The Dark King

by Steffen Schmidt

  The woman also fell to the ground as she was repelled by the man. She coldly looked at the burly figure blocking her sight: "Bud! Don't stop me!"

  Bud slightly frowned and said: "You should stop, Linda. Dean is the new hunter of our consortium. I'm here on behalf of the Hunter headquarters to appoint him and give him his medal."

  Woman's eyes widened in shock because of Bud's words.

  Peter and the old man besides him were stunned at the news.

  Dudian looked at the burly man. If it was not for him the only way for him was to avoid the strike and run outside to the street in order to escape the crazy woman.

  "New hunter?" Woman thought of something as her face darkened. Her dark brown eyes completely turned into dark red. Dark red blood vessels which looked like veins on her arms began to twitch as she ferociously said: "So he is the one who picked up!"

  "I know you are sad because of your brother death. But I hope you do not make a mistake by attacking the hunter who belongs to the same consortium as us. I hope you are aware how serious the consequences would be. Don't destroy your future!"

  Woman seemed not care about Bud's words instead stared at Dudian.: "You were there when the monster ate my brother? Why it didn't eat you? Why?! You are a scavenger! What qualifications do you have to possess magic marks?"

  Dudian looked at her indifferently but did not speak.

  Woman stared at Dudian but after a moment killing intent had disappeared from her face. The blood vessels that had appeared on her arms gradually hid under her skin. She licked her lips and said: "Little thing. You said you will retaliate with hundred times more? Right?"

  Bud who saw the change in Linda was relieved. If she recklessly rushed to attack Dudian he may not be able to block. He turned to Dudian and said: "You are called Dean, aren't you? Apologise to Linda and everything will stay behind. Moreover you are potential companions in future taks. Why should we be more friendly and pleasant towards each other?"

  Dudian frowned. Intuition told him that this woman will not stop at anything. She just temporarily held back her intention to kill because of taking into the account the consequences of killing a fellow hunter. Even if he apoligized nothing will change. Most importantly, why did he have to apologize?

  Just because you brother died, do you think you can go around an freely vent your anger on others?

  Even if its about revenge. Your brother was the one who took the iniative to harm us. Would we be allowed to fight back?

  "I don't care about apology. However you are welcome to come to retaliate me at any time! " Woman spoke in a feminine tone as if she was not the rogue from minutes ago.

  Dudian face was cold as he spoke indifferently: "I didn't know that the hunter who was eaten by the beast was your brother. No wonder you are so angry. I can understand that. After all, his death was not just ugly but also miserable!"

  Linda's eyes suddenly turned cold. Her fingers clenched into a fist as the sounds of bones creaking echoed out. Eventually she released her fist and head back to leave the hall. She quickly disappeared from sight as she went into the crowd.

  Bud wryly smiled as he looked back at Dudian: "Little brother, you can really talk."

  "I'm far to weak in comparison to her. She wants to talk with her hands while I can only use my mouth." Dudian was calm as he replied to Bud.

  Bud sighed: "You shouldn't blame her. Her parents died young, so they had only each other. After she got to know that her brother died, its normal for her to have mood disorders."

  Dudian looked at him strangely and said: "There are lots of orphans who have lost their relatives. Do they have to go and freely vent their anger on innocent people? Her brother was eaten by the beast and she doesn't want to went her anger on the beasts but instead finds weak scavengers to harm. Isn't life of the scavenger a life? Can she go around insulting everyone in here just because scavenger's identity is not as high as her? Moreover after being insulted, we should also symphatize with her because of her loss?"

  Bud could not help but be speechless.

  Bud slightly shook his head as he didn't want to continue to talk about this issue. There was a trace of smile on his face as he said: "Speaking of which, you are not scavenger anymore. It was requested by the headquarters for me to give your contract and medals."

  Dudian nodded slightly. He also no longer said anything about the issue but in his heart he had already taken note of the woman. It will not end. She is bound by the rules of the consortium so she may not directly harm him. But secretly she could. Maybe she could find someone else to do it instead of her. He didn't like to wait for others to take the initiative to harm himself, so he was going to retaliate at the first possible chance.

  "This is the hunter contract. After you sign it you will be an offical hunter of the consortium." Bud took out a document from the bag and handed it to Dudian.

  Dudian temporarily put away the plan in his mind. He carefully read through the hunter contract, it was roughly same with the scavenger contract. The only thing that has changed is the welfare and the implementation of the tasks.

  Hunters are free to reside in the commercial district. Moreover they will be provide a real estate and license for it for free.

  However, according to the contract they don't have the right to inherit the real estate license. The house will return to consortium's possession if the hunter was killed on mission.

  In addition, each month he will receive ten 'blessings'! He was a seed from the training campe but he could only get a 'blessing' once a month. But this treatment was ten times better. It was surprisingly high.

  Hunters can enjoy a discount of 30% in all industries under the consortium. It was the equivalent of VIP-class privileges.

  The industries where Mellon consortium was involved ranged from coal mines, real estates, hotels, slaves, transport, chain stores to many others. So this discount was not a small benefit.

  Dudian read through the article. After the welfare part, he check other restrictive terms and determined that there was not much that could restrain his plans. Moreover, unless his signed nothing will be official.

  "This is your hunter medal." Bud handed Dudian a bronze medal with a falcon engraved on it.

  Dudian took a look and asked: "She had a silver medal. What was its significane?"

  Bud smiled and said: "It seems you are quite careful. She recently became an intermediate level hunter as she reached bloody swordsman level. We commonly refer to them as 'silver hunters'. In the execution of the missions the caption of the team has to be at least a silver ranked hunter."

  Dudian slightly frowned. If he was assigned together with this woman in the next task, it is going to be very dangerous.

  "This is the hunter's manual, you should check it later on. It has everything related to hunters but remember not to show it to non-hunter personnel. In addition if your medal is lost be sure to find headquarters to apply for the replacement." Bud handed out a small book.

  Dudian reached over and nodded, "I know."

  Chapter 83: Four major careers

  "You have seven days to adjust and rest." Bud smiled and said: "Seven days later you have to go and report to the headquarters. Although you have magic marks but you lack too much in other areas. Hunters have different positions. Specifics about each occupation is written inside. Consider on your own in those seven days what do you want to be."

  Dudian thought about the word 'bloody swordsman' said by Bud earlier on. His heart moved as he nodded said: "I know."

  "In addition, I suggest you better live in the commercial district. The hunters are sometimes called out in emergency situations so its efficient to get them when we know where they are. For example if we detect the presence of a jiranzhi then we immediately need to dispatch hunters to prevent it from running away. So most of the time hunters are usually in the commercial district on standby."

  Dudian nodded as he understood what Bud meant.

  Moreover the radiation content in the commer
cial district is better than the residential district. Nevertheless, he would have to take Jura couple with him to live in the commercial district in a sense to return their adoption grace.

  "If there is no other thing then I'll go first." Bud smiled.

  Dudian greeted him and watched him leave the hall. He looked at the brochers and medals in his hand. It seems he would get his hunter armor after seven days when he would report to hunter headquarters. It was not urgent anyway.

  Peter and the other old man closed the gap between themselves and Dudian. They closely looked at the genuine Hunter Medal in Dudian's hands. However, they still couldn't believe that he had been appointed as a hunter.

  Nevertheless, both of them have been working in scavenger headquarters for a long time and their eyes were extremely sharp. Through the previous conversation between Bud and Dudian, performance of Linda, combined with the news that they had, more or less they have guessed the reasons of the matter.

  "Dean," Peter smiled in an unnatural way, "I did not expect you to be a hunter, congratulations!"

  "Congratulations!" Lean old man also complimented.

  Dudian smiled: "It's because you have cultivated me well. I will not forget the care that both of you had shown to me. "

  "It's nothing." Peter waved his hand quickly, said: " Its because of your own efforts that you have accomplished the position. I thought it would take few years for you to have an opportunity to become a hunter. I didn't expect it to be so fast."

  "Indeed the seed of the camp. Powerful and smart!" Lean old man's voice echoed out.

  Dudian observed the unnatural actions displayed by both of them. The change in his identity had influenced the others communication style with him way too much. However he knew that it was not good to act impolite towards others because of his status.

  These people have been in this business most of their lives. Dudian understood the terrible influence of the system upon the individuals.

  He secretly sighed in his heart. He saw the brutality outside the wall. It was also very difficult to integrate into the consortium. It was the sole reason why previously he didn't want to bow his head in front of the scarlet armor wearing woman. Instead he released all the anger inside of him and spoke out. First, he knew that bowing is useless. Second, he knew that he didn't want to!

  Moreover, he has seen the fragility of life and won't tolerate other people bullying him. Perhaps, the woman hunter's character and hostility were same as her brother's which made him to stand on his own.

  "I have something to do first." Dudian said to Peter and the old man: "I'll come back to see you guys when I have free time. And, I have three good friends who are scavengers. I would like to trouble you by taking care of them."

  "Give their names to me" Peter grinned.

  Dudian nodded slightly and waited for them to take the leave first before going out of the hall.

  The others in the hall were envious and jealous. They knew that Dudian would live in a world which they could never ever reach to.

  ...

  ...

  "I should get back home."

  Dudian called to a carriage which was docked near the headquarters and went back to the residential district.

  On the way back, as he sat in the carriage he read the thin booklet that was given to him. Information was divided into several

  Chapters. The first

  Chapter was about the purpose and responsibilities of the hunters, which Dudian naturally know. In simple terms, the only role that they had was to hunt monsters outside the wall.

  The second

  Chapter was all about the types of hunters. The occupations and details about their roles.

  The four occupations were respectively: Knight, Warrior, Scout and Archer. All four positions were responsible for different jobs and hunters were focused more on team action. When it came to hunting monster, whether it was efficiency or safety was maximized.

  "Knights and warriors are responsible for attracting and attacking monsters from the front. Scouts were responsible of detecting and gathering information about the surrounding environment. Archers were responsible for long-range attacks and support."

  "Its like modern warfare. There is infantry who is responsible for the direct confrontation on the ground. And there are supportive forces such as surprise air attacks or artillery like long-range strikes. It didn't matter whether it was a large-scale combat or a small group operation, there were three aspects that had to be followed. They were intelligence gathering, direct confrontation and long-range support."

  "These were basic occupations that had to be chosen by the newly appointed hunters. However as they gather more experience and become proficient in the occupation they will have to pass an advanced examination. Likewise they will step up and become intermediate level silver hunters. While at it they will be able to re-select a different expertise!"

  Knights advanced to shielded knights, animal knights, etc. The swordsmen also had shielded swordsman and combat swordsman. Previous woman was referred to as 'bloody swordsman' because after advancing she had combined her ability with the title. In fact, she should belong to combat swordman category"

  Dudian knew that the hunter whom he had killed earlier belong to archer category. He most probably was responsible for tracking the enemy and long-range attacks.

  In the long run, there had been a systematic distrubition while developing the hunter teams. So that interests and efficiency could be maxxed up. After all, individuals energy is limited, if everyone in the team specialized in the same category then they wouldn't be effective in fights against a group of stronger monsters.

  "Bud let me to consider so I've to decide on a position in advance." Dudian thought, "Knight and warriors are goot at close combat but the number of monsters outside the giant wall stronger than a hunter is just way too much. If they are caught in a disadvantage they have to rely on remote hunter's cooperation to overcome the problem. Scouts are mainly focused on traps and assassinations. They would be the weakest link in the group."

  "I have already created bombs which are my secret weapons. However, as I am not strong enough I can't reveal bombs in front of the others. So the best for me is to choose a position which shall grant me individual space where I won't be in contact with the rest of the team as much as possible. "

  "Only scouts and archers satisfy the main condition. They are more independent in comparison to the other hunters. As long as I can you the environment to my advantage I can kill any monster on my own. Just like the presvious hunter who tried to use us, scavengers as a bait to lure the monster and finish it."

  Thinking through the details, Dudian made up his mind that he was going to be an archer.

  Moreover, he could come up with and develop new ideas and tactics to be used in hunting, using the knowledge of the gunpowder. If he could add lead powder to the top of the arrow, wouldn't the lethality improve several times over?

  ...

  Chapter 84: Area no 3

  Close to the outer boundaries of the Commercial district. Marlin street.

  Mel family was influential in this part of the commercial district. Moreover majority of the hunters under the control of Mellon consortium had their housing assigned in this part too. Their estates were concentrated here mainly dute to its proximity to the giant wall of Silva. It would be more time consuming to depart from here in case a beast was detected.

  At the moment, in a small european-style building in Marlin street.

  Linda was sitting in the living room on the third floor. Her face was gloomy. In addition to her, Gale and the other youth were present in the room too. Moreover there was another girl with dark complexion who also sat by their side. They have been through many missions together and part of the same team for a long time. Because of long-time companionship they had profound knowledge of each other. They had got the 'message', even though Linda was silent for some time.

  "Boss, that kid is really a scavenger? " The other youth
spoke in dubious tone: "It is too bold for a scavenger to have the courage to burn the beast. I would be scared half-dead if I had seen that beast and I have been training for a long time now."

  "It's because you are mediocre." Linda looked up at him coldly, said: "This little bastard graduated at the top from the scavenger school. First in all three assessments. Even though he knowledge is restricted to those petty scavenger trick but climbing to the top in any area is not a small feat."

  Gale deeply nodded in agreement and said: "I heard that this little guy also threatened you. Kinda he will revenge you?"

  "Well, he will get revenge on the captain?" Tanned girl frowned and then sneered: " Ignorance is bliss! It does mean that he can stand on equal footing with the caption just because he became a hunter. Nevertheless, he is a lucky and daring little daredevil. In my opinion, we should get rid of him as soon as possible. If boss thinks that we shouldn't be involved directly in this matter then we can just hire an assassin and finish him off!"

  Linda slowly shook her head and spoke in a cold tone: "There are more than one way to kill him. Alive he has value in consortium's eyes but dead he is worseless. If I kill him, at most I will face some punishment or they will let me perform a number of missions. But it is not worth it. He is not worthy to sacrifice myself!"

  Gale nodded: "Yes, even if we secretly assassinated him now, the consortium will know. Although there would be no evidence, but this would be direct violation of the consortium's rules. The top will be unhappy and we will be gradually suppressed. "

  "Yes!" Linda nodded.

  Tanned girl seemed to understand their thoughts. So she continued: "That being the case, temporarily we won't kill him but make his life bitter. It should be ok. We can influence the headquarters not provide him a house in the commercial district. Force him a bit into corner and see how he reacts. In addition, the hunters in the consortium will give you face. As long as you hint out, he will have very uncomfortable time after he will come to headquarters for registration."