Chapter 418 - Enigmatic Man

Barrow's pupils contracted, and his right hand trembled slightly, nearly spilling his cup of water. He glanced at the lump of mangled flesh in the travel case and then at Cassius, whose face was expressionless. In that instant, he felt he no longer understood the younger generation of hunters. This was too ruthless—he had directly stuffed a monster into a travel case, bringing it here for identification.

Such a brutal approach seemed even more savage than what the monster itself might do. At the very least, the pair of eyes in the head inside that case had lost all their luster. They were clouded gray, as though the mind behind them had fully collapsed.

Moreover, with Barrow's Dark Gold Hunter eyesight, he could tell that the monster in the travel case was no ordinary creature. It must have been very dangerous before.

The young man before him had subdued it by brute force and stuffed it mercilessly into the case, revealing a strength clearly far above the Black Copper badge on his chest. Barrow's mind raced, and he eventually nodded and said, "Set that thing down and spread it out a bit. It's so mashed together that I can't make out its distinguishing features." He voiced those words but had already mostly concluded that this dark creature was not the ghoul. Barrow only wanted a closer look to see exactly which variant Cassius had captured.

With a

swish

, the wooden travel case was laid open. Cassius lifted out the still-oozing green-blooded lizardman and set it atop the case, letting it slump there. A strong fetid stench assaulted his nose, permeating the entire room.

Barrow leaned over the foot of the bed, narrowing his eyes to note its characteristics. Seeing this, Cassius applied slight force with his palm, removing the Death's Fang Force from the lizardman's body. Immediately, tumorous lumps squirmed and grew, restoring its regenerative capacity. The dark creature gradually transformed from a pile of shredded flesh back into something about the size of a teenage human.

It had not yet regrown its lower body, leaving only a malformed upper torso.

"Green skin, scales, and a lizard-like head..."

Barrow seemed to recall something and said at once, "White Aster, this monster isn't the ghoul. It should be the invisible assassin. For the past two months, it's been active in the commercial and residential districts of Florence, staying at the crime scene after committing its acts and using its hidden form to launch ambushes. It has already caused the deaths of two White Dazzling Hunters and is a Class A threat..."

He paused slightly, ignoring the bloody smell in the air, and then continued, "The dark creature ghoul stands about two meters tall, with skin as smooth and gray as a shark's. Its entire spinal column is lined with dense bone spikes that extend to the tip of its tail. The ghoul's mouth is huge, taking up two-thirds of its head, which in turn makes its eyes quite small..."

After finishing, Barrow glanced at the lizardman again. Its legs had already regrown down to nearly the knees, with red muscle fibers and white bone intertwining. It gave off an eerie and nauseating sense of grotesque vitality.

"So it's not the ghoul. Seems I was tricked..." Cassius spoke in a calm tone, but his right hand on the lizardman's head turned crimson as though covered in droplets of blood. Swarming strands of Death's Fang Force spread over it like flowing water, weaving a spiderweb across the entire body.

Suddenly...

Bang

!

The lizardman's torso exploded, instantly disintegrating into crimson mist. It left no residual scraps as everything turned to powder. A draft from the window swept that cloud away, leaving Cassius holding only its distorted, wide-mouthed head in silent agony. Clearly, having lost its mind did not mean it felt no pain. As though discarding trash, he shoved the head back into the travel case.

Cassius hoisted the case and walked toward the door, saying, "Sorry to disturb your rest, Hunter Barrow. Wishing you a swift recovery."

"

Ah

..." Barrow raised his right hand, about to say something, but the door clicked shut. That made no sense—hadn't he come seeking detailed information? Why leave after merely hearing about the ghoul's appearance, missing the essential details on how it hid and how strong it was? For a moment, he was at a loss.

At last, he only shook his head from the bed and leaned back against it.

He exhaled a long breath. "Young people these days are fierce, ruthless, and brimming with confidence. Still, the invisible assassin was no easy target, yet White Aster subdued it so easily. Perhaps this Shadow Hunter seat competition just got complicated. Let's see how the other three factions handle this dark horse..."

Barrow's gaze flickered as he murmured in interest. Five minutes later, beneath the blazing midday sun outside the sanatorium, Cassius felt a bit disappointed. He had thought he was in luck today, but it turned out to be a false ghoul. He would leave the so-called invisible assassin, now mentally broken, for headquarters to deal with, since it no longer held any value.

He turned slightly and headed in the direction of the Dark Hunter Organization's headquarters.

Elsewhere in Florence's urban area, the other three Dark Gold Hunters were on the move as well. Like Cassius, they gathered detailed intel and investigated the crime scenes, although some worked faster while others were slower.

For instance, there was Solomon. He practiced the Sinful Thorns Secret Technique, part of which allowed him to track auras. As long as he used the thorns to sense the energy residue at the crime scene, he would react upon encountering that same energy again.

In the street, the black-haired young man had just stepped out of a building. His dark eyes were deep, and his brows sharp. Though his features were delicate, there was a somber chill about him. At a glance, he looked like someone both ruthless and taciturn. He wore a form-fitting hunter outfit, with fingerless black leather gloves on both hands.

It was one in the afternoon, and the sun was bright. Solomon squinted slightly, consulting the file in his hand as he headed to his next destination. In the sunlight, the top line of text was particularly conspicuous.

Investigate and eliminate the invisible assassin hiding in the residential districts of Florence!

Below that were lines of written information. They noted the high danger posed by the invisible assassin, classified as a Class A threat, possessing both hidden aura and stealth. It was an innate ambush specialist that often carried out attacks in the commercial and residential areas of Florence.

"It won't be easy to handle... especially that stealth ability..." Solomon frowned slightly, feeling his assigned task was troublesome. He had no doubt he could beat the monster, but dark creatures were not so easily killed. They could readily sacrifice parts of their body structure, breaking past him into a crowd. That would make a second attempt to hunt them down far more complicated.

"I'll take it slow. Spend a couple of days investigating the situation first, figuring out the target's location. Then I'll plan how to restrict its movements..." So mused Solomon as he walked through four or five blocks in succession. He approached a corner intersection, about to continue. Inside him, the Sinful Thorns suddenly trembled, as though sensing a familiar aura.

"Huh?" Solomon jerked his head up, looking right. There lay a broad, grayish-white street, marked by a wooden sign reading "Chuck Street" in black paint. Without hesitation, he hurried on in.

Dark waves flickered in his midnight eyes. Solomon had a hunch that luck was on his side today. Surprisingly, after only a few hours of searching, he had picked up the target's trail. This was District Four of Florence, the commercial zone. Twelve days ago, the invisible assassin had acted here, killing three Black Copper Hunters.

Chances were it might revisit this area. He quickened his pace, heading to the far end of Chuck Street.

Sure enough, at the entrance of a four-story inn, a dozen guards had set up a perimeter, clearly indicating something had transpired.

Solomon hurried over and scanned the scene with a sharp gaze. At the end of the inn's second floor, he saw a man-sized gap in the wall with faint traces of blood around it. His eyes turned fierce. After showing his hunter's badge, he darted inside like an arrow.

He passed the lobby first, then the stairs. The Sinful Thorns in his body quivered slightly, as the target's aura became more palpable in the air. The perennially grim expression on his face showed a rare hint of excitement, a surge of heat coursing through his chest. The Sinful Thorn Secret Technique unleashed itself at once, and beneath his skin countless tendrils of thorns seemed to writhe and twist.

The pain in his muscles fueled Solomon's adrenaline, drawing him into an intense focus, his power continually building. When facing a Class A threat, caution was mandatory.

He shot up to the second floor in a flash, faster than the guards could react, reaching the end of the corridor like the wind. At the room's doorway, Lita and her team were collecting fragments of two bodies and placing them into a black coffin-like container. As the wind of his arrival pressed in, Lita looked around first and recognized Solomon at once, an acknowledged frontrunner in the Shadow Hunter race.

"Master Solomon? You..." She had only spoken half a sentence when two hands shoved her into the hallway. The other members of her squad were similarly whirled aside, utterly disoriented.

"Get out of this room! The invisible assassin is inside!!" A flicker of excitement glistened in Solomon's eyes as he burst directly into the room. The dense aura within confirmed for him, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the invisible assassin was still inside! Evidently it found Lita's group insufficient and was hunting for a bigger fish. Let it be so—he would see just who the apex predator was!

He vanished in a blur and reappeared in the inner chamber. Black thorns burst from beneath his skin, forming root-like growth that surrounded him. Those Sinful Thorns stabbed in every direction, wedging themselves into every corner of the room like a giant sea urchin.

Thump thump thump thump thump...

A series of collisions resounded, but he did not get what he expected.

"Show yourself!" He shouted, whipping his right hand so that wild black thorns tore through the furniture, leaving the walls full of mottled gouges.

"Huh? How could it not be here? That can't be..." Solomon looked utterly puzzled. The aura left behind here was clearly the strongest, yet there was no sign of the invisible assassin anywhere.

He was about to continue damaging the room to flush it out when a small voice sounded from the doorway: "Master Solomon, were you looking for the invisible assassin? Another hunter already defeated it and took it away..."

"What?" Solomon's expression faltered slightly. He had been wildly thrashing at nothing? With a sudden rustle, he recalled all the thorn tendrils back into his body and strode over to Lita to question her about the details.

Five minutes later, he understood. A homicide had indeed taken place here, and the invisible assassin had indeed lain in wait. However, a passing hunter, appearing as a sturdy young man, had charged directly into the second-floor room, blown up the assassin, asked Lita for a travel case, packed up what was left, and left without delay.

Lita had not witnessed the fight itself. When she arrived, the assassin had been reduced to barely half a body. The more Solomon listened to her account, the more he was reminded of one particular individual.

Around one meter ninety tall, imposing in build, with handsome blond hair. Exactly—Lion King Soss! Well, not that Soss, but Great Soss! It had to be White Aster, that large, blond youth still wearing a Black Copper Hunter badge, no doubt about it.

How had he stolen Solomon's target right from under him?!

Solomon's mind felt like it was cracking, leaving him bewildered. He pondered briefly, then decided it would be best to return to the Dark Hunter Organization's headquarters.

Time slipped by, and it was about one-thirty in the afternoon. In District Seven of Florence, at the Dark Hunter Organization's headquarters, as soon as Solomon returned, he was directed to the Hunters' Association's main hall.

He pushed open the doors and saw two upright figures standing inside. On the left was a man of refined bearing in a black suit—the Radiant Hunter, Thunder Prison Deleshart. On the right was a tall young man, someone Solomon had seen earlier that morning: Blood Axe Herb's disciple, the Black Copper Hunter White Aster.

Observing that tall, powerfully built figure and his icy, impassive features, Solomon found that the Black Copper badge on White Aster's chest looked even more jarringly out of place. He might as well not wear it at all, given his top-tier Dark Gold Hunter strength cloaked in a Black Copper façade. If he wanted to hide his power and act low-key, this was hardly the way to do it.

Solomon moved closer step by step, narrowing his eyes.

"Sorry, Solomon. I'm afraid you'll need to switch to a backup assignment. The Class A threat, the invisible assassin, was inadvertently hunted down by White Aster, which falls outside the set rules," said Deleshart.

"..." Solomon remained silent for a moment. "Can I see it?"

Deleshart turned to Cassius, who lifted the travel case at his feet and opened it sideways, revealing a solitary head within. It was the lizardman's bloody, hideous head.

Undoubtedly the Class A threat, the invisible assassin.

Solomon took a long look at the assassin's fate, then fixed his stare on Cassius. In those deep, tranquil eyes was something like a jet-black pool, calm and unmoving, yet all the more terrifying the longer one gazed. He could not shake the feeling that some fearsome monster was sealed beneath those waters.

Who knew when it might suddenly surge out to slaughter with impunity?

He drew a slow breath. Instinct whispered that the greatest danger in this Shadow Hunter seat contest was not his two old rivals, but rather this enigmatic, unpredictable man who had abruptly appeared before him... Was he truly the White Aster from before?