GH - 205

We were met with flashes of lights. Too bad it wasn’t paparazzi taking our pictures; players were warping into the left and right, turning the village into a disco club.

If it were me, it’d be better if our party registered later. This was like standing up before the cabin doors of the just-landed airplane were opened. Why the rush? We weren’t missing out on anything if we waited a few hours for the surge of players heading to the Hunter-Warriors’ Lodge to subside.

From what I’ve learned from asking around and watching videos, the Great Hunt was an NPC-led expedition lasting for about five days or so, depending on how far the players could keep it going. The Hunter-Warrior NPCs would establish camps along the path that migrating monsters would take, and players had to follow it. No point moving ahead; either event mobs wouldn’t spawn or the way would be blocked.

Great Hunt monsters such as the Cragodon and Fengharl would be plentiful. Elite monsters would pop up without needing to kill many of their normal versions. Also, bosses and mini-bosses would leave their designated areas and join the migration, without the limitation of their timers when they were killed; an easy way to boss hunt without having to look for them.

At each stop, players would join the NPCs hunt. Along with their usual loot, monsters also dropped Hunting Tokens which could be exchanged for items at the event shop; the stronger the monster, the more Tokens. NPCs would then send the bounty back to the village—this was a chore for lower-level players wanting to earn Tokens but couldn’t compete in the killing. There were also Great Hunt-related quests with special rewards.

Once the mobs in the area thinned, the NPCs would pack camp and move on. Rinse and repeat.

As the hunting party progressed through the mountain, the difficulty of the fights would increase. The starting levels of the monsters encountered and how fast it’d progressed depended on the levels of participating players.

Though the route the NPCs took slightly varied for each Great Hunt, it generally passed the same areas, Kezo had explained to me. However, some side paths would only open during the event. Something about the changing energy flow bringing down deadly barriers that were the Mountain Guardian’s breath was the explanation. Many speculate that the escape from the mountain was only possible if a Great Hunt was ongoing.

Hopes were higher this time around with rumors that Bawu, with her biohazard explosions and experiments, would create more paths. And they were right. Bawu knew of areas yet unexplored by players.

I have to reach those places before anyone else, I thought as I scanned the throng of players hemming us in. Competitors, all of them. Most were stronger than me. It wasn’t even a contest.

But these people weren’t aware of the truecontest. My ace was that I knew what to look for. With a piece of the [Tattered Map] obtained from Bawu, I had a clue where to go, while everyone else didn’t. They were just aiming to keep up with the hunting party as far as possible, blindly hoping they’d run into the exit somehow.

I had no idea how far the previous Great Hunts reached—Luds had bragged it went on for a week once, with his party keeping up until it failed—but I was sure we’d make a record this time.

With tons of new players—including me, technically—the Great Hunt would start quite easily. This was why I thought it was fine to register later. The weak monsters would get blasted by everyone anyway. Soon enough, the low-level players—not including me—would get left behind as the hunting party pressed on. Combining the returning strong veterans, who had quit the game months ago, and the current strong players, we’d most certainly go very far.

“You guys wait here.” Kezo directed us next to a cart a block away from the Hunter-Warrior’s Lodge. “It’s better if I go alone to register.”

“I’m not diving in there even if you paid me,” Nitana murmured, nodding at the ever-thickening crowd.

“Really? That depends on the payment, doesn’t it?” Megan said. “Like if you got paid with a nice date and—”

“I’m sure you’d agree to that payment,” Nitana snappily retorted.

I stared at Kezo’s back as Megan and Nitana bickered. The mass of players swallowed him. There were many familiar faces.

SpartanDonkey, towering over other Mardukryons, effortlessly parted the crowd. Behind him were two low-level players. From the logo beside their names, they were members of the Expeditionary Legion like him. One was Bonkakonb, whom I had met before. The other was a level five player named Zedekuleus14. He must’ve switched to Mardukryons recently, sent by his guild to help SpartanDonkey.

SpartanDonkey’s going with those two for this Great Hunt? I wondered with a raised brow.

He wasn’t aiming to get far if he had two deadweights with him, even if he’d bring along three strong players to complete their lineup. It’d be four versus full parties of six. There must be a reason why he intentionally handicapped himself for this event. If I had to guess, SpartanDonkey had low-level guildmates with him to check if they’d trigger quests he no longer could because of his level and progression in the storyline. Seemed like something the Expeditionary Legion would do.

The Great Hunt would keep SpartanDonkey’s mind off other secrets, like the Ocadules and hidden achievements from the Big M he was trying to pry out of me. Could also be that his guildmates discovered other paths with the Big M.

I also saw Chimichangaroo. Easy to spot him and his teammates in the crowd because they were obviously strong with their gear. His party was the favorite to place top one on the leaderboards for the Great Hunt. As if he had a sixth sense, he faced my way and met my gaze.

I nodded at him. He nodded back.

Not sure what that was supposed to mean, but he probably thought I was affirming our agreement. Other than Kezo, Megan, and Nitana, Chimi also knew that I had information about monsters that players hadn’t yet discovered. Chimi was a large payday waiting to happen. He didn’t care about the still-locked areas Bawu got her test subjects from; he only wanted their loot. If I could farm and supply them to him, Chimi would pay with no issue, unlike SpartanDonkey would likely hound me to no end to uncover my secrets.

“Coming through, coming through!” Though faint because of the distance, the annoying voice was very recognizable.

Megan and Nitana simultaneously groaned.

“Make way for me, people! Make way if you want this Great Hunt to succeed.” BeetsByLuwdig led his party to the Hunter Warrior’s Lodge, thankfully coming from the other side of the village, and away from us. We could barely see him, but his voice pierced through the cacophony of the crowd.

“Ugh, Luds,” Nitana said. “I’m not going anywhere near him even if you paid me.”

“Ditto,” said Megan. “I can’t think of anything that’d suffice.”

“Wow, suffice. Big words from a big girl.”

“Shush on that.”

I continued people-watching while Megan and Nitana resumed their banter. Several new players I had helped were among those lining up to register for the event. Some Hunting Tokens here and there could add up to something that’d help make their characters stronger.

Though itching to get out of the giant sardine can that was the village, and not really in the mood to talk, I couldn’t stand at the side like a kid in the grocery waiting for Mum to return with a forgotten item from another aisle. Herald Stone, Most Important Mardukryon, knew his role. I called to everyone I recognized, giving generic greetings with slight variations. If I could remember—or bother to remember—something specific about a person, I’d wove that into my greeting.

These were just times I had to be a politician. With this amount of people around, I didn’t have a choice. Hell, if someone brought along a baby, I’d kiss it.

Paritor, ever the introvert, stowed himself on the other side of the cart, next to the wall of a hut. I made sure to stick to his six-legged giant tiger summon. People didn’t know who Paritor was, but they did know me. And people also knew I started the recent world quest. To their minds, I had discovered a brand-new summon.

People returned my greetings, but none stopped by to chat. Thankfully. Everyone was in a rush to start the Great Hunt. A few minutes later, Kezo still hadn’t returned. But I was losing the energy calling out to people.

“Hey, Lavender!” I spotted a nice way to end my campaign period. With someone to talk to, I wouldn’t look like a loser stuck at the back of the crowd. “I’m here with Megan and Nitana!”

“Where’s Lavender?” asked Megan. “Oh, there she is! Lavender, over here!”

“Jani and Kai are with her too,” I said. “The others with them are probably their teammates for the Great Hunt.”

After fighting the flow of players, Lavender’s group reached us. There was an exchange of greetings and introductions, then Lavender confirmed my guess that they had formed a complete party to join the event. “Like why waste the opportunity?” she said with a shrug. The war hammer strapped to her back also bounced.

“Agree,” I said. “And it’s going to be fun with all the people here.” More witnesses to my greatness.

“I’m going to follow you guys around kill steal any monster you attack,” Megan said, snickering.

“Why do you choose violence, Meg?” said Lavender. “Is it because I tried to embarrass you in front of—”

“No! Not that. I was joking and—”

“It’s definitely that,” said Jani.

“Kezo’s coming,” I said. “And he’s with Melonomi.” Turning to Lavender, I said, “See you on the other side, and good luck on your hunt.” That seemed like something a veteran would say.

-----

The other side wasn’t any better than the village.

It was worse.

There were so many people that I would’ve thought we were still in the village if we hadn’t just warped here. Instead of standing around, packed into each other, there was total pandemonium. People scattered this way and that as if there was a gold rush. There were many monsters, or there were supposed to be many of them, but each time one showed its ass, it was instantly deleted a nanosecond later.

“This doesn’t look like a Great… Hunt…” said Melonomi.

"More like a Chaotic Hunt," I said. 

“Let’s go to the camp first,” said Kezo.