My Last Hunt

Quest For Three Stones (18)

Zunal; 

Phantasm

The buildings, concrete road and the silence; nothing changed. Qiao was slowly getting used to with weird occurrences and he was also ready in case some monster tries to ambush. It the things were part of his consciousness which this phantasm borrowed and trying to playing fool with his eyes. It was natural for this place to capture the actual weaknesses of the hunters and then bring it to alive in front of the human and make him believe what was not real. Qiao was in the same situation just like the three hunter Kings who were also lost here and yet to understand their plight. 

Qiao was from the advanced world where he was familiar with huge buildings and carpet roads so the phantasm showed him exactly the same place which he has in his head. Then the people he most feared and always wanted to revenge for example the gym guy who always bullied Qiao and he has some bad memories too. The phantasm was using those memories for him to lose the path completely. This was the same which happens most of the hunters who end up here. 

But there was a slight difference; when hunters usually see their blood lust enemies under the tip of their swords, they never think twice to stop in the middle instead they attack with the same strength which was actually not good in terms to leave this place or find the path. So naturally they fell in the hidden depths of the phantasm until they make some good decision and tear off some of the dark covers of the delirium. Since Qiao has strong self-control; he would not directly kill the gym guy instead he would only kick his butt when he found the chance. 

It was because his father taught him a rule for life before death. And this rule always gave him strength to temper his self-control as well as fight with the circumstances. Whenever he was in difficult situation he followed it and came out from the distress in the end. That was true the delirium uses the weaknesses against the hunter and it was hard for a hunter to control when the enemy was right under the hands and the hunter could take revenge pretty hardly. It was up to hunter how he would react in the real time opportunity. 

Whether he forward straight and revenge harder than he was supposed or he would stop and think why he should kill when the other human never went that far in reality. This delirium read the consciousness of the hunter actually and then decides in what way it further can harm or test the consciousness to betray at least. When the hunter passes through all three tests then it would be forced to send out the hunter without hurting but if at any test the hunter lost to decide the right option then the phantasm would knit more cruel net around the consciousness. 

This same happened with the three hunter kings and they were pushed in the covers of the phantasm now after a long struggle they were at the same test where Qiao was standing. When Qiao thought that he was still in some forest and the monsters were expected from everywhere then bunch of monsters came running toward him which was nothing but a gust of wind. But because the three hunter kings and the normal hunter was at the same test; it would be troublesome for all of them unless they learn how to overcome this trial. 

Everything was possible; this phantasm could make them enemies of each other or present them in front of each other in a precarious situation where they would definitely lost again. The trap of the phantasm was multifaceted and horrible. At present Qiao has no hint whether there was someone else in this place or not. The hunter king felt that another wave of monsters was on his way when he was standing with close eyes to sense his surroundings. He was quite powerful yet this phantasm forced him to act like a normal lower level hunter else it was wielding the weapon furiously before. 

This hunter king used the most imposing stones against the imaginary monsters and his long lost enemies which proved just an illusion in the end. These stones have the power to control the enemy in no time yet they were unworkable here because the intentions of the hunter king were not relevant to the type of enemy. Its commands were useless because the stones never met the target instead it proved only the shadows of consciousness. It was one of the hardest skills to temper the consciousness of the hunters. They were humans and have weaknesses. But to be a Hunter Monarch every hunter king has to learn how to defy the shadows of the consciousness. 

There were many hunter kings who have not yet tempered consciousness and sometimes lost against particular rare monsters with the certain characteristics. It was out of question that they could ever stand up as hunter monarch if they have such terrible flaw. It was one of the three flaws which cannot be ignored if one wanted to reach Hunter Monarch rank, the last rank in hunting world and it was empty from the previous two thousand years because no one appeared as strong to claim this rank. 

Qiao felt the gush of wind only for the reason that the hunter king was much near and he also sensed someone using a weapon. Qiao thought perhaps the monster was near. His sword clashed with a sword and a human fell in his feet, the hunter king dodged at right time and looked toward who did attack. He was slight amazed that his illusion brought a hunter in front of him but this time it was holding a weapon and it actually clashed with his sword. It started laughing thinking that the shadow of the hunter would disappear while Qiao was in completely different situation. 

The gym guy with a sword was in front of him and when the sword did not really harmed, it started mocking. It was the same laugh which he used to do when he used to kick Qiao and seeing that he was helpless mocked or make fun of his situation. Qiao flashed eyes several times. It was another problem; how come the gym guy again appeared and this time with a sword. He could ignore the deceitful laugh though. All since he has seen this laugh several hundred times that it no more make him furious or mad at him. 

Then subsequently he has to show some moves of his sword if the illusion was in a mood to fight back. For Qiao; there was no doubt any more that the things coming in front of him most of them were his illusion. He was university student and has clear concepts about how the human brain works. It was part of his consciousness that he has an enemy in his previous world and he has thought to kick at least once that gym guy when he return but he would make sure that he don't die with his single kick. 

As for now; there was no harm in checking the sword strength since there was visible sound of two weapons clashing. "Stand up bro; let's have fun with our weapons." He sounded very casual. The gym guy stood up and furiously looked at him. "You low-key; how come you call me brother." The hunter king saw his enemy talking bullshit against him and attacked. He was mocking his situation and the hunter king was unable to bear it because he has clear awareness how strong he was yet this enemy was mocking him. 

Qiao was only bothering to use his sword and after two clashes of the weapon; his enemy disappeared again. The hunter king lost the track of the hunter and looked around. He again appeared at his back and this time he controlled his anger. He was little aware that as soon as he would act irrational; the shadows would not remain longer. Qiao could not see that the hunter king was at his back and hunter king has chance to stab this sword in his blood lust enemy once for all but he stopped himself. 

He was not willing again to lose instead he wanted to talk with him. Only with a favorable clue he could leave this phantasm and if making his enemy his friend was the only choice then he would try it out. He stepped ahead to get his attention and Qiao felt that the gym guy was about to sneak attack. He hurriedly turned around swaying the sword and it almost reached the neck. Things were not as simple as they seemed. Another hunter king thought that someone was about to kill his older brother right in front of his eyes. It was Qiao who was using sword.