Dungeon Prowler : One Man Army

Chapter 219: Hunted by a rogue

Another 6 months were spent on the 42nd-floor dring witch Yunan celebrated his 20th birthday, and his gift from Debauchery was a one on one session with Bai.

Rogue training was something that Yunan feared most of all, he could take as many beatings by Dustan or Balin as they could dish out, simply because he knew they were coming, however, Bai was different, no matter what you prepare for, he will surprise you, simply because one can not be prepared for everything, and that was why Bai was scariest, he knew which things you would omit and not prepare for and that's where he will make you suffer from.

The duo agreed on keeping contact through the communication ring while Bai hunted Yunan in the 40th floor forest, Yunan was to apply all his hiding skills and escape techniques taught to him by Debauchery, as long as Yunan could run away from Bai he would receive information through the communication ring on rogue class skills, it was a very tempting offer if the hunter was not Bai.

Something that Bai excelled at was mental torture and that was his approach to hunting Yunan, he would keep him awake, he would stay close and breath down his neck, he would keep Yunan at full alert, stressed and looking over his shoulder at all times and only when he collapses would Bai actually catch up and show himself ending Yunan's misery. Or so thought Bai, a lesser man with any less determination and solidity of mind would let themselves be captured before the week was over, therefore he bet he could catch Yunan only after two weeks.

Yunan, on the other hand, was focused on one thing; namely detection, he was not sure how he could detect Bai and ended up spending a few nights in this mindset. The running and hiding part was the easiest, the hardest was securing food and water while misleading his hunter as well as get enough rest and make sure the distance between them grew, while Bai kept pouring endless information about surviving a rogue hunt.

"Do not rest until you know full well that you are safe, if you believe you are safe then you have lost, sleep with half an eye open and always stay alert to your surroundings no matter what. Do not waste time laying traps and misleading your hunter, it will only give them time to reach you faster"

"Flying will help you keep the traces on the ground to a minimum but will spread your scent into a bigger region, it might be worth it if your hunter uses scent to track but is completely useless for a hunter using mana detection or other tracking methods"

"While being hunted do not focus on a distance or destination, focus on making the hunter feel like he can not keep up and make him think that you are not actually trying to evade him"

"If you successfully make the hunter think you do not care if caught, they will take more time looking for traps that do not exist, therefore sometimes making a trap now and then could catch the hunter off guard, make one trap and then make a dozen of them, change the number and the layout, make the hunter look twice at every snapped twig and foot imprint, if you make the hunter fear your traps, you can make him slow down"

"Never fear being caught or being trapped, if you do not have enough cards to escape you will die and if you do have enough cards, being captured alive is another chance to escape after getting rest and food."

"Never try to reverse the situation, becoming the hunter only makes it easier to get caught, you are prey, and being prey is advantageous, lead the hunter to walk in circles, make them scream in frustration as they think they have been tricked into following a loop of trails, the more frustrating you are as prey the longer you survive"

"There is a limit to how frustrating you can be as prey because there might be a hunter who will burn down a forest to smoke you out, they might sink an island and boil the sea, so always give the hunter some false hope"

"Keep the hunter in your detection range, eavesdrop on his conversations and if he is recruiting more hunters, make life hell for all of them, if he rests, make a few traps for him, of he feeds poison his food, if you have the capacity make the hunter sick, and make sure everyone who is recruited by him dies a miserable death"

"You want to have a relationship with your hunter, speak to them through clues you leave behind, even messages, know their minds and let them glimpse a bit of yours, remain an enigma that can sometimes be understood and be predictable every now and then".

Yunan engraved every word Bai said into his memory, maybe it was half-false knowledge but it was useful knowledge nonetheless, this tidbit of knowledge was meant for ordinary rogues, ones that are not too smart nor too careful, it also worked as a guideline for when he was doing the hunt, and no matter how you slice it, this knowledge was something that came from years of experience and not something to be read in a book.

Yunan was a very good student, Debauchery had first-hand experience with him and knew that he would shatter their expectations whenever he had a chance, he was learning at speeds that made Debauchery fear for their spots as teachers, because they will run out of things to teach sooner or later especially because how he learns faster when more pressure was placed on him.

During the next three months Yunan used all his knowledge to escape Bai, and he did rather well, his first trick was to hang a piece of clothing full of sweat and scent on a ball of mana and let it roam around the 40th floor while he hid inside a tree house he made, it was inside one of those large trees, it was completely isolated from the outside world. That worked on Bai for only a few days before he caught the mana ball and dispersed it. The next trick was to fly to the ceiling and use spider thread to make a hammock, he used a small wind spell to deliver traces of his scent and mana to the ground without it dispersing too much and spread it in a certain radius.

The next trick was making earth golems in his image to work and spread his tracks all over the place, he even assembled a golem on his own body to pass by Bai unnoticed, well it took only one day before Bai was fed up and started indiscriminately destroying golems, then Yunan used earth shift to sit deep underground, even there he was found. It was a learning experience and Yunan grasped at it with both hands. If he could drive Bai to frustration, he could make any other hunter quit following him.