Chapter 399 - Hey, I'm Talking To You, Kid.

Whether it was the Hongli Empire or the Hongli Federation, their capital city was located in Florence. It was an ancient capital city with over a thousand years of history, yet it did not seem old. Instead, it felt vibrant, like an old tree blossoming anew.

Aside from certain buildings with commemorative or special significance, the urban areas of Florence were renovated every so often. Infrastructure, wall coatings, underground water pipelines, and smooth roads were all maintained by dedicated personnel.

Florence consisted of seven districts. District One, at the very center of the entire city, was home to the royal palace of the Hongli Empire's royal family. It covered a substantial area and served as the royal family's residence.

District Two lay adjacent to District One, and had the council hall at its center. This place served as the empire's power center, composed of ten upper-level councilors and dozens of lower-level councilors. Most of these councilors were influential nobles of high status. Half of them were newly risen nobles who were backed by capital, while the other half were old, feudal nobles. District Two also contained a concentrated cluster of administrative buildings that served the imperial capital's officials.

Districts Three and Four were mainly commercial streets. District Three was more refined, housing libraries, museums, and shops selling luxury items like jewelry and clothing. District Four was rather commonplace, offering every type of shop imaginable, as well as all of Florence's pleasure streets.

Districts Five and Six were residential areas, occupying the largest portion of the city's area; roughly more than half of all Florence's urban land. Meanwhile, District Seven housed certain special institutions, such as barracks, sanatoriums, and even the headquarters of the secretive Dark Hunter Organization.

In fact, Florence also possessed a hidden District Eight. That district took the form of a vast underground drainage system. This place harbored filth and corruption, representing the dark side of the imperial capital.

The sky was a dusky yellow at five in the afternoon. A black carriage set off from the station and began to accelerate slowly along the wide main road. Cassius gazed through the carriage window, recalling the time-travel information he had gathered recently.

There were seven districts in Florence, so where could the source of the sacred spring water be located?

The Dark Hunter Organization headquarters? It was not there.

Inside the royal palace? The residential district? The commercial district? Perhaps it wasn't even within Florence itself...

All these were possible since the location of the sacred spring water was very well hidden. Perhaps only the Chief Mechanist and the Sacred Spring High Priest knew its whereabouts.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Cassius was trying to find the sacred spring's location because the effects of the sacred mark were pleasingly fruitful. He had never been one to obediently follow rules. Furthermore, the Dark Hunter Organization would be destroyed in three years, leaving the sacred spring unclaimed.

Rather than letting another mysterious power seize it, it would be better for Cassius to claim it for himself. Since his death while time-traveling would not be a true death, being a bit greedier was not necessarily a bad thing.

Rumble... rumble...

Wheels rolled steadily forward as the coachman tugged the reins to steer the carriage. The carriage passed around a corner, and a small piece of paper secretly fell out.

A few seconds later, a figure emerged from the alley and picked up the note. Written boldly upon it was an address located outside the city of Florence.

Four figures waited quietly inside a hidden building. Five minutes later, the door creaked open. The middle-aged man closest to the door took the paper, glanced at it, and then revealed a smile.

"So there truly were other forces backing this kid. I guess it might be those old-timers from the Dark Hunter Organization branch..." the middle-aged man said.

The old-timers he spoke of were actually just like Blood Axe Herb. Old age or injury had forced them to lay down their weapons; however, they had once all been at least Dark Gold Hunters in the Hunters' Association.

After retiring, some had taken up positions as instructors, training new hunters qualified to join the Dark Hunter Organization. Others had become stewards of various county branches under the Hongli Empire. They did not support the royal family nor the council, and they were even too indifferent to bother with the internal politics of the Dark Hunter Organization.

These veteran hunters had no faction; they only supported the Chief Mechanist. Their goal was pure and singular. They intended to eradicate all dark creatures within human society, wiping out every bit of evil and calamity.

Blood Axe Herb was one such hunter, except he refused to admit defeat more than most. Even though his strength had declined and he was old and frail, he still fought on the front lines. He did his utmost as he burned the final embers of his life.

The middle-aged man, who belonged to the royal faction, guessed that these unaffiliated veteran hunters were now stirring into action. They planned to actively cultivate a young Shadow Hunter to compete for a share of the Hunters' Association's power.

White Aster was only a Black Copper hunter who posed no threat to the current scramble for the position of Shadow Hunter. He could always wait for the next chance; as long as White Aster did not enter the competition, his qualification would not be used up.

"These old-timers could not hold back any longer..." The middle-aged man's eyes gleamed. He needed to report his suspicions to his superiors.

For now, he needed to assign tasks to the three assassins he had specially invited before him. These three assassins had not been raised by the royal family but belonged to an assassin organization known as Shadow Thorn. There were specializations in every field, and naturally, the job of assassination was best left to professionals.

Moreover, White Aster was, after all, a hunter of the Dark Hunter Organization. That made a royal intervention improper. If they were found to be connected, it would become quite troublesome.

The middle-aged man glanced around the room; the three across from him were all top-tier assassins of Shadow Thorn. All were arcane energy users suited for assassination, roughly ranging from White Dazzling Hunters to Dark Gold Hunters in strength. They were certainly enough to kill a Black Copper Hunter.

On the left stood a tall, thin man wearing a hood. His cold gaze carried a cruel gleam, like a lone wolf roaming alone. He lacked a left middle finger, a modification made to facilitate the rapid projection of the sleeve blade hidden in his sleeve.

The man's nickname was Shadow Wolf; he possessed physique-based arcane energy that let him move at extremely high speed without making a sound. He moved just like a shadow, always trailing silently behind his target.

On the right stood a woman wrapped entirely in bandages; she wore a half-mask that concealed her features. She had layers of tightly wound bandages around her wrists, forming something like two massive, protruding bangles.

Her nickname was Bonecrusher and what she liked doing best was smashing the target's entire head with a single punch. If circumstances permitted, she enjoyed delivering a punch that caused someone to explode the most. Bonecrusher loved listening to the sound of bones shattering.

In the middle was a hunched, emaciated man draped in a black cloak that concealed his deformed body. Among the three, the man seemed the most wretched and least conspicuous by appearance alone.

Yet, Blood Hand was actually one of the three strongest assassins in Shadow Thorn. He possessed Qi-based arcane energy. Once he activated it, a kind of dark-red energy would surge forth from both of his hands. As soon as it touched a person's body, the dark-red power would engulf and spread until it corroded the target into a pool of blood.

All three assassins were formidable and had their unique talents. Employing them to kill a Black Copper kid was truly using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

Thus, the middle-aged man sent Shadow Wolf out to investigate the address White Aster intended to visit, so he could confirm his suspicions. As for the remaining two assassins, they would take action once night fell and the carriage left the city.

Clang.

A wooden box about the size of a human head was placed on the table.

The middle-aged man glanced at Bonecrusher and Blood Hand and spoke slowly. "Bring the head back to me intact, and you can do whatever you like with the other body parts. Oh, and make sure his expression before death is suitably agonized, understand?"

Bonecrusher and Blood Hand exchanged glances. Causing pain was simple enough.

Bonecrusher enjoyed smashing all four of a person's limbs punch by punch, letting the victim experience the feeling of each bone shattering inch by inch.

Blood Hand was even crueler; that dark-red power felt like countless insects devouring the body. It was extraordinarily painful, piercing straight into the marrow of the bones.

"Understood." The two immediately responded, their faces revealing savage smiles.

"Off you go then. It's five o'clock now. Return by seven—any problems?" The middle-aged man asked, checking his pocket watch.

"Of course not, sir. You should believe in the strength of the Shadow Thorn Organization..."

The three figures had already vanished from the room before the words finished echoing.

***

Florence's urban area was vast; Cassius's carriage took half an hour just to leave the crowded commercial district. It was only upon reaching the more spacious residential district that the carriage could pick up speed. They would probably be able to leave Florence before six o'clock.

There was an abandoned monastery in the outskirts of Florence. Withered grass covered the ground, and fragments of stone littered the paved path. Cobwebs abounded inside the building, the light was dim, and the red sunset barely provided any illumination.

In the courtyard, two black-clad figures waited silently by a broken stone table at 5:55 p.m. One of them wore a heavy black robe and a pure white mask twisted like tree roots. His pupils were a strange white, surrounded by black. He wore a black glove on his right hand and held a huge, sharp scythe.

The other figure wore a matte, dark heavy armor. It possessed a sense of dangerous heft. The armor's outlines were fierce, and faint bloodstains seemed to lurk in its crevices. A greatsword with a cross-shaped hilt that was the size of a man was planted in the ground beside him.

"Ghost-Man, did you truly intend to work more closely with Wind Elephant? Do you trust him that much?" The armored figure suddenly spoke. His voice was rich, like the clash of cold steel, crisp and forceful.

"..." Ghost-Man thought for a moment before saying, "I owe him a life... Furthermore, my cooperation with Wind Elephant was full of promise. The reason I invited you to meet here, outside Florence, was actually to bring you into the fold, Iron Knight."

Ghost-Man took two items from his robes and placed them atop the stone table. One was a metal bottle half the size of a fist. Though clearly metal, its surface seemed to have a wooden texture and mysterious grain-like patterns, similar to rings on a tree.

It contained a highly concentrated form of Soul Power.

The other was a triangular badge that had a carving of steps leading to the sun. Once it absorbed dark essence, each step would light up one by one until the topmost step, like that of a pyramid, was fully illuminated.

"The Hunter's Badge? Are you planning to enter the World of Calamity? That place is the most dangerous area among all tasks in the Black Rain Manor; staying too long there would cause severe beast transformation. If you want the Baptism Chapel to expel calamity from your body, it would require spending quite a bit of dark essence." Iron Knight frowned slightly.

He was friends with Ghost-Man, having known him since they were both sword-level. Since Ghost-Man sought his cooperation, he wouldn't let him suffer losses. Thus, Iron Knight turned to look at Ghost-Man, awaiting his response.

"What you mentioned was precisely part of my cooperation with Wind Elephant..." The corner of Ghost-Man’s mouth twitched slightly under his mask, clearly indicating that he and Cassius had communicated again over these past ten days.

"Wind Elephant has a refuge in the World of Calamity, allowing him to regularly expel the calamity invading a person's body. Thus, one could hunt and then rest for extended periods, alternating between the two, in an endless cycle" Ghost-Man said.

"Oh?" Iron Knight immediately became intrigued. After carefully considering for a minute or two, he added, "Then what must you trade in this cooperation?"

"To help Wind Elephant obtain a Hunter's Badge, and to serve as a free intermediary to help him exchange for Soul Power. Also, all the corpses of dark creatures we hunt in the World of Calamity would be absorbed by something called a Golem Seed. Each time we enter the refuge, we have to hand over the Golem Seed..." The Ghost-Man explained slowly.

In truth, he left some details unsaid, but those concerned private deals between him and Cassius. One aspect was that, to repay a life-saving favor, he promised Cassius he would find a way to secure a marked-one qualification from Black Rain Manor for him.

Another aspect was to investigate Black Rain Manor's interior and search for an ancient palm-sized White Bone Tree in an unknown area.

"If that's all there is, of course I would be willing to cooperate..." The Iron Knight pondered for a moment before readily agreeing.

Compared to the profits gained, what needed to be given seemed trivial. Though it was a win-win deal, Iron Knight still felt as if he were getting the better end of it.

In fact, Cassius did not mind this at all because he had a trump card: the fake-death pill, which was capable of freeing a marked-one from the constraints of Black Rain Manor. It would certainly hold immense appeal for Iron Knight and Ghost-Man, and indeed for every Hellsing.

As a newcomer, Cassius could not possibly create a powerful force from nothing. However, he could poach top-tier knight-level individuals directly from Black Rain Manor. Each one possessed combat strength on par with that of a combat artist.

Cassius had no intention of climbing step-by-step within the Dark Hunter Organization's rules. That would be like children playing house, always scheming and calculating.

He intended to turn the tables by establishing a powerful, secretive force outside of the Dark Hunter Organization. This way, Cassius could shift assets back and forth rapidly to fulfil White Aster's first lingering attachment.

If anyone tried to stand in his way, he would have Ghost-Man and the others eliminate them in secret, framing it as the work of Black Rain Manor. After all, it would not be surprising if Black Rain Manor, who leaned towards dark forces, committed such acts.

Moreover, this new force was also preparation for the Dark Hunter Organization's downfall in three years. They would very likely face the mysterious power lurking behind the scenes.

Cassius already had a plan in mind: quality over quantity. In this time-travel, he would form a transcendent power composed entirely of combat artists. This would be a huge help when heading to the Eternal Island in the future.

As the sun sank, the sky darkened and the shadows of high walls slowly spread. Ghost-Man and Iron Knight sat at the stone table, reminiscing and chatting as they waited for Cassius's arrival.

Suddenly, Iron Knight turned his head and gazed sharply into the darkness at the corner of the courtyard. "Did Wind Elephant send you?"

"!!!" Shadow Wolf, who had just found his way here, felt a jolt in his heart. He had never expected his presence would be detected in less than half a second!

Just as Shadow Wolf prepared to scale the wall and flee, he realised that the other black-robed figure by the stone table had vanished.

Zing!

A gleaming, sharp scythe rested against his neck.

"Hey, I'm talking to you, kid. Why aren't you answering..." A black figure had already appeared in an even darker spot behind Shadow Wolf. His crimson eyes slowly lit up.