Code Collector

Lewis's team from the south and Gary's team from the north. The two teams were following the same path created by the same beast.

Little did they know, they weren't the only teams that were following the path made for them. Nine groups of Hunters were walking to the same direction, in the center of the forest.

"How long does it take for us to get there?" Kyle asked impatiently. They were walking for three hours, and the groove seemed to be endless.

"Maybe we should just head back," Selena suggested. "It's getting dark and if we try to force our fight with the beast, maybe we're the ones who'll get hunted instead."

"We're continuing," Lewis ordered. "We've come this far. It's too late for us to go back now."

"But Lewis if we did manage to kill this beast, then our conditions would be bad," Selena said. "We'd lose most our energy after the fight, and this might be a chance for nocturnal beasts to attack us."

"Agreed," Kyle said. "You know how vulnerable we are after every fight. It's a good thing we always fight in daytime where the stronger beasts are sleeping. But at night, it's twice as dangerous. We shouldn't push it."

Lewis massaged his forehead, "Why are you all whining? We've encountered a lot of beasts at night before and we managed to come out unscathed. Why are you all reacting like this now of all times? This could be our break, you know."

"I think they're right," Allen signed, making everyone turn to him. The boy smiled and continued, "We can always have another time to get stronger. After all, we're still so young. There are brighter days ahead of us."

Lewis saw this and his eyes softened. Everyone, including him, had a very soft spot for the boy. It wasn't often that Allen makes a request and when he does, everyone makes sure that the request is fulfilled.

"Since Allen said this, then let's go back," Lewis said, making the entire group cheer. "But we have to collab with another group to defeat this beast, okay? Our three ours of walk would be wasted if we don't."

"Thank you, Lewis," Allen signed with a huge smile. The captain of their group shuffled his hair and smirked.

"Let's go home—"

"Run away!"

Lewis was interrupted when a man screamed from somewhere deeper into the groove. He stood in front of his teammates and conjured this weapon, raising it against the approaching person.

"I said, run!" the man yelled. The entire group held their breaths when they saw that the man had no arm, and blood was splattered across his body.

"Isn't that the celebrity Hunter, Derek Shapiro?" Selena asked. She was about to walk over to heal the man when out of nowhere, a giant mouth came out of the ground. It was a mouth of a giant lizard and it clamper its sharp teeth onto Derek's upper body, perfectly slicing the man in half.

"Oh, my god," Selena gasped. "Run!"

They didn't waste any more time and ran as fast as they could. Celebrity Hunters were famous because of their immense power and they were always accompanied by top Hunters. 

Either Derek was separated from his guards or his guards were wiped out. The group wished the situation would be the former instead of the latter.

Because if so, then they wouldn't stand a chance against the beast.

A couple of minutes of running and the groip decided to rest. They broke free from the groove and decided to rest when they couldn't feel the terrifying aura that was seeping from the ground. The thought of a giant mouth cutting them in half wasn't necessarily great.

"Let's go rest up in that tree," Lewis said. The group did as was told and climbed a giant tree. Allen in particular was having a hard time but Kyle helped him climb the highest position.

"Lewis, what in the actuall hell was that?" Irene gasped. "That beast was terrifying. You saw what it did to Derek freaking Shapiro. This man was a huge celebrity Hunter that could solo low tier Rare grade beasts. And you saw what happened."

"What bothers me is the location of his guards," Lewis said. "Each one of them had the powers equal to Derek and there are ten of them with him."

"That in itself is a wonder," Selena said. "How could such beast deal with an elite team? We're only in Haven, yet their powers would equal to the ones in Paradise. And they lost?"

"They didn't lose," Irene muttered. "They were slaughtered. That scene was a one sided fight, and it wasn't in the favor of the Hunters."

Lewis massaged his forehead and groaned, "I know that as Hunter's, we're always knocking on deaths door. I just don't know when it happened and how it would happen. And a future we might experienced happened right in front of our eyes. I felt chills run through my entire body."

"Me too," Kyle agreed. "He already lost his arm, and then his upper body. The sight was so disgusting yet so terrifying. I never felt like this before."

"I think we should call backup now, Allen signed. "We're already far from the beast. It's time for us to go to camp and tell them what happened. Maybe they'll ask assistance from the stronger Hunters."

"Yes," Lewis agreed. "Let's do that."

Unlike before, the group reached a decision quickly this time, and all were on one side. They wanted to escape the scene as much as possible, fearing that what happened to Derek would also happen to them.

"I'm scared," the blonde woman whispered. "I don't know if we can make it back."

"We can," Allen signed. "Just trust Lewis."

With a nod, the woman followed the group as they retreated back to camp. They were more wary in their surroundings, fearing that the beast would be underground like the time it killed Derek.

They leaped through the higher trees, slowly but surely. Every step they take would be calculated and they would always look out behind them and under them in case a surprise attack would be launched.

"We're almost there," Lewis whispered. "Just a few more minutes and we're back to camp."

Their Captain's reassurance didn't work but they just pretended that it did. The fear that they were feeling was more than any encouraging speech Lewis could give them. But it didn't stop them from hoping that they would survive this fight.

While Lewis Nixon's group was traveling back to their camp, Gary had just witnessed the incident. They arrived at the end of the groove that they were following and they found nothing but craters and ruined bodies of Hunters.

"What is this place?" Claudette aske as she walked across the crater. "What kind of monster could do such a thing?"

"Apparently, one that was also powerful enough to kill a celebrity Hunter," Hannah said. She picked up something from the ground and threw it at Gary. "That's a Showbiz Seal. You can't easily get it unless you're a legit celebrity Hunter."

What she threw to her captain was a small pin that was shaped as a metal star. The star was about an inch thick and inside it was engravings of a microphone, a camera, and a sword. The pin was already burnt to the ground just like everything around them.

"I think you were right, Hannah," Claudette said. "We really need to get out of here as fast as we can."

The ground shook and there was a menacing aura below them. All their eyes widened as they felt the surge of the beast that was surfacing. It wasn't something that they faced before, it was more than what any of they faced before.

"Let's go, now!" Gary yelled, not bothering to wait for the beast to show up. He led his entire group to the side of the crater where the ground didn't shake as much. He held his teammates and made sure everyone was there before he inspected what the cause of shaking was.

Not a minute after, a gigantic lizard leaped out of the crater. The ground split into two as the beast surfaced and breathed flames all around it. Above its head was flaming and the flames traveled to its back and onto its tail where it formed a giant trident.

"Gary…" Hannah trailed off. "That beast looks and feels scary. We can't possibly kill that."

"We can't," Gary whispered. "Let's fall back and get help. It won't be long before the beast notices us, so let's go."

"Concealing Wind," Hannah casted. She tapped her staff on the ground and a gentle breeze of wind pass through them. As the air passed, their body became invisible and their aura became faint.

"Thank heavens for that Rainbow Chameleon," Claudette groaned while the others chuckled silently. Gary cleared his throat, making everyone look at him.

The man looked serious, something that didn't happen often.

"Let's go," Gary simply said as he led his group out of the beast's way.