Dungeon Raider System-Chapter 549: Battle for survival in the barrenlands Part 2

"Don't listen to him, he's just a goblin smartass. We'll teach him a lesson and..." One of the hybrids spoke apologetically, but a young treefolk silenced him and stepped forward.

"It is for sale! In fact, we'll let you have it for free if you take the offensive. How does working as a mercenary sound?"

Elio looked at the young tree folk with a pitying gaze, he was only a young sapling probably desperate to be saved, but putting his hopes in a random hunter, a human hunter at that, would only get him disappointed. Even if the hunter in question was a heavenly rank, which he didn't appear to be, it was impossible for anyone to go outside the defensive line and come back alive.

"I know you're Mister Alessandro's son and probably the next Guardian of the forest, but he's just a human..." Elio put his hand on the young tree folk's shoulder, but he shook it off.

"I don't know, maybe if you throw in some batteries." The human hunter ignored Elio's remark and shifted from side to side in a gesture well known to those used to bargain at the slums flea market.

"We can't give you our batteries, our weapons will run out of flux."

"Come on! You know a single tier 1 battery would last you a day. Besides, you have less weapons than hunters and I bet you'll run out of ammo before the first coil gun runs out of flux."

"Tsk, fine... you can have our batteries." The sapling treefolk replied.

"I want them full, don't give me half depleted crap and I get to keep all the orbs, not just the ones from the cryptids I kill."

"Deal." The sapling said in a rush as though trying to strike the deal before the hunter took the offer back.

Elio watched in silent awe as the young sapling commanded the hybrids nearby to give up all their batteries to the man who after crushing the flux orb with his bare hand went back to where the other humans that joined their group remained.

"What are you doing here, young sapling? Shouldn't you be by your father's side?"

"I..." Kalos stuttered for a moment as the answer was likely to paint him in a bad light. The only reason why he joined Elio's group was because he wanted to tag along with them in case they decided to sneak out of the fight, but it was something he couldn't openly admit.

"There must be something I'm missing, because nothing makes sense anymore. Why is Mister Alessandro protecting the holy rank human when abandoning him would be so much safer for everyone? Why risk us all just because of a human." Elio asked.

"That's right! I came to bring you some information. The man father is protecting is not just a human, not just a holy rank hunter either... the wounded man father brought along with us is 'The Hunter." The sapling explained triggering several gasps and murmurs around.

"I see, so that's he's determined to save him because that would make him indebted to us and having the first hunter by our side could save not just our races, but those of all the hybrids around the world." Elio let out a relieved sigh after finally getting an answer.

"Yes, that's why father wants him by his side." Kalos nodded, though in reality he didn't know the actual reason.

"But I thought he was mortally wounded, how did he get better so fast?"

"He's still wounded, though he seemed to be getting a little bit better after drinking some alcohol." Kalos shrugged.

"I'm confused, he didn't look just a little better, he seemed to be completely healed." Elio asked as he took a glance at the distant back of the man who just took most of their batteries.

"Oh! I see the confusion. That's not him, he's not the first hunter... he's just a jerk I met a while back in Professor Fermi's class."

"I could understand it if he was the holy rank hunter, but why did you give him the orb and the batteries? He'll only get himself killed!" Elio asked in exasperation, placing Kalos yet again in a tough spot.

He couldn't say that the only reason he asked Uriel to help them was because he had heard rumors of his greedy character and knew he would take the bait and would most likely get himself killed. However, he still needed to make it look like he expected him to survive and then an idea came lit up in his head.

"Can you see this?" Kalos whispered as he turned towards his senior and lifted his lantern to show the discolored bark under his eye.

"What happened to you?"

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"It was him." Kalos' short answer came along with an implication that Elio didn't miss.

"Did he use his trait? A weapon?"

"No, it was a bare fist. You know what this means, right?"

Elio nodded in reply and continued watching the hunter that without knowing it, managed to pull a feat no regular hunter could pull. Even in their early stages of growth, treefolk were sturdy enough to shrug off most if not any blunt attacks.

He didn't look like much, but Elio guessed that perhaps the hunter wasn't actually a human and may come from a hybrid lineage far more powerful than treefolk and decided to watch him fight.

Instead of immediately jumping into action, the strange hunter started piling up all the batteries and proceeded to activate them one by one. "What the hell is that idiot doing!?" Elio roared when he realized that instead of the weapons, the hunter was actually charging a smartphone.

"Beats me." Kalos shrugged with a devious smile that Elio mistook as one of confidence, making Elio think that maybe the newcomer hunter had the means to contact the army.

This was seemingly confirmed when after draining up to the last battery pack the young hunter started handing out flare guns to his allies like candy, tasking them to shoot signal flares up in the sky encircling the thousands of hybrid refugees.