The Ghost Shepherd

Hunting the Red Zone (part 1)

Around the table sat six people including Sly, Steelforge was not part of the group per say so she sat behind her partner and looked disinterested like a mother listening to her small child talk about the upcoming little league game.

Steelforge was thinking about how two barrels were not enough and that she could use a joint as well. The Umdali were able to produce drugs with specific effects and there was a particular plant from the Irakui planet that was excellent in providing a feeling of relaxation and numbness, it had been genetically modified to have no side effects and its name was Mate.

“Let’s Introduce one another, My name is Anku and I am the leader of Overpowered. I am a Close Combat Fighter and my weapon is a Two Handed Sword”.

The Introduction continued with the guy with the glasses while Steelforge rolled her eyes, “My name is Allan and I am a Psychic. I can manipulate objects with my mind and to a small extent create gravity fields. I need to visualize the action so my weapon is a pair of gloves”.

“My Name is Gonzo and I am a Gun user of the fire attribute. You can think of me as a Pyromancer but that specializes in rapid fire as opposed to huge devastating spells that take a long time to cast”

“My name is Sly and I am a close combat fighter, I wield a scythe and I am not blind”

“My name is Clayton and I am from the Barak Race. My E.F.S is a shield and I also have a lance”

Barakas were few in number but in terms of toughness no other races compared. There were very few Enhancements that could be given to them and their skin had a rock-like feeling that was tough yet flexible.

“I am Alice and I wield a Bow that can shoot three kinds of arrows, fire, Ice and wind”

“Great!! Thank you. We will start in the Yellow zone about 50 miles from the Red Zone and practice our teamwork, depending on the result, we can move further north and try our luck. Alice still needs her Government quota but I don't think she will slow the team down”

Snort…

Steelforge was bored out of her mind but Sly didn’t miss the opportunity to introduce her to the team.

“This is Steelforge and she is my hunting partner and a carrier. She will not be helping us hunt this time but she can transport the corpses for a small fee and allow us to hunt faster”

Sly smiled and Alice jumped from her chair in fright while the gunner showed a displeased expression towards having somebody carry his spoils for a fee nonetheless.

"You don't have to use my services little boy. You can carry your own, it is no problem but you need volume in order to keep the team going or the best hunters will leave for greener pastures. How many can you carry in that little Space Folder, one maybe two… snort... I'll take whatever you have to leave on the field as my property!! Even better"

….

The Gunner wanted to refute Steelforged but he was still processing what she said. The meeting continued with more specific information about where exactly they were heading the following morning and each person's role within the team. It was pretty basic stuff but if one of them was not on the same page as everyone else, people could get hurt especially the Close Combat Fighters that could get sniped by friendly fire.

The meeting was great, Sly was pretty happy with his choice for a team but there was somebody that was furious. The cryomancer belonging to Raol’s organization was staring daggers at Sly and was remembering the whole conversation he had while trying to figure out where it went wrong. He had agreed to the corpse condition immediately and there was no reason to refuse him unless his mark was related to another member of the small team.

The Cryomancer thought of confronting Sly about rejecting his offer but the 9 ft tall dwarf that was hanging around him was a big deterrent. He was not stupid, he took a couple of pictures and went to his information agent, the secret of a successful hunt was to learn about the prey as much as possible and he needed to find out the connections of each of the people in the small team including the giant woman.

Never in a million years did the Cryomancer imagine that the reason he was rejected and placed in the DO NOT ASSOCIATE WITH list was because of the spirit of the last group they betrayed.

The day became night and the morning followed bringing together 6 novice hunters and a Dwarf. Despite not participating in the hunt per se, Steelforged was still a professional and was there on time and ready to go. The rest of the team were in a cheerful mood and the best part about it was that the previous commitment the cryomancer had, made it so that they could at least enjoy the first hunt as a team without having to worry about a predator stalking behind them.

The yellow area the team decided to hunt was a lot further out than the place Sly hunted the previous time. The Crystal was working nonstop and the amount of resentment accumulated was like nothing he had ever seen, the fresh feeling generated by the clean energy was increasing more and more as well providing Sly with unseen focus and a stronger bond with his core.

The energy that resided in between his eyebrows also started to take shape and if he looked closer, there were countless glyphs forming the outline of an eye inside a circle with chains attached to it. The symbols were from an ancient era predating the creation of many planets and very few knew of their existence.

Planet Alpha couldn’t be more perfect for Sly’s growth, there were many spectres ready to be absorbed from both forces. If his luck continued, there was a good chance that the Magic Symbol would be completed in just a couple of days.

The Gunner took the lead on their way there while the bow user paid attention to the process since she was still very green in terms of experience. Alice had not hunted the quota and even though her enhancement came from a Cromos, a wolf like Argonian with giant saber like teeth and three heads that provided amazing olfactory sense and agility, it was too risky to place the lives of everyone in the group in her hands.

The team moved in unison and despite her size, Steelforged was able to keep up with the team and didn’t seem out of breath at all. The 150 miles were transverse in a little over 3 hours and in that time the team encountered 2 dracos and they didn’t stand a chance. The moment the Gunner saw them he called out his weapons that looked similar to extra large Glocks in size but the muzzle was round and close since there was no bullet to be shot. As the core spun, fire bullets that looked more like fire streamers left the muzzle like a gun in spurs.

Praraaa… Praraaa ...Praraaa

The fired bullets hit the back of the draco leaving behind some burned skin and smoke that obstructed the vision of the Argonian while Allan created a small gravity field beneath the Draco’s leg that slow his reaction and left a giant opening for Anku that move in with her giant two handed sword and bisected the prey.

It was too easy, it almost seemed like the people they recruited were not necessary at all.

“Good Job said Alice, while the Shield wielder looked a little annoyed”

“Don’t worry, once we get to the location it would be a different matter. The number of Argonians will increase and many groups of five or more are not rare at all” said Anku, looking very pleased by her performance.

“That was so wasteful, you basically decreased our profits by 20% with your stupid technique. Cut the heads not the entire body… Amature” While the group was conversing, Steelforged put the corpses away and reproached the people acting like they were official hunters because they were able to gangbang a Draco that was distracted.

“Let’s keep moving!!”

Sly was quiet the whole time, he was impressed by the teamwork but at the same time he was learning from Steelforged and hoping they were able to meet the 50 Draco’s mark that the female dwarf set up for the team.

He didn’t know if he could handle a night in the wilderness with such a woman, all he kept thinking about was that he would be crushed underneath her if they were to camp just the two of them.

The team kept moving and very soon they arrived at their target area and began to look for a good place to camp while staying alert for any signs of an ambush. Despite his personality, the Gunner took his job seriously and was very good at determining their location while moving at a fast pace. The chip that they all had was a big help but the real terrain was complicated and through the many years of fighting, the landmarks used were constantly changing.

The target area was close to a water stream, it was one of the eternal constants of the universe and something that attracted the attention of the Umdali researchers. The planets that presented living organisms contained H2O, Water. It was the same no matter which planet they went to, the structure of the species had it in different percentages but even the Argonians bled which was undeniable proof that they too had it in their systems.

On both sides of the stream there were giant trees that draped over the water and some were so close together that a person would find it hard to walk in between. There was a little trail made by hunters and Argonians alike and further up the stream one could find a different species of Argonians, the Freshwater version of the frost slink. They were about 3 meters long and 5 ft high, had long necks and a tail that separated into two with exotic colors. The frost slink was blue in color with violet tails while the warm weather version was brown in color with yellow tails.

They were really cute if it wasn’t for the fact that they were highly territorial and attacked anything that didn’t belong to their herd.

“I found a small opening about 50 meters from the stream due south. The space seems to have only one entrance so it would be easier to defend”.

“If is that good, it might be somebody’s place so we need to be careful” said Anku

“Let’s go”