The Prey of the Hunt

“Where the hell did he go?”

“He’s not here! Spread out!”

“Found him—over here!”

An arrow whistled past right beside me.

“Shit! What the hell is going on!?”

I cursed under my breath as I ran, but it didn’t change the situation. They were chasing me down, firing arrows as they closed in.

They were herding me deeper into the forest, tightening the noose bit by bit. This is bad. Eight people ganging up on a low‑rank scout… this is ridiculous.

Up until now, the ones I fought had underestimated me as some weakling, so it was manageable. Maybe because they didn’t want to split the loot too much, the groups were always small.

But this time is different. Two parties teamed up. That means less profit, and they should be fighting over how to split the money. Yet there’s no sign of that.

Their goal isn’t money… it’s to kill me. They’re seriously trying to take me out. How the hell did it come to this? Is it because of that clueless kid I argued with the other day?

I can’t think straight. I need to focus on surviving.

Shoving away all distractions, I kept running. I know the forest well enough that none of them can catch up to me.

But they’re clearly guiding my escape path. Using numbers and arrows to push me toward the deeper parts of the forest.

Even if they can’t kill me themselves, if I run into a monster deeper inside, I’ll die anyway. That’s probably their plan.

I’m already in the mid‑layer of the forest. Any further and I might run into monsters I can’t beat. I have to shake them and get back to town somehow.

Just then, my presence detection picked up a massive cluster of signals. Of course it’s in the direction I’m running. They were getting close enough for me to make out their shapes.

This feeling… goblins? Looks like there’s a goblin settlement up ahead.

Would it be easier to deal with goblins than these adventurers? No, even goblins are a nightmare if they surround you.

Cornered, I tried to think through my oxygen‑starved brain. I don’t have time, and yet nothing comes to mind. All I can do is panic.

Things were going well up until now… so why did it turn out like this?

My brain, refusing to face reality, drifted back to the events earlier today.

“Good morning, Yajin.”

“Good morning, Al. Any good requests today?”

When Gonz isn’t around, Al told me to stop talking like a low-ranking grunt, so I’m speaking normally now.

“Hmm, no good requests today. Looks like it’s another day off. Well, it’s not like I’m desperate for money. No need to take any jobs I don’t want.”

“In that case, I guess we’ll head to the forest today.”

“You go out there even though it won’t make much money.”

“If I slack off too much, my senses get dull. I haven’t been an adventurer for long, so I have to keep pushing myself.”

“Hard work is a virtue, huh…”

“Hm?”

“It’s a saying from the Megad Empire.”

“It’s not that noble. Well then, see you later!”

I accepted a random gathering request and left the town. Today, I was planning to practice with my throwing shuriken. With that thought in mind, I headed toward the forest.

After walking for a while outside the town, I entered the forest.

I moved deeper into the woods, then, hiding in the shadows of the trees, activated my stealth skill. I pretended not to notice, but I had been tailed since leaving town. The pursuers were four in total.

I decided to hone my throwing shuriken skills in real combat.

From behind the cover of trees, I threw a shuriken. Since I wasn’t yet skilled enough to aim precisely, I threw it broadly, from my waist to my thigh.

The shuriken struck one adventurer’s thigh, and he screamed in pain. Hit-and-run! I quickly blended into the trees again, activating my stealth as I moved.

The shuriken didn’t lodge deeply, but it had definitely weakened his mobility. Feeling the response, I repeated the process of attacking and then hiding, slowly wearing them down.

Since I didn’t have enough shuriken, I mixed in stones, further accumulating damage on them. One of the adventurers panicked and began wildly swinging his sword as he ran into the forest.

I looked down from a tree and aimed at his neck and shoulder, throwing a shuriken.

With an overhead angle, I put extra force behind the shuriken, which sank deeply into the back of his shoulder, causing him to scream in pain.

By the time his comrades arrived, I had already finished repositioning. It was going well. Slowly, I was wearing them down, depleting their stamina.

Once I became more proficient with the shuriken, I could probably start poisoning them too. This is great, having a ranged attack really widens my options in a fight.

Once I return to town, I plan to sell their equipment and use the money to mass-produce more shuriken.

Wait, what’s this? I detected a response. Four adventurers? With the timing, it doesn’t seem like they’re the same group. Did they just happen to come here on a request? This is a hassle.

It would be easier if they killed each other off in a fight, but…

As I was thinking this, I confirmed with my presence detection that the adventurers had regrouped.

I climbed a tree to observe. After exchanging some words, the adventurers started acting together.

Were they acquaintances? Eight of them would be tough to handle. I shouldn’t push it; I’ll circle around them and head back to town.

At this point, I hadn’t fully grasped how serious the situation was.

I moved through the forest, trying to bypass the adventurers. But they tracked me precisely, and soon, they began surrounding me using their superior numbers.

Was my stealth not working? I was being gradually cornered, and it finally hit me that there was a real danger now.

I had been fully tracked, and arrows started flying in my direction.

I ran desperately, trying to create distance between us. Even with my stealth active, they tracked me accurately. There must have been a scout or a hunter among them with tracking skills.

I had overestimated the effectiveness of my stealth.

How many times do I have to almost die before I learn? I hate how I keep making the same mistakes.

I ran on, feeling death so close at my heels.

While I was spacing out from lack of oxygen and trying to escape reality, I suddenly found myself right in the middle of a goblin settlement.

The goblins waiting there must have mistaken my presence for a wild animal. When I burst out of the forest, they froze in shock.

I was exhausted. I wanted to rest. I didn’t want to run anymore. Crushing all those negative emotions, I used my momentum and drove a flying knee straight into a goblin’s face.

Feeling the goblin’s face crunch and collapse under my knee, I kept running without slowing, heading deeper toward the center of the goblin settlement.

Honestly, I wasn’t thinking about anything at all. If I stopped, I’d be killed. That single thought kept me moving. Just as the goblins finished forming a circle around me…

“Whoa, goblins!”

 “What, this is a goblin settlement?”

 “Told you to stop!”

 “Damn it, looks like we’re fighting.”

The adventurers chasing me had charged right into the goblin settlement. The scout must have warned them, but someone from a different party rushed ahead anyway.

The goblins became confused by the adventurers suddenly invading, loosening the encirclement around me. I used the gap to sprint forward and cut straight across the goblin settlement.

Confirming that the goblins and adventurers had broken into a chaotic melee and no longer cared about me, I hid behind a tree, activated Presence Concealment, and caught my breath.

There were a lot of goblins, but they were still just goblins. In the end, the adventurers would win. I’d just have to use the chaos to thin their numbers.

You chased me all over the place, now it’s payback time. Ten times payback! After regulating my breathing with Breath Technique, I blended into the forest and began targeting the adventurers.

One adventurer positioned himself with his back to a tree to protect his rear.

He was so absorbed in fighting the goblins that he didn’t notice me hiding behind that same tree. The moment he cut down a goblin, I jumped out.

“Gyah-gah gyah-gyah!”

The adventurer, thinking it was a goblin, turned toward me, only to take my straight punch right to his face. I figured pretending to be a goblin would make him let his guard down more than a silent sneak attack.

After he fell, I crushed his face under my heel, then grabbed the sword he had dropped and threw it at another adventurer who was fighting goblins.

Even though I threw it carelessly, the sword stabbed deep into his thigh. As the adventurer screamed, goblins swarmed him. He was dragged to the ground, and his face was smashed repeatedly with clubs.

A goblin came at me too. I quickly sidestepped and drove a front kick into its throat. While dealing with goblins, I threw shuriken at the adventurers again.

If the adventurers switched their target to me, I retreated into the forest. I repeated these little hit-and-run annoyances, but the number of goblins was starting to decrease.

I’d only managed to take down two of them. Not taking out the guy with tracking skills was a huge mistake. At this rate, I was done for, when suddenly, Presence Detection reacted.

Around ten goblins… and this response…

“GRAAAAH!”

The forest trembled violently. Of course goblins alone couldn’t establish a settlement in the mid-layer of the forest. There had to be a strong leader protecting the group.

The settlement only had small, probably young goblins, plus females and children. The strong males capable of fighting must have been out hunting.

And upon returning, they found humans ravaging their home. Yeah, there’s no way they’d let that slide. Go wild, Hobgoblin.

I concealed my presence and hid deeper in the forest, a grin spreading across my face.