Solo Hunter Challenge Pt.2

Pulling out his pistols as Snakey slithered down the tree, John took careful aim and gathered Soul Energy in his right gun. He'd only mastered the creating of a Soul Bullet the day before and it was still incredibly difficult. It took him several seconds to create one and he could only make 10 before he had to take a break. However, it doesn't make any noise and in this situation quietly taking out the leaders would be incredibly useful. It was at times like this that he wished he was like Steven, able to calmly walk into a crowd of enemies and laugh off their attacks...

Slowly and methodically, John began picking off all the Rank 9 monsters, leaving the Rank 8's for later. There were only a couple of them and they had all developed a kind of danger sense due to constant life and death battles that would likely give away John's position if he tried to kill them.

Suddenly, the Monster's in the clearing started going crazy as they ran to the right and took off. Taking advantage of the confusion, John took out the Rank 8 rat as it rushed to the front with incredible speed. Ever since he'd started training the Basic Dual Pistol's his ability to shoot fast moving targets at range had increased to an incredible level. He really wanted to find a video of a Dual Pistol Grandmaster in action. They had to be insanely strong if he could hit a rat moving 80 miles per hour from over a 100 feet away.

Placing the normal ammo back in his guns, John started firing even as he leaped from the tree and sprinted behind the monster hoard. With every shot, a minion careened to the ground. Physically, John was barely stronger than a single minion but taking advantage of Spirit Tools he could take them out as if they were nothing.

Thanks to his earlier culling, John didn't have to worry about any Rank 8 or 9 monsters and the minions where too focused on the aura of a newly born to beast to turn back even as the head of the rabbit standing next to them exploded.

*BANG BANG BANG BANG*

The unfortunate part of this is the sound travels much further than the aura. With this, many new monsters will be attracted to the area. Jumping over a fallen log, ducking under a vine John rushed forwards continuing to fire at an incredible rate. Finally, he took out the last one and kept running another 100 feet to find Snakey facing off with a Rank 7 level 2 Lion as one of it's cubs hid behind Snakey.

This is the cruel reality for Beasts. They were often born to a Monster parent, and unable to control their instincts the mother eats the beast as soon as they develop. Snakey already had several wounds on her body, and if this had been just a week earlier John wouldn't have been able to do a damned thing to a Rank 7 level 2 Lion. However Soul Bullets ignore physical defenses and so after 10 seconds of concentration during which Snakey took several more blows, John fired and the Lion fell to the ground. The Lion's soul was severly injured, it's body falling to the ground still breathing and completely intact. Low level monsters don't develop any kind of soul defenses unless they reach Rank 6 (low boss) meaning that so long as it was within 2 levels of his cultivation he could take out almost any monster in an instant. Another reason to love Soul Bullets is the lack of damage to monster hides. If this was in real life, John could've sold the Lion carcass for several thousand academic credits just based off it's pristine condition.

Rushing over, John examined Snakey and sighed in relief as he realized that she was fine. Her injuries had already begun to heal, and since she'd been focused on protecting the beast instead of attacking the lion she'd managed to dodge most of the attacks.

"Scout the extraction route." John ordered as she set her down, pointing her to the south and sending her on her way. Opening up his backpack, John took out a special spray that confused the senses of monsters making them think the lion Beast was a Monster.

Looking around, he found the cub crying as it tried to wake the Monster Lion back up. It already knew that it's Mom was about to kill and eat it, but no one would be happy watching their mom killed. Sighing, John sprayed the lion cub carefully, making sure to cover up it's entire aura before lifting it up carefully and saying, "I'm here to help you escape, hold on and we'll be out of here in no time."

Still crying, the Cub nodded it's head in understanding as John placed it in his backpack and zipped it most of the way closed. Picking his gun's back up, John did his beast to erase his scent and trail as he ran off into the wilderness.

A couple hours of sneaking later, John and Snakey made it out of the Forest and met up with the Beast who'd sensed the impending birth. "Thank you so much, I would've dealt with it myself but I was too far away to make it in time." The giant Water Buffalo said as he walked up to John.

Carefully taking the cub out of the bag, he set it down and watched as the two started talking in a language he'd never heard before. When they evolved to become beasts, they awakened a primal memory that granted them a cultivation technique, the ability to speak the beast's language, and a great store of knowledge about the world. Honestly, John was incredibly jealous of the beasts for most of his life until today when he saw the little cub's mom try to eat it.

'No amount of knowledge and strength is worth the price of your parents trying to eat you.' John thought as a tear threatened to escape his eyes.

"Challenge 3 completed. Challenge 4 - " Before the voice could continue, John said, "End program."

The view changed as John flew across what felt like several worlds before appearing in his cave. Walking over to the log out tunnel, he left without bothering to check the other options or send his friends a message. With a Rank 7 Level 2 monster appearing in the 3rd challenge, he wasn't sure he'd be able to continue. Sure, Soul Bullets could ignore physical defenses and injure or kill monsters stronger than him but just that single challenge had forced him to shoot 9 of them. 1 more and he'd be unable to make another one for several hours and he still had to go to class later today.

John opened his eyes to find himself in a room he'd never been in before. Stepping carefully out of the gaming capsule, John saw several vending machines and a clock. 'Guess even in suspended animation you use some calories...' John thought as his stomach growled. Grabbing a package of Oreo's, he chowed down as he pulled out his phone to check his academic credits.

Opening up the app, the skipped the total credits to check his history. "Let's see, 100 points for the first challenge, 500 for the 2nd, and 2,500 for the third." It seemed like a lot, but then he remembered that the only reason he'd managed to complete the third trial so easily was the Soul Bullet which cost him 17,000 credits. If not for that, he would've had to spend an hour or more to kill the lion by which point the entire jungle would've been after him and there'd have been no way to sneak the cub out.

Smiling to himself, John flipped back to the point totals and found himself sitting at 15,173 points which put him in third place since Mike and Steven hadn't spent any yet. However, the points earned category put him in first with 33,183 points. It seemed that Steven and Mike hadn't managed to complete the third challenge yet, but knowing them they'd manage it soon enough.

After putting away his phone, he grabbed another package of Oreo's and glanced at the clock, surprised to find that while nearly a full day had passed in the game it was only lunch time in reality. With an entire day to kill, he decided to head back to his dorm for some real food and to catch up on some studying. Since he could finally read runes now Runesmithing was beginning to fascinate him.