Because of the sudden attack, the hunters of City J were caught off guard. The branch of the Hunter Association in city J had to scramble.
The top rankers of city J were raiding other gates to close them, so they assembled the closest available hunters for an emergency response.
A total of five groups were deployed, each group was led by a D-rank hunter. Their initial mission was only supposed to be a search and rescue operation, unfortunately fate had other plans.
Paul's squad, led by the D+ rank swordsman Jay, was the unfortunate exception.
Paul remained frozen in place as tried to hide his presence as he desperately tried desperately to get his teammates' attention.
'Shit… nothing's working! They can't see me!'
Then the relentless banging sounds on the nearly-destroyed reinforced gate of Safe Room 2 suddenly stopped.
Paul paused his breathing.
'W-what the… it got quiet?'
But before he could finish his thoughts, the mutated Hobgoblin Cadre lunged towards his teammates on the other side.
CRASH!
With its terrifying force, the monster hurled the lifeless corpses of a dead guard out of its way, then charged directly towards his two teammates.
'No! It's too late!'
One of them didn't even have time to react, he was punched in the chest which immediately caved in, and he was thrown into the air, his body flung down the hall like a ragdoll. The crunching of bones against the concrete sent a shiver down Paul's spine.
Panic immediately surged through him, his initial reaction was to flee from the area, but he forced himself to think rationally.
'I need to tell May to retreat while it's still distracted!'
He clenched his fists at the thought of not being able to help his teammates, but the safety of the civilians and important information takes priority.
'I don't want to leave them behind… but survival is more important, and this information needs to get out.'
Without hesitation, Paul turned around and sprinted back towards May. He reached her and grabbed her by the shoulders.
"Run!" he grunted. "Tell the other Squad Leaders that it's a Mutated Hobgoblin Cadre! GO!"
May's eyes widened in shock by this revelation, but she immediately understood the gravity of the situation. She gave a sharp nod while handling him few of her smoke bombs and proximity grenades, "Stay alive."
Then, she vanished, with all her speed carrying her away as she raced towards Jay and the other groups.
Seeing her go Paul let out a shaky breath, trying to calm down and reassure himself.
'She's the fastest in the group… she'll reach him before that-'
He noticed that it became quiet again, the atmosphere was cold and the suffocating stillness filled the air.
Paul slowly turned his back.
There he saw the monster was staring directly at him with malicious intent etched all over its face as if it saw another prey.
Its black eyes gleamed under the dim lights, its muscles occasionally twitching showing its visible veins that bulge.
Paul swallowed hard his saliva.
His instinct screamed that if he didn't run away now, he was good as dead
'I have to distract it somehow, as long as I can… I can't let it go in this direction any further, otherwise all the other hiding civilians' will be endangered.'
He forced himself to breathe, steadying his nerves. Then, he ran away in the opposite direction.
'I'll lure it away through the broken stores… and buy as much time as possible.'
But before he could make it far enough, the monster was catching up to him.
BOOM!
The Hobgoblin moved faster than he ever could have imagined.
"N-no way!" Paul gasped, he couldn't make sense as how can something this chunky move that fast.
Then, crash after crash echoed through the mall as the beast tore through the wreckage, it was slowly closing in on him with its pure malicious intention to tear Paul apart.
As Paul was being chased, May sprinted back toward their earlier starting point, her heart was pounding from nervousness.
While she was on her way, she ran into Group 3, who were guiding survivors to safety. Their leader, Brandon, a D rank spearman, noticed her approaching from afar.
"Alright that's the last of them, Hmm? Isn't that girl from Jay's group, hey! Miss!" he called out while waving his hand.
But his eyes narrowed as he caught something that was off. 'She seems to be in a rush… something must've happened.'
May saw him and skidded to a stop as she barely caught her breath.
Brandon crossed his arms. "You're the rookie from Jay's squad, right? Where's the rest of your group? Did something happen?"
May didn't waste a second and quickly relayed the event that had happened earlier, about the wrong monster classification, the Hobgoblin Cadre, and Paul staying behind to buy her time.
Brandon's expression darkened.
"Wait a sec… you're saying the intel was wrong?" he cut in, with a serious tone.
She nodded at him.
"Damn it… If that thing is really a Hobgoblin Cadre, it'll take multiple D-ranks to bring it down. And that's if all our teams are together to distract it so one of us can land a decisive blow."
Before he could say anything else, May turned past him and bolted away.
"Ah hey! Wait a minute!" he called after her, but she was already gone.
Brandon let out a sigh.
"You could've just used the communicator on your wrist… why did Jay split up his group in the first place…" he muttered while shaking his head disapprovingly.
He activated his holographic communicator and immediately relayed the urgent update to the other team leaders and also messaged the association.
Jay, who was trying to catch up with his team members that he ordered to go first, had just met up with Group 2 when the message flashed across his wrist device.
His eyes narrowed as he thought of the worst possibilities.
'This just got a lot more dangerous, change of plans, i need to hurry'
He turned towards Rand Marvin, the D rank archer leading Group 2.
Jay's voice was sharp, "...So what do you say? I'll split the loot from the troll if you and your group help me rescue my members."
Marvin, ever the opportunist and seeing the update from Brandon and Jay's reaction, smirked.
"The value of that troll is low. It's a lesser troll, not even a pureblood. Plus, we already killed one earlier and by the looks of it, you've had a rougher time than we did."
Jay's jaw tightened, 'Alright… calm down. This bastard just wants a bigger cut.'
He exhaled, forcing confidence into his tone, "The troll I killed wasn't ordinary. It was a mutant, and it might as well be a full-blooded one."
Marvin's smirk faltered.
"So? That's still not worth my time," he shrugged. "You'll have to offer us more."
Jay clicked his tongue.
"Fine, let's split it to 60-40."
Marvin grinned. "30-70. Since you'll be needing the assistance of me and my members. Then we've got a deal."
His squad chuckled behind him.
Jay clenched his fists.
"...Fine," he spat and pointed his finger at Marvin's face. "But they better be alive when we get there. We've wasted enough time negotiating when we should've been moving."
Marvin held up his hands, slapped away Jay's finger and feigned innocence.
"Whoa, calm down, Squad Leader Jay. You were the one asking us for help, if you hadn't split your members in the first place you wouldn't be in this kind of situation. Now, let's go before your boys get squashed."
Jay didn't respond to him. He only thought to himself: 'This scumbag, I know it's my fault to make them scout ahead… You'd better pray that they are still alive. Because if they're not, it won't be the monster that gets to you first."
May kept running as she pushed her mobility skill to the limit until she found another group.
She nearly crashed into Group 1, led by Bart, a D+ rank magician.
His sharp eyes scanned her exhausted status. "What's wrong, Miss May?"
She hurriedly explained everything to him.
After hearing her out Bart nodded in understanding. "We already got the report from Group 3. The Branch Association has alerted the higher-ranking hunters. Reinforcements are coming."
May exhaled in relief and sat down.
"You've done your part," Bart said, reaching into his pouch. He pulled out a low-grade mana potion and handed it to her.
"Rest up. You'll need your strength."
May hesitated since these things are quite expensive, but she took it since she thought about just paying for it later.
After giving her the potion, Bart glanced at his communicator.
"Group 2 should be here soon… and your squad leader Jay is on his way too."
Upon hearing the others are coming she finally relaxed, she felt a flicker of hope.
After a while, Bart noticed a fast-moving group approaching from the corridor.
"Oh, there they are," he said, waving his hand in their direction. "Looks like they got here just in time."
May stood up immediately, with a look of relief spreading across her face.
It was Jay, followed behind by Rand Marvin and his group, who had arrived.
After a brief exchange of status reports, the united groups began moving out together. While on the way, they passed by survivors of the attack being escorted by E rank and F rank hunters.
Then they ran into Brandon, leader of Group 3, who crossed his arms and raised a brow as they arrived.
"Hey! What took you all so long to reach here . What happened?"
Bart stepped forward and explained the delay, and how they were rerouted assisting civilians, verifying reports, and regrouping after the sudden escalation.
Brandon nodded. "Alright, that Makes sense."
Then his eyes locked onto the spear strapped on to Jay's back.
"I see, and uh Leader Jay, mind telling me where you got that spear? Can I please take a closer look at it if you don't mind?"
Jay didn't slow his pace. "Maybe after we're done here. My members' come first."
Brandon chuckled. "Still the same as ever. Alright then, let's talk about this later."
Meanwhile, Paul was running out of options.
His lungs felt as if they were burning and his vision was blurred from blood dripping down his face. There were cuts lacing his arms and legs. His gear was ripped, dented, and was barely holding on together.
Then suddenly metal pole whistled past his head and crashed through a storefront window.
'If that had hit me... I'd be a corpse already.'
The mutated Hobgoblin stomped after him, relentlessly trying to catch up with him.
Paul dodged left, vaulting over debris, 'I've already used the items May gave me. I've got nothing left but my daggers'
Then the monster stopped in its tracks then it turned and ran back toward Safe Room 2.
Paul's eyes went wide, "W-what? No… No! That monster, it's going after the civilians!"
He pushed himself forward, ignoring the stabbing pain in his legs.
He flung a pair of daggers at the Hobgoblin's back. They bounced off like pebbles which only left minor scratches.
'It didn't even flinch.'
Then he saw it. The gate to Safe Room 2, it was already badly damaged and was barely standing.
Paul gritted his teeth and funneled the last of his mana into his legs.
He sprinted, closed the gap, and lunged toward the monster's back with his short sword drawn.
'I just need to piss it off to get it away from the civilians…'
But the Hobgoblin anticipated him and it spun, faster than he could react.
A massive fist shot forward, Paul's eyes widened. 'i… I got baited..'
He crossed his arms, infusing mana to block, but it was not enough.
CRACKKK!
Sound of broken bones can be heard as his forearm snapped under the impact. And the blow crashed into his chest, shattering his armor.
His body flew backward, smashing through multiple food stalls before coming to a halt.
Paul lay back on the wall within a heap of debris and blood, his breathing were shallow as if there's a rattling sound in his chest every time he breathed.
Every gasp came with a fresh stab of pain. Blood dripped from his mouth and occasionally something soft and vital came with it.
He couldn't hear anything but the high-pitched ringing in his head. Everything else was a blur, his sight, his thoughts, and even his fear.
The Hobgoblin was coming closer, its Heavy footsteps coming closer were akin to a countdown.
'So this is it,' he thought while coughing in between. 'After all that… this is how I go out?'
His fingers twitched but nothing else responded.
But just as the monster was about to raise its arm to finish him off.
FWOOSH!
A fireball exploded against the ground in front of the Hobgoblin. The beast snarled and leapt back as it shielded itself from the heat.
Paul's blurry eyes caught a flicker of someone coming to him, a familiar figure moving fast.
He choked out a laugh as he coughed blood. "Y-you… huff… actually made it…"
A healer slid beside him and pressed her hands to his chest and slowly glowed a soft green hue. Warm magic flowed through him from his chest. The bleeding slowed down as the pain slowly went away.
"Don't force yourself to talk," she said in a firm but gentle tone. "You're not dying here, not on my watch."
Jay dropped to his knees beside him, his eyes dark. "Paul… I'm sorry, this is on me. I shouldn't have ordered you to scout ahead."
Paul didn't respond as he was too exhausted. His head just slumped to the side, he went unconscious but still breathing nonetheless.
Jay stood up. The weight in his chest is heavier than before.
He turned to face the others and spoke in a steady and cold voice. "No more stalling. We'll take that thing down, now."
End of chapter