Reign of the Hunters

Chapter 170 It Has Only Just Begun

Was there any other system notification that could make matters worse when things were already bad?

Ye Ci did not think so. As a Huntress who focused heavily on the Beast Taming branch of her Talent tree, there was nothing more miserable than this. In truth, focusing on the Beast Taming branch of her Talent tree was not part of Ye Ci’s plan. With the addition of 2 top-tier pets however, it would be a total waste to not spend her Talent points on Beast Taming when the game was still in its mostly PvE stage. If the game was in the PvP stage, Ye Ci would have spent more of her Talent points on the Archery branch. It was a rather unfortunate situation for Ye Ci.

There was only one explanation when Ye Ci could not summon her pet at this location: Ground-type pets could not travel on rooftops. It might be one of the game’s ultra realistic feature, but come to think of it, if Ye Ci summoned Ol’ Four in such a place, he would not be able to cross the gaps between roofs. Besides, wouldn’t the rooftops of houses be destroyed should Ol’ Four dashed on top of them? It would be a problem as well.

It seems that despite being ferocious, Epic tier pets were still restricted by terrains. Fleeting Time’s Giant Vampire Bat did not suffer from the same restriction faced by Ye Ci’s pet. It was a flying type pet that could be summoned as long as there is space in the air.

Ye Ci gritted her teeth at this fact. What the hell is this? Why do bad things happen whenever she ran into Fleeting Time? He was such a pain in the ass.

Fleeting Time expected the huge dinosaur to appear after Ye Ci blew a whistle, and he was suddenly uncertain of the situation. After all, Ye Ci was a few levels ahead of him, and pets share the same level as their owner. His Vampire Bat would be at a level disadvantage when it squares off against Ye Ci’s dinosaur.

Pets are unlike players. They were data generated by the system. No matter how intelligent or how smart a pet might be, it was still data generated by the system. They were unable to predict their enemy’s movement like a human could, and were unable to strategize their fights like a human would. The only thing they’re best at doing was to attack, attack and attack.

This will definitely pitch the Vampire Bat against the dinosaur head on. In such a fight, the bat that was a few levels lower would be suppressed and it would definitely place Fleeting Time in a disadvantageous position.

But for some reason, Ye Ci’s pet did not appear after she blew the whistle. Fleeting Time of course would not be so dumb as to assume that Ye Ci’s pet had ran away. The only logical explanation was that she was unable to summon a gigantic ground type pet in their location.

The time has come.

Despite not really caring about the outcome of their fight, Fleeting Time will never let go of any opportunity that presented itself during the fight. After guessing that Ye Ci was unable to summon her pet, Fleeting Time began giving out commands to his Vampire Bat and directed it against Ye CI.

Time is of the essence. He was unsure if Ye Ci had a flying type pet just like his. The presence of such a pet would nullify his advantage instantaneously.

In truth, Ye Ci did not own any flying-type pets. Ol’ Four and Ol’ Three that she had not summoned for a long time were the only pets Ye Ci owned. That was why Ye Ci immediately started running as soon as the system notification appeared, heading for narrow spots with high roofs.

As a class with high survivability, Hunters must be confident in their skills and have the ability to adapt to their surroundings in the shortest amount of time in a battle at the countryside. This allows them to locate the best position to avoid any possible danger.

This was a fact known not only to Ye Ci, but to FLeeting Time as well. As Ye Ci headed for the nearest narrow space, he knew what Ye Ci was up to immediately. If she was able to make her way into the spot first, Fleeting Time would lose his advantage.

His bat could never follow Ye Ci into such a confined space, and it would be very hard to him to land a shot on her in a place with so many hiding spots. It would be easy for her to land an attack on him as he was out in the open. This would turn the tables on him immediately. Fleeting Time narrowed his eyes as he dashed after Ye Ci, appearing deep in thought. He then let out a long whistle.

Ye Ci could feel the Vampire Bat that was basically on her heels flapping its wings as it climbed higher into the sky. What is happening? Is Fleeting Time giving up? How is that possible? Would he let go of such an opportunity? Ye Ci tilted her head for a sneak peek, and was shocked by what she saw.

Fleeting Time was a sly person after all. Using the bat’s spiraling flight path as it ascended, he directed the bat to position itself ahead of Ye Ci, and then dived at her right from the front. This guy. He was just like her. Despite appearing polite and having the demeanor of a gentleman, he was a crafty bastard in combat.

Ye Ci did not feel anger or rage. She was amused. A lot of players were crafty fighters, but not all of them could pay attention to all the little details in combat, and it would be very boring to square off against such players. Fleeting Time however, was just like Ye Ci. To be able to cross swords with somebody like Fleeting Time was truly joyful.

The Vampire Bat was fast. As it was about to pounce on Ye Ci, she could no longer afford to keep up her graceful image. Diving forward and then rolling away, Ye Ci avoided the bat’s attack. The sharp claws of the Vampire Bat landed on Ye Ci’s previous location, and with a loud “crack!”, the roof tiles shattered. If the bat had pounced on Ye Ci with such force, she would’ve lost a huge chunk of her hitpoints and experience a world of pain as well.

Dodging the constant attacks from the bat, Ye Ci continued to flee towards the safety of the narrow rooftops. Fleeting Time however, did not fail to get in her way. He bombarded Ye Ci with attacks, forcing her into the attack path of the Vampire Bat.

The Hunter class was also known as the “8-yards Retard”. In other words, the strength of the Hunter class came from its ranged attacks. A Hunter would be harmless as soon as an enemy was able to close in within 8 yards of the Hunter. Other than the Hunter class’s lack of close combat abilities, all ranged classes focused mainly on their Agility stats, while melee classes relied heavily on the Strength. An Agility focused class like the Hunter class would definitely be in a disadvantage in melee combat.

This was exactly the situation Ye Ci was facing.

Ye Ci’s opponent was a Hunter that could summon his pet. She herself however, was unable to summon a pet to fight on her side. Despite her level advantage, she lost the initiative when her pet was taken out of the picture. Her opponent could launch attacks after attacks at her from afar while his pet kept her distracted, forcing her to fight against the pet with the few close combat abilities in her arsenal.

Ye Ci had never been in such a pinch before.

Ye Ci always thought that she was an excellent Huntress with exceptional skill. However, once she was placed in such a dire situation where her opponent was as skillful as her, Ye Ci realised that her crisis management ability was not on par. In most of her close encounter with danger, she managed to outplay her opponents with her high Agility and Balance. In a real battle between experts, she had totally lost her way.

This disadvantageous situation is very annoying. Noting that her equipment’s skill “Charge” was ready, Ye Ci activated the skill without hesitation, putting a distance between Fleeting Time, the bat, and herself. Grabbing the opportunity, Ye Ci launched some of her strongest attacks on Fleeting Time.

Fleeting Time who was unable to dodge, took the brunt of Ye Ci’s attacks. Even when he was not dispatched instantly, Fleeting Time barely had any hitpoints left. He immediately chugged down a bottle of potion to remove the Bleeding debuff and began running in an “S” shaped path while applying bandages to heal himself.

As his bat flew towards Ye Ci, he let out another long whistle.

Ye Ci, of course, knew what Fleeting Time was up to. She would not fall for the same trick twice. She leapt into the air and spun around, firing off some of her abilities that were low in damage but would apply a DoT (damage over time) effect on its target. When she landed, Ye Ci gulped down some potions and rushed at Fleeting Time, ignoring the bat.

As the two ran, they were not just charging at each other, they were rushing at each other while trading shots back and forth. Fleeting Time was running in an “S” pattern while Ye Ci was not running in a straight line as well. Both of them were running in an overly similar pattern, with an overly similar speed while attacking in an overly similar fashion. It felt as if they were fighting against a mirror image of each other.

The gigantic bat that was chasing after Ye Ci let out a loud screech and fell due to the effect of multiple DoT debuffs. Fleeting Time narrowed his eyes, but did not pay much heed to the death of his pet. After all, it was just one of the tricks he had up his sleeves. It was not the tool he had intended to depend on to emerge triumphant in his battle against Ye Ci.

He preferred to fight against her head on.

“You will never win, not when you’re in the Eastern Continent.” said Ye Ci coldly as the two brushed pass each other.

Fleeting Time smiled at Ye Ci’s tensed expression, “I know no defeat, no matter where I am.”

The battle has only just begun.

Hiya minna-san! Chapter 170 is finally here! Ahaha… Ahahaha… Ahahahahaha…

Soo…. Hope y’all enjoy the chapter!!

Roses are blue,

Violets are red,

Jimmi is so busy,

But he translates just for you!!!

See? Jimmi is awesome rite? And an awesome translator like Jimmi deserves your reward support right? Right?? Please hit that sponsor button on the right side of the page if you’re on PC and if you’re using mobile it’s probably at the bottom of the page and show Jimmi your support!!! xDD

You can also support Jimmi by uhh… Writing some reviews for Reign of the Hunters at the Novel Updates site!!!

Fanart submission: [email protected]

(Yuuko is currently drawing some dank ass shit for Reign of the Hunters!!)