“You’re asking if I can heal this monster?” Melonomi looked up at the Alpha Cragodon.

“I can only target party mates with my Healing Touch,” I said. “Says ‘allies’ in the description. Most support skills work the same way. But what about your health potion cast? I’m assuming you can throw it at anyone or anywhere you like. And since it’s a health potion…”

“I’m almost sure it’ll work,” she said. “I can try it now, but they’ll see it and know your plan.”

“Wait, what’s going on?” Nitana asked. “Why heal this big guy instead of immediately killing it?”

“Herald wants a contingency in case they’re not so friendly,” Kezo nodded at the approaching players. “They’re probably not going to start any trouble. That’s Merl in the lead. I’ve partied with him a couple of times. No issue. We haven’t talked much though. And that’s Felicia beside him, his girlfriend.”

I recalled that Felicia once offered me some of her brewed potions as thanks for starting the world quest. I didn’t accept it so she’d continue to be grateful to me, and also because I didn’t have any use for them except to sell. The consumables she made were buffs for DPSers. So much for gratitude during the Great Hunt.

“Two Pathfinders in their party,” said Paritor. I wasn’t sure how he knew their Ocadules. “They are in this Great Hunt with the intention to steal kills.”

I raised a brow. “What should we watch out for with Pathfinders?” Normally, I wouldn’t ask this, preferring to pretend I knew everything. But I’d be incredibly pissed off if someone stole this Alpha from us.

“Stealth capabilities and high burst damage, single target skills.”

I nodded. “We should always keep count of them.” Then, to Kezo, I said, “I think that’s close enough.”

Kezo raised his hand. “Hello, Merl! How’s it going?”

The other party had the courtesy to stop. Merl, presumably their leader, waved back. “Hey there, Kezo! Just doing the Great Hunt, same as you. Before you say anything else, we’re going to apologize for getting those Cragodons back there. But everything’s fair game during this event.”

That’s not a real apology, I thought. Would my overly suspiciousness pay off this time?

“We didn’t know you got dibs on it,” said Felicia. “We were searching for Great Hunt mobs and accidentally met the Cragodons heading your way.”

“How did you guys know about some secret Alpha spawning here?” asked Merl.

“We don’t.” Kezo gestured to me. “It showed up while we were helping Herald with some quests.”

“Oho! Herald Stone!” said Merl. “World quest guy! Didn’t see you there.” His teammates also greeted me.

“We decided to do the Great Hunt later,” I said, “because the players by the Hunter-Warriors camp are in a feeding frenzy. I haven’t explored this part of the mountain yet, so here we are. Pure coincidence we encountered the Alpha Cragodon. That’s what they call beginner’s luck… since it’s my first time doing a Great Hunt.”

So, you shouldn’t ruin it, was what I implied. They weren’t kids so they should’ve gotten the message. If they still decided to mess with us—with me—it’d be fair game if I took revenge later.

“Oy, Herald,” said Merl. “You got some magic charms always running into lucky situations. Maybe if we stay around, some of it would rub onto us.”

Right as he finished that sentence, the Alpha Cragodon called for help. Rumbling answered in the distance.

“If that’s your way of asking to share, then it’s fine,” said Kezo. “Always good to have allies during the Great Hunt.”

“You scratch our back, we scratch yours,” said Merl. “You can count on us later on, especially during PvP. We’ll take those two Cragodons coming from over there. You get the rest.”

Telling us how to divide the mobs? That didn’t sit well with me. We were sharing with them, not the other way around.

Though they did take a smaller share, Merl made it sound like he was doing us a favor. I recognized this tactic because I often employed it myself—and I wouldn’t trust myself if I were up against me. Another factor was that these people didn’t move from their spot. They waited for the Cragodons to come to them instead of moving away from us. Some personal party space would be appreciated given the competitive air.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

I told my party about what we should do. Kezo and Megan didn’t think Merl’s group would try anything but agreed to follow my plan if I made the call.

Fighting the current wave went smoothly. The next one too.

Our parties became more comfortable with each other, chatting in between waves. Since Merl’s group had stronger DPSers than ours—except for Kezo—they quickly finished their fewer Cragodons and stood around watching us fight. It could just be paranoia, but I swear they were assessing us and planning how to steal the Alpha.

When the third wave after our alliance was forged came, Kezo said, “This might be the last batch. We’re going to kill the Alpha after this. Be ready with your skills and—”

“We should do it now,” I said, “while they’re still distracted with their Cragodons. They’ll finish before us.”

“Are you really sure they’re going to steal our—?” Megan began to ask.

“Kezo, attack the Alpha,” I cut in. “Everyone, do it! Remember to save your strongest skills. Paritor hold the regular Craggies.”

Paritor questioningly tilted his head. “Me? But I thought you’ll—”

“Minor change of plans. Everything else remains the same.” I threw a poison bottle at the Alpha, then went near it to cast debuffs. Then I rounded the Alpha’s ass and swerved left, to the forest. I set my sights on the Cragodons that Merl’s party was fighting, going in a wide arc far away from the Alpha that had everyone’s attention.

The others followed my instructions.

Merl and his buddies were still attacking their Cragodon. But something was missing.

Or someone. One, two, three, four…

“Their Pathfinders are gone!” I called out. Game time.

My teammates stopped attacking the Alpha Cragodon. Only a tiny percentage of its health remained but was still some ways away from getting finished off. Our plan was obvious—we were waiting for the Pathfinders to attack so we could take the last hit. The invisible Pathfinders had two choices: return to their party and pretend this was all a prank or attack the Alpha and risk our party getting the kill.

The Pathfinders chose the second option. One of them broke his invisibility, suddenly appearing below the Alpha Cragodon, a curved dagger in each hand, solidified flames extending the blades. He thrust the glowing daggers upward at the Alpha’s belly, shooting bright beams from its end.

But that wasn’t all.

Merl and Felicia abandoned all pretense of an alliance. They separated from their party, leaving behind their tank and healer to hold their Cragodons, and charged toward the Alpha. They were going to double down while their second Pathfinder waited to deliver the coup de grace.

I looked over my shoulder as I continued my side mission, keeping an eye on the battle. The Alpha’s health bar went down and down. Ten meters behind the Alpha, the previously missing Pathfinder showed herself. She carried a black crossbow crackling with electricity. As she trained her sights on the Alpha, shimmering orbs gathered into her weapon as if to charge it.

Merl and Felicia let loose their skills on the Alpha. I could only see their backs, but I imagined they had quite perplexed expressions that Kezo wasn’t doing anything.

The crossbow Pathfinder fired.

“Yes, we got it!” Merl roared, raising his axe. Then his hand wavered and he let his weapon fall to his side. I couldn’t hear his next words but I could guess them.

The Alpha’s health bar suddenly jumped up before the large energy bolt hit. The crossbow Pathfinder wasn’t able to kill the Alpha. Kezo, Megan, and Nitana attacked the Alpha Cragodon and finally put it to rest. It had been milked long enough.

[ Loot: 97,390 Artas, (5) Great Hunt Emblem, (2,650) Hunting Token, (3) Alpha Cragodon Horn Shard, (8) Prized Frostores, (5) Thick Cragodon Hide ]

That’s a lot of tokens! I yelled in my head, not wanting to betray my position.

The tank and healer of Merl’s party were standing while getting attacked by Cragodons, looking to the center of the clearing and away from me. I came up from behind them after circling through the forest. The tank had a high level and good gears that he didn’t mind the two Cragodons stomping on him. Following his gaze, I saw that Kezo and the others went back to killing the other Cragodons they ignored for the Alpha.

Merl and his partymates didn’t try to steal those. That’d be the height of immaturity if they did. They seemed to be accepting of defeat, chuckling while chatting with Kezo.

Beyond Kezo, I spotted Nitana. Though she was sending squadrons of all sorts of fairies at the Cragodons, she was looking my way. I nodded at her. This wasn’t part of the plan but I knew she’d understand my message. She went to get Megan.

I cast [Horde Stampede], rushing at the leftover Cragodons of Merl’s party. They tried to steal from us—an Alpha Cragodon at that—so, they shouldn’t be offended that I’d do the same. I taunted the Cragodons and started running to my party. The Cragodons thundered past the tank and healer of Merl’s party.

“What the hell?” the healer exclaimed.

Nitana and Megan rushed to meet me, attacking the very much bruised Cragodons as they closed in. Merl and Felicia turned around to see what was happening. Their Pathfinder friend moved forward, but Merl, laughing boisterously, held out his arm to stop him.

The Cragodons burst into Essence and Gli. I trotted through the sparkling lights, meeting Nitana and Megan, and gave them high fives.

“As expected of Herald Stone,” said Merl when I approached. I decided to partially forgive him because he uttered one of my mental catchphrases. “You got us with that one… got us with that two. Because, you know, that was twice—”

“You don’t have to explain it, babe,” Felicia said. “It’s our loss.”

“Fair game,” I said, holding out my hand.

Merl accepted it. “Fair game.”