Important announcement. Hey everyone, I have a few announcements to make concerning this fanfic. First some good news, I recently got a new co-writer named infinite sky to help with the workload of writing the fiction and our fiction will be hosted on the site http://rebirthonlineworld.com/the-last-guild-remastered/ of which he is an editor. Just for the record infinite sky is the new screen name for this fiction’s original author Thecode who agreed to help me split the work in writing chapters. Now for the bad news. After some discussion we have both agreed to put the fanfic on a temporary hiatus due to the fact that our school work for college has been piling up and neither of us has the time to write fanfics anymore if we want to get good grades in our classes. I personally have 4 different big research papers to do for four different classes in addition to a shit load of regular homework. So as a parting gift before going on temporary hiatus and in order to wet your appetites for what is to come we decided to post the first part of the three part adventure in the Last Guild book 2: Wild Hunt. Enjoy!!!

****************************************************************************************************

Book 2 Chapter 6 - Wild Hunt part 1

Nuru POV

After the meeting with the prince we were assigned a task, eliminating some local monsters. Regarding the city, it’s located near the outer gates of the Empire. The city provides some of the best grown fruits and vegetables around. According to the reports the forest is gigantic, filled with dense trees. Luckily for us it’s self-contained so we don’t have to worry about the monsters running away.

Before heading out we discussed a plan of action with the six. After some planning we decided to split into groups. We would each take one side of the forest and work our way through the middle. This way we could cover more ground.

I did some more personal research regarding the world and it’s ranking system for monsters. Their ranking system goes from rank F to E to D, C, B, A, S, SS, and finally SSS. Supposedly anything that is rank S or higher only exist in legends. Hopefully we won’t have to deal with any unneeded trouble. The number of ranks were the same so I did some calculations to determine their corresponding ranks to Eternia’s. However I had no information on them so at most all I could form was a basis.

It was decided that Rumo, Requa, Als, Haus and I were on the same team. We were assigned the northern part of the forest. Shae, Traus, Kugei, and Yusei were assigned to the southern quadrant. Our plan was to work up and down and eventually meet one another after the extermination.

For our equipment, the prince prepared quite a number of supplies, potions, extra armor, scrolls, food, etc… I still kept on my equipment, the same was true for Shae as well. The six were all dressed in decorated armor that resembled the ones their ancestors wore. Each had their swords fashioned to them. Als didn’t have much so I decided to lend her some spare gauntlets and armor chestpiece and leggings. She accepted them reluctantly after much convincing.

Eventually we finished our preparation and headed out. We all took a carriage early in the morning as it would take a couple of hours before we reached our destination. We sat in silence as the carriage buckled around on the bumpy road. Als sat near the end next to me. Even now she still ignored me, turning her face away towards the small window.

“Soo...what kind of resistance are we expecting?”

I’ve always had a small issue with complete silence, it was too awkward for me. So I decided to strike up a conversation to get some more info and maybe pass the time.

Rumo: “We’ll be expecting rank F monsters. Our reports tells us that they’re Wilaers.”

“Wilaers? I see…”

I had no idea what they were but I could let it show so I just played along. We stayed silent for the rest of the trip. Within an hour we finally reached our destination. Stepping out what greeted us was a ransacked town. Destroyed homes and buildings as far as I could see. The forest was just behind the part of the town we were in.

“Where is everyone?”

Haus: “The townsfolk have been evacuated already. It’s too dangerous for anyone to live here with Wilaers as a possible threat.”

I nodded back as we unloaded and prepared ourselves. I had my Infinity bag with me with all my equipment and items stored inside. This way the others won’t be hindered by carrying around all the extra items and I can quickly pull out whatever we need.

After making sure everything was in check we finally decided to head in. The dense nature reminded me of a rainforest without the humid air. The trees spanned several meters, blocking the sun’s ray. As we went further in there was more destruction, namely fallen and broken trees. Some had their branches torn off their back and some trees were even completely knocked over.

Things were silent as we trekked through the damaged forest. I didn’t even so much as hear any small insects moving about. After ten minutes or so, something finally happened. Several dots blinked on my minimap, coming closer to us.

“Everyone form up!”

My sudden outburst caught the others off guard but the loud rustling noise made them focus again. We quickly formed a perimeter just as they showed up.

The Wilaers looked very similar to chimpanzees. Their fur was a reddish purplish color. Their body was very bulky, especially their arms which were quite large. Several large canines protrude from their teeths. They were hanging onto the trees with either their tails or upright.

Within seconds they numbered seventeen total Wilaers.

Requa: “That’s quite a lot of them. So what’s the plan?”

“The three of you will be the vanguard. They have us surrounded so spread out; cover as much ground as you can. Als and I will be in the middle providing you with support. Stay close and don’t charge at them.”

I instinctively called out a battle plan. As the guild’s main strategist all the duties of coming up with battle plans fell onto me. Be it for raids, dungeons or random monster encounters I had a strategy for everything.

They all looked at me, nodding that they understood what to do. I felt a bit of jealously and anger

from Rumo but he didn’t have much time to express it as they were coming. Letting out a loud roar the Wilaers charged in.

“|Outburst|”

They all charged at us so I used my AOE spell to push them back, giving the others space. Als had my back, firing off crystal shards at wilaers.

Rumo: “|Heavy Slash|”

Haus: “|Flash Slash|”

Requa: “|Uppercut Slash|”

Each one of them activated their skills against the Wilaers. To my surprise they killed several wilaers at once. The remaining Wilaers backed off in fear as several of their comrades were cut

down instantly.

During that time I finally had time to Identify and analyze the monsters. Everything popped up as usual, the name, level, health but what caught me off guard was the rank as well. The health bar was black, indicating that it was a regular tier monster but it also showed the rank near the level.

The average level amongst them were around level 24. Although they were high level they fell

rather easily. The answer to that was obvious, they were monsters. In typical MMO’s and RPG’s

monster were always higher levels than average players. Monsters were creatures that solely rely

on power, with the higher tier being more diverse and powerful. But the reason why ‘players’ and humans are typically stronger than monsters was because of one thing, diversity.

Strength could easily be filled up with magic, equipment’s, speed, teamwork, one skills, etc…

Especially teamwork as more diverse play style and fighting will always over pure strength alone. That’s why humans and ‘players’ are able to keep up to high level monsters.

Back to the story:

A loud cry came from one of the Wilaers. It was so long that all of us had to close our ears to

suppress the noise. By the time it stopped more reinforcement showed up.

I heard Rumo loudly clicking his tongue in annoyance at the sudden turn of event. They now

numbered twenty, slowly trudging forward at us.

Rumo: “Enough of this!”

Rumo tightly gripped his great-sword and readied his stance. The sword glowed, radiating power. He swung his sword in a horizontal fashion, launching a wave attack. Five of the Wilaers were caught in the attack. It was a clean cut through their body. The others roared in retaliation and charged at us. Rumo charged in to confront them, Requa and Traus went in to cover him.

“Hey! We need to stick in formation!”

Als: “We have other problems!”

I didn’t have time to argue anymore as we were surrounded. A couple of them jumped down, surrounding us. I clicked my tongue in frustration and refocused my effort to us. Hopefully the others could take care of themselves.

“|Pyro Spiral|”

A vortex of flame formed in hand, radiating heat. I threw the vortex at the incoming wialers who tried to dodged it but failed it. As the vortex got closer they tried to run around it but my attack expanded, catching them off by surprise.

Three were caught in the attack, burning instantly. A couple got caught in the attack and managed to get off with slight burns.

Als: “|Crystal shard|”

Als fired her spells at the wilaers but it barely did any did any damage to them as they used their hulky arms to shield against the attack.

Als: “|Crystal Spear|!”

I turned my head towards Als in surprise. It was a spell that I’ve never heard of. The crystal formed as always but this time forming a long spear form. It formed and flew towards one of them. It tried to defend against it with its hand again but this time it failed him. The spear pierced his hand and through his body.

I was surprise at the new spell that Als used.

*When did she have that spell. Did she create it...Does that mean we can create spells from already existing magic?*

My thoughts were interrupted when I realized that Als was on her knees, panting. During that time a couple decided to go in for a sneak attack.

“Like hell you are! |Stone Stalagmite|”

Before they could go any further stalagmite formed from the ground, piercing their body around the head and chest area. They retracted when the body went limp. At this time they apparently got the message and ran away.

“Are you alright?”

Als: “I’m...I’m fine. I just overexerted myself.”

I slowly help her to her feet before remembering the others. I quickly looked back to see them alright for the most part. The Wilaers numbered dwindled but it was obvious that Rumo and the rest took some damage. By the time I got to them they had already finished up. The rest scattered as I made it to them.

“Is everyone alright?”

Getting a closer look they had small dents and marks on their armor. A couple of scratches were visible but nothing serious.

Requa: “We’re alright….But out of breath that’s all.”

After confirming that everyone was ok I finally turned my attention towards Rumo.

“What the hell were you thinking?! Why did you rush in?”

For the first time since we got to this world, I raised my voice against someone. The others went silent while Rumo directed towards his anger at me as well.

Rumo: “I highly doubt a petty mage would understand. We were superior to them, we could have easily taken them all on.”

“It seems that you’re forgetting us as well. What would happen if they had called in more reinforcement? What would happen if Als and I were taken by surprised? You can’t simply rush in blindly, there are reasons why plans exist!”

Rumo and I were having a heated debate. Voicing our angers and complaints at one another. A fight would eventually break out if it wasn’t for Requa and Haus to separate us.

I calmed myself, repeating in my mind that the argument was the last thing we needed. Eventually I calmed down and so did Rumo.

“How is everyone’s injury?”

Requa: “We got off easy, so light at best.”

“I see. Hold still, I’ll use a healing spell on all of you.”

Rumo: “I won’t be needing your assistance.”

Rumo walked away from us while chugging down a health potion. I suppress the urge to call him back and simply healed the rest with |Healing Ward|.

Huas: “Thank you.”

Requa: “Man magic sure is convenient sometimes. Maybe I should study up on it.”

Als: “...Thank you.”

“No problem. Anyway what do we do now? Continue on?”

Huas: “I would suggest making camp here and resting for a bit. Their numbers are large, we’ll need to conserve our strength.”

The others nodded in agreement we made camp there. I grabbed out the supplies from before and help set up. The others were curious as to how I was able to store all the items that we brought along. I was able to convince them that my bag was a special magic item that could store many objects.

That apparently worked as they simply shrugged it off. I also made a mental note not to simply wave around my gear so openly. We rested while waiting for the food to quickly simmer.

Rumo decided to go on guard duty, leaving us to wait. While waiting I decided to strike up a conversation to learn more about them.

“Sooo you guys are all childhood friends right?”

Requa: “Yea. From the day we were born to now, all of us know each other.”

“Then do you mind if ask this question? Why does Rumo hate me...more specifically hate mages.”

Haus: “I wouldn’t exactly classify that as hatred. During the foundation of the Empire, the founders had a code. ‘To fight in the field, that is true honor.’ Mages were looked down upon but over the centuries, they have revoked that idea back a bit. However Rumo still strongly believes in that principle.”

Requa: “He doesn’t exactly hate you. Trust me, I know what that looks like. He’s a good hearted man, the only problem is that he fails to express it sometimes.”

“I see.”

I ended the conversation as there wasn’t much to talk about anymore. Als stayed silent during our talk, sitting the farthest away from us. Within a few minutes the food was finally ready. It was a light meal with soup, dried meat and bread.

We quietly finished up and packed up. We chose a light meal over indulging ourselves as we still quite a lot of work ahead of us. We continued on our way, deeper into the forest. We stayed in formation, Als and I covered the rear while the rest covered the side and front.

We treked along for about twenty minutes without so much as a whisper from anything. It was like the forest was dead, nothing alive but us. The land was barren, pockets of uprooted trees were littered everywhere. I was starting to think that we got rid of all of them until my ear caught something. The sound of something being thrown, and it was big.

“Everyone get down!”

I ran to the front and used |Barrier| on all of us. The next moment a tree that looked to have been uprooted hit the barrier with a huge thud. It didn’t end there as two more trees hit the barrier.

“Everyone scatter!”

During the short interval that another tree wasn’t thrown at us I quickly canceled my barrier for us to escape. We made it just in time as one more landed on where we were.

Requa: “Where is it?”

Haus: “Over there!”

I followed his finger to a creature moving through the remaining trees. Eventually it landed a couple of meters away from us.

While the Wilaers looked like chimpanzees, this one looked more like an ape. It was significantly larger than the rest, about 1½ times larger. Its arms were massive and hairy. It snout was sticking out from its face with odd looking symbols on it. The fur remained the same with a more ruby color.

*Is that…|Identify|*

Sure enough it was the rank E monster. The naming of it was similar to Eternia, it was a Champion Wilaers. But what caught my attention the most was its level, 28. Way more powerful than the typical wilaers.

Requa: “Hehe, looks like we caught a big one.”

“This one isn’t like the others…we’ll need to coordinate ourselves an—“

Rumo: “Ahhhh!”

I didn’t have time to finish my sentence before Rumo charged in and struck the wilaer. It let out a roar in retaliation to Rumo’s charged. It brought up its massive arms and completely blocked his attack with minimal effort. Just as Rumo was recovering it brought down it hulking arm and

slammed them into the ground.

It wasn’t for Huas, Rumo would have died.

Huas: “Now’s not the time for daydreaming! Come on!”

Haus loud shout woke everyone up as they finally got their heads straight. Requa formed up with

Haus and Rumo while Als got ready.

“We can’t take that thing without a plan! We need to regroup and fal—“

Once more my plea turned to deaf ears as they charged at the beast without so much as hearing

my warning. I cursed under my breath and got to work.

“|Enchant- Dance of Warriors| |Magical Amplify|”

Using my support spells I increased Rumo and the others physical strength while boosting Als and my spells.

In short our fight was a mess. The monster was clearly stronger than us, both physically and in experience. All we could do was run around him while attacking when there was an opportunity. Most of the time our physical attacks were deflected by its hulking arms while it easily dodged our spells by jumping around.

It seemed that it was toying with us, jumping around in a wild manner. Eventually it must have gotten bored as it started to attack. Jumping around, flying its arm everywhere, trying to hit someone. Luckily we were able to dodge most of it as it was mindlessly waving its arms around.

*We...we need to regroup...but*

We need to back off and come back with a plan to fully take on the monster. The only problem was Rumo who was still at it, trying to fight the monster. All of us took damage to some degree, Requa and Haus the most as they were backing Rumo up.

“If this keeps up… |Smoke Screen|”

The air combusted as the area was blanketed in a black smoke. I screamed the order to retreat and lead the way out. They quickly followed me soon after as the wilaers let out a roar trying to find us.

We ran towards a more forested area as to lose ourselves in the trees. After running for a couple of minutes we finally stopped to catch our breaths.

Als: “Did...Did we lose it?”

Haus: “It would seem so…”

I nodded my head in agreement as they started to relax but not me. I walked up to Rumo --

Rumo: “What are y--”

--And head butt him in the face with as much force as I could muster. With my new body the pain was minimal but it still stung a bit. Rumo staggered back a bit before landing on his butt. He immediately got back up and grabbed my collar and pulled me in close.

He was clearly mad but so was I.

Rumo: “Why you! What the hell are you doing?!”

“I can say the same for you. What the hell were you thinking charging in like that? Do the lives of us and your friends mean nothing to you?”

Rumo: “How dare you! I’ll--”

Haus: “Enough!”

Surprisingly Haus was the one who screamed and broke up our fighting. We pushed one another away while still glaring one another.

Huas: “Right now this isn’t the time for a civil conflict. Rumo, Nu-Ru has a point. You recklessly charged in without much thought. Need you forget that we’re facing a rank E monster?”

Requa: “Haus has got a point. I like fighting powerful opponents as much as the next guy but that was dangerous on your part.”

Rumo wanted to argue back but when faced with his friends, he slowly backed off. But I could still feel hostility from him. I quickly acted before the argument got out of hand again.

“Alright we need to focus. Let’s put our difference aside to deal with this problem.”

The others looked at Rumo who eventually resigned.

“Good now then onto our plan. Right now we know that we’re facing a rank E monster. Despite its size, it’s very agile and mobile.”

Requa: “Not to mention tough. Whenever I swung at it, my sword would bounce back as it I hit a full plate of armor. “

Haus: “It’s also quite intelligent. It knew to dodge your and Als’s spell while maintaining its distance with all of us. It even used the remaining sparse trees to its advantage.”

We started to list out what we all noticed during our fight. The beast was strong and agile as mentioned before but it was a monster nonetheless. We had something it didn’t, intelligence. I started to think of it as a usual special class monster back in Eternia. From there everything clicked into place.

“We’ll divide into groups this time. Haus and Als, out of all of us you two are the weakest. You’ll be on the rear and provide us with support. Rumo, Requa and I will be the vanguard, we’ll deal with the monster directly. My role will mainly support, drawing its attention at a time to allow you to strike at it. Do not be afraid to use your swords ability. Keep a far distance with it, always move around. Everyone got it?”

I looked around to see approval from all of them. Even Rumo grudgingly agreed as well but I knew it out of all of us he hated depending on me to come up with the plan. I simply ignored his hostility and set everything up. While the others prepared I walked to the edge where the trees began to dwindle.

I looked around before using my spell. A small orb of mana formed before flying up into the sky. It exploded similar to a firework for several seconds.

“Now let’s see if my theory is correct…”

I waited but nothing showed up. I decided to fire off another explosive a few minutes after and waited. For a while I thought that it wouldn’t work but before I completely abandon the idea a loud noise was coming our way.

The theory was that the monster was looking for us as well. If a predator has its prey cornered then it was more likely to give chase after it.

Within a matter of minutes it came through and landed just a couple of meters in front of me. It let out a roar as soon as it spotted me and charged straight at me. I had a head start so I was able to put some distance between us. I easily maneuvered my way through the trees while the wialer had some trouble.

I’ve always wondered why the trees in the forest were uprooted especially since the wialers were primates type monsters. But then I consider over factors. The forest was heavily dense, even if their size was small, they would still have trouble fully moving around. Especially the bigger one and the champion version. The remaining trees that weren’t in the uprooted area were oddly arranged, but it was enough for them to easily jump from one to another. The way they were structuring the forest, it was to make it their domain.

I looked back to see the wialer having trouble trying to catch me. Its big frame can’t fit through the small gaps in the trees while a normal human could easily walk through the trees. Eventually it was where we wanted it.

“Now!”

I lured it deep enough into the forest that now it’s movement was heavily impeded. Jumping from the trees they performed a sneak plunge attacked against the wialers. It worked better than I thought at it looked to be heavily damage.

“Don’t let up!”

This time the battle shifted in our favor. It’s greatest strength was its physical strength but it was blocked by the trees. Even if it were to try and get rid of the trees, it would prove difficult as we were consistingly bombarding it.

Using fire spells, I would burn the wialers, giving ample time for Requa and Rumo to easily attack when it was burning. The plan went without a hitch and within a couple of minutes the wialer finally fell. The moment the body hit the ground a loud cheer came from Requa and Haus, surprisingly, even Als joined in.

They ran over to give their applause and thanks for the plan working. I couldn’t help but smile at their general affection towards me. The only one that was excluded was Rumo who had no choice but to acknowledge me.

We finished up our celebration and finally moved on. We were behind schedule in when we would have to meet up with Shae so we quickly picked up the pace. After a couple of minutes we reached what seemed like the center of the forest. The entire area was completely uprooted with trees scattered everywhere. It was an odd sight as this didn’t match my hypothesis on how they uprooted the trees for mobility.

*Such a large space...what purp--*

My thoughts were interrupted by roar, similar to the one from the champion. Everyone knew what that meant so we got formed up. The next moment another champion wilaer appeared. It looked around and eventually spotted us. For a second I could have swore that it was surprise just as much as we were.

It quickly snapped out of its daze and let out a roar which was interrupted by a flying man, literally. On closer inspection it was Kugei. He flew through the air towards, slashing the wilaer.

*What the?*

Those were the only thing I could think up as I saw that. The others were just as surprised.

Shae.Alpha: “Don’t think you’re getting away!”

I looked over to see Shae with Traus, and Yusei running over. It took them a moment before noticing us.

Shae.Alpha: “Oh hey, what a coincidence. And here I thought we were late. We’ll be right with you in a moment. Yusei, let’s go!”

On her order he quickened his pace and jumped on top of Shae. As he descended Shae activated one of her skill, |Reinforce fist| and |Bullet Punch|. He came down just as she punched towards the wilaer. He landed on her fist and used the momentum to dive straight at the wilaers. I couldn’t help but let my mouth fall in amazement.

Like Kugei he flew towards him like a bullet, landing a powerful blow that caused it to stagger backwards. As Yusei retreated Shae and Traus rushed in. The wilaer let out one more defiant roar before swing his arm at Shae.

Shae.Alpha: “|Martial combat-Steel fist guard|”

Using her skill she took the attack head on and stopped it. Traus ran from behind and used Shae as a boost by jumping from her shoulders. He flew much higher and descended with his sword in tow.

Traus: “|Heavy blade Strike|”

I was a fair bit away so I wasn’t able to hear his voice when he used his skill. He brought down his strike on the monster. A huge gash mark appeared on the chest of the wilaer. It let out one more low roar before finally dropping.

Even after all seeing that I still couldn’t see my eyes. Not just because of the creative way she fought the wilaer but the teamwork and coordination of Shae and her group. I looked over to see everyone else with my same reaction.

I quickly shook off my daze and ran towards Shae.

Shae.Alpha: “Hey. So how did you like our show?”

“I...I’m just impressed. Certainly a lot better than when we fought one. How was the sweep on your end?”

Shae.Alpha: “So far so good. That one almost got away.”

“Yeah, these champion versions are much tougher than I thought.”

Shae.Alpha: “You might want to check again.”

I was confused by Shae’s statement, the way she made it out, it was different. While the other gathered to talk with one another, I made my way to the body. At first I was just confuse but soon caught on.

Unlike the champion wialer we fought. It’s fame was less built and it’s fur was a orange hugh rather than the red color. I couldn’t help but look hopelessly look at it with confusion. On a whim I used my |Identify| skill.

*Wilaer...queen? As in a mother? Then that would mean there’s a fat--*

Suddenly I lost all feeling in my body. In fact I didn’t even realize it, my body felt weightless. In times of stress and trauma, namely life or death situations, the human mind slows down. Time is perceived through the brain and it’s ability to coordinate appropriately. Right now time was moving in slow motion, my mind was processing everything that was happening.

My body was flying through the air like a rag doll. The others slow and muffled voices calling out. My sense dulling, trying to figure out what was going on. And then time re-started.

My body was sent flying and eventually hit one of the few tree lying about. Everything happened so quickly that even I didn’t have a chance to fully comprehend. My body began working again but my mind was still adjusting to that moment.

Even with our new bodies and power, we were still living beings. We could heal wounds but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t get hurt.

“AHHHHHHHH!”

I could only let out a small loud scream before my throat was filled with blood. The bitter taste ran all the way from my throat to my stomach as I cough it up. Pain racked my body as every part of it was on fire.

I even almost passed out if I didn’t use my passive skill to calm my mind. I quickly checked my health to see that it went down quite a bit. Not so much that it was shocking but more in what I had experience since we can to this world.

But my concern wasn’t how much health I lose but who caused it. I tried to focus my sense or at the very least trying to find out what hurt me. A loud scream caught my ears as I turned towards the source. My vision was still blurry so I could only make out a big blurry image.

“..Idnea...Ident...ify”

The small screen popped up as per usual and I couldn’t believe my eyes --

“Yo..goataa to be kidd--”

It was a rank D category monster. Way out of our expected league.