPLATE!"
It's too late to warn them. Inside, Anna, Noah, and Zillion are trapped, and new guardians have spawned.
In the kitchen, the OG eight-legged spider lady crawls out from a gap in the attic and enters the house. She spreads her hair everywhere, scanning for runes and survivors.
*BEEP*
Additionally, the TV turns on by itself, showing a scene of a white-dressed lady being hanged from a dead willow tree. Her body swings in the wind.
Noah and Zillion stand by the door, turning to see the spooky scene on the TV. Reminded of a horror movie, Zillion yells at Noah.
"Get your holy stake ready! That freaking The Ring knock-off is coming out!"
*SNAP*
Suddenly, the rope around her neck breaks, and the woman falls. However, she slowly stands and faces the camera. As Zillion predicted, she walks toward the camera, revealing her face.
She has no eyeball like the eight-legged spider. Opening her mouth, maggots and worms crawl out. Stretching her hand, she breaks the fourth wall, manifesting her arms and hands from the TV.
As the phantom crawls out of the TV, Noah bellows and charges at her.
"DIE, YOU BITCH!"
He stabs her face with a holy stake!
The phantom pauses and stares at Noah before vomiting yellowish liquid and maggots onto his face. Then, she fades into smoke while Noah's wooden stake in her face turns into ash.
"AAAAH!!"
Noah wipes his face, getting rid of the worms and maggots. A few drops of the monster's vomit get into his eyes, causing intense pain. Panicking, he takes three steps back and accidentally knocks over a vase on a cabinet.
*CLANK*
The vase breaks. Shards of the vase scatter everywhere.
Anna clenches her chest and struggles to get up. The pain from the previous magic missile takes its toll on her, but she manages to recover enough strength.
She looks at the loud group and is about to warn them to be quiet. Unfortunately, she's too late. What she feared has occurred.
An eight-legged monster dashes on the ceiling toward the group. Instantly, it arrives in the living room, passing over Anna, who has been keeping her mouth shut.
Anna looks up and discovers the second monster. She grits her teeth and raises her spear to attack it.
"ABOVE!" Anna warns.
Noah still has his eyes closed, unaware of the approaching monster. On the other hand, Zillion looks up and spots the heinous mutant. He kicks the ground and runs away from the monster, leaving Noah behind.
Hair spreads everywhere in the living room and wraps around Noah. The hoarder pulls him up and stares at him up close. Upon noticing Noah's condition, she giggles and wraps him in a cocoon, capturing him.
"Release him, you monster!"
Anna rushes forward and thrusts her spear at the spider lady.
The spear stabs her back. The monster's expression changes as she turns to Anna. A million hair strings jet toward her.
Nimbly, Anna leaps to the side and escapes from the mass of hair. Counterattacking, she thrusts her spear a second time, aiming at the spider's face.
It hits but only penetrates an inch deep, not enough to kill her.
The hoarder is annoyed. She jumps down from the roof and presses Anna to the floor using her four arms—two hands grabbing Anna's arms, one holding the shaft of her spear, while another chokes her neck.
Caught by the monster, Anna yells, "BRAD!"
*BOOM*
As the ghost's hunting phase ends, the door unlocks. Brad hears the plea and kicks the door open. Seeing his partner caught under a mutant monster, he dashes forward, wielding a crowbar to save her.
The entrance scene of a handsome hero would have been perfect if he were in a movie. Unfortunately, he is not just facing local monsters in the house.
Not far from the door, a bear trap magically appears when Brad kicks it open. Due to the urgency, he didn't look at the floor carefully.
*SNAP*
While running toward Anna, one of Brad's legs gets caught!
The sudden appearance of the bear trap surprises Anna and Brad. The latter stumbles and falls before he can reach Anna. The wound deepens and widens due to the collapse.
Anna begrudgingly glares at Brad and blames him for his mistake. She screams.
"YOU FUCKING IDIOT! THIS IS YOUR FAULT!!"
*CRACK!*
As soon as Anna shouts, the hoarder twists her neck. The only female survivor in the group gasps her last breath and stops moving, her eyes wide open. Blood slowly leaks from her mouth, nostrils, and eyes.
After snapping the first prey's neck, the hoarder shifts her attention to Brad, whose leg is still caught in the bear trap. Brad groans and grabs the bear trap's jaws, prying it open to free his leg.
The spider sneers at Brad and extends her hair toward him, aiming to claim the second victim.
*PU!*
Suddenly, a large silhouette of a man looms behind the spider monster. Then, a holy stake pierces the hoarder's skull from the back.
Stunned from the damage and the damage from the holy stake, she collapses to the floor, dissipating into dust.
Behind the dead spider, the dark silhouette reveals his identity. Zillion heavily pants, looking at the disintegrating holy stake in his hand.
"What a waste of an item," Zillion complains. He walks toward the pile of ash and picks up a monster rune.
Brad pulls his leg out from the bear trap, staggers a few steps, looks at his comrade's corpse, then turns to Zillion.
"Can I have that? I need its healing power."
Zillion smirks. "No. You were useless. I contributed, so it's mine."
Brad's expression turns dark. "Hey! We agreed to share the runes!"
"I keep what I kill. It's mine!"
"…"
Brad grits his teeth, kneels, and picks up Anna's dropped spear. Without uttering another word, he grabs a blue rune nearby and puts it in his backpack.
The atmosphere becomes awkward.