Chapter 109: The Counter Hunt

The Dragon Sovereign Guild’s [Dragon Sovereign Kill Order] was like a massive boulder dropped into a stagnant pond. Within only a few hours, the announcement had caused a tremendous uproar throughout Ashford City. The forums were flooded with related posts, filled with speculation, shock, schadenfreude, and concern. The name "Abyss Squad," which had previously circulated only among a relatively small circle of high-level players, suddenly became known to almost everyone.

Players across the city were watching closely, waiting to see how this audacious three-person squad would respond after provoking one of the city’s most powerful guilds. Would they disappear without a trace and hide until the storm passed? Would they flee Ashford City entirely, eventually being crushed beneath the Dragon Sovereign Guild’s relentless pursuit?

Nobody expected what happened next.

The Abyss Squad did not hide.

They did not flee.

They hunted.

On the second day after the kill order was issued, during the darkest hour before dawn, Aiden, Silas, and Luna silently left their hidden warehouse on the outskirts of the city. The three moved through the darkness like blades slipping into their sheaths, leaving almost no trace behind.

Their objective was not survival through concealment.

It was retaliation.

The intelligence network of the Dark Abyss black market became the key to their counterattack. Phantom Eyes continuously delivered encrypted information to Aiden’s personal terminal, providing almost real-time updates on the movements of Dragon Sovereign’s elite players.

The information was remarkably detailed.

Aiden could learn a target’s approximate location, level, class, squad composition, preferred hunting grounds, common routes, and even some of their combat habits. With the right information, a large guild’s greatest advantage—its numbers—could become a weakness. The Dragon Sovereign Guild had thousands of players scattered throughout Ashford City, but those players could not all move together.

Aiden didn’t intend to fight the entire guild.

He intended to dismantle it one squad at a time.

Blood for blood.

The first strike came in the Rotting Marsh west of the city.

The target was a Level 9 Assassin known by the ID Shadow Fang, the scout captain of the Dragon Sovereign Guild’s Elite Third Group. He was infamous within the guild for his stealth abilities and his ruthless use of poison.

At the time, Shadow Fang was leading two Level 7 Thieves along the edge of the marsh in search of a rare monster called a Miasma Lurker. Their objective was to obtain the creature’s valuable poison sac, which could be used to create high-quality toxins.

Morning mist covered the marsh, reducing visibility to only a few dozen meters. The air carried the heavy smell of wet earth, rotting vegetation, and poisonous miasma. It was an environment that strongly favored assassins.

Shadow Fang was completely at ease.

He had just driven his poisoned dagger into the Miasma Lurker, applying another damage-over-time effect. As the monster’s Health continued to decline, he was already calculating the value of the poison sac in his mind.

The creature staggered.

Shadow Fang prepared to finish it with [Backstab].

Then the mist moved.

Whoosh!

A sharp sound tore through the fog.

Shadow Fang’s instincts immediately warned him of danger, but he couldn’t determine its source. A dark thorn shot through the mist, wrapped in shadow energy and moving with an unnatural flexibility.

[Heaven-Binding Roots — Shadow Mutation!]

Shadow Fang reacted instantly.

His body blurred as he activated [Vanish], attempting to disappear into stealth before the attack could reach him.

The shadow-covered thorn was faster.

It changed direction in midair as though it possessed its own intelligence and wrapped tightly around his ankle.

A powerful binding force erupted.

At the same time, the strange energy attached to the thorn interfered with the circulation of his Mana.

-55!

[Bound!]

[Mana Disruption!]

Shadow Fang’s expression changed.

"Who is it?!"

His shout disappeared into the fog.

The answer came immediately.

A massive figure burst through the mist like a charging beast.

Silas.

His enormous tower shield slammed into the two Thieves who had rushed forward to help their captain. The impact sent both of them flying before they could even determine where the attack had come from.

Silas did not slow down.

At almost the same moment, another figure emerged from the fog beside Shadow Fang.

Aiden.

The dark-gold blade in his hand flashed once.

Shadow Fang barely had time to turn his head before the blade pierced directly through his throat.

-301!

[Critical Hit!]

[Armor Break!]

The terrifying damage number appeared above his head.

Shadow Fang’s eyes widened in disbelief.

He had not even seen the attacker approach.

His body collapsed and began transforming into white light.

The entire ambush had taken less than five seconds.

The two remaining Thieves finally understood what had happened.

Their captain was dead.

The enemy had already broken through their formation.

They turned and fled into the deeper sections of the marsh without hesitation.

They didn’t get far.

Luna emerged from the mist behind them.

Her purple eyes were calm as she raised her staff.

She had no intention of wasting time on a spell that required a lengthy chant.

[Frost Nova!]

A wave of freezing energy exploded from her position.

White frost spread rapidly across the wet ground and caught both fleeing Thieves within its range. Their movements immediately slowed as ice spread across their boots and lower legs.

That brief delay was enough.

Silas strode forward.

His enormous body moved with surprising speed as he closed the distance and swung his tower shield from one side to the other.

-178!

[Crush!]

-165!

[Crush!]

The two Thieves were sent crashing into the ground.

Moments later, the marsh became quiet again.

Only the distant, hoarse cries of several Miasma Lurkers disturbed the silence.

Aiden walked to the place where Shadow Fang had disappeared and collected the rare-quality poisoned daggers he had dropped.

Before leaving, Aiden approached a damp, rotten tree nearby.

He drew the Devouring Soul Blade across its surface.

The blade carved a simple symbol into the bark: a distorted eye with dark lines dripping downward like ink.

The Eye of the Abyss.

Then the three disappeared into the mist.

Their second hunt came at noon in the Gale Rift.

The target was a Level 10 Warrior known as Breaker, the vice-tank of the Dragon Sovereign Guild’s Elite First Group. He was renowned for his exceptional defense and aggressive fighting style and was currently leading a Level 8 Priest and a Level 9 Archer through the rift.

Their target was an elite monster known as the Wind Roar Beast.

The Gale Rift was filled with violent currents of air. Dust and fragments of stone were constantly swept through the narrow passages, while the howling wind made communication difficult.

Breaker was in the middle of the battle.

The Wind Roar Beast slammed one of its massive claws into his shield, producing a shower of sparks. The impact shaved away a noticeable portion of his Health, but Breaker barely reacted.

"Keep the healing coming!"

The Priest behind him immediately began casting.

White Holy Light gathered around his staff.

The spell was almost complete when a gray-white die silently appeared above his head.

It spun once.

Then shattered.

[Heavenly Karmic Dice — Minor Misfortune!]

The Priest’s expression changed.

The Holy Light circulating through his body suddenly became unstable.

His carefully constructed spell collapsed.

The white glow flickered and vanished.

"What?"

The Priest stared at his staff in disbelief.

"Why did it fail?"

Breaker immediately realized something was wrong.

Without the healing, the pressure from the Wind Roar Beast increased dramatically. He raised his shield and barely blocked another attack.

Then, at precisely that moment, the rock wall beside them exploded.

BOOM!

A massive figure burst through the debris.

Silas.

His [Charge] activated at full force, but he wasn’t targeting Breaker.

He was targeting the Priest.

"Protect the healer!"

Breaker roared.

He tried to move, but the Wind Roar Beast was already pressing him from the front, preventing him from disengaging.

The Archer reacted quickly.

He raised his bow and fired a [Concussive Shot] toward Silas.

The arrow had barely left his bow when another projectile streaked across the battlefield.

A cyan wind-elemental arrow struck the Concussive Shot in midair.

Bang!

Both projectiles exploded simultaneously.

Luna stood on a distant ledge with her staff raised.

She had used a basic elemental attachment technique, coating an ordinary attack with wind energy to increase its speed and precision.

That single interception created the opening Silas needed.

He reached the Priest.

His tower shield came down.

BOOM!

-201!

[Crush!]

[Critical Hit!]

The Priest didn’t even have time to scream before his body turned into white light.

Breaker’s eyes went red.

He abandoned the Wind Roar Beast and spun around, activating [Heroic Strike] as he charged toward Silas.

But someone was already waiting for him.

Aiden appeared beside him like a ghost.

The Devouring Soul Blade flashed.

The weapon slipped beneath Breaker’s raised arm and pierced directly through the exposed gap in his armor.

-288!

[Weak Point Attack!]

Breaker staggered.

Before he could recover, Luna’s second Fireball came roaring through the air.

The projectile was significantly different from an ordinary Fireball. Its core burned with an almost white heat, and the surrounding air distorted violently as it traveled.

It struck Breaker directly in the back.

-113!

Breaker had lost his healer.

His formation had collapsed.

Silas stood in front of him like an immovable wall, while Aiden attacked from the side and Luna continued bombarding him from a distance.

Even with his exceptional defense, Breaker could not withstand the combined assault.

Within seconds, he fell.

The Archer had already recognized that the battle was lost.

Rather than throwing away his life, he used the complicated terrain of the Gale Rift to retreat.

Aiden didn’t pursue.

There was no need.

He simply walked to the location where Breaker had fallen and carved another Eye of the Abyss into the stone wall.

Then the three left.

The third hunt followed.

Then the fourth.

Then the fifth.

Over the next two days, the Abyss Squad became a nightmare for the Dragon Sovereign Guild.

They moved through the leveling grounds around Ashford City like predators stalking a herd, relying heavily on the Dark Abyss intelligence network to identify isolated targets.

They never attacked blindly.

They specifically targeted lone players or small elite squads consisting of no more than five members.

The moment an opportunity appeared, they struck with overwhelming speed.

Luna disrupted the enemy’s rhythm with her strange combination of fate and elemental abilities. Silas shattered formations and absorbed the majority of the incoming attacks. Aiden moved through the resulting chaos and eliminated the most dangerous target before the enemy could properly respond.

Most battles were over within seconds.

And once the target was dead, they never lingered.

They disappeared before reinforcements could arrive.

Every battlefield received the same final message.

The Eye of the Abyss.

At first, the Dragon Sovereign Guild treated the incidents as isolated attacks.

Then the casualties accumulated.

Then more squads disappeared.

Soon, panic began spreading through the guild.

Players who had previously searched aggressively for the Abyss Squad now became increasingly cautious whenever they entered the wilderness. They no longer dared to move in small groups, and many refused to travel alone at all.

Leveling efficiency dropped sharply.

Resource collection slowed.

Elite players began changing their routes repeatedly, hoping to avoid becoming the next target.

Some even began suspecting members of their own guild.

After all, the Abyss Squad always seemed to know exactly where they were.

The forums exploded.

"Holy crap! Abyss didn’t run after getting the kill order. They actually turned around and started hunting Dragon Sovereign!"

"They’re specifically targeting elite players and leaving that Eye of the Abyss mark every time. That’s basically a public slap in the face!"

"How is Dragon Sovereign supposed to deal with this? Their three-person team keeps disappearing before reinforcements arrive!"

"That shield user is insane. He fights like a fortress!"

"And that girl! Her Fireball damage is ridiculous. Since when can a support player hit that hard?"

"The mysterious melee fighter is the real monster. Every time he appears, someone dies."

"Has anyone else noticed that Abyss always seems to find Dragon Sovereign’s isolated squads? They must have an intelligence network."

The situation at Dragon Sovereign’s headquarters became increasingly oppressive.

Damien stood before a massive holographic display filled with casualty reports.

One after another, the reports carried the same symbol.

The Eye of the Abyss.

Another screen displayed the guild’s operational statistics.

Wild-resource collection had nearly come to a standstill in several areas. Leveling efficiency had dropped by almost thirty percent. Morale was falling, and several peripheral members had already begun considering whether remaining in the guild was worth the risk.

Garrett stood nearby, furious.

But for once, even he seemed to have run out of things to say.

Selene stood before Damien with a grim expression.

"Sir, we’ve analyzed the attack locations and timings."

She brought several points up on the holographic display.

"The Abyss Squad has exceptional mobility, but that’s not the most concerning part. Their intelligence is extremely precise. In almost every incident, they arrived at the exact moment our members were isolated."

Selene hesitated.

"Our movements may be compromised."

Damien’s eyes narrowed.

"You suspect a mole."

"It’s a possibility."

Selene’s expression remained serious.

"Either someone inside the guild is leaking information, or they have access to an intelligence network capable of tracking our elite squads in near real time."

Damien’s fist slammed against the table.

Crack!

The solid wood surface split beneath his hand.

Humiliation.

He had issued the Dragon Sovereign Kill Order expecting the Abyss Squad to retreat under pressure.

Instead, they had turned the entire situation around.

His kill order had not crushed them.

It had given them a reason to hunt his people.

"This is no longer a simple provocation."

Damien’s voice was cold.

"It’s a declaration of war."

He turned toward Selene.

"Pass the order down. No outgoing team is to consist of fewer than twenty players."

Selene’s expression changed slightly.

"Twenty?"

"At least."

Damien’s eyes were filled with cold fury.

"Every major operation must have at least two elite captains present. No exceptions."

He then looked directly at Selene.

"I’ll give you the highest investigative authority available. Turn Ashford City upside down if you have to. Find their base. Find their intelligence source. Find out who is feeding them information."

Selene nodded.

"Understood."

Damien’s gaze shifted toward Garrett.

"Garrett, assemble the First and Second Elite Groups. Keep them on standby."

A cold smile appeared on his face.

"I want to personally crush these pests."

The counter-hunt had completely changed the situation.

The Dragon Sovereign Guild had begun the conflict believing it was hunting three people.

Now, it was struggling to prevent those three people from hunting it.

Meanwhile, the three individuals responsible for the chaos were nowhere near the guild headquarters.

They were hiding inside an abandoned underground air-raid shelter.

The shelter was dark and cramped, but it was deep enough beneath the city to provide excellent concealment.

Aiden sat against one of the walls, calmly wiping his already-clean blade.

Silas sat nearby, maintaining his tower shield and inspecting the mechanism of his arm crossbow.

Luna was the most occupied.

She sat beneath a dim emergency light, carefully studying a newly acquired [Chain Lightning] skill book. Her purple eyes moved across the text with intense concentration, occasionally flickering with excitement as she imagined how the skill might interact with her [Elemental Affinity] class.

Outside, Ashford City was in turmoil.

The Dragon Sovereign Guild was searching desperately for them.

Players were discussing their battles across the forums.

The Eye of the Abyss had become a symbol of the conflict.

Yet inside the shelter, none of that seemed particularly important.

Aiden finished cleaning his blade and returned it to its sheath.

"Rest for six hours."

Silas looked up.

Luna closed the skill book.

Aiden’s expression remained calm.

"After that, we move."

He paused briefly before giving their next target.

"Thunder Ruins."

The three exchanged glances.

No one objected.

The counter-hunt had only begun.

And the bloody feast the Abyss Squad had prepared for the Dragon Sovereign Guild was far from over.