My Last Hunt

Level Four (20)

Defeat me in a duel: 

"Let's get back the shovel first." Qiao gestured at him to follow the feet marks and they reached the tent next to their tent. "What? The team is among the ten teams? But why do they want to bother with this work?" The chaser shook his head. 

"They don't want to bother with job specifically, they are trying to bother us." Qiao pointed at the man standing with shovel and laughing. He was the same hunter who was troubling them from the very first day. 

This was the hunter who had chosen their team as a target to create problems for them and then kick them out from the Snow Island. It was because the tent of this team was right next to them. 

"You finally came here." the hunter smirked. 

"Tell us why you are intentionally seeking to make troubles for our team? Is there anything worth this effort?" Qiao asked. He just cannot bear this man anymore; he could feel the hidden vibes but he was not clear. 

"This time I am only creating small troubles for you. You see, you have something which I want and when I want something, I get it." There was no one around except Qiao and the other chaser so he thought to come at the point. 

"And what is it?" Qiao creased his brows. "It is that booklet." The hunter plainly spoke. Qiao heard and wanted to laugh at the stupidity of the hunter. 

"What if I don't give it?" he solemnly looked at the hunter. This was first time ever that a hunter directly came to snatch things from him. Was he fearless about the organizers? 

"You are not capable of rightly using it." He again spoke.

He had heard this before and this young chaser could not read it on his own. If a chaser was handing it to someone else to read for himself then he was only occupying something that has no use for him or he can't get proper benefits from it. 

He had a strong team and with the help of the booklet he could hunt hidden monsters of Snow Island. 

"Oh, then what I have to do to prove my capability?" Qiao shrugged his shoulders, he was actually amused by this revelation. He heard a proverb in his childhood, 

'Don't keep something you don't deserve' It felt a little discriminative to him whenever he read it. What does this mean? What if one already has it? Should he just give up? 

Of course not and he would never do that in the present situation. 

If he possesses something then he would learn how to keep it. Strength? So be it. He will become strong to keep it. But he would never ever give up just like he used to give up in his world. 

"Fight a duel with me and if you win, I won't bother you again." The hunter threw the shovel on the snow and challenged him. He was approaching soon level five while Qiao was half way through but Qiao accepted this, "Sure, we will meet away from the encampment then." Qiao gestured at the chaser to pick the shovel. 

"I will wait then." The hunter went back without further ado. He had already taken much of their time. 

Not much time was left for the evening to arrive and they have not done their job yet. It was not good. They had to work until clearing the snow no matter even if the dusk had arrived. 

"Are you seriously considering about it?" The chaser who was silently moving the cloth to let Qiao shove the snow asked curiously. 

"That hunter is up to something else and I want to know what it is" Qiao answered while picking the snow in the shovel and throwing on the cloth. 

"What if he brought his whole team and you went to face him alone? I don't think he is trustable." the chaser spoke in a worried tone. 

"I won't be trusting him either." Qiao assured him. 

The lamps lit up after it was dark and both were still clearing snow till then. It was not an easy job to clear it from the whole surrounding in a small amount of time and they cannot risk it by leaving as it was. It was necessary to clear it at any cost. 

"If I became a strong hunter one day, I will create some better way to clear this snow from the encampment." the chaser got tired and spoke to get rid his frustration. 

"For this great deed, your name will be written on the front of the encampment." Qiao gladly added. "And the hunters would remember the name of their saviour for the rest of their lives." the chaser laughed at the idea of writing his name on the front of encampment. 

They took another two hours in clearing the snow and when they returned to the tent, they were hell tired. None of them told the leader about the hunter and the duel. Duels were not allowed in the Snow Island because of the strict rules and the team leaders of all teams were knowledgeable to this fact. The hunter who challenged was the leader of his team and he clearly knew about the rules too. 

When the night fell, the senior hunters once again appeared at the watchtowers to keep a look out on the surrounding. The wooden bridge was also guarded by the silver class. Most of the Snow Island was roaring with the voices of the monsters, only the lake and the hidden monster inside were exceptionally calm.

.....

A monster of level six was able to survive under the lake because of a secret path to the other part underneath, where no one had ever ventured until now. So, whenever it needed to breath, it would appear at the deserted lake opening. It was trying destroy the wooden bridge and then no help would be able to reach Snow Island for the time being.