Awaiting soft rains(An extra's novel)

Varic stood against the walls of an alleyway, looking at the old notification before him.

[Attention! The predator has descended.]

Ever since then, there had been a massive spike in cadet deaths. With particularly awful timing, a notification popped up.

[A cadet has been Eliminated. Remaining cadets: 19.]

More than a hundred cadets had already been killed by now. He'd have been mad not to relate their deaths to the Predator.

His lips stretched into a smirk.

"Perfect."

A boy beside him flinched a bit at the word, turning to face him,

"Young Master?"

"It's nothing, check on Vladmir's situation."

His face dropped back to indifference as he turned to face the snowy road before him. There were still no signs of movement, at least nothing besides the thick veil of snow.

While the blizzard from the fourth day had died out, the normal snowfall had continued to grow increasingly heavy, leaving the outside world stuck in a state of semi-perpetual blizzard.

Even staying out too long had become exceedingly dangerous, but Varic was no fool. After all, he had a plan.

The boy beside him finally spoke up, white mist escaping from his shivering body.

"Still nothing, young master. H-he says the road remains clear."

Varic's forehead creased at that, but he just nodded.

"Tell him to keep looking."

The boy hesitantly glanced at the desolate road outside, before looking back at Varic.

"Young master, I-if I may suggest. Would it not be better to just go inside? There hasn't been a Beast yet, but we…"

His words died in his throat as a pair of brilliant golden eyes stared intensely at him.

"Is that insubordination I hear, Mike?"

"N-no, how could I, young master?"

Varic let out an easy smile, resting a hand on the boy's shoulder. He suddenly squeezed it tightly, fingers digging into the boy's flesh.

"Then learn to shut your fucking mouth."

He released it, making Mike collapse into a kneeling position. The boy clutched his shoulder in pain, but still replied through gritted teeth.

"Of course, young master."

Varic gave a satisfied nod at that, before turning to the empty road again.

"We'll be hunting that Predator today. It's killed more than half the cadets present. I'm sure you understand why there can be no distractions."

"Yes, youn— Vladmir's spotted movement!"

"Put him on a call."

Soon enough, they were connected. A hoarse breathing came from the other side of the line. Varic began immediately, though his tone here was a bit more dignified.

"What's the situation?"

The voice coughed once, before speaking.

"I spotted a figure moving in rapidly from the north, couldn't quite see what it was."

North was the direction of the outer rings.

'Could it be?'

"Where is it now?"

"I lost track of it, too damned fast if you ask me. It slipped into one of the alleyways before I cou…"

The boy suddenly paused. Varic's brow furrowed at that.

"What's the matter?"

"There's movement."

Suddenly, Varic began hearing it as well, the sound of something massive slamming on the walls, moving ever closer to Vladmir.

"I'll check it ou—"

The sound of a wall exploding interrupted him. Then suddenly the call cut out.

Worse still, a notification popped up.

[A cadet has been Eliminated. Remaining cadets: 18]

[You have lost a teammate. Now applying penalty…]

"Damn it!"

Varic's voice broke Mike out of his stupor. He was given no time to process it either, as Varic had already begun moving deeper into the alleyway.

The boy quickly followed, calling out.

"Are we retreating, young master?"

Varic didn't bother responding, navigating through the winding alleyway until he came across the back of an abandoned building.

It was only then he noticed that Mike was gone.

"Where's that…"

[A cadet has been Eliminated. Remaining cadets: 17]

[You have lost a teammate. Now applying penalty…]

He flinched, yet wasted no time in pulling out his greatsword. Carefully, he slowly backed away towards the wall of the building, listening for any sound of movement.

Soon enough, his back was against the wall, yet as he looked at the alleyway before him, Varic found nothing but shadowed ruins.

That was until the world around him suddenly darkened. His heart sank as he raised his head to face the eight-legged monstrosity attached to the wall above him.

It was already mid-lunge. The boy blacked out immediately.

---

[A cadet has been Eliminated. Remaining cadets: 16]

[Noble hunter, you have slain a Matured Whelp: Dark Crawler]

Alexa pulled her blade out of the monster's corpse, before turning to face the dark-skinned girl behind her. She did her best to ignore the shadows shifting in the corner of her vision.

"There's something hunting us."

The girl merely shrugged, scratching her dark, highlighted hair a bit lazily.

"Probably. Don't let it bother you too much though. Just focus on hunting."

Alexa gave her a puzzled look.

"It's been dropping cadets like flies. What if it comes for us?"

"Then it comes for us. Not much we can do about that at this point. At least we'll be a few more points richer than if we'd just spent our time worrying about it."

Alexa considered it a bit, before conceding.

There was still some distance between them and the central district, and with the weird weather outside, attempting to cross it at this point was dangerous.

"How long do you think we have before it reaches us, Lady Ayo?"

"Pretty soon, to be honest."

The girl in question was already kneeling next to the monster's corpse, extracting a vial of its blackened blood using a syringe.

"So what's the plan then?"

Ayo rubbed her forehead in frustration, before pushing Alexa forward.

"Don't worry about it. Just foc…"

She paused, before looking towards the entrance of the room. She gave Alexa a side glance.

[Something's coming.]

Alexa began hearing it as well, the sound of something massive wrecking through the bottom floors. Its booming footsteps and crashes were approaching them.

"Get ready!"

Ayo poured the black blood out of her vial, yet instead of landing on the floor, the liquid remained suspended above her hand, before slowly shifting into the form of a wickedly sharp arrow.

Alexa, on the other hand, drew her bastard sword, a pale ghostly aura slowly wafting off its blade.

The noise grew louder, and whatever was making it drew closer. Soon it was on the floor below theirs, then on theirs. Just when they expected the door to burst open, the noise suddenly stopped.

They both gave each other a weary glance.

"Should we…"

The wall beside them burst open, shooting rocks and stones at them like shrapnel.

Alexa only managed to get a small glimpse of the eight-limbed monstrosity behind it all, before it descended upon them.

She felt a sharp pain, before her vision turned dark.

---

[A cadet has been Eliminated. Remaining cadets: 8]

"Ha… ha… ha…"

Rowan ran beneath the heavy skies, Shin and another boy following closely behind him, the constant snowfall threatening to bury them under its weight and cold.

The boy trailing them collapsed, forcing them to stop.

Rowan took it as a chance to take a breather, resting his arms on his knees as he tried to stabilize his breathing. Each breath stabbed his lungs with a million icy needles.

He shot Shin a glance. Even the wolfman seemed a little winded, using his halberd to support his weight.

"Cahh… Can you carry him?"

Shin shot the collapsed boy a long, suffering look, before nodding.

"I'll try."

"Good."

Rowan pushed himself up, gazing at the desolate, empty street behind them. Strangely enough, they hadn't run into any monsters on their way.

As though the abominations realized something much bigger than them had entered the fray.

'That damned Predator.'

He knew it was that bastard that had been hunting them down. Ever since he'd seen that first message, he had a bad feeling about that monster.

It was why he'd been hurrying them towards the center ring ever since then, and they would've made it, if they hadn't run into a centipede abomination.

They'd barely survived that encounter, and it cost them time, very precious time.

He heard the sounds of clothes shifting, and turned to find Shin supporting the dark-haired boy with his shoulder.

"I'm set."

"Let's get…"

He trailed off as his eyes caught sight of a figure looming at the entrance of the street behind them. The snow hid its features, but it was eight-legged, tall, and facing right towards them.

Rowan screamed as he dived.

"Out of the way!"

Shin did so without hesitation, throwing himself away just in time to avoid the figure that crashed right where he'd been standing, throwing up a cloud of snow.

The boy he'd been supporting hadn't been so lucky then. The bloody remnants resting at the feet of the looming figure could hardly even be called a corpse.

[A cadet has been Eliminated. Remaining cadets: 7]

[You have lost a teammate. Now applying penalty…]

Fortunately, Shin dived in the same direction as him, so the monster hadn't been able to separate them. Shin wearily pointed his halberd at the beast.

Rowan unsheathed his longsword as well, running the blade through his already bloody palms, dousing it in a fresh layer of blood. A reddish, transparent flame sprang up from the blade.

Just when the snow was about to subside completely, the Beast moved once again, exploding outward towards Shin.

Given the distance, the boy barely shifted his halberd in time to block it. It was all for naught, however, as the weapon snapped like a twig under its force. The arm continued unabated, striking and flinging Shin into a building.

Rowan attempted to use the distraction to close the gap, but another arm easily met him, snapping his ribs and sending him skidding into the snow.

The monster left him there, choosing to chase Shin into the building.

By the time he'd managed to push himself into a sitting position, he got the dreaded notification.

[A cadet has been Eliminated. Remaining cadets: 6]

[You have lost a teammate. Now applying penalty…]

The Beast walked out, biting and shaking the wolfman like a toy before flinging him to the side, leaving a curtain of blood on the floor.

Then it turned its attention to him, those black soulless eyes locking directly on him. He shivered at the stare, then tightened his grip on his sword.

'I'll go out figh…'

His thoughts trailed off, as he felt a sudden spike of pain in his abdomen, followed by a complete loss of all sensation below it.

Shakily, he looked down to find a large arm punched straight through it. The pain hit him then.

It was so excruciating that even thinking hurt. He struggled to maintain his grip on the sword, even as he felt it slipping through his weakening fingers.

He wrapped his other arm tightly around the limb, right as he felt the monster was about to throw him.

Tightening his grip on his sword one final time, the transparent flame on it blazed, and he plunged it right through the beast's limb.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, he wasn't conscious enough to hear the aggravated screech of the beast. Something hit his head and he blacked out instantly.

[A cadet has been Eliminated. Remaining cadets: 6]