Chapter 138 - Peak Strength

"Akaba Ruins?"

Cassius's heart skipped a beat. Search missions were much more difficult than assassination missions. With an assassination mission, you at least had a specific target and location, then all you had to do was kill the target however you wanted. But search missions relied heavily on luck and had a high degree of uncertainty.

If you were lucky, you might find it in a day or two. If you were unlucky, you might never find it even in ten years.

Cassius would have preferred an assassination mission, but he didn't really have the luxury of choice. He had to accept the atonement task of finding the Akaba Ruins. He was already prepared for the possibility of failing the mission and running away.

His thoughts still in turmoil, Cassius kept reading. The atonement task's details spanned several pages. He scanned each page, pausing slightly when he reached key information, especially the one that was time-sensitive.

Mission Time: 180 days.

Six months wasn't long, but it wasn't short either. Cassius had a feeling that Black Rain Manor had deliberately assigned him an extremely tough task; finding the Akaba Ruins in six months would be incredibly challenging. Then again, he had killed the three Decaying Knights sent by Black Rain Manor. The six-month deadline was extremely short for such a task, but Cassius could begrudgingly accept it.

His Elephant Soul technique was fifteen percent away from completion. Each enhancement using Soul Power improved it by about five percent, plus he needed to rest one or two months in between each enhancement.

This meant he could enhance himself at least three times before completely betraying Black Rain Manor. He'll reach the third-level accelerated blood flow, and he might even be able to perfect his Stone Armour Technique by then. But this also depended on whether he could accept extra tasks during the atonement task.

If he couldn't take on extra tasks, then Cassius would have to find some way to fool the other Hellsings into giving a considerable amount of dark essence. He had originally planned to scam a large amount of dark essence from Black Rain Manor anyway before severing ties with them completely. This way, he wouldn't have to repay it later.

Cassius had no qualms about doing this. He had only one goal in coming to this historical period, and one goal only: to shut down Black Rain Manor.

Burying those sinister thoughts back inside him, Cassius continued flipping through the book. A map was tucked between the pages. He carefully pulled it out and found an old piece of parchment.

The parchment was slightly yellowed, showing signs of age and brittleness. Fearing he might tear it if he used just a little too much strength, he cautiously spread it out. It was a medieval-style map with abstract drawings.

The various regions, rivers, and mountains were written in ancient names, and the distances and proportions were inaccurate. Some areas of the map were damaged, with key information covered by reddish-brown stains that looked suspiciously like blood.

Cassius shook his head. He couldn't make head nor tail of it. He needed to find a linguist who studied the ancient languages, preferably from a university with an archaeology department. This way, an archaeologist could restore the map, and the linguist could translate the information.

Fortunately, these matters could be solved with money. It would just take time.

Cassius wasn't in any hurry. He planned to spend the next few months enhancing his strength to the maximum before attempting the mission. This way, even if he failed, it wouldn't be a complete and total loss.

With a solid plan in place, Cassius carefully took the map and left the Baptism Chapel. He didn't stop for dinner and headed directly to the Mission Hall to test if he could accept another task.

The answer was, yes.

Black Rain Manor was quite magnanimous, or maybe it had no choice but to follow the rules.

From that day on, a cloaked figure appeared in the Hellsings' gathering spots in Black Rain Manor, such as the Iron Blood Tavern.

This place was a mixed bag in Black Rain Manor with all kinds of people and sects coming and going. Consequently, news traveled fast. Over the past few days, Cassius made some acquaintances and gathered some intelligence, especially regarding dark essence loans, because, that's right, even Hellsings had loan sharks.

Although marked-ones weren't ordinary people, they still had ordinary needs. Hellsings often faced difficult missions, and rather than risking their lives, they could borrow dark essence to enhance themselves and get through tough times. This was a common trait among both ordinary people and marked-ones.

There were formal loan services within the Hellsings, as well as underground black market loans. These black market loans were essentially high-interest loans with low barriers to entry. One could borrow at anytime and even in exorbitant amounts.

Cassius aimed to contact several of these black market lenders. Once he set his plan in motion to completely betray Black Rain Manor, he was going to borrow a large amount from each lender, using it to enhance himself. It didn't matter if he didn't use it all up, as long as he reached the peak of physical control.

Once enhanced, he'd make a quick exit. If the lenders were sensible and didn't pursue him, then that would be good. If they sought revenge, Cassius wouldn't hesitate to get rid of them.

As the saying goes: eliminate the lender, then you eliminate the debt.

Another day, in the eastern region of Black Rain Manor, in a secluded corner near the back door at the Iron Blood Tavern, a tall man in a cloak sat drinking. He seemed mysterious and quiet, his cold demeanor at total odds with the lively and rowdy atmosphere around him.

Cassius glanced at a burly man nearby, who was drinking heartily, beer drenching his tangled chest hair. He slammed his cup down and shouted in satisfaction. In a farther corner, a man and a woman, both marked-ones, were getting intimate, heedless of how they were in front of everyone. Others were playing drinking games.

Hellsings had their own ways of coping with the pressure of facing death: drinking, fighting, or women.

Cassius took a sip of his drink and tapped his fingers on the table. He was waiting for someone.

A short, red-haired man walked in. He looked around the bar before making a beeline for Cassius. Cassius stood up without a word and headed for the back door. The two of them stepped into a quiet alley behind the bar.

"I've made contact for you. The Black Wolf Society, a branch of the Werebeast Sect, does this kind of business, and so does the Reaper's Eye, a branch of the Mercury Sect, though they operate on a smaller scale. If you want to borrow dark essence from them, you might only get a little..." the red-haired man said in a low voice.

"Anything is fine. I don't mind," Cassius replied expressionlessly.

"Here are their addresses for transactions and their business hours." The red-haired man handed over two slips of paper.

Cassius accepted and put them in his pocket. He then pulled out a wad of federal currency and handed it to the man. "It was a pleasure doing business with you."

The red-haired man smiled as he pocketed the money. "Yes, it was."

Cassius shook the man's hand. With his help, Cassius had obtained contact information for five high-interest lenders. He was confident he'd be able to borrow a large sum of essence eventually.

Scamming wasn't really that satisfying. Cassius preferred to scam loan sharks. But there was no rush. He wasn't planning on running just yet. With the contacts in hand, he could borrow the essence at anytime.

The next day, Cassius brought Jiri along in the same manner as before. However, unlike last time, Black Rain Manor did not target Cassius again. Perhaps it was because he had taken on the atonement task. In any case, until he left the Rainy World, Cassius encountered no danger and smoothly returned to the real world.

This time, not only did he bring back a six-month atonement task, he also brought back numerous extra tasks. As Cassius’s strength increased, completing shield-level tasks became as easy as eating and drinking and posed no challenge at all.

Time flew by, and four months passed in the blink of an eye.

June 10, 107 of the Hongli Federation calendar.

In a secluded and dark private room of the Baptism Chapel, a burly man with a bare upper body was slowly practicing his fist techniques. His leg, which was raised high in the air, stepped onto the ground.

Boom!

The floor shook, and a black shadow flashed across his arm, followed by a sharp whistle as the airflow surged wildly. A powerful straight punch stopped midair. The wall from two to three meters away snapped from the force of the punch just thrown.

Cassius slowly retracted his fist, his chest rising and falling rhythmically like a drum. This was the breathing technique of the Elephant Soul. A faint white mist hovered around his nose, and a deep, elephant-like roar emanated from his chest, creating a sense of heaviness.

Huff...

Cassius opened his eyes. His Wind Elephant Fist technique had improved after over four months of training, achieving a slight enhancement.

[Wind Elephant Fist Incomplete: Elephant Herd 71.2% (Total Three Stages)] → [Wind Elephant Fist Incomplete: Elephant Herd 74.8% (Total Three Stages)]

Assuming that the Elephant Herd stage was divided into five steps, Cassius had only one step left. He was getting close to the combat artist level.

𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

In the dim light, he reached out and patted the muscles on his shoulder, producing a rasping sound like two rough stones rubbing together. Cassius's tall body seemed to be covered in a faint white stone-like layer, giving off a robust and tough aura.

This was his normal state. If Cassius exerted his full effort in hardening Qigong, his body would appear to be clad in armor. Although his flexibility decreased, his defense had seen a significant uptick.

[Stone Armour Technique: Light Armor Major Culmination (Total Two Stages)] → [Stone Armour Technique: Heavy Armor Major Culmination (Total Two Stages)]

In four months, his hardening Qigong progressed from Light Armor Major Culmination to Heavy Armor Major Culmination.

This two-layer technique had reached its peak. Cassius had now reached the extreme state of the Stone Armour Technique.

Skin Hardening level 2: Due to his hardening Qigong practice, his muscles were tougher, and his skin harder. His defense and resistance to blows had significantly improved and could now withstand...

With this hardening Qigong, if Cassius used his full strength, even a machine gun couldn't break through his defenses!

His breathing gradually calmed. He finished his warm-up and adjusted himself to his optimal state. Sitting cross-legged, Cassius glanced at the upper right corner.

[Elephant Soul Incomplete: Bug Bite 61.7% (Total Three Stages)]

He felt the abundant Soul Power within him. Without hesitation, he calmed his mind. A surge of Soul Power power erupted, enveloping every inch of Cassius's body. The familiar strengthening process began anew.

In a certain sense, practicing Covert Martial Arts was a continuous process of communicating with and tempering the body. In this process, the physique continually grew stronger, akin to a general training a motley crew into a disciplined and formidable army, like forging weapons to increase their physical strength; equipping them with armor to enhance their defense; training them to be disciplined in having control over their strength.

Cassius now felt like a general, striving to coordinate both the overall situation and optimize the structure of his army. Most importantly, he was ensuring every soldier was well-fed to make a robust army.

In the private room, the burly man was bare-chested. His powerful, reddened muscles surged and rolled like waves. Sweat dripped down like a broken line, hitting the ground with a plop, creating a wet circle around him.

As he breathed through his nostrils, a small white vortex formed. His heaving chest emitted a trumpeting-like sound.

Cassius closed his eyes. His body felt like it was alternating between cold and hot. One moment felt like bathing in icy water, the next like falling into a volcano. The extreme cold and heat frantically stimulated his senses, making the process torturous. The most unbearable points were in three places: the navel, the heart, and the brow.

At this moment, a hot current was rampaging between these three points, each acting like a slingshot, continuously accelerating the current. Each time the current passed through a point, it moved faster through his bones and organs, leaving a knife-like pain in its wake.

Besides the current, his blood was also accelerating between two points: the heart and the navel. The thick red blood rushed through his veins at an incredible speed. Without him entering the accelerated blood flow state, his blood had already sped up to three times its normal rate and continued to rise.

Cassius's body was wracked with a splitting pain. But he could feel something happening—a sense of unification and transformation.

Blood acceleration. Airflow acceleration. Loop after loop, the speed increased little by little. Until a certain moment!

The blood acceleration broke through three times and hit four times!

Buzz!!!

His brain roared as if struck by a hammer. An invisible vortex unfolded from his brow. The paths of the hot current and blood flow overlapped, and merged frequencies. A massive force erupted like a lit bomb, sweeping through his entire body!