Chapter 29 – Breakdown

The man was breathing raggedly, his face seemingly tired and extremely horrified.

The hunter was a man in his late twenties. His weapon of choice was a normal short sword, just like his friend called Sam who was separated with them earlier. Judging by their gear and weapon, they were probably too poor to buy anything decent.

Showing fear, the man shouted.

"You, aren't you supposed to be a guide? How can you not foresee this?" he kept shouting and pointing his fingers at the Captain and his group. "This can't be happening. If there is a monster enough to scare an entire population up there, we have to get down immediately."

The other less experienced hunter then also mumbled something to himself, catching their attention.

"I have a family waiting for me, two kids. I can't die here."

No one can blame them. It was human nature to feel fear at the unknown and that was exactly the problem right now.

Humans even with centers of powers cannot easily see that clearly in that dark. Only someone with special abilities to do so or those talented enough and trained too much could do so.

A monster the size of a tree might be looking at them right this very moment, waiting to devour them! And they don't know what it was that was up there. During these moments, it was easy for the mind to imagine the most fearful of things.

Plus, human deaths in hunting grounds usually had these kinds of stories in the news; a sudden mutation suddenly emerges or abnormal behaviors were detected and in the end hunter casualties' just pop out in the news report. No one cared, as it was just a daily occurrence. It was the fault of the deceased they become a hunter in the end.

High risk, high return – this was the life of hunter.

Seeing the commotion, the veteran hunters could not believe it.

"Stop it. We're still at the Seventh Mountains. No monsters should be capable of using magic at this place." The captain said and he was right.

The Seventh Mountains were only inhabited by melee-type monsters. With that account, they could deal with it, and calm them down.

But the two hunters were on a state of breakdown.

The veterans shook their heads. During their experience at hunting grounds, these kinds of breakdowns were called 'the shake' and usually happen at night, targeting those who were weak in the mind. It was completely normal and some hunting grounds were notorious for bringing this effect a daily dose to its visitors. But to think this was happening at a low-level hunting ground was abnormal.

"Oh my, look at what you did. You just gave them the shake," Alex then jokingly whispered at Carl, smiling at him very happily.

"To think you could still joke at this time, you're evil." Carl replied lowly.

With a pissed off face, Mason was about to approach the two men, but the Captain blocked his path with his hand. Apparently displeased, the Captain then hissed making Mason back off.

Then he went to the hunters themselves, slapping their cheeks with his palms to gather their attention;

"Sorry, but going down only means death. We're going up no matter what. Even if the rest point had been destroyed, there must be survivors nearby. Running way in monster lair in the middle of the dark could only be suicide."

The Captain stood up after seeing the two calm down a little bit.

Then he looked at Carl with a serious and firm expression. It was a little hard for him to believe he was actually doing better than the duo. And on top of this, he also had warned them.

"Sorry, but I can't grant your request. We will go up." As he said that, the Captain returned to his position.

Carl did not show his expression but he sighed inside his heart. Truth be told, he was not confident facing some unknown monster that just scared a whole population of monsters.

But he was not going to stay here and camp either. Only a fool would do that in the middle of the night.

'Not that it matters. I joined this group in the first place to benefit from the advantages of a group. I could just run when needed.'

Carl thought and looked at Captain Austin's resolute back.

In Carl's eyes, that man had his priorities set and if he was not going down, the group definitely won't.

"Let's go," a veteran said to Carl.

The front group started to climb the mountain again, followed by the veterans. Some were reluctant but they immediately trailed after them. If something indeed was up there, it should be something they could at least handle. The captain made them remember that.

"That guy, didn't he become an entirely different person from when he was recruiting people?"

Alex then commented looking at Carl, but he wasn't necessarily asking for his opinion and just speaking his thoughts. And truth be told, everyone who was at the rear knew that he was actually right.

Feeling the same, Carl simply stopped looking at the people and drank from his water bottle. He had absorbed some world mana in the rest earlier, so he was good to go. He also had three mana stones so he didn't shy away from absorbing them.

Staring at Carl, Alex then asked;

"So what do you do?"

After putting his water bottle back to his bag, Carl simply flashed a smile and replied, "Of course, we also follow."

"Okay…"

Alex blandly replied, but he was a little puzzled of whether to be happy or sad with Carl's behavior.

"Really?" he mumbled and joined him.

"Yup."

Seeing that most of the group had actually moved up the mountain, the doubtful hunters could only follow too.

The death rate of hunters during nighttime was high, and being in a small group with not-so powerful hunters, they were only courting death.

The main reason everyone had the courage and agreed to go at a high altitude environment with a swarm of monsters around them, was that they had the backing of a large group.

What the hunters did not know at this time was that the leader of their group had other plans in his mind.

'Green chasm monster, I'm coming and I have the perfect baits to get you.' the captain thought, shooting a sharp glance at the rear group.