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Chapter 36 - Predators Instinct

  “Stay low and roll toward the Swamp region, now!” Lin shouted.

  Momentary confusion flashed across the faces of those in the Rocky region, but they didn’t hesitate for long. They dropped to the ground, rolling forward toward the [Swamp region] as instructed.

  Since they were at the edge, it only took a single roll to cross the border and re-enter the [Swamp Region].

  Lin wasted no time issuing another command.

  “Everyone else, do the same! Roll further in!” he yelled.

  At the same moment, a rock zipped past one of them, missing their face by mere inches as they dropped to the ground and began rolling sideways.

  As the individuals from the Rocky region regained their sight, they froze briefly, horrified by the headless corpse of their fallen comrade. Fear overtook their shock, and they obeyed Lin’s command, rolling further into the Swamp region to avoid the same fate.

  Dammit, it had to be that region.

  Lin cursed inwardly, his mind racing. He shot a glance at Roben.

  “Flank it from the right; I’ll go left,” he instructed quickly.

  Roben nodded without hesitation, darting out of the Snowy region and into the Swamp region with quick, large strides. Lin’s eyes darted forward, his eyes narrowing as he took in the dense cluster of trees a short distance away within the [Swamp Region], their bases surrounded by murky swamp waters.

  “Ren!” he suddenly called out, lowering his body as he paced toward the border of the [Snowy Region]. Ren, who had just finished rolling into the Swamp region, looked up.

  “I’m leaving you in charge! Coordinate with us once you reach the tree line—we’ll try to box it in!” Lin shouted.

  “R-right!” Ren replied loudly, his voice shaking but resolute. The exchange caused a few others to grimace, but they pressed on, spurred by the urgency of the situation.

  In this situation, most of them were focused solely on escaping and buying enough time to burn through the final ten minutes. However, Lin, having weighed his options instantaneously, had already concluded that running away was the worst possible idea.

  He dashed forward, snatching a weapon—a gun—from one of the crawling individuals near the border of the [Snowy region] before bolting away. His movements were fluid despite the deep snow as he skirted the border of the Swamp region before abruptly changing direction and entering it.

  Shit! he cursed inwardly, grimacing as a sharp wave of pain shot through his body. His head felt light, the pain threatening to overwhelm him, but with a sudden, deliberate motion, he shoved a finger into his stomach wound.

  The burst of intense pain jolted him back to focus, dispelling the drowsiness creeping in.

  Adjusting his trajectory, he moved deeper into the Swamp region, curving his path to flank the Minotaur from the left while Roben approached from the right on the other side. The unfolding scenario was something Lin had deemed too improbable to consider—and yet, here it was.

  As a contingency for Ren’s potential failure, Lin’s plan had been to force the Minotaur to divert its path back to the Snowy region — via the tennis ball, which would result in successfully teleporting it to the center of the Swamp region.

  This would maintain the [Majority Rule] and buy them precious time. However, this strategy hinged on the Minotaur being delayed within the Snowy region.

  The reality of the situation was clear now: the beast never fell for my taunt.

  After confirming the passage of five minutes to trigger the [Majority Rule] in the [Swamp region], the natural assumption would be:

  


      
  1. The Minotaur was teleported to the center of the Swamp region.


  2.   
  3. The Minotaur was already within the region, and therefore, nothing happened.


  4.   


  However, the next action that Lin took—telling them to move into the Rocky region—would confirm which of the two had actually happened.

  The reasoning was simple:

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  1. In the case that Lin’s bait succeeded, the Minotaur was successfully teleported into the Swamp region and therefore would not reach them within the next five minutes because it would need to travel from the center of the [Swamp region] to their location (10 minutes minimum).


  2.   
  3. In the case of the beast already being within the [Swamp region], the assumption would be that the beast had bypassed [Majority Rule] and would therefore reach them before they could trigger the [Majority Rule] in the [Rocky Region]—that is, in less than five minutes.


  4.   


  Since the Minotaur did not reach them even after five minutes had passed, everyone came to the same conclusion: Scenario one had played out, and since the Minotaur had failed to reach the [Swamp region], it was currently being forcefully teleported between the [Rocky region] and [Swamp region] through [Majority Rule].

  However, as things stood, Lin’s contingency plan didn’t work.

  On top of that, the beast never showed itself, making the current scenario even more bizarre to imagine.

  If it didn’t fall for the trap, then it meant the Minotaur was within the Swamp region when the [Majority Rule] was triggered.

  When they jumped to the Rocky region, the Minotaur somehow managed to reach the [Rocky region] within five minutes to bypass [Majority Rule], and then, in the next movement, it reached the [Swamp region] within the same timeframe of 5min, negating the [Majority Rule] each and every time.

  These two regions were on opposite sides, meaning that, if you had to avoid going straight through, you would have to travel through at least one other region before reaching them.

  Swamp → Snowy → Rocky or Swamp → Forest → Rocky.

  For their group currently at the center of all four regions, traveling between the two regions was possible, but for the Minotaur?

  It’s also possible.

  Lin finally concluded, still pacing toward the dense tree area with cautious steps, thinking back to the conversation they had about reaching their location quicker.

  He had suggested that he would aim for the midpoint, giving himself 7 minutes and 54 seconds to reach the Swamp region, followed by 3 minutes and 30 seconds to reach the center (their current location).

  Although Isadore had suggested an even better solution—tilting the path slightly to give himself more time to reach the Swamp region, reducing the time to 7 minutes and 18 seconds, and then 5 minutes and 18 seconds to reach their location—Lin never backed down on his own path.

  The reason for this was simple:

  


      
  1. It gave him a manageable time to reach the Swamp region.


  2.   
  3. It allowed enough time to travel from the [Swamp region] and enter the [Rocky region], negating their “skip a region” strategy, since he could reach both in less than five minutes each time.


  4.   


  The beast would have 7 minutes and 54 seconds to reach the Swamp region, and assuming it tried to get there by any means necessary, the moment it stepped into the region, it would only need 3 minutes and 30 seconds to reach them.

  However, instead of heading straight toward them, it had the option to travel only half that distance (1 minute 42 seconds) before jumping into the Snowy region and cutting across to the Rocky region, thus bypassing the [Majority Rule] of the Rocky region.

  By staying in the shadows, the beast could repeat this strategy, taking only 2 to 3 minutes to travel between the [Swamp region] and the [Rocky region]. This constant movement in the shadows would create a false sense of security, lowering their guards as they assumed it was being forcefully teleported each time.

  A predator’s instinct?

  Lin couldn’t help but wonder as he moved past a few trees, getting closer to the tree area. The reason he hadn’t considered such a possibility until now was simple: there wasn’t any time left.

  It wasn’t because he arrogantly thought the Minotaur couldn’t kill them quickly, but rather because of the [Proximity] rule.

  [Proximity Rule] — Individuals within a 40-meter radius of the Soul-vor beast will have their individual timer reduced by 2 minutes for every second that passes.

  I’m sure it noticed our timers dropping when we fought it...

  Using that logic, it’s safe to assume the Minotaur wouldn’t want to enter their “40-meter” radius because, with the current state of things, they would only need to survive for less than 5 seconds inside its range to drop all their timers to zero. But...

  I didn’t expect it to start throwing stones from a distance...

  The reason he opted for everyone to rush toward it was to try and drain their individual timers quickly.

  If they decided to run away instead, they would become easier targets, increasing the chances of the beast killing them off one by one. The decision to launch the attack within the Swamp region was uncanny, to say the least.

  Not only did it force Lin and Roben, their most powerful combatants, out of the Snowy region—returning their sense of touch and making them feel the fatigue and pain from the previous battle—but it also eliminated the smell of ammonia Lin had thrown at it during their last encounter. Without his sense of smell, he wouldn’t be able to sense it coming.

  It also chose to attack when the majority were standing in the Rocky region, ensuring that only a few would see or even notice which direction the stones came from.

  Running to the Snowy region meant being out in the open, while running to the Forest region meant losing their hearing, negating the advantage of the trees blocking the thrown stones since they wouldn’t even hear them crashing through. All in all, the beast was operating on a completely different level.

  As much as Lin praised the beast’s ingenuity, however, his response to the situation wasn’t something to downplay.

  The moment he saw the flying rock, he immediately told everyone to duck and start rolling toward the Swamp region. This action reduced their surface area, making it excessively harder to hit them from a distance, and because of this, the beast would need a more elevated position to attack effectively. And right now...

  Found it.

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