281 – [5] Prey
#281
* * *
Somewhere deep in the forest.
Six men and women unpacked their luggage.
Most of the luggage was cooking utensils, ordinary items with nothing special about them.
The only silver lining was that he brought a product from a fairly expensive company that was difficult to find.
Items that would not be sold in regular stores.
Moreover, it is something that ordinary hunters would not even pay attention to.
An item that appears in the game and helps you make good dishes.
Among these, only I am aware of it.
I finally found it on the Internet and ordered it, but I was so anxious that it wouldn’t arrive.
If he hadn’t come, the results would have been slightly lower than expected, just like the last time he practiced.
At least the cooking utensils arrived on time, so those worries were for naught.
I looked back at the women who had put down all their luggage.
“I practiced in advance. “Everyone remembers, right?”
“””Yes~!”””
“We are going straight for that, without going astray. “You understand, right?”
“””Yes~!”””
We each started our tasks one by one.
Assembled cooking utensils, set up a tent to stay for a while, and dug a hole.
“Really, Mr. Shannon?”
“Yes?”
“First of all, since there doesn’t seem to be a river around here, Mr. Shannon will have to take care of supplying water for drinking and cooking. “Can you do it?”
It was inevitable as there were no drinking water sources nearby.
So, people who came to practice without thinking about water properly were likely to face big problems.
From the beginning, cooking consumed a lot of water.
You have to wash your game, you have to wash your own hands, and you even have to have water to drink.
That’s why I felt fortunate to have Shannon.
Otherwise, I would have had to bring the water magic scrolls and tear them apart over and over again to throw them into the water tank.
“It’s not particularly difficult…” … “It seems like it might be a little difficult”
“Please come by for a moment. “I’ll massage your tail.”
Of course, there were signs that he was a little hesitant, so I massaged his tail.
Shannon started wagging her tail after a really simple massage.
He seemed to be feeling better.
Of course, people who were in a good mood would do anything.
Even if it is unreasonable.
Even if it takes a long time.
“Hmm, what is that…… “All you need is horsepower anyway.”
“I put down a big water bottle over there, so you can fill it up.”
“Yes, hehe.”
“I’ll give you another tail massage later if it’s successful, so please hurry.”
“Hehe.”
He seemed to be in quite a good mood.
Shannon responded strangely, wiggling her butt back and forth and heading towards the water bucket.
“True! But don’t fill the water bottle with water breath using your mouth!”
“Eh?”
“Because it may come up later. Just use regular water magic!”
“… ….”
Shannon wagged her tail and then froze slightly.
What, why is the reaction like that?
Did you really try to fill the entire water tank by spitting water breath out of your mouth?
“Uh, uhm, yes! Okay!”
Isn’t it?
It’s a different reaction than before.
It seemed like his attitude had changed.
But I don’t think there was a single reason for Shannon to do that.
Why would that pure soul do such a thing in the first place?
If I had a thousand animals, I would have done something like that, but Shannon wasn’t the type of person to do that.
So I didn’t think much more about Shannon.
Instead, I approached Syaoran, who was crunching the seasoning ingredients in the corner.
“Huh?”
“Let’s go hunting soon. “It already took about 15 minutes, and I don’t think she’ll be able to get anything right if she delays any longer.”
“Ah…… All right.”
She packed her equipment, including her bow.
It was a light outfit overall, and I don’t know if it was because of the bow, but I felt lighter overall.
Why not just take him?
If you’re only looking at speed, I think I’d be faster since I can use superpowers.
But when it comes to hunting, following the trail is also important.
Having a scout was better than not having one.
So we headed beyond the forest.
I walked endlessly through the forest where everything seemed to be repeating itself.
“…… But now I know, isn’t this the direction we took?”
“The direction itself is right, right? “It doesn’t go quite the same.”
The direction we were heading towards was towards the road we had walked.
It was just not quite the same, just a little bit askew.
As you can see from the fact that it is slanted, this direction was towards where the targets were staying.
They were the ones who fell off to the side along the way we walked, so if we went this way, we would definitely come out.
Of course, I didn’t want to face it openly.
It could have become awkward for no reason, and it could have been like having my face imprinted on it.
“No, but when I thought… ….”
“This seems like a good sauce…” ….”
“I think other teams have succeeded in hunting, but we have to hurry and catch them too… ….”
So, as soon as I heard a soft voice, I turned to the side.
In the direction of not knowing which one really exists.
“…… Person?”
From Noble mtl dot com
“Quiet. “It might just be a waste of time, so let’s just ignore it and move on.”
How long did I walk like that?
I noticed the crumbled tree branches that had fallen to the ground.
“Someone stepped on it. “Seeing that there is hair and pieces of clothing on the branches, it seems that humans and animals passed away at a similar time.”
“The group whose voices were heard earlier. “I think it might be a hunting team sent from there.”
“Hunting bird?”
“Common sense dictates that our team will not be the only one running a hunting team.”
The division of labor was efficient, so some other groups were probably adopting it as well.
What’s more, considering the direction, there were no other people passing by here other than them.
“Umm…… Once you see that the fur is warm, it’s just gone…… “I think the people you mentioned may have caught their prey.”
“It will happen soon.”
“If this happens, there seems to be a good chance that nearby prey will run away or be caught. Just go in the other direction—”
“Let’s keep going like this.”
“…… Yes?”
“If we decide anyway, we will be able to move and hunt faster than them.”
You can go earlier.
If I just decided, I could get ahead of them.
“Is there really a need to follow along?”
“Anyway, even if you go in a different direction from here, I think the prey will be the same. “It just takes longer.”
Actually, it wasn’t.
Except for the fact that it takes a long time, it will definitely be different if you go in a different direction.
But this was because I wondered if there was a need to travel 30,000 miles to honestly hunt for prey.
You already need to find game quickly, catch it, and cook it quickly, but wasting time looking for it was a loss.
Moreover, I now had a goal to monitor someone.
Since I had already come to a place like this, I had to conduct a slightly different surveillance and obtain unique information.
And this also required time.
They say that something needs to be prepared during the training period.
“Uh…… That’s true, but…… There is no need to create room for conflict with other teams…….”
“So we have to go very quickly and very secretly. “To avoid creating space for conflict.”
“…… “Is there any other reason why you want to go over there?”
That’s sharp.
I thought you would just roughly follow what I said.
“We only have two hours, so it’s too much to find and catch the game.”
“… ….”
“You go in a different direction and look for different prey, right? “We will never be able to make it on time.”
“Why?”
“You know. How many people are in this forest right now? Even if you try to catch it, do you think the sound of other groups will make the prey run away?”
Only then did Syaoran open her mouth as if she understood.
It was a roughly worded sophistry, but fortunately it seems to have worked.
“Because of that, just like they did to me in the past. “Let’s hit them in the back and sneak away.”
“Oh, no! It was liquidated last time…… Ha…… All right. First of all, my conscience pricks me a lot, but I have to do it.”
“You don’t object.”
“No matter how you look at it, there is no way to secure prey in time other than stealing from others.”
Although Syaoran did not like it, he nodded with a sigh, indicating that it was inevitable.
It was complete agreement, and we immediately followed the path where their traces remained.
Of course, I didn’t go there honestly.
It was obvious that I would be caught if I did that, so I chose a method of movement that would hide my identity.
“Then I will go by leaping from the tree. “Mr. Xian, you won’t be that fast, so follow me for now—”
“It seems like it’s already too late. “I’ll try to go first!”
Syaoran moves by stepping on the branches of the tree.
I run on the ground without revealing myself as much as possible.
Of course, he was running with his superpowers.
I touched the necklace around my neck once and ran straight toward the direction where they disappeared.
“Yes─wait?! What kind of person can be that fast…….”
“Follow me quickly~”
* * *
A heartbreaking journey to steal the prey.
It was a very bad action in that it caused damage to one group, but…….
But when I thought about it, I wondered what was so wrong with stealing game in the world of hunting, a world of survival of the fittest.
You should have caught your prey early.
Am cancer.
It’s not for nothing that ‘steel’ is one of the words that the distant MZ generation likes to use.
And I was the type of person who didn’t look very favorably on things like steel.
Roughly speaking, it means that you feel pricked by your conscience when you take away someone else’s game.
It was somewhat heartbreaking, but we decided to take only 3/4 of the game and leave the rest behind.
A whopping 1/4 of the game was given to the group that found the game in the world.
How much of a good person is 1/4 of that?
If there were a thousand of them, they would have suggested swiping all the prey.
However, as I am a good son of Daehan, full of conscience and humanity, I planned to keep this decision as much as possible.
Because Syaoran also agreed, there was no particular problem.
That’s why we squeezed out as much strength as we could and moved quickly to keep our decision.
However, since intention is intention and situation is situation, I thought that I could not avoid facing the other person.
Since we were actually tracking the same enemy, it was natural that we would face each other.
But how long have you run so much that your stamina is depleted?
At some point, the opponent stopped moving.
Instead, he leaned against a tree and began to rest with difficulty.
“Huh, huh…” … It really looks like a dog…… !”
“That’s right. Ha, if I had known it would be like this, I would have brought all the kids…… Write… ….”
“Hey…… “It looks like hunting is a failure. Should we just catch a rabbit?”
“Looking at the way we are, it seems like it would be better… ….”
Unfortunately, there was no time for that.
This was because if I just rested, I would ultimately run out of time.
This was bad news.
Bad news from the other party, not from me.
The opponent’s bad news was our opportunity.
Me and Syaoran ignored them and continued moving forward quietly.
From now on, it’s time to catch the prey that the guys gave up chasing.
Actually, it may not have been giving up but resting, but it was safe to say that I had already eaten enough at the time of resting.
“But is this really okay?”
“It’s okay. Giving up hunting or taking a break is the same as giving up ownership of the game.”
Even if I sneaked in and caught him, there really wasn’t any problem anymore.
It wasn’t what they were catching, and we caught something they didn’t catch, so what can we do?
Even if there is a problem, just like Mr. Cheon often does.
Changing the emotions and conscience to detachable ones was a great idea.
So, I was secretly delighted that the other person had practically given up on hunting.
With lighter steps, I headed somewhere, following the footprints and fur left behind by my target.
And where the traces end.
“…… “Is this right?”
“Something like that…… “I guess?”
No different.
It was a common cave that can be found in Korea as well.
– ※ Please do not come in.
– ※ You may die.
– ※ It’s real.
There were no signs.
However, an unusually whispering aura was felt from the entrance.