Chapter 151 - The Hunt For Landlord Has Began! (2 in 1)
Immediately after hearing what his ally just said, Solar Mist didn't jump from joy or sigh in relief, but actually glared at him with a furious look. He felt raging fury at his partner having a solution all along but still deciding to hide it until this point.
Just how much time did they waste standing here waiting for Felix to come by himself while they could have literally gone hunting him down already?
"You, what the hell are you saying!!" Pure Muscle, who had an ever shorter fuss than Solar Mist, gritted his teeth, trying his best to suppress his anger and not jump on Hound Stench.
"Let me explain first before exploding." Undisturbed by his allies' furious looks, Hound Stench sighed and said, "I have an ability that allows me to track anyone's location by smell. However, for it to take effect, I need Landlord's unique smell."
"So what's the problem with that?!" Pure Muscle didn't even let him continue his explanation, before snapping at him.
"Do you have his smell on you? Did you even meet up with him inside the maze?" Hound Stench's gruff voice neither rose nor lowered as he threw a barrage of questions at Pure Muscle. He simply sighed and added, "I doubt that any of you met up with Landlord inside the maze. If you did, you wouldn't have been standing here alive and kicking."
Tongue-tied, Pure Muscle unclutched his tight fist, gradually cooling himself off. Even with his potato brain, he easily figured out what he meant.
As based on what he had seen from Felix's treatment inside the game hall and the interview segment, he was certain that he wasn't a merciful person to leave a player walk away from his clutches. Especially now that there was a bet going on, where even 1 GP was important.
"Wait a second. Didn't all of us meet and interact with Landlord before we were dropped in the maze?" Quick-witted as always, Solar Mist easily found a loophole in Hound Stench's reason.
"Heh, do you think I am stupid not to notice such a thing?" Hound Stench glared at Solar Mist and said, "If I could track Landlord using such an outdated smell, I would have done so alone without needing to come here and hope to encounter him by chance.",
Solar Mist nodded his head in understanding. What Hound Stench said was logical and within reason. After all, if he had such a busted ability that allowed him to track anyone no matter how far the distance separating them without having a single weakness, that ability should honestly belong to a legendary beast.
However, Solar Mist knew that Hound Stench's bloodline was from an epic tier 2 beast called Hell Hound. So, having such a weakness was completely understandable.
"The stronger the stench of the target, the easier it is for me to locate its whereabouts." Hound Stench shrugged his shoulders, "I doubt anyone of you met up with him during the last 50 minutes or so. Right?"
Solar Mist's expression instantly turned ugly after seeing that everyone was shaking their heads. However, he still didn't give up, as he promised them that anyone who met with Felix during that duration, would get a hundred million SC reward!
Unfortunately, no one spoke or stepped forward to help. Hound Stench shook his head in disappointment and returned to his position, standing silently like before with his oversized brown coat, covering his entire body, except for his exposed bald head.
He never held any hope for those players claiming that in their journey they spotted Felix. However, he still put out his card in the open to extinguish all options. Now that he did, hope for locating Felix was truly snuffed out.
No one was affected the hardest by this failure than Solar Mist. He was truly on the verge of losing his shit and start massacring those useless pieces of garbage that he wasted time and his reputation to sign a contract with, for no benefits at all.
The moment he proposed the infamous slave contract in the game, his reputation among the spectators fell sharply. Of course, his party members who were also in it weren't spared from being looked down upon by the spectators.
Slave Contracts were frowned upon, just slightly below placing bounties on the players' heads. After all, those contracts ruin two of the spectators' most favorite things in the game.
Death and balance.
The players who signed the slave contract were supposed to die and not walk around freely with a 2nd chance at life. Although their lives were under the mercy of others, they still had a chance to leave the game alive.
The perfect example was those 21 players who just signed with Solar Mist's party. They should have died in a gruesome manner to entertain them, not stand around the maze exit like statues doing absolutely nothing.
This example also highlighted the newly messed up balance of the game. If Felix decided to rush to the exit and not fight the legendary beast, how was he supposed to fight against 25 players all at once?
In the eyes of the spectators, that was purely a sure death trap, which was inescapable by no one. Thus, anyone who proposed this screwed up contract was sure to get hated and booed by them.
This was the reason why boos and insults were thrown before when Zoe switched the camera focus from Felix to the maze exit after they finished watching his replay!
How could they not after seeing with their own eyes Solar Mist's party hunt down players and force them to sign a slave contract to kill Felix?
Whether they hated Felix's guts or not, that wasn't the proper way they wanted him to die. Thus, seeing Solar Mist's ugly expression and his party disappointed looks after failing to create another plan, made them feel an unspeakable euphoria.
"Now what?" Pure Muscle abruptly asked, breaking the desolate silence in the area. However, no one answered him, as they also had no idea what to do.
Solar Mist kept fiddling with his glasses absent-mindedly. No one knows if he was in deep thought on the situation or he simply gave up and kept gazing in a daze.
He was supposedly their think tank, if he ran out of ideas, then they truly should just accept their loss.
"I believe I can help you out with your problem."
Out of nowhere, the Queen AI's monotonous voice resounded in everyone's ears, stunning them speechless, not knowing how to react to such mind-boggling news.
Who could blame them though?
The Queen wasn't supposed to assist anyone in the games. She had absolutely no authority to interfere with how the players were supposed to play or fight. As long as everything was within the rules, she must stay in her place.
The players' first thought after hearing what she said was that someone within the party was playing a prank on them by using her voice. Thus, they turned left and right, trying to spot the bastard who was trying to anger those four hardcore players at this tense moment.
They truly wanted to lay lowkey like this until the game ends to regain their freedom. Yet, a retard wasn't able to read the mood properly, and they were going to suffer with him.
"WHO THE F*CK DID THAT!" Just like they assumed, Pure Muscle was the first to respond, as he shouted at them with a murderous gaze. He was truly planning on killing someone.
Frightened, the players gulped and took a step back, not wanting to get targeted by this furious gorilla.
Just as Pure Muscle pointed his finger at a player randomly, planning to snap his neck to ease his fury, the Queen's voice resounded again. "It was me."
This time the source where it came from was clear. Everyone turned their heads and stared at a man wearing a white mask and a black hoodie, coming out from the wall's shadow gradually. Starting from his head to his feet.
"Mastermania??!" Surprised, Solar Mist quickly wore back his glasses, not daring to believe his eyes.
Mastermania, a well-known idol, who breathe attention in and out, was actually hiding his face and voice?! Was the sun rising from the west as well?
Although none of them saw his face or heard his voice, they immediately knew his identity, and for a simple reason actually.
There were only two shadow element users in this game!
That's right, Mastermania and another player with a rare bloodline were the only ones from the hundred or so players participating in this game that had the shadow element.
Mastermania who was a popular idol had all of his abilities already exposed to the public. He was famously known for having the passive ability *Shadow's Cloak* that allowed him to submerge in the shadows and travel through them.
"What the hell happened to you pretty boy?!" Straightforward as always, Pure Muscle asked impolitely what was in everyone's mind.
The area descended into an awkward silence, as the players were waiting patiently for Mastermania to answer, yet, he simply stood silently in front of the maze exit, not bothering to address Pure Muscle's question.
Suddenly, he put his hand on the closed door and caressed it softly.
The players were merely confused by his actions, and not worried that he would push it open and exit the maze, emerging as the winner.
Ultimately, he was still part of the wager, and anyone participating in it was forbidden from winning the game by using it. Felix proposed this rule, just to keep those hardcore players inside the maze, whether they liked it or not.
"He really did one on us, didn't he." He sighed through his nose since his mouth was completely ruined by Felix's acid aura! If it wasn't for so, he wouldn't have been using the Queen's voice as a means of speech.
"He sure did." Solar Mist sighed after understanding what he meant.
"I heard what Mr. Hound said." Mastermania removed his hand from the gate and said, "I believe I have what he needs."
The moment Hound Stench heard what he said, he clapped his hands twice while saying, "Everyone, please give us some space. I don't want your smells to interfere with my ability."
"You heard the man, MOVE!" Pure Muscle means was always rougher as he pushed and kicked those before him.
Within a couple of seconds, the area was emptied, leaving only Mastermania and Hound Stench near the gate.
"Based on the heavy burnt off smell your body is emitting, I believe you fought with Landlord and lost. Right?" Hound Stech asked.
"None of your business." Mastermania glared at him.
"I wasn't asking you to tell me about how it went, but to know if you managed to touch him during your battle....Wait a second, you did touch him right?" After seeing that Mastermania was avoiding having eye contact with him, Hound Stench's expression turned a bit unsighty.
'How can he be this incompetent? What a waste of a fine assassin bloodline.' Hound Stench gave him a disdainful gaze and asked, "As long as you reached 5 meters, I can still create a smell mark."
Mastermania's eyes light up after hearing so. He remembered that he was paralyzed exactly 5 meters away from Felix.
"Go ahead, start using your ability."
After hearing a positive response, Hound Stench sighed in relief and ordered him while opening his brown coat, "Look here."
A bit humiliated to get ordered around, Mastermania gritted his black teeth while staring at Hound Stench's Stomach with a hint of fear.
The spectators who had no idea about Hound Stench were stupefied at the sight of a large dark hound's head merged with his stomach!
The Hound had long white fangs protruding outside of its vicious-looking mouth, a spherical black nose with three nostrils, sharp hairy ears at the top of its head, and lastly, its eyelids were closed shut, not letting the spectators see its eyes.
The spectators didn't know if the thing was alive or not, however, Mastermania who had it in front of his face, knew that it was alive and kicking. Its nasty breath kept assaulting his nose each time it exhaled a breath of air.
"Wake up lazy head!" Hound Stench smacked it right in its scalp, yet only a soft growling sound responded to him.
"If you don't wake up in three seconds, you could forget about eating dinner tonight." Hound Stench twisted both of its ears just like a mother does to her child.
"Oohoo!!" The hound cried pitifully while opening its eyelids, exposing two bright red eyes, emitting a dangerous vibe.
"Stop whining, it doesn't even hurt that much." Hound Stench gave a gentle smile, as he gazed at his partner in arm acting like a drama queen.
Some spectators almost throw up in revulsion at such a messed up sight. They didn't have the guts to continue watching Hound Stench talking to that beast stuck in his stomach like it wasn't a big deal.
This was probably the first time in their life to see a player who obtained one of the rarest top mutations.
Rebirth!!!
That's right, the hound had its own consciousness and thought process! And not just an active or passive ability.
Such a rare mutation could happen only one in a million times. Plus, it had way too many strict conditions to just have that one chance of getting it. The first one was to awaken or replace a bloodline using at least 30% at once, a quite difficult hurdle to achieve but not impossible. The second one was to have at least a 75% affinity rating.
Those two conditions must be met first if one wanted to have a chance to awaken the consciousness of the beast he merged with. After all, the bloodline itself had pieces of dormant consciousness, memories, and such. If it wasn't for so, humans shouldn't be able to integrate with beasts.
That being said, Hound Stench's mutation resulted in having the Hell Hound's head protruding from his stomach. Probably not a lot of bloodliners would hope for that to happen.
"Use smell absorption on this idiot." He pointed his finger at Mastermania and added, "Absorb only the smells he was met with between 40 minutes to 60 minutes ago."
Lazy and muddled, The Hound yawned widely with his tongue dripping with saliva, sending a wave of nasty stench towards Mastermania, causing him to gag and almost vomit his guts out.
Coco brought his nose close to Mastermania's face and abruptly inhaled a deep breath through it. Colorful particles with multiple different colors came out from Mastermania's body and went rapidly inside Coco's nose.
No one was able to see those foggy colors, except for Hound Stench. Coco kept repeating inhaling through his nose and exhaling through his mouth until nothing was coming out of Mastermania anymore.
"Okey we are done." Hound Stench let go of Mastermania's head and took two steps back, putting some distance between them.
He closed his eyes and focused on the many smells that Coco just absorbed. The passive ability he was relying on was called *Smell deduction*.
It allowed him to memorize an arsenal of smells without getting confused in the slightest. The best part, he could differentiate between them even if the two smells were only 0.01% different!
Hound Stench made sure to memorize everyone's unique smell when they were standing on the stage during the game hall, including Felix! Thus, what he was trying to do now, was comparing the smells that Coco just absorbed with Felix's scent that he memorized.
Minutes passed by and still, Hound Stench had his eyes closed deep in his zone, eliminating one smell after the other rapidly.
The smells Mastermania was exposed to during that 15 minutes window was quite a large figure. Hound Stench had to make sure that he was error-free in his comparison, lest Felix's smell pass by him unnoticed.
"Come on, faster faster, faster..." Solar Mist kept murmuring under his breath while his eyes were glued to his AP bracelet clock, ticking continuously.
Who knew that It would tick for whole 5 minutes before Hound Stench finally opened his eyes with a satisfied smile.
Without further ado, Hound Stench waved his hand, singling for the players to return. Solar Mist was the first to dash forward, running as fast as he could, unbothered about keeping his classy calm image anymore. The rest of his party soon followed after him.
"Any good news?" Immediately after arriving, Solar Mist asked.
"It was a close call." Hound Stench clarified, "Landlord's smell that I picked was barely enough to create a tracking mark using my ability." He smiled mildly, "If we didn't have Coco, we may not even be able to use that mark." He patted the happy Coco head, who was huffing with his tongue out, pleased by getting complimented.
Although they didn't understand what he meant by the 2nd part, Solar Mist and Spirit Visage still thanked Hound Stench over his effort like proper gentlemen.
"Alright, Mr. Hound can we go now?" He asked impatiently.
"We can move at any moment now." Hound Stench pointed at the 22 players and asked, "However, we can't take everyone with us. They might drag our speed down."
Solar Mist nodded his head in agreement and clapped his hands twice, "Listen up! Those who are confident in their speed or strength, join us in our hunt and you will be rewarded with a hundred million! SC"
Although the players got hyped up after seeing the reward gets mentioned up, not a lot of them decided to join the main party. Actually, only four players raised their hands, showing their desire to participate.
Despite the enticing reward, the majority of players still preferred to remain near the exit and especially away from the main party. They weren't frightened by Felix's strength, but by the main party itself!
Who knows they might actually fail to locate Felix successfully during their journey. Which meant, Solar Mist would lose his shit and start killing them like harvesting cabbages. They had no way to defend or resist him after signing that contract. Hence, in their eyes, it was much to stay as far as possible from them until the game ends and they regain their freedom.
"Useless pieces of trash!"
Irritated and irked, Solar Mist gave them a death glare and stopped bothering with them. He knew exactly what was in their minds, and he had no time to correct their thoughts by torturing some of them.
"If you are not coming, then you better make sure that no one opens up the gate!" He shouted, "Anyone who reached 5 meters near the gate, cut his god damn head off! You hear me?!"
'Solar Mist's fiery personality started to show up more often.' Spirit Visage mused as he gazed at Solar's Mist losing his composure yet again. 'Heh, Landlord was right, fire element users shouldn't try to act calm and cold. It just does not fit them at all.'
Without waiting to receive their response, Hound Stench pointed at the Northern path and sprinted with his coat flapping in the air, exposing his stomach, which had Coco with its tongue out. The rest of the party swiftly chased after him.
Mastermania went to the nearest shadow in the wall and submerged himself in it, planning to chase after them while hidden.
A whopping 15 minutes passed since the moment Felix's announcement had passed. This meant they only had 45 minutes to reach Felix and kill him.
Plus, even if they did kill him before the game ends, how were they going to surpass Princess Bird, who was obviously above them in ranks?
No one knows what was their end game. Was it to simply kill Felix and wish that Princess Bird had died somewhere or they already had a plan to emerge as the winner after killing Felix?