My Roleplay System
Chapter 169: Let The Hunt Begin!

Chapter 169: Chapter 169: Let The Hunt Begin!

Rumble!

Under the water’s surface, a great change was taking place as the ground began to crumble and collapse, with hundreds of creatures rising out of the sea in a vicious frenzy.

Lake finished setting everyone up in position as the great shift in the bay occurred. Although it was limited, his Empathy Skill allowed him to sense the unchecked bloodlust of the creatures beneath the waters.

’Has it already awakened?’ Lake frowned as he extended his Sixth Sense, only to see that the students he had sent away earlier still hadn’t returned.

’Seems like I’ll have to start this fight without my insurance.’

Knowing that he would have to hold out for a while with just what he wasn’t ideal, but he quickly got over it as he shouted out everyone.

"Get ready!"

When the students heard Lake’s command, they immediately went on high alert as they raised their weapons. Even the guardian hunters could pick up that something was wrong and subconsciously prepared themselves.

Everyone was nervous as they watched the turbulent water’s surface. They could sense that the battle that was approaching wasn’t going to be ordinary.

The rest of Lake’s team was also standing next to him as they watched the scene unfold before them.

"This..." Kate frowned as her gaze landed on the water’s surface. She could tell that something was definitely wrong the moment she saw the sea creatures go into a frenzy.

’Last time he made us hunt a Rank Two creature while posing it as a Rank One creature. This time, however, he only said it was a formidable foe...’ Kate’s brain continued to work as she felt herself drawing to a terrifying conclusion.

Lake didn’t notice Kate’s darkening complexion as he turned to Sylph. "Bless as many people with strength and speed enhancements as you can. Focus on the range-oriented hunters, but be prepared to switch to melee when I give the order."

"Y-Yes!" Sylph replied nervously, her hands shaking slightly as she began casting her Attribute Enhancement ability.

Lake also started his mass buffing as he extended his King’s Aura out to its maximum distance, casting several temporary enchantment spells on the weapons of the students and hunters alike.

"Firing squad! Ready your weapons!"

Lake’s voice boomed across the coastline, imbued with the power of his King’s Aura. The archers, spurred by his command, quickly readied their bows as they nervously aimed at the bay.

"...."

After a few seconds, the rumbling under the water seemed to have stopped. The students, still tense, continued to be on the lookout, and as if on queue, a loud explosion occurred below the water as a giant pillar of water rose into the sky, sending massive waves crashing against the shore.

The ground shook heavily from the explosion, but Lake’s modified terrain was able to resist the strong waves and shaking.

"That...."

"How could this be possible..?"

"There’s no way we can face off against something like that..."

Rising out of the water in the center of the bay was a massive, three-headed serpent. Its body was covered in dark blue scales, with black lines running throughout it. The left and right heads were lowered towards the surface of the water, releasing a thick white mist that obscured everything it covered. The central head, which was the largest of the three, was staring at Lake and the others, its eyes red with madness as a bloodthirsty aura enveloped its body.

As everyone stared blankly at the creature, the central head of the serpent suddenly leaned back as it unhinged its massive jaws, facing the cloudy red sky.

"GRWOARRR!!!"

Its loud roar echoed towards the sky as the two other heads followed its lead, roaring in unison as three unique tones combined together to create a hellish symphony that sent chills down everyone’s spines.

"Hiek!" One student fell back on her back as she covered her ears.

The other students weren’t faring any better either, trembling in fear in front of the beast’s terrifying presence. Their grip on their weapons continued to loosen as despair filled their souls.

"This isn’t something we could possibly face..."

"Is it too late to run now...?"

"What the fuck is that?"

Fear and panic were enveloping the students as their will to fight steeply plummeted.

The guardian hunters who saw the creature immediately recognized the seriousness of the matter as their faces visibly darkened. They were about to take the students and directly flee first, but before they could move, they felt another, more commanding aura envelope them.

"Is this what you’re made of? Cowering in fear?"

Naturally, the person speaking was Lake. He was standing at the front, the intimidating figure of the serpent behind him. He looked calm as he frowned at the terrified students and guardian hunters.

Some of the students, feeling his gaze, lowered their heads, unable to bear the shame due to how they acted a moment ago, yet they still couldn’t let go of their fears whenever their eyes met the figure of the beast behind Lake.

"Lake, this isn’t the time for your bullshit psychology! This has gone beyond the level of this exam! If we don’t leave now, are you going to take responsibility for the deaths of everyone here?!" Suddenly, a guardian hunter shouted out, his words seeming to strike a cord with the students.

Hearing the hunter’s word, Lake’s eyes narrowed as he turned to face the serpent.

"Fine, you all can leave. However, even if we all left now, I doubt we could get far." Raising his hand, Lake pointed towards the central head, which had its eyes locked in on them from the start. "The serpent has already set its sight on us."

When the students saw this, they felt their own fear grasping their hearts as they struggled to breathe. Tears were building up in some of the mentally weaker students, while the rest were already lost in despair.

Gritting his teeth, one of the guardian hunters, a gray-haired man, suddenly stepped forward. "Then some of us will stay back and stall for time for everyone else to leave!"

As the elderly hunter spoke, some of the guardian hunters instantly felt their chests tighten. They all knew what it meant to be the one to stay back.

However, before anyone could say anything, the roguish hunter continued, this time with a determined expression on his face, "My name is Leno, and I’m a Low-Rank Martial Master. Although I’m not sure how long I can last against the creature, I’ll make sure to stall for enough time for all of you to get away!"

In an instant, everyone was surprised by Leno’s words. They didn’t expect the elderly-looking man to be the one to volunteer himself, especially since he seemed to know exactly what that meant.

Silence enveloped the group.

"What are you brats still doing here?! Hurry up and leave! We don’t know when that beast will suddenly attack, and I won’t be able to protect you all if it does!"

When the students heard this, all they could do was slowly get up. They didn’t know when, but a different feeling seemed to have suddenly gripped their hearts: guilt.

They didn’t know why, but they all felt horrible when they saw the old man offer himself up as a sacrifice so that they could live. He didn’t have to do that, yet he did. All because they were too weak to fight themselves.

When the students had this realization, they suddenly recalled Lake’s earlier words.

Cowards. He never directly said it, yet his meaning was clear. When they were met with an overwhelming force, instead of trying to find a way to survive or fight back, all they did was hide away. They didn’t even do anything to remotely contribute to the solution, only ending up as a burden to others, and now someone had to sacrifice themselves as a result of it.

Is that really all they amounted to? Cowards?

As everyone stood with their heads lowered, they all silently gritted their teeth and clenched their fists. What kind of martial artist would they be if they were to cower behind someone, watching as they sacrifice themselves for them?

In the first place, they came to the Academy to become martial artists, yet now they are suddenly acting like weaklings? Didn’t they become martial artists to pursue strength so that they wouldn’t have to be afraid? So that they could fight on the frontlines of humanity to push forward its advancement, becoming the heroes of humanity.

Yet, why is it that they still find themselves so weak? Didn’t they sign up for Lake’s training course that forced them to work so hard every single day, to the point where they ended up confusing their own blood with sweat? To the point where their tears dried up and all that remained was excruciating pain.

Didn’t they go through that hell just to become stronger?

"ARRRGHHH!!"

Suddenly, one of the students, Conner, was unable to bear the pressure anymore and shouted out, startling the guardian hunters, who were still indecisive on what to do.

After shouting towards the sky, Conner pointed a finger towards Lake, his eyes tainted red.

"Lake! Didn’t you say that if we fought here today, we would become stronger?!"

"Didn’t you say that if we didn’t run away or cower in fear, that our mentality would solidify?! Well, here I am now! Today, I, Conner Rosenfield, refuse to run away! I want to stay here and fight!"

Hearing Conner’s outburst, the guardian hunters were completely dumbfounded.

"Brat! What the hell are you talking about? Now is not the time for jokes! Hurry up and get out of here while the beast hasn’t made a move yet!" Leno suddenly shouted after hearing Conner’s outburst.

The beast was still in the middle of the bay and had not moved yet, but the fog that was continuously spreading across the bay was getting closer to the shore. Leno didn’t know why, but he had a feeling that the beast was waiting for fog to completely cover the area before attacking.

’If that truly ends up being the case, then that beast is far more dangerous than anyone of us is giving it credit for!’ Leno’s thoughts were still focused on the beast and getting the students out of here, but it didn’t seem like things were going to go his way.

"Hey everyone, I think Conner has a point." Suddenly, another student spoke out, this time Fiona. "Are we all really going to just stand here and watch as a veteran hunter gives his life up for us?"

Hearing her words, everyone who was still second-guessing themselves eventually started to figure out their own thoughts.

"How could we? Who would be willing to let someone else sacrifice themselves for us?"

"If I let the old man die for me, I don’t think I could ever live this down."

"I’ll be damned if I let something like that happen while I was around!"

"Come on, Fiona, do you take us all for losers?"

As the students’ momentum continued to rise, the guardian hunters started to feel the pressure and were taken aback. Some of them, too, lowered their heads in thought.

When Leno saw everyone’s reaction, his worries only continued to develop.

However, before he could try to persuade everyone to change their minds, he felt a hand resting on his shoulder.

Looking over, he saw Romero giving him a defeated smile as he shook his head. When Leno saw Romero’s smile, he was left speechless for a while, unable to think of anything to say that could change these students minds.

After patting Leno on the shoulder, Romero walked past him, grabbing the attention of everyone.

"My name is Romero, and I am a recently promoted Low-Rank Martial Master. Since we are all unable to come to a conclusion on what to do, I propose a different solution."

"Since all the students can’t bear to leave Mr. Leno behind, nor can we realistically escape the Serpent if we all try to run away, how about we just hunt it?"

"...."

Silence fell at Romero’s proposal. The students had their eyes wide open, while the hunters were wondering if their ears were working.

Eventually, one of the guardian hunters spoke up. "Mr. Romero, please don’t be so rash. Even if the students act irrationally, that doesn’t mean we can either. That creature out there is a genuine Rank Three creature. Even if we were to account for both you and Mr. Leno, that’s still only two Low Rank Martial Masters. That’s nowhere near enough to hunt a creature of that caliber."

"Hmm, I understand your point. Typical raids involving Rank Three creatures require at least a team of five Martial Masters."

"Ooh, thank you for your understanding, Mr. Rom-"

"But," Romero suddenly cut off the hunters words, "this isn’t a typical raid."

As Romero spoke, he turned to look at the one person who had remained the calmest from start to finish since the appearance of the sea serpent. The person who had been watching everything unfold as if he were watching a movie play out, patiently waiting to make his appearance.

"Isn’t that right, Lake?"

"Oh? Is it finally my turn?" Lake, who had been silently watching everything play out, was suddenly smiling amidst this chaos.

With Romero pointing him out, everyone turned to him as Romero spoke with a serious expression. "You were the one who brought everyone here, and you were also the only one who knew about the beast’s existence and the time of the attack. Although I don’t know how you got so much information, since you were still willing to gather everyone here knowing that killing the Rank Three creature would normally be impossible, am I right to assume you have a plan?"

When everyone heard Romero’s explanation, they suddenly had a chilling thought. Everyone had been so panicked earlier by the serpent’s sudden appearance that they forgot that they were originally brought here to hunt the creature.

When they recalled that all of this was set up by one man, they suddenly felt a new wave of fear rush through them.

"You certainly have an interesting analysis, Mr. Romero, and I must agree, I do have a plan. However, before I do anything, I need to hear it from them." As Lake spoke, he pointed a finger towards the group of students.

The group of students looked confused at Lake’s sudden request.

"What do you want them to say?" Romero asked.

"It’s simple; just tell me what you want. No past, no future; just right here, in this moment, what is it that you want?"

Everyone was left puzzled by Lake’s question, as nobody could figure out what he was trying to ask. Even after a few seconds had passed and the fog inched ever closer to land, nobody was able to come up with an answer.

"Hunt." Conner spoke one word, yet the meaning it conveyed convinced everyone.

"Is that what you want, or is that what everyone wants?" Lake asked, his trademark demonic smile appearing on his face, baring his two sharp canines for all to see.

This time, Conner wasn’t the only one to answer back, but everyone at once.

"WE WANT TO HUNT!"

When Lake heard their words, he spread open his arms as the last head of the serpent slowly disappeared behind the fog wall behind him.

"Then let the hunt begin!"