The moment Dylan disappeared from Alex's vision, six thin threads, all connected to his neck, abruptly appeared.
'Crap!'
BANG! BANG!
—Two gunshots resounded.
[The Tyrant of Kentel: Dylan has been inflicted with
It was Line who had shot Dylan straight into the forehead; however, the other bullet missed and flew past Dylan.
"Run towards the foothill."
Alex shouted as Line and Veronica quickly followed behind him.
"What next?"
Veronica asked, a slight nervousness in her voice as she gobbled down an Apple.
"If he stops attacking us then good. But if he does, we need to paralyze him again." Alex turned his head towards Line, "How many more enchanted bullets do you have?"
"Two more."
Line briefly answered.
'I should've killed another Warthog.'
A single Tusk from the Warthog could either be used to craft a weapon or bullets.
It was one thing or the other.
For a Marksman Class like Line, choosing to craft bullets with it was the right decision.
"...We'll need to stun it again…as long as you don't miss both shots then we'll be fine."
[Dylan:
'There's a bit more time left.'
"Then what next?" After hesitating for a brief moment, Veronica continued, "And…did Luke just ran away on us?
"He says he can handle it; that's our only bet if Dylan continues to chase us. As long as we can take Dylan towards the foothill where Luke's waiting for us, then we'll probably be fine."
Hearing this, Veronica grimaced.
Alex couldn't really blame her though, "Probably be fine" wasn't a very reassuring thing in their kind of situation.
[Dylan:
'This is already pretty far…wait, I should've just asked Line to give me the bullets…but then again, our pace would've been slowed down and covering this much distance wouldn't have been possible.'
To be completely honest, Alex felt something was off and he knew exactly what it was.
It was that he didn't feel as pressured as his three companions were.
He let out an exasperated sigh, the white blade materializing in his right hand.
"Line stay behind Veronica, just wait for an opening like you did previously."
[00:01]
As the countdown reached zero, a wild, inhumane screech echoed throughout the hill.
After that, a quiet, ominous silence ensued.
—SWING!
Following the line of the thread connected to his neck, Alex raised his blade and blocked Dylan's attack.
'At the very least, his tendency for random attacks hasn't changed.'
Just as he thought so, an uncountable number of threads appeared in Alex's vision.
[You've used Common D-rank
Alex leapt up into the sky, dodging the wave of red hue that followed the trajectory of Dylan's sword swing.
SWING!
'Is he marking me?!'
Alex thought as a thin thread connected to the back of his neck. He couldn't see it properly, but knew that it was there.
—Of course, it was Dylan who had teleported behind him.
[You've been inflicted with Major effect: 1st Level Injury]
BANG!
Alex felt reassured when the gunshot rang out, however, Line had missed.
To be precise, Dylan had tilted his body in a weird angle, easily dodging the bullet.
"Kghh."
Alex grunted as he parried the swing of Dylan's sword.
'Veronica doesn't have Leap?...No, that makes sense actually. Duskerville hounds are pretty hard to find.'
"Huh?"
To Alex's surprise, Dylan disappeared from his vision.
'That wasn't even five seconds yet.'
For Dylan to use his teleportation skill again, he needed to wait at least five seconds. Atleast, that's how Alex had made him.
It barely took any thinking for Alex to realize that Claire was involved in the cooldown reduction of Dylan's teleportation ability.
"Ha."
Letting out a soft sigh, Alex landed on the ground.
Following the line of a thread, he ran and swung his blade towards Dylan who was pushing Veronica back in their sword fight.
"Don't tell me that was an enchanted bullet."
"Unfortunately, it is."
Veronica answered with a grim expression.
'It took around three seconds for him to be able to teleport again.'
Now ready and aware, Alex became cautious of Dylan's reduced teleportation cooldown.
[HP: 23/75]
'I can't take more fatal attacks and Veronica is likely low on HP as well.'
Once again, Dylan disappeared from their vision.
Immediately, Alex turned his head towards Line.
The Tyrant towered over Line who was holding a pistol, looming behind him and suddenly thrusting his left arm forward—straight into Line's neck.
Though the pain felt by players were not even half as painful as the experience would be in real life, having a thick and large hand thrusted from the back of his neck, all the way through the front side of his neck— At this moment, Line was suffering the most gruesome pain he had ever experienced in his life.
***
Firmly planting a wooden stick into the rich soil, Luke gazed up towards the peak of The Guardian's Hill.
The night was dark and cold, with no signs of the silver moon or the burning stars in the vast sky.
Then, a drop of rain fell on his head.
Touching his head, where he clearly felt the drop of rain, Luke smiled warmly in acceptance of his situation.
Just a few latitude below him were the giant boulders at the foot of the hill and if those three could make it to here along with the Tyrant, then Luke believed he could handle Dylan.
The Item that Dylan would drop, he definitely wanted and will get it for himself.
"Hmm, is the area wide enough though?"
He said in a playful tone.
'Maybe I should go back…'
***
Veronica charged towards Dylan and Line, both angry and anxious.
'Should I…no, in the scenario that it works out somehow, the cooldown will take too long.'
Alex didn't like the idea of having someone he deemed a major character like Line suffer like that; however, sacrifices were necessary.
—Suddenly, Veronica's feet halted.
"Ho?"
Alex let out an amused exhalation.
On Line's right hand was a black pistol pointed directly at Dylan's torso.
Right before the Tyrant could react, just before he could disappear once again, a cocky smirk formed across Line's face.
BANG!