February 6, 2023, Sunset
"Tonight. The young master has ordered us to succeed. Everything must go according to his plan."
"I lost my disciple. That's a huge price. For the young master, I will get that Goujian sword. With it, we can free the one who has slept for a thousand years. And I... can see my wife and daughter again."
"Heh. It's starting. Something interesting is finally beginning."
***
Early Night. At the gathering field for Zhan Dou tournament participants.
Tonight, no drums were beaten. The lantern lights glowed as usual, swaying in the night breeze. The sky was clear, revealing twinkling stars and a brightly shining half moon.
Fewer than fifty participants made it to the final round. In this final round, the ten remaining individuals would become the winners of this year's Zhan Dou tournament. They would become special students at the magic academy, as a reward and a means of developing the talents of the ten gifted individuals who managed to endure the tournament until the end.
Lang Zen, Luxia, Jianying, and An stood on the podium. Facing the field that two nights ago was filled with people. Now, only a few of talented and capable individuals stood there.
"First. I congratulate all of you who have managed to survive until now."
Lang Zen's voice echoed from the podium in his characteristic standing posture.
"You have proven yourselves, that you have talent and ability to reach this round. However, from now on. In tonight's final round of the Zhan Dou tournament. Your talent and ability will be useless. What will help you tonight is only determination and courage as a Hunter.
"Throughout the entire giant dome. You will hunt. Your prey is us. The Shengxiao Hunters here and I."
The remaining participants seemed surprised by what Lang Zen, as an elder Hunter and former Taurus star, had said. Hunting five-star Hunters? Newcomers who haven't even delved into magic and don't have much combat experience against veterans? This was very strange.
Although that's what they felt, some, like Baldur and Imara, showed enthusiastic faces.
"You will get points based on how long you survive and how strong the attacks you successfully launch against us are. Each of us, the zodiac Hunters and Elder Lang Zen, will wear this bracelet."
Jianying exclaimed, raising his hand. An and Lang Zen did the same. They wore identical bracelets from which a holographic board appeared, showing a health bar at 100% and their location.
"You may work together to defeat one of us. We are forbidden from using intermediate and high-level magic. Information about our health bars will be broadcast online on special mobile phones that we provide." Jianying continued. They lowered their hands after ensuring the participants had seen it clear.
The mentioned mobile phones were already provided on a long table below the podium. The participants immediately walked to pick up a mobile phone from the table.
"They are really serious. The final round of Zhan Dou tournament always changes and has its own unique special rounds every year. But I never expected to fight them, five-star Hunters whose power is equivalent to an Arch Witch. Most five-star Hunters have the power to destroy a city alone. Ugh, I should have given up yesterday!"
Mei Mei complained, looking at the contents of the mobile phone. It contained information about the health bars of the five-star Hunters and their locations scattered throughout the Qincheng mountains. The hunting arena was limited to within the giant transparent dome. There was a map feature available on the mobile phone.
"Phone?" Sizhu didn't know how to use it. He didn't understand the contents of the phone at all.
"It seems we have to work together again like in the first round. Sir Sizhu. Mei Mei." Elizabeth near them suggested working together and they both nodded in agreement. Some people had also started forming their own groups.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
"We will judge your final results based on teamwork performance and individual strength. If you manage to defeat one of us, you will get extra points and a guarantee to enter the top ten."
Lang Zen shouted again, drawing the participants' attention back to the podium.
"This is a test to assess your eligibility for hunting and strategizing. We are the prey, and you are the predators. Hunt us with all the strength you have. Because the true Hunter will do whatever it takes to hunt their prey."
Lang Zen prepared his stance. He slowly raised his sword to his hip, making the participants look confused.
"With this, I, Luxia, Taurus star Hunter, head of the China division, declare. The final round of the Zhan Dou tournament is about to begin!"
Luxia raised her hand and brought it down. Just as Luxia finished shouting, Lang Zen swiftly stepped into the middle of the field.
With his single-bladed sword still sheathed, he knocked out one participant who reacted too late.
"Zhù nǐ hǎo yùn."
One participant had fallen. Everyone on the field immediately scattered like ants in all directions. Some screamed in panicked surprise.
Elizabeth, Mei Mei, and Sizhu immediately ran behind the field gate.
"It's not us hunting, it's them!" Mei Mei ran, screaming in fear. Behind them, Lang Zen was like a wolf pouncing on careless participants one by one, until three people fell unconscious from direct slashes to their necks.
Lang Zen saw the staff Sizhu was carrying. Upon seeing the carvings on his staff, he immediately chased Sizhu and his group without hunting other participants.
"Sizhu! He's chasing us!" Mei Mei, who had been running while looking back, screamed.
Sizhu immediately took a stance to block the swift attack from behind.
Clink. Clink.
Clang!
The sound of a monk's staff was heard. It was Gui, protecting Sizhu who was almost too late to turn around, and the sheathed single-bladed sword almost slashed his neck.
"Gui!" Elizabeth and Mei Mei exclaimed. They were quite happy to have an ally they had worked with in the first round.
"Do you need help?" Gui asked while blocking two consecutive slashes from Lang Zen.
"You..." Sizhu was about to say something but stopped. Lang Zen delivered a series of slashes to Gui and he was quickly overwhelmed in a matter of seconds.
Before the sheathed single-bladed sword almost hit Gui's neck, it was Sizhu's turn to help him.
Blaze!
Sizhu spewed green fire from his staff at Lang Zen, who was in the middle of an attack. However, he had an agile body and high reflexes, immediately jumping back before being burned by the green fire blast.
As soon as the green fire blast disappeared into the air, Sizhu, Gui, Mei Mei, and Elizabeth had vanished from Lang Zen's sight. They successfully escaped through the field's entrance gate.
"The elder is very enthusiastic." An approached Lang Zen, who had stopped chasing the participants. He stood still with a furrowed face.
"It's been a long time since I saw that. The last time I saw it was during the bloody moon tragedy."
Lang spoke to himself. An, with his wire gloves, swung away to chase other participants who were slow to run.
"I'm going first!!"
Meanwhile, Jianying was still standing on the podium with Luxia.
"Ara~ What a lively opening. Elder Lang Zen seems quite enthusiastic about hunting those young people." Luxia chuckled, looking at the three people lying unconscious on the field. There were 48 participants. Now there are 45.
"I'll go there first."
Jianying walked back podium, heading towards the mountain forest.
"Tonight will be very lively." Luxia said to herself, smiling towards the headquarters.
***
"This is more like us being the prey than the hunters!"
Mei Mei complained while running non-stop. The four of them ran towards one of the academy's dormitory buildings. Then they decided to catch their breath for a moment while planning there.
"Hah.. hah.. we'd better make a plan to hunt that five-star Hunter. Hah.. hah.." Mei Mei said, looking down and sitting on the floor. It was quite bright inside, with a hanging lamp showing the contents of the building they were in. They were inside the boys' dormitory food warehouse.
Sizhu and Gui were not too tired because their physiques were well-trained. Meanwhile, Elizabeth was breathing fast but not as frantically as Mei Mei.
"It's impossible for us to defeat the elder Hunter Lang Zen. We won't even be able to scratch him. I think we should look for the weakest Shengxiao Hunter here." Gui suggested, showing his phone.
Elizabeth nodded in agreement. "There are thirteen five-star Hunters here. Twelve Shengxiao Hunters and one elder former Taurus Hunter. You know the Shengxiaos best, Mei Mei. Who do you think is the weakest among them?"
Mei Mei thought for a moment, "We agree it's best to avoid meeting elder Lang Zen. Also, the dragon Shengxiao, Jianying Ren, and the snake Shengxiao, An Haocun. They are very dangerous."
Mei Mei explained while pointing at the names on the phone. She did it so Sizhu could understand, as he didn't understand technology.
"There are no weak five-star Hunters for us, but if I had to choose.. I think we can defeat the rabbit Shengxiao, Qu Guanglao. She's my grandmaster. She is a Hunter specially assigned to the healer division and the most skilled doctor in China. I'm sure we can defeat her because she never fights on the front lines."
Mei Mei pointed to the current location of the rabbit Shengxiao, Qu Guanglao. For some reason, she was hiding in the mountain forest far from the academy. She was at the northern end of the giant dome. Approaching the mountain peak with a fairly steep slope.
"Then let's go quickly. Whoever defeats her first will be a candidate for the top ten winners." Gui said, standing up.
"Wait. This is very strange. The rabbit Shengxiao's location is too far for participants to hunt her. From here to there, running up the mountain will take up to two hours." Elizabeth said suspiciously, looking at the location on the map. "Almost all the other Shengxiao Hunters are at the headquarters, mountains, or small towns not too far from the academy. Why is only the rabbit Shengxiao Hunter placed so far away?"
"Isn't it obvious? It's because she can't fight, as Mei Mei just said." Gui replied. Mei Mei nodded in agreement.
"Do you remember Jianying's words on the podium? *You will get points based on how long you survive and how strong the attacks you manage to launch against us.* Doesn't that mean there's a time limit for us hunters to hunt them?"
Sizhu, Mei Mei, and Gui suddenly realized something.
"If so, how long are we given to hunt? Jianying, elder Lang Zen, and the head of Chinese hunters, Luxia, didn't say anything about the time limit at all. If there's supposed to be a time limit, wouldn't there be a sign for us?" Mei Mei asked with a bewildered face. "Why didn't they tell us?"
"Maybe how long we survive means surviving their pursuit until a certain time?" Gui answered uncertainly. "This is like a game of tag. The opponent chases us until a certain time limit. And we can hide until that time limit is over."
"So we are the ones being hunted, then?" Elizabeth said, thinking and touching her chin.
Sizhu nodded. He raised his hand, wanting to say something, but they didn't pay attention to him.
"But how long will they chase us? Moreover, just hiding quietly won't give us enough points to be among the top ten winners. Other participants will likely encounter one of the Shengxiao Hunters and fight them. And if they get good points from their fights, we who only hide won't be able to get the same points as those who fight." Elizabeth said, patting her dirty white dress.
"Hah... That means going to the rabbit Shengxiao is a trap to waste our time, huh... Survive until a certain time and get average points, or fight strong opponents and get more points if we manage to fight fiercely."
Mei Mei sighed deeply. "This is difficult. We probably have three hours left. Because I think they will only hold this round until midnight."
"Why?" Elizabeth turned to Mei Mei with a question mark on her face.
"Lantern Festival. Here, in Qincheng, the Lantern Festival will be held one hour before midnight after the Zhan Dou tournament ends. And from the time we have, there are only three hours left. In three hours, we must defeat one of the Shengxiao Hunters in this place."
Elizabeth, Mei Mei, Gui were busy looking at their phones and weighing which Shengxiao Hunter was suitable for them to fight. Meanwhile, Sizhu didn't quite understand the item he was holding. He was more worried about something behind his back.
"That's right. You have little time and you are being chased by the strongest person in this land. Your only choices are to run until time runs out or fight and lose but get some points."
Behind them, An Haocun was sitting cross-legged on a sack of rice.
"Uh... Since when have you been there?!" Mei Mei asked in a high, surprised tone. Not realizing there was a snake Shengxiao casually chewing on an almost finished peach in the same warehouse as them.
"Since the beginning. That person has been here with us since the beginning." Sizhu said flatly.
"Why didn't you tell us, Sizhu?" Mei Mei felt a little annoyed by Sizhu's indifference. The young man in the black robe just shrugged.
"I wanted to say it earlier, but you all looked so tense talking about something."
Elizabeth and Mei Mei could only sigh while raising their hands in caution. Gui grinned slightly. He also noticed it but didn't pay much attention to it because An didn't seem to intend to attack first.
"So you've finished planning?" An asked mischievously with a sly grin.
The four young people lined up, taking a cautious stance.
"We met a dangerous opponent at the beginning. Hah... I should have just given up last night."
***