System Ascend

Hunter

As they were walking through the forest, they saw blood marks left behind by something. Blood marks can only be left behind by other players. It remains there for an hour. Lisa and David start looking around for the cause of it and find one of their guild friends.

It is Alice, who is sitting by the tree. She is bleeding all over and has only a few HP left. Lisa hurried and gave her a few berries to eat for recovery.

“What happened? Where are the others?” Lisa asks. 

“We were on a mission today and after we completed it, we got attacked from behind by some unknown people. They were very strong and even Steven couldn't beat them. They turned out to be people who had been spying on us for a while. They also know about you two. They left be wounded here. They took Zack and Steven with them in their hideout. They are asking for ransom or they will torture both of them. I don't know what to do, I am such a loser. I couldn't protect my friends.” Alice starts crying loudly. Lisa bites her lips out of frustration and anger. David tells both of them to calm down and think of a plan to rescue them. 

The three go back to their guild hideout to plan out something. As they were entering the hideout, David noticed a man hiding in the bushes. David throws his dagger at him and the man runs away while saying, “We are watching you, You better get all the money we have asked or we will continue to torture your friends.”

David gets mad but there was nothing he could do.

Lisa asks Alice if she knows where they took them and she replies that she does.

Alice managed to put a tracking crystal onto Zack and that will help them track the enemy's location. The main problem would be to beat them, even Zack and Steven couldn't beat the enemy. So it would be foolish to attack them directly with Lisa and David. Alice and Lisa start wondering about how they would be able to beat the enemy and just then David gets an idea. 

Meanwhile on the part of the forest:

“You better give us the password of your hideout.” One of Maxims minion kicks Steven to the face. 

 He screams in pain. “Or we will start torturing your friend Zack too. Do you really want me to start doing it right now?”

“No! No, please! Let me go!” Steven  tries to struggle free from his bonds. But it was no use. The guys hold him down. “Just…just let us go. We have more important things to deal with right now. Please!” He begs. His eyes well up with tears.

“Then give us the password.” One of the minions grabs a knife and cuts Stevens's shirt open. Another minion puts the tip of the blade against Stevens  skin. He feels a sharp pinch in his shoulder and immediately his face contorts into a terrified expression. “Give us the password!” The minion demands again. Steven lets out a whimper. The guy holding the knife hits Steven twice on the side of the head. There was blood pouring out of the wounds. Steven passes out. His breathing became rapid. The minions grab another dagger and stab Stevens again. This time he collapses on the ground. Maxims and his two minions laughs. Meanwhile Stevens friend Zack is also tied up to a chair. He is horrified by the scene in front of him.

He begs Maxim to let them go and also tells Steven to give up the password. He didn't want to give away the hideout because they spent almost a year saving enough money to buy that hideout. 

“The one thing that makes this VR so fun is that, you can feel real pain. We will continue to torture you guys and in time you will give up. We also asked your other friends to bring a huge ransom for your freedom. So even if you do not give us the password of your guild hideout. We will still gain a big profit.” Maxim laughs and kicks Zack. Suddenly their small house starts shaking violently. It is the work of a powerful magic spell. 

“Someone is here.” Maxim and his men gets worried.

“Hey guys. How do you feel?” A voice calls them.

They look towards the voice direction and see a guy standing nearby. He is tall, looks like he was built for speed and power, and has dark brown hair, light brown eyes, and wears blue clothes with white stripes. They are surprised. That guy is none other than the infamous Hunter, who has killed numerous people, many of which was their own team members. ‘I guess he really doesn' wanna mess with us.’ thought Maxims and his men. “Well, well. To what do we owe such a visit, hunter.” Maxim asks.

“I came to take care of you assholes.” Hunter points his sword in their direction and they shiver with fear at its presence. “You dare committee violence in my area. You have some guts, you better let those two go before I get mad.” The Hunter warns Maxim.

Maxim smiles smugly as he says “I don't think so.” and his men start running towards Hunter, ready to fight. “Do you think you can kill everyone here within 5 seconds?” Maxim asks as his men prepare their weapons. Hunter looks slightly disturbed but continues talking.“You have no idea what kind of powers I posses. All of the hunters are equipped with some kind of magical equipment, that includes a lot of firepower, including my own weapon. I wouldn't count on it.” Hunter warns.

Maxim and his men look at each other, confused. Hunter laughs and says, “Oh my god. You idiots are seriously clueless. You actually believe that I can't defeat all of you? Ha!” He raises his fist and punches the air. The earth starts glowing green and purple.

Maxim's men freeze in place. “Fuck! What is happening?!” Maxim yells out loud. Just then the earth starts vibrating intensely and they stumble back. Then it explodes with a deafening noise and everything goes pitch black.