Chapter 133: Found
The ability to sense danger by gauging its intensity through ntal pressure—
Crisis Detector.
After reaching 3-star Bloom, Karl acquired the Crisis Detector trait, which often led him to take reckless actions that risked his life.
From the perspective of others, he appeared to be a man with a death wish, constantly flirting with the edge of death. But in truth, Karl had been skillfully avoiding death, walking a perilous tightrope with precision.
It was a sharpened instinct that grew keener every ti he faced danger.
Now, at 4-star, that instinct had beco razor-sharp, and his performance in front of the twin brothers was driven by that very sense.
He didn’t feel like he would die—at least, not yet.
“This is as far as I can go…”
However, he knew that even the slightest misstep could lead to his death. He had to be careful not to get greedy.
Although he wanted to eavesdrop on the twins' conversation a little longer, Karl’s senses scread at him, and he quickly got up and withdrew.
“Hey, you.”
It was Howell who called out to him.
“…Yes? M-?”
“Who else here would I be talking to? Take your gold.”
Howell moved his foot aside, revealing two gold coins lying on the ground.
“I-It’s fine. I don’t need them.”
“Don’t make say it twice, you little shit. Take the coins and get the fuck out of here before I kill you for real.”
“A-all right!”
Lowering his head as much as possible, Karl bent down, picked up the fallen gold coins, and hurriedly made his way out of the area.
He could feel countless eyes on him due to the commotion, but he ignored them and focused on the situation he had just experienced.
‘I need to get rid of these gold coins imdiately…’
Jack and Howell were notorious for their greed, especially when it ca to money and won. Normally, they would have co up with so excuse to steal the gold coins back, but instead, they had told him to take them.
His suspicion turned into certainty—
Keeping the gold coins ant death.
Karl clenched the coins tightly, intending to discreetly discard them without drawing attention. But—
“Hey there, pal. If it’s too much trouble to carry, why not hand them over to ?”
“You’ve only got one arm, so shouldn’t you only need half the coins? Kekeke.”
He was attracting too much attention.
All eyes were on him.
So hunters, who had witnessed the earlier scene, began to mock him, their gazes full of ridicule. Changing his plan, Karl approached the leader of the mocking hunters.
He held out the gold coins.
“What’s this?”
“You got any potions?”
“Potions? Why do you need those?”
“I’ll give you all these gold coins. In exchange, give every potion you’ve got.”
“What?”
“Don’t want to? Then forget it.”
“W-wait!”
Though it wasn’t high-grade potions he was asking for, even the low-grade potions commonly used by hunters could be purchased in bulk with just a single gold coin.
Karl collected only the best potions from the ones the hunters offered and handed over all the gold coins.
As he turned to leave, he heard sneering laughter and soone calling him a ‘stupid bastard’ from behind.
Karl paid no attention to the mockery and instead scanned his surroundings.
There was no significant reaction to his actions. With a low sigh, he resud moving.
Mockery?
Given his current predicant, reacting to such things was a luxury he couldn’t afford.
‘What should I do?’
He had learned how they intended to capture him.
Looking around the clearing, he saw that veteran hunters had ford a periter on all sides. The only fortunate thing was that this happened after Elton had escaped.
‘I’m done for.’
The twin brothers and the shamans were watching him. Attempting to flee now would only lead to an earlier capture.
Throughout his forty years of life, Karl had faced countless crises and had always found a way to survive, even in the worst situations. The many scars etched into his body stood as proof of his perseverance.
But now—
‘No way out? Really, no way at all?’
For the first ti, he couldn’t see any way out.
“Focus for now!”
At that mont, following the shamans' orders, the hunters began shouting loudly and tightening their encirclent of the clearing.
“There’s a helper of Lochter here! If anyone acts suspiciously, we’ll consider them the one! Everyone, get up slowly!”
Karl swallowed dryly and cursed under his breath.
The hunters herded everyone gathered in the clearing into a corner.
There was no way to avoid being caught.
And if he was caught, there would be no chance to talk his way out of it—the shamans would imdiately extract his mories.
As thoughts of death lood in his mind, Karl suddenly recalled a certain man.
The one who had sent him to Blyer.
Arthur Clayton.
“That bastard… He’s probably lying sowhere, sleeping peacefully.”
For no reason at all, he found himself cursing Arthur.
***
The number of hunters gathered in the clearing had exceeded a thousand and was approaching fifteen hundred.
Though they vastly outnumbered their controllers, the hunters didn’t dare resist the sudden orders.
It was because of the blood-cloaked group.
The shamans, accompanied by their Van Dyke puppets, were moving in unison, spreading terror.
Even assassins, who were called human butchers, were terrified of those beings. They were a group that no one wanted to cross.
With visible anxiety and dissatisfaction, the hunters were herded into the corner of the clearing.
A short while later, one of the shamans pointed to the opposite side and said,
“Form lines of a hundred at a ti and stand over there.”
When no one moved, the hunters who had accompanied the shamans roughly grabbed the nearest hunters and dragged them into position.
After a group of one hundred was gathered, the shaman holding a communication orb shook his head, and that group was escorted to a more comfortable spot.
Once it beca clear that the selection process wasn’t as dangerous as initially feared, the remaining hunters began scrambling to line up ahead of each other.
One hundred.
Then another hundred.
And another hundred.
Thus, the process of filtering out Lochter’s helper continued, and the crowd of hunters packed into the corner quickly thinned.
“Looks like he’ll be caught in the final round.”
From atop the shoulder of a Van Dyke puppet, Lily observed the selection process and fixed her gaze on a middle-aged man crouching at the far end of the clearing.
[Karl Bastain – Hero’s Helper (Instinct)]
[Innate Danger Sense]
[Assassin’s Situational Judgnt]
[Resonance – Target: Lochter Felice]
The list of divine abilities appeared in Lily’s eyes.
Unlike the other shamans, who relied on communication orbs to determine the direction of the target, Lily was staring directly at Karl.
Her first impression upon seeing the owner of the divine abilities was—
“What an unpleasant face.”
“Grrr.”
“Right? He totally doesn’t match soone as cute and beautiful as . But it seems this place is good for back-to-back awakenings of divine powers.”
“Grrr.”
“What? You think we have bad luck?”
Just as she was about to tug on the ears of the dog doll on her shoulder and ask why, she sensed a sticky gaze on her and frowned.
It was the twin brothers.
They had been playing around with wind earlier, and now they were grinning nastily at her, their lecherous eyes making her want to tear their mouths apart.
“They’re so disgusting.”
“What did you say?”
“Ah, not you.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be helping with the totem work? Or are you planning to extract the target’s mories yourself?”
“No.”
mory extraction was a forbidden sorcery in witch society due to its severe side effects.
Lily shook her head and landed on the ground. She glanced around, noticing several shamans planting totems around the clearing’s periter.
Looking down at the totems in her hand, she scowled.
“To think I’d see the day when I worked with shamans to plant totems. If the Orthas saw this, they’d foam at the mouth and chase after .”
“Grrr.”
“Shh, Keros. This is our secret, okay?”
“Fine. I’ll get you premium at later.”
The dog doll wagged its tail excitedly, and Lily grumbled as she pretended to plant the totems.
The worn-out totems bore the mark of Jess Milo, the King of the Dead.
Having overheard the shamans’ communication, she knew exactly what kind of situation would soon unfold here.
These totems were spiritual amplifiers that borrowed power in exchange for death.
And the deaths in question would be those of the hunters huddled together over there.
If things continued like this, everyone would die.
Yet, she had no intention of helping anyone—whether it be the shamans or the hunters.
She hated both groups equally.
Once the totem work was complete, Lily straightened up, dusting off her waist.
“My back hurts. I worked too hard.”
She watched the selection process.
There were only about a hundred or two hundred hunters left.
It seed the filtering process was almost complete.
However, the one about to be caught was Karl Bastain, not the person she was interested in.
“I thought if I followed the shamans, I might get to see that person.”
She had wanted to et Lochter Felice, the man with a bounty of one million gold coins.
She thought that being near Lochter would lead to sothing interesting, but despite their efforts, the shamans had failed to capture him.
“Here… this guy! Guh!”
A scream erupted from the selection area.
Stretching her arms lazily, Lily began walking toward the commotion.
“That’s the one!”
“Grab him!”
The target, who had held out until the end, had finally revealed himself. He threw daggers from his waist like lightning, felling several hunters in an instant.
His throwing skills were impressive.
But once the shamans and Van Dyke puppets got involved, it was over in monts.
Bound by sorcery and knocked down by two Van Dykes, the target spat blood and collapsed onto the ground.
It was a dull fight.
Thinking so, Lily approached the fallen Karl Bastain.
Shortly after, the lead shaman, holding a crimson crystal, stood before Karl.
A sinister glow emanated from the crystal. It was a mory extractor, designed to forcibly draw out mories.
“Are you Karl Bastain?”
The rough-looking, one-ard middle-aged man glared back fiercely, keeping his mouth shut.
“I know that look well. This will be quicker than talking. Hold him.”
At the leader’s command, hunters grabbed Karl and forced him to his feet.
As the crimson crystal hovered before his eyes, Karl bared his teeth and shouted fiercely.
“Laugh while you can! You’ll all be dead soon!”
“What?”
“Hunt! Hunt’s reinforcents will be here soon! You’re surrounded!”
At Karl’s outburst, those around him flinched and looked around nervously.
But the forest surrounding the clearing remained silent, devoid of any movent.
“Bullshit. I’ll extract your mories first, then cut your tongue out.”
The leader brought the crystal closer to Karl’s face, preparing to activate the sorcery when—
Fweeeeeeet!
A sharp whistle pierced the air.
At that sound, Jack and Howell, who had been idly watching Karl’s predicant, reacted instantly.
That whistle—it was unmistakably the signal used by Crux, the bug bastard.
And the one who had eliminated Crux was none other than Lochter Felice.
As if they had been waiting for this mont, the twins moved without hesitation.
“Follow !”
The two disappeared into the forest at incredible speed, followed closely by the hunting dog unit.
A brief silence fell over the clearing.
The whistle had halted Karl’s mory extraction for the mont. His life had been temporarily spared.
But Karl clenched his eyes shut in frustration. He hadn’t expected both Jack and Howell to move simultaneously.
Would Elton be able to hold out?
The reason Karl had bluffed about reinforcents was to make the enemies wary and buy ti, hoping they wouldn’t react rashly.
He had acted to protect Elton, but things had gone entirely wrong.
A short while later—
“Those sneaky bastards. They dared to fool us?”
With a sneer, Howell returned, erging from the forest, and signaled to the shamans to proceed.
It was a false alarm. They were to continue.
The leader grabbed Karl’s head roughly.
“Reinforcents, huh? Must’ve been a small fry.”
Karl ground his teeth.
Jack hadn’t returned, and Howell’s expression was relaxed.
Elton had failed.
Had he fallen into Jack’s hands? Had he beco the twins’ new plaything?
“Still waiting for those reinforcents? Take your ti. We’re in no rush.”
Reinforcents? There was no such thing. It was nothing more than a false rumor he had spread.
There was no way they were coming.
The shamans sneered, and the hunters chuckled at Karl’s empty bravado.
“Just kill already, you bastards!!”
At that mont, Karl scread in frustration, resigning himself to his fate.
FLASH!!!!
“……!”
A golden pillar of light shot up behind them.
All eyes turned toward the glowing pillar beyond the forest.
It was the direction from which the whistle had co.
Howell froze in confusion at the sight before quickly disappearing back into the forest.
At the sa ti—
“W-wait! Where are you going?”
One of the shamans rushed forward.
It was Lily.
For so reason, her cheeks were flushed with excitent, a look she only showed when she was truly exhilarated.
In her eyes, sothing that no one else could see appeared—
The identity of the golden light’s owner.
[Arthur Clayton – Divine Hunter (Hunt Target: Lochter Felice)]
“Found him!”
User Comments
0 comments from readers