Chapter 32 - Tutorial (Hunter) - 18
Brad rearranges his items outside the house when Zillion dashes into the garage. He stores Anna's short spear in his chest box, and magically, the 5-foot spear vanishes into the container.
With the situation unfavorable, Brad accesses his system menu, which is only available at the altar, and spends 1,000 credits to buy an insurance rune called Grace of Goddess Rune. A square crystal emerges from the altar and lands in the bowl. Brad picks it up and presses it against his forehead, watching as the rune sinks into his flesh.
A notification sound chimes.
"The next time you die, you won't receive a penalty. The rune disappears upon death."
Brad sighs deeply. He doesn't want to waste hard-earned credits on this item, but he has to. Having died twice already, he fears facing another death due to a selfish teammate.
Turning back to his mission, Brad notices the garage's shutter door ascending.
"That fatso is at least doing something. I have to hurry and secure the key. I need that hidden rune to boost my strength. Once I get it, I can give up the mission if that fatso refuses to contribute."
Ignoring the garage, Brad enters the house.
"KIHIHIHIHIHI!"
As soon as Brad closes the door behind him, the iconic laughter of a certain rooftop lady resounds. She immediately follows the loud noise of the garage door and climbs down.
"Oh, no… Anyway."
Despite her presence posing a threat to Zillion, Brad faintly smiles and continues with his business, hoping Zillion has enough lifesaving runes or items to survive her.
Entering the dining area, Brad locates another blue rune, picking it up with glee before turning around. A glowing bead floats right in front of him.
"What?"
This is the first time Brad encounters the mysterious orb, prompting him to reach out and grab it.
That is his mistake.
The orb transforms into a small bullet, piercing through Brad's left chest and destroying his heart. Brad is launched backward, falling on his back and releasing the blue orb and a holy stake from his hands.
He widens his eyes in shock and confusion. Before he can even contemplate the event, his body glows in a yellowish light. His vision blurs for a moment. When he comes back to his senses, he finds himself lying on the garage floor.
*CHOMP*
Something bites his neck, tearing a large chunk of flesh. Blood gushes out from his chest wound and throat. Unable to comprehend anything, Brad lies there, staring at the arms of the crawler and the system message.
.
.
Zillion's body teleports into the dining area. He falls on the floor face-first. When he raises his head and sees the dim light from the dining area's windows, he cheers.
"Hah! I've made it! Suck it, Brad!"
The voodoo doll that Zillion has been carrying was his trump card. As per the item description, activating the voodoo doll allows the user to switch places with another survivor! He spent all his credits to purchase it, and its usefulness exceeded his expectations.
While celebrating his survival, he glances around the room and finds a blue rune that Brad left behind. He also spots the latter's holy stake.
"Nice! Free items!"
Zillion uses the blue rune for himself right away and ditches the hammer. He takes the holy stake with him. Unfortunately, Zillion now has one arm and struggles to pick up another green rune on the floor and a white rune on a plate. Because of the inconvenience, he thinks of Brad's backpack.
However, the backpack is nowhere to be found. Zillion wonders if the backpack got teleported with Brad. With no other choice, he gives up on finding Brad's backpack. Instead, he looks for another one.
'Isn't there something similar in the master bedroom?'
Coveting a backpack, Zillion turns his attention to the master bedroom. Still, he is greedy enough to kick a basketball-sized green rune toward the living room. It hits Noah, who wanders around aimlessly as he searches for the exit. Looking at Noah, Zillion chuckles.
'He is still usable as a meat shield. Once I find a backpack and a few runes, I'm out of here! You can stay here and attract the monsters for me!'
Laughing inwardly as he walks, Zillion proceeds to the master bedroom.
*CLICK*
*BOOM*
Suddenly, the lights go out again, accompanied by a loud thud from the garage as the shutter slams shut.
.
.
After firing a magic missile at Brad, Vesper shifted his attention back to Zillion, wondering if that despicable man was dead yet. Then, he witnessed Zillion switch places with Brad. The crawler killed Brad and devoured him, while Zillion appeared in the dining area, surviving with only a few shallow wounds.
Frustrated and irritated by Zillion's selfish tactic, Vesper is determined to kill him as painfully as possible. He rechecks the hunter's menu.
When Vesper summoned Phantom and Hoarder, the deployable guardian status was [2/2]. When the phantom retreated, it became [1/2]. However, when the hoarder died, it changed to [0/1].
After five minutes passed, the limit increased to [0/3]. Vesper deployed a free zombie and Crawler, thus the status changed to [2/3]. Again, after the zombie died to Zillion, it reduced to [1/2].
Vesper finally understands how the summoning limit works. He has a clear idea of what to do next.
As Vesper can only summon one guardian at the moment, he chooses the expendable one - The Mirror Ghost. He presses the summon button and selects its spawn location at the kitchen window. The ghost of a hatchet-wielding man emerges from the kitchen window.
The ghost's ability activates! All doors and windows are locked!
*CLICK*
The sound of the locked doorknob alarms Noah and Zillion in the living room. Zillion turns around and sees the axeman ghost.
Zillion sneers, "I ain't afraid of you! I have a holy stake!"
However, the ghost doesn't care. It charges at Zillion, raising its hatchet.
Reacting to the ghost, Zillion valiantly steps forward and plunges the stake into the ghost's face.
*SCREECH!*
The mirror ghost wails and vanishes.
Vesper rechecks the ghost's status. As he predicted, its health bar appears, showing half of its HP.
Despite the waste of energy, Vesper smiles as he accomplishes his goal - removing the holy stake from Zillion. Additionally, Vesper still has 100 energy in the tank.
The guardian status changes from [2/2] to [1/2]. Vesper rubs his hands and prepares to abuse this loophole.
'Come out, Phantom!'
Spending the last 100 energy, Vesper calls for the ghost girl. As Noah is as good as dead, Vesper avoids the TV's spawn location and chooses the attic, where she can crawl down from the ceiling.
However, the ghost doesn't crawl down as Vesper intended. Instead, she descends, phasing through the ceiling tiles and landing in front of Zillion, who is still celebrating his temporary victory.
The ghost girl looks up and glares at the chubby man.
"SHIT!"
At that moment, Zillion realizes his mistake. He turns around, searching for a place to run.
But then, Zillion spots Noah, who is trying to open the front door.
"Hehehehe!"
Zillion believes that the ghost might pursue Noah if he can lose her line of sight. He sprints toward the master bedroom, planning to hide inside a closet.
But as soon as he turns right and enters the corridor, he steps on something cold.
*SNAP*
A certain trap is activated.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"