SS1 9.2 – Captured Hunters

  I casually scanned our perimeter and found everything was clear. Then, I turned my gaze to Ariel and Kara. The two sat next to each other before console control. In a glance, they looked like two kids who were happily doing their homework, where in reality they were executing small scale hunter-killer ops.

  The two had done the work for two hours and had killed 26 Minotaur, along with dozens of orc and goblin collateral kill. The Minotaur kill alone would get us 260.000 mollar. It was far higher than my target, but I would let Ariel and Kara to continue the hunt until Orbiter 69 exhausted its flight endurance.

  Honestly, it gave me a weird feeling to see two kids effectively eliminated one monster after another. However, Ariel and Kara were children of war. They were born and raised in the middle of war for survival. Circumstance had forced them to join the war in their tender age, facing a huge number of opponents who saw them as source of food.

  ‘I will do my best. Finding a way to increase their chance to survive,’ I muttered before putting back my attention to perimeter around us.

  Then, I heard Ariel said, “Berg, I think you have to watch this.”

  “Okay.” Without delay I got down from HMV.

  Ariel than showed me a big group of monster who were in the middle of celebration. Orbiter 69’s tally showed that this group had at least 4 Warg, 18 Minotaur, and around 300s orc and goblin. They were brandishing their weapon while making weird dance, circling a group of 14 hunters who weakly sat in the ground.

  “Get a clear picture of the hunters,” I said.

  “Okay.”

  Ariel immediately displayed the zoom picture of captured hunters in the screen. Based on their clothes, I saw 9 male shooters, 2 male sword users, and 3 female sword user. Their hands were being tied together behind their back to prevent them from accessing their Inventory. They also suffered heavy injury, but I guessed they would survive if they had a chance to drink Healing Potion.

  “Nine D-rank and five C-rank,” Kara woke me from my pondering. “Once the wargs know their location, they are as good as death.”

  Ariel then turned her gaze to me. “Can we save them?”

  “Where is their exact location?” I asked her back.

  “16 km southwest of our position, right in the border between Sidra Forest and Kubran Valley.”

  “I can’t say for sure. It will take some time until enough amount of ordnance reach their position,” I said as I took out three Blindfold 22s and the remaining Dildo 101 I had.

  “We have 2 loitering Dild 101 above their location right now,” Kara said. “Can we use it?”

  “At their current condition, I don’t think the hunters will survive mortar blast from close proximity.”

  “What if we use it to create distraction?” Ariel asked. “Detonate it in a spot 50 meter from their location.”

  “Such distraction won’t give the hunters much of help.”

  “We can’t just watch them die. We have to do something,” Kara insisted.

  “I agree,” I said as I started sending Blindfold 22 and Dildo 101 to the air one by one. “Let’s hope some hunters are still alive when enough ordnance reaches their position.

  After that, we engage target opportunities that present itself, and hopefully, the chaos will give the surviving hunters a chance to escape.”

  ““Okay.””

  I lightly smiled as Ariel and Kara gave me a firm reply. Without delay I then distributed the workload. Ariel would maintain the surveillance and recorded it, while Kara sent Dildo 101 to the air as fast as she could. As for me, I prepared second electric catapult before helping Kara sending the remaining Dildo 101 to the air.

  Honestly, like I said, I was not sure how many hunters would still breathing before we could start the close air support. With ease I could tell the monsters were starving and ready to start their feast at any second. However, I couldn’t just sit and do nothing. So, I tried my best to not think the worst case scenario.

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  After finishing our workload, I and Kara regrouped with Ariel.

  “Any update?” I asked Ariel.

  “They are about to start the butchering ritual,” Ariel replied without turning her gaze from the screen.

  “I see,” I said before letting out a sigh.

  A moment later, two orcs picked and dragged one of the female hunters. Her teammates tried to hold and protect her, but it was futile.

  With ease, the pair of orcs then stripped the female hunter buck naked from head to toe, exposing her fair skin and nice body figure. After that, they held her down on her knee, with her face and neck facing down straight to the ground.

  The biggest Minotaur then put a big bowl under the female hunter’s neck and made a slit in her throat. Red blood instantly fell down to the bowl like a waterfall. A moment later, the female hunter’s body weakly convulsed before becoming limp and stopped moving.

  ‘One hunter down,’ I muttered as the Minotaur presented the blood he had just harvested to the wargs.

  The wargs immediately gathered to sip the blood in turn, while the Minotaur went back to the fallen female hunter and chopped her body into pieces. He started with the head, limbs, and finally the torso. In matter of minutes, a fine female C-rank had become human chops, and the monsters who received it looked so jubilant.

  As for her teammates, they could only watch the butchering ritual with mixed of anger and despair. They also could do nothing when the pair of orcs picked the second female hunter.

  “They always start with the female,” Kara said in low voice.

  “I see,” I said before letting out a sigh.

  With maximum speed of 40 km/h, it would take 24 minutes before Blindfold 22 reached the butchering location. Right now, they were at final 8 minutes of their flight. At the same time, I saw a target opportunity.

  While sipping the female hunter’s blood in turn, the wargs sat next to each other tightly and facing the captured hunters. If Dildo 101 hit them in the back, their huge body would fully shield the hunters from the blast. Without second thought, I decided to take action.

  I calmly said, “Let’s use both loitering Dild 101 to hit the wargs in the middle.”

  “Okay,” Without hesitation Kara replied.

  Then, she swiftly placed a sight lock-on on the back of two wargs in the middle and engaged it.

  Bla-Blaaarrrr!!!

  Both Dildo 101 hit the wargs at the same time and turned them into several big chunks. As for the other wargs, they received heavy injuries but they were still alive.

  As for the other monsters, they were stunned and fell into confusion. The explosion took place when they were in peak of excitement from watching the second female hunter hit her final death throes. It fully caught them off the guard.

  However, before chaos descended on them, the biggest Minotaur managed to put the commotion under control. He swiftly led other Minotaur and several biggest orcs to form defensive perimeter around the injured wargs. Their intention was clear. They wanted to protect the wargs and gave it enough time to heal their injury using Regeneration

  At the same time, the other monsters formed their own defensive formation and vigilantly scanned the area. In a glance I could tell. This group of monster was well-disciplined and well-organized. Normally, I hated facing such opponent.

  However, for our current circumstance they were the best opponent I could hope for. They determinedly maintained their formation. They were not in hurry to resume the butchering ritual. Until finally, the package I prepared for them had silently reached their location.

  “Kara,” I firmly said. “Switch with me.”

  “Okay.’

  Without delay Kara got up from her seat and I took it over.

  Blaar! Blaar! Blaar!!!

  As opening for the strike, I simultaneously detonated three Blindfold 22s right at 8 meter above the captured hunters. Previously, they got startled when Dildo 101 hit the wargs, but now they were fully ready for second impact, or to be precise they had expected it.

  As the tear gas enveloped the area, one of the hunters reached out for hidden knife in his boot. Once he freed himself, he immediately took out healing potion from his inventory and drank it. Then, he freed the other hunters and stored the second fallen female hunter in his Inventory. A moment later, the surviving hunters already started their escape.

  They moved in steady steps, gas mask on their face and weapon in their hands. Then, as the orcs and goblins from outside tear gas envelope tried to stop them, they fight them with everything they had.

  As for me, I calmly sent Dildo 101 to finish off the remaining wargs and Minotaur. They were the biggest threat to surviving hunters. I had to annihilate them first.

  Blaarrr! Blaarrr! Blaarrr! Blaarrr! Blaarrr! Blaarrr!

  One explosion after another echoed through the night air, marking every hit I scored. The wargs and Minotaur was badly affected by tear gas. They slowly crawled in the ground while covering their noses and heavily coughing, and did their best to leave tear gas envelope.

  Hitting them when they were in such condition was like shooting fish in the barrel. I finished them off in no time. After that, I put my focus to assist the surviving hunters. When archer formation popped up and tried to ambush them, I dropped Dildo 101 on them. When a pack of orcs and goblins tried to block their path, I also dropped Dildo 101 on them.

  Fortunately, the hunters stayed together and didn’t split into different direction. The area was full of low-rank monster to the brim. It was wise decision to attempt the breakthrough while sticking together. It also made my job to provide air cover easier.

  In the end, the hunters managed to escape. They suffered another two fatalities, but overall it’s still a good result. They didn’t get wiped out to the last man.

  I then put my attention back to the first fallen female hunters. Several goblins were gathering together to eat her body chops. Without further ado, I dropped Dildo 101 with proximity fuse I set at 6 meters above the ground on them.

  I hit them four times in row. The first round was to kill the goblins, while the rest was for cremating the fallen female hunter. It was not perfect cremation, but that’s the only thing I could do to prevent her remains from becoming monster food.

  After that, I spent the remaining Dildo 101 in the air to hit closest orc and goblin pack, and that concluded our hunt.

  *****