My Last Hunt

Quest For Three Stone (31)

Bagel; 

Second stage defense

A team of three diggers was called by the elders of the Hightown; it was an urgent matter because the life of two hunter kings was at the stake. The diggers have means to address this issue and found the hidden dwelling of the stone. If the hunter kings happened to be laced with right defense stones or tools then the elders could rest assure about their lives but they were not. At the time the mission was dispatched; the limited orders were issued. 

These veteran diggers were seniors as well as experienced; just that their appearance was little off, one of them was hiding half of the face with the extra cover of some unknown monster's skin; the visible part of the face looked ruthless and stern and there was a small stone fixed at the earlobe. "Rucha; did you find the remedy of your problem?" the senior who was sitting at the main seat asked curiously. He was well familiar with this digger years ago. He abandoned the idea to advance and become the hunter monarch because he confronted a fatal wound on half of his face years ago. 

"Brother the luck is not on my side I guess." He cackled very strange as if it's been long that he last laughed on anything; probably back then few hundred years ago. The second digger was standing silently; half of his right arm finally appeared which was sheared in a battle long ago and he was waiting for slowly his body to generate the arm through maintaining the experience level on his token. His fleece appeared as red blood as his eyes. The third digger newly joined this team so he was not very familiar with how many things these both went through previous years so from his actions he seemed respectful. He was actually a hunter king and left his team not long ago. The team was not ambitious enough and it was equal to waste years by living among them. He was wearing a chain folding multiple times on his waist and hanging near the knees. "It is also because the Hightown is no more generous toward diggers else the luck was not always bad." The digger with only one complete arm spoke indifferent. He does not care if the person he was talking with has significance hold in the matters of Hightown. 

"Haha; Rumble you are right my friend. These previous years were a mess of responsibilities against the newly acclaimed hunter kings. You already know the problems with newbies. They always come looking for missions before anyone else could approach no matter if they were qualified to get the mission or not." The elder called the digger from his nickname to create some friendliness and decrease the tense moods of the diggers. In normal times; the elder might never has reacted this way but because he has an urgent matter to address and need their help so he was willing to go easy on them. 

"This time a mission forced you to call us?" Rumble asked seeing the elder was in good mood. The senior gestured an attendant to explain about the mission briefly; the senior used a stone to disappear from the hall. He was normally busy with many things so explaining about mission would waste much time. The hall was divided in many parts and when the elder used the stone it actually built a wall at the one side and opened the wall from other side where few hunters were sitting to seek his guidance. 

After listening in to the mission details; Rucha gasped, "It seemed I am going to get the remedy for my problem." He placed his palm on the covered side of his face anticipating. According to the information; it was the same level of the stone which he needed badly. "Then it would be adventurous for us to accompany you." Rumble elbowed the new digger to follow his words and they spoke in unison. Agreeing over it they leapt outside the hall to leave the Hightown earlier. At present level they could match their speed with the wind without extra effort. With this pace' they would be able to reach desired place by evening of the same day or the morning of next day. Rucha was the most spirited to know that his problem would be solved sooner and he could finally start the journey on the path to become hunter monarch. 

….

Along with the challenges the tension was growing; since the ground was slitting in smaller parts it was dangerous to cradle jump in the scenario where the lava was awaiting in case they fell inside the crevices. The hunter king voiced and reminded Qiao to be careful because he slightly slipped from the corner and the hunter kind has to execute a command for the second stone. 

He himself was very busy and unable to properly keep critical eye at the young hunter; a sliver of slip would bring chaos for both; if anyone of them failed that means both failed in real sense. Currently two stones were spawned by the hunter king with commands to take care the young hunter and he was giving enough force to keep the command active. The stones bear the characteristics but needed the will of the master to carry the command. 

The stones cannot act on their own when they have been controlled. They restrained stone was the slave of the master until it lost the power; for every stone the real source of power was the monster who bear it and after being shredded and falling in the hand of a stronger hunter; they stones bear no choice but to breath with the commands of the master. There were few examples where the master trusted these stones and the stone turned traitor after reaching infinity level and left the side of the master by backstabbing or betraying at the critical situation. 

Qiao barely was saved; he lost his balance because of the stone trying to bring a new series of memories; few images were flashed constantly and he was distracted. It seemed the person in the images was none other than Qiao but picturing his future. Wandering in the streets and begging for food and clothes then the flashes were muddled by confusing his childhood and the future circumstances as if the stone was pointed that he would face the same fate in his future. It was one of the biggest fears of a poor human because those who grow up in poor hood wanted to get rid it before death. 

This was one of the most sought after dream of many young men in the advanced world and same goes with Qiao. He wanted stable life with considerable capital in his bank account and property under his name to be called rich and wealthy. This distracted him and fortunately the hunter king gave a helping hand. There were many hidden fears in every normal human those could only be mended with the time. "It's up to I whether I cherry-pick to die poor or not; none of your concern." He folded his fist and continued to advance. His agility seemed tempering with these cradle jumps and he was slowly able to hurdle bigger distance. 

Another hundred feet distance closed in during this struggle and the small parts of the ground started jolting heavily as if ready to throw inside the lava the two stubborn intruders. The ice layers were constantly being refreshed and the second stone was controlling the footing in case the ground broke completely or the hunter was about to fell in the lava. Qiao again picked the sword to hold against the forehead the third crack seemed fatal and one of his stratums of consciousness was no more in condition to clench it anymore. 

Qiao was a human and has only reached level five with limits of presently tempered brain while it was against the power of an infinity level egoistic and shameless stone. The third attack slightly damaged the first stratum of the consciousness and he forced to use the support of the sword. He put the sword and waited for it to work over the mending but it only mended the previous second crack not the newer one. It was a threat that the sword was also at its limits to provide support. 

His hair move to and fro with the hot air around the ground and the tips of his hair turned hot red instantly. "Now you are done young man." The mocking voiced echoed in his head. With the first damaged stratum it would be easier for the stone to get hold on the consciousness. "As long as I am alive there is no chance for you." Qiao gritted his teeth. He himself knew very well what was going to happen; the hunter king voiced reminding that they were near to cross the first stage of defense.