Strange Grief Wants to Retire ~ The Weakest Hunter Dreams of a Hero ~ - Volume 2 - Chapter 3.1

Chapter Three: The Slime and the Assembled Team

The capital city of Zebrudia was surrounded by sturdy walls intended to keep monsters out of the city. From a bird’s-eye view, one could see the rectangular outline of the city with the emperor’s castle in the center. The walls of the capital grew with the city, expanding in conjunction with the city every time it grew bigger. Because of how the city was organized, the city became increasingly old and energetic the closer one got to its center.

Neighborhoods near the city walls, except for the four gates necessary for traveling in and out of the city, were the worst in the city. The western neighborhood was the most dangerous among them, being crisscrossed by haphazardly laid alleys barely wide enough for three people to walk side by side. The cramped alleys, which stayed dark even during the day, were accompanied by patchworks of crowded buildings as if the sprawl of the city was physically confined by the city wall—a stark contrast to the vibrant and spacious infrastructure near the center of the capital.

The southwestern decaying district of Zebrudia was a place averted by most residents even under daylight. Even the peacekeepers stayed away from this area barring when there were reports of serious crimes. Those who lived there were either impoverished or had run-ins with law enforcement: hunters expelled from the Association for committing crimes, dealers of illegal merchandise, sellers who could mysteriously sell items at ridiculous discounts, members of criminal syndicates, and even notorious hunters who were forced into hiding for one reason or another. This neighborhood was the melting pot of the capital’s chaotic mixture of the good and the evil, and of the useful and the useless.

Picking out the few-and-far-between valuable treasures from such a place required authority, fame, funds, and connections—none of that had anything to do with me of course.

We were now walking through and taking in the view of the decaying district, which I’d barely set foot in since arriving at Zebrudia. There were eyes on us. A child was watching from a small space between two houses; a wary look was coming from the second-story window of a house that looked ready to collapse any minute. It wasn’t the warmest welcome, but we weren’t here to start fights with them. Since I couldn’t have come across as a stronger hunter, I assumed visitors like us were an unusual occurrence.

“Krai Baby, what are we doing here?” asked Liz, who was far more prone to violence than anyone in this district.

Liz was picky about many things, but she rarely refused favors I asked of her.

Today she looked more like a hunter, unlike the other day when we’d gone on a date. She wore shorts and a minimal outfit in black and red that maximized her mobility. She’d also slung a pack full of potions and lockpicks on her belt for easy access and had adorned her right forearm with her weapon of choice: a special wrist guard. Combined with the Apex Roots that she always kept on her feet, Liz was in full-blown hunting gear. I would’ve worn more protective armor if I were in her shoes, but I supposed that’s what being a Thief was all about.

“Don’t let your guard down,” I said.

Liz wrapped her arm around mine, and a trace of sweet scent wafted over. “I wouldn’t know how to. I’d never let my guard down when I’m protecting you, Krai Baby,” she said.

It certainly seemed like she was letting her guard down, but maybe an excellent hunter like her had a different definition of “letting one’s guard down.”

“Besides, this place is my backyard,” she added. “Let’s just think of this as part two of our date.”

“Do you come to these parts often?” I asked.

“There were a bunch of pickpockets and plenty of attacks against us when I came with T or Siddy. But I haven’t been back here in a while,” she said.

That wasn’t exactly the answer I was expecting. But now that I thought about it, it seemed strange that no one had attacked us—let alone approached us—in this notoriously crime-ridden decaying district, especially when I was decked out in Relics that looked like expensive jewelry. Upon closer inspection, people who looked like obvious thugs and desperate ex-hunters always stayed clear of the street as soon as they spotted Liz.

Meanwhile, she was happily humming a tune. I decided not to worry myself over the situation.

“Tell me if you see something,” I said.

“Hmm? What does something look like?”

Liz was always on my side, and I trusted her more than I trusted myself. So, after hesitating for a few seconds, I said, “Something slimy. Just in case it does show up.”

“Many children have recently disappeared from the decaying district,” Eva had told me last night. Apparently, she’d gone to research strange occurrences in the capital even after I told her not to bother. Though that was very considerate of her when she, unlike me, had real work to do on top of that.

Well, the decaying district was a lawless land. It was one of the most dangerous places in the capital to be; not even the peacekeepers came near it unless it was absolutely necessary. Some rumors even alluded that certain mafia gangs and evil syndicates called this place home. If I had it my way, I would’ve never come anywhere near this place. In fact, this was my first time seeing the district in person.

Even if I’d dropped the Sitri Slime somewhere, I had only handled its container during my brief flight from the clan house to White Wolf’s Den. The decaying district was not on that route, so it was extremely unlikely that the slime had anything to do with the missing children.

But still, Liz and I found ourselves here because I wanted to explore even the slightest chance of finding the slime...and partially because Eva had included a tip about a well-known ice cream shop in the district. Apparently she’d taken my joke about searching for new ice cream places to heart—I loved that about her. This particular establishment was famous in the district for providing ice cream to its less well-to-do residents at a very reasonable price. I couldn’t ignore critical information like that.

I explained to Liz our reason for being here (except the part about ice cream), and she looked almost bored.

“Children, huh? You’ve too much time on your hands, Krai Baby. There are so many of them here. I don’t think anyone misses them.”

As the rumors had made it seem, the district was a truly miserable place. People shouted and screamed in the distance intermittently, alleyways formed a maze strewn with piles of trash on every corner, and the air consistently carried a horrible stench that I suspected to have emanated from the canal nearby. No wonder the peacekeepers didn’t want to patrol here—this was a place no sane person would choose to visit.

But not even the resilient people of the decaying district dared make eye contact with Liz.

“You haven’t killed anyone here, have you?” I asked.

“Just like you told me, I never throw the first punch.”

That wasn’t an answer to my question.

Just from our quick stroll so far, I could see that Liz was right that the decaying district was much more populated than I’d imagined. Adults, along with children in rags, were casting curious glances our way. Unlike Liz, whose slenderness was due to her perfectly toned muscles, many of them looked like they were on the verge of malnourishment. The capital was considered a prosperous city by and large, but I supposed poverty lay in the shadow of all prosperity.

“So, Krai Baby,” said Liz, returning an intimidating glare at the onlookers, “what’s the plan? I don’t think asking them questions would be of any use.”

“That’s okay,” I said. “It’ll be obvious.”

“Of course it will be, Krai Baby!” cheered Liz.

I was neither here to solve the pressing poverty issue nor search for those missing kids. The only reason I was here was to look for the Sitri Slime, which I might have dropped somewhere. If the slime was nearby, it would’ve wreaked tremendous havoc by now, but luckily for me, I hadn’t seen any disaster zones so far. And if our Thief, Liz, wasn’t picking up on anything, chances were that the slime wasn’t around.

Feeling relieved but somewhat surprised, I muttered, “This might turn out to be a normal date after all.”

“Why’s that?” asked Liz. “You think you’re too intimidating?”

“If either of us is intimidating, it’s you.” Not that I knew if slimes were capable of fear though.

For some reason, Liz reacted to that by beaming and wrapping her arm around mine. Anyway, I decided to set course for the ice cream shop and keep an eye out along the way.

***

The scrawny guy in a black jacket and the girl exposing her shoulders and midriff stuck out like a sore thumb in the decaying district. Despite the pair being obviously wealthy, no one ventured to mug them.

While peacekeepers didn’t service the decaying district, the district had its own code. Among them was a commonly known rule to never mess with certain people, and on top of that list of “certain people” was Liz Smart, the Stifled Shadow. She was considered a mortal threat to the decaying district because she was quicker to violence than a bandit and ruthless enough to take out anyone—no matter their gender or age—who defied her.

An elder swiftly brought this information to a man in a structure among the rows of paint-stripped houses. He came not only because he was paid to watch the entrance of the district, but also because Liz’s face was widely recognized by everyone in the district.

“Impossible. This can’t be,” muttered the man to himself in disbelief. “I was not followed. There’s no way they could’ve known.”

Akashic Tower was the largest magical syndicate out there, and its members’ goal was to pursue the ultimate truth. But since they did so at all costs, they were wanted worldwide. Yet still, Akashic Tower garnered a lot of supporters because it boasted a roster of powerful Magi and access to robust technology. The syndicate had grown to its current size by recruiting a significant population of Magi who had resorted to illegal experimentation in their relentless pursuit of knowledge and power. And while several forces were lurking in the shadows of the decaying district, the Tower reigned atop them all with its deep pockets and forces powerful enough to defeat elite hunters.

The man who had muttered to himself was an agent of an Akashic Tower field unit. As such, he was confident in his combat abilities and had his fair share of fighting experience—against nonhunters, that was. His chief duties in the syndicate were reconnaissance missions; he couldn’t slow down a high-level hunter.

“Dammit! What do I do?! What do I do?!” He agitatedly scanned the room.

The decaying district served as a vital base of operations for the Tower because of its lawlessness. Even though the Tower’s current experiment only took place in treasure vaults, the man had plenty of things in the room that, if fallen into the wrong hands, could severely damage the Tower: reports of their experiments, rare and dangerous catalysts that were illegal to trade in the empire, and the creatures in the basement. If any of them were brought to light, it would greatly sabotage their experiments in the capital.

If that were to happen, the man wondered, how would the Master of Magi react? Noctus Cochlear was a man of reason, but he wasn’t so soft as to give second chances. Picturing Noctus’s dark eyes that seemed to gleam with a force unbecoming of the Magus’s age, the agent shuddered.

Could he remove the documents and materials before the hunters arrived? No, there’d be no time if they were heading here straight away. On the other hand, how much did the hunters really know? The man had no way of telling.

He’d always covered his tracks with utmost care. With how many most wanted lists the Tower was on throughout the world, they couldn’t afford a single mistake. None had been made until now, but even their patrons with powerful positions within the empire wouldn’t risk their own power to protect the syndicate if a high-level hunter presented them with direct evidence against Akashic Tower.

As the agent stood in turmoil, another tip came at his door: the Thousand Tricks was heading for the ice cream shop.

All hope had been lost.

Obviously, the clan master of First Steps knew all their secrets. There was no denying that he, at least, had strong suspicions about the Tower’s operations.

There was only one ice cream shop in the district that was the shadowy side of the empire. One of the benefits of operating out of an area as seedy as the decaying district was the abundance of subjects for experimentation—people no one would miss. Children, who lacked judgment and strength, made for the best subjects especially when they were so easy to attract. With only something sweet, syndicate agents could make them disappear at the most inconspicuous times.

Their ice cream shop cover, which the syndicate had not been entirely convinced of before bringing it to operation, was functioning much better than they’d expected. The agent wondered if that was what had drawn the hunters’ attention, but he told himself again that they’d concealed their operation perfectly. With or without the Tower’s doing, it wasn’t a rare occurrence for children to disappear in the urban jungle that was the decaying district anyway.

Racked with regret, the agent reasoned that the hunters’ investigation was at least a sign that no definite proof about the syndicate had yet reached the empire itself. At this point, however, the agent saw no other way to avoid detection other than to destroy all evidence and completely halt their experiments in the empire—until it dawned on him: he just had to eliminate the Thousand Tricks and the Stifled Shadow.

If it weren’t for the Thousand Tricks in particular, Rudolph would’ve never survived White Wolf’s Den and revealed the changes that the syndicate had brought about to the vault. The average hunter wouldn’t have stuck his neck out that far, and the Association and the empire rarely overstepped the scope of their duties.

The Thousand Tricks was the syndicate’s greatest threat at the moment.

This revelation brought no more hope to the agent however. He had no reservations about killing; he had plenty of experience doing that. He just simply didn’t know how he could pull off killing one of only three Level 8 hunters in the capital. The agent knew full well from experience that high-level hunters were nothing short of freaks, and as a mortal man, he had no means of killing one. While the Thousand Tricks looked like nothing more than a scrawny young man and didn’t have the distinctive aura that high-level hunters usually carried, the agent wasn’t naive enough to be fooled by that guise.

The agent’s heart was pounding painfully in his chest. Noctus’s current experiment was his true passion, and it had drawn much attention within the syndicate. Allowing a single hunter to thwart this highly anticipated experiment would surely result in harsh retribution from the powers that ruled Akashic Tower.

The silence in the room was deafening. The agent stood completely still and focused on his senses. With thoughts of the Thousand Tricks tracking him down and breaking into this very room at any second, he was nearly overcome by a strange fear.

Suddenly, the door opened. It wasn’t preceded by any footstep sounds.

The agent leaped to his feet and, out of instinct, drew his dagger.

What would this dagger do against a Level 8 freak? It isn’t even enchanted, whispered his last shred of sanity to him. But all the same, he had no other weapon on him. He could only stand there trembling, at the brink of collapse.

“I’ve just returned at my master’s orders,” a voice called to him as a figure entered through the door. “What’s the matter?”

Much to his surprise, the agent recognized the voice. “You’re...!”

“Oh, here’s a souvenir for you,” said the voice, completely relaxed.

The voice belonged to a teenage girl with eyes the color of deep crimson flames. Her hair of the same hue draped voluminously down to her waist. On her was a black, long-sleeved robe that covered most of her skin. While her current attire was far from fashionable, her unblemished skin and picturesque face gave a glimpse of how much attention she would’ve drawn if she ever decided to dress like a normal teenager.

The agent knew that the girl was not a pretty but inexperienced Magus like she appeared to be. In fact, she was Noctus Cochlear’s best apprentice, a Mad Magus whom Noctus himself had called “a slave to truth-seeking.”

“Sophia, y-you’re back!” said the agent hoarsely.

Sophia Black had displayed her excellent talents in all manners of research, had invented countless weapons, and had overcome hurdle after hurdle in her life. And now, she was looking at the agent with confusion.

***

By the time Liz and I returned to the clan house, the sun had long set. As expected, we’d found no trace of the Sitri Slime; I’d even interviewed some people to no avail. People disappeared all the time in the decaying district, and so I was forced to conclude that Eva’s tip had nothing to do with the missing slime. But just in case, I had Liz look out for it. If even the keenest set of senses the Grievers had to offer couldn’t find it, it definitely wasn’t in the district.

Liz crooked her neck with an uncharacteristic feebleness and said, “Hmm, maybe I’m in need of a tune-up.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “You didn’t mess up or anything. I was overthinking it.”

Liz was always full of energy and quick to throw punches. Yet, she put too much stock in my expectations for her, which I was sure had affected how she trained Tino. Her trust in me was probably far greater than what a normal party leader would garner from their members.

This was precisely why I couldn’t make rash decisions: well, to be more accurate, I needed to acknowledge my rash decisions when I did make them. And this meant I must admit that I did need Sitri’s help after all.

Sitri, our talented Alchemist, was Liz’s sister, but despite their similar looks, their personalities couldn’t have been more different. Sitri was a composed, studious, and adroit person who could take on any challenge flawlessly. Her level was technically the lowest among all Grievers due to a tragic circumstance, but her abilities were in no way inferior to those of any other member. While Liz had the upper hand in the department of physical abilities, Sitri’s expansive and diverse knowledge base put the rest of us to shame.

Anyway, the Sitri Slime was her creation. With her knowledge and experience, she would surely have figured out, based on its nature, how the slime had escaped its metal capsule and gone missing, as well as where it was now. Even if Sitri had neglected to put the slime in the capsule before giving it to me, I’d still have to ask her for the current whereabouts of the slime either way.

The only question was, “When would she return from Night Palace?” A week had passed since Liz’s solo return to the capital. And since, apparently, Liz had left after the party had reached a boss room, I had expected the rest of the Grievers to return soon.

“Do you know when Sitri’s coming back?” I asked.

“What’s wrong, Krai Baby?” said Liz, blinking at me. “What do you want with Siddy?”

The capital was safe and sound for the time being, but I wanted some guarantee that this would last a little longer. If the capital were to be hit with a great disaster and brought to ruins, I’d be long gone from the place before even considering any other option. But knowing that I was the cause, I would reconsider that.

“I have no idea,” answered Liz. “But if it’s something I can help you with, I’ll do anything for you.”

“I’m not sure about the details yet so I won’t tell you, but I need to know something about a magical creature,” I said.

Crossing her arms in front of her modestly sized chest, Liz frowned. “Oh yeah, you might need Siddy for that.”

As much as Liz was a meathead, she was a self-aware meathead.

Since I was seeking answers regarding Sitri’s own creation—and she hadn’t told me any details about it—asking any other expert on magical creatures would’ve been useless. Honestly, I’d been too scared to ask Sitri more about the slime, knowing that whatever she had to say about it would just make me more afraid to keep it anywhere near me. But to be fair, I didn’t expect to lose the thing. I just couldn’t get it off my mind, but I know showing concern for it 24/7 would only sow seeds of anxiety within the clan.

I sank deep into my clan master’s chair, trying my best to maintain my calm and cool facade. A week had already gone by, and if the city wasn’t destroyed by now, the chance that it was ever going to be was slim after all.

“Sitri’ll be back soon enough,” I said.

“Well,” said Liz, “she was excited about going to a Level 8 vault and all the new stuff it offers. She might be there for a while; she did bring along all sorts of weird equipment after all. Not that I think they’d stay too long without me though.”

Sitri could be obsessive: plenty of our previous quests had been extended thanks to her curiosity. Yet whenever that happened, the other members were all too happy to prolong their trips as well—what a disciplined party I was in.

Starting to feel a bit nervous, I cleared my throat. I would’ve picked a Relic to polish to calm myself, but they’d all been polished perfectly already. “It’s okay,” I told myself. “She’ll be back soon... Soon...”

Then, the office door opened suddenly.

Eva walked in briskly, gave a glance to Liz who was lounging on the sofa, and turned to me without a word. Despite Liz’s combative nature, she’d never messed with Eva because I’d told her over and over and over again not to mess with my brilliant vice clan master; if she scared Eva away, this clan would cease to function.

Liz gave a lazy wave and said, “Aloha, Eva.”

“Aloha!” replied Eva, then quickly turned towards me. “Krai, I’ve selected members from the clan to aid in the investigation of White Wolf’s Den. If you would like to amend the selection in any way—”

“Oh, thank you! I’ll leave that to you. Ark’s not here anyway,” I said.

“Gark came in this afternoon, and I negotiated in your stead. He did seem rather concerned with your absence,” said Eva.

There wasn’t much I could’ve done at the meeting, anyway, other than maybe interjecting a couple well-timed “uh-huhs.” I’d trust Eva’s call over mine any day. Unlike other clans where clan masters held their positions because they were good at their jobs, our clan had Eva, who was far better at every aspect of clan management than I was. But wasn’t it worth something that I was at least self-aware of how useless I was?

“Like usual, I’ll leave the basics to you. You can come talk to me whenever you need to, and I’ll check in if I need anything,” I told her with admittedly slender heart. “I really appreciate your help.”

“No. I know I can’t help with what’s really important,” said Eva without batting an eye.

What is she talking about? She didn’t look like she was joking, but her statement made no sense either. Maybe she was telling me to do my job sarcastically. Her wit was wasted on me if that was her intention.

“This clan can’t run without you.” And I added, “Seriously.”

Undeniably, Eva had done so much work for me.

“Was my information useful? You don’t usually leave the clan house during the day,” she said.

I was sure that gathering intel on the decaying district required its own kind of finesse. But unfortunately, I wasn’t even able to verify the rumors about the uptick in missing children. So was her information useful? Sadly not really. But I wasn’t going to shoot Eva down when she’d already done everything to answer my whim. But then neither could I lie; Eva would see right through me, and Liz was right here in the room.

So, with (what hopefully sounded like) gravitas, I closed my eyes and answered, “I didn’t find what I was looking for, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t gain anything.”

Knowing that the decaying district had nothing out of sorts alone was enough for me. But Eva gave me a quizzical look instead. Maybe I was being too obvious in avoiding a straight answer.

And so I rushed to add, jokingly, “Oh, right. I went to the ice cream shop you told me about, but it was closed.”

“I-Is that so?” said Eva. “I thought they were open every day of the week.”

“They had their shutters down. It was a shame. Maybe they had an emergency,” I said.

It was a bit daunting to think that I’d have to make my way back there on another day. Maybe I’d take Tino with me next time.

With her chin on the armrest of the couch, Liz kicked her feet up and down. “I could smell it when we got there, and I could hear people inside. They must’ve been open until just before we got there. Krai Baby took time out of his busy day to go. So rude of them.”

It was quite the ordeal to stop Liz from pounding on the shutters and trying to break into the place. She didn’t like ice cream at all, so that was all for my benefit. Although what really would benefit me would be for her to stop doing things like that.

Eva cleared her throat and said, “As you may know already, the investigation of White Wolf’s Den will commence in the next few days. The recruited experts will comb through the entire vault, I was told.”

That sounded like the Association was making a pretty big deal out of it. I wondered how many of our members had Eva signed up for the mission. Not that it affected me in any way though; it wasn’t me going in there again anyway. In fact, I wanted to pat myself on the back for making it out of that place alive after charging into there alone.

Pinching her brows at me, Eva said, “Is anything wrong?”

“What? Not really. Our members can handle themselves. Whatever’s going on down there, I’m sure is fine. It was only a Level 3 vault to begin with after all.”

Besides, things were different from when I’d blindly sent in Tino’s team. Now everyone knew something was wrong with White Wolf’s Den. With proper preparations, most phantoms shouldn’t be a problem.

And still, Eva looked at me doubtfully. What was she so concerned about?

***

In an Akashic Tower base of operations at a safe distance from the decaying district, Noctus had gathered nearly his entire research team: his apprentices, informants tasked with gathering intel throughout the capital and communicating with the headquarters, and bodyguards. Due to the secretive nature of the syndicate, this was the first time that so many members of his team had congregated in one place. Each of their faces was underscored with the severity of the situation, and their eyes were focused on a female Magus, Sophia Black, who’d just returned to base.

Flick Petosin, Noctus’s second apprentice, glowered at her. “It’s about time,” he snarled. “Where have you been while we dealt with this crisis without you?”

Sophia sheepishly said, “I’m sorry. I had to travel rather far to gather ingredients for an experiment.”

Her apology didn’t improve Flick’s disdain one bit. His eyes still shone with contempt and envy for an inferior Magus whom his master favored over him. In truth, Sophia was noticeably less adept at spell casting than the other apprentices; if she were to challenge any of them in a magic duel, she wouldn’t stand a chance. All Magi took pride in their spell-casting prowess, and Flick couldn’t stand that Sophia had been appointed as the first apprentice despite her inferior magic abilities.

If only Sophia had been better practiced at magic, she would’ve garnered more respect from her fellow apprentices. However, there was a good reason Noctus had chosen her as his first apprentice over the others.

Noctus and his team had been backed into a corner. He’d called this meeting including everyone precisely because the decision they’d make would have direct effects on their plan. Not only had their experiment been brought to light, but both the Association and the empire had also each launched an investigation.

And to add insult to injury, the Thousand Tricks had located at least one of their bases. In addition to a large amount of time and money, Noctus’s project required a location that met specific parameters. Noctus’s experiment had only just gotten off the ground, but even if they were to abandon their lab underneath White Wolf’s Den and relocate the results they’d achieved so far, their research would be significantly delayed by their scout for a new location in another country.

But on the other hand, if the empire were to capture them and seize their lab results, the damage would be irreparable. Anyone arrested for these crimes would hang on the gallows without question, and the empire would reinforce security to prevent Noctus or any surviving members from ever experimenting within the empire again. A bust like that would most likely hurt the syndicate at large too. Noctus, driven only by his unending ambition for the truth, had no sense of obligation towards the organization that had given him a place following his exile from the world of proper academia as a result of his dealing with a taboo subject matter. But still, he didn’t like his chances against a superpower like the empire. Now he faced a fork in the road ahead: retreat or fight until the bitter end.

The biggest monkey wrench thrown into his plan was none other than the Thousand Tricks. Noctus could deal with both the Association and the empire when the only lead they had was the changes in White Wolf’s Den; they’d never uncover Noctus nor his team on that alone. Had that been the case, they’d only have to abandon, or simply pause, their experiment below the vault until the dust settled. The changes they’d triggered in the vault were only temporary, so White Wolf’s Den would revert to its normal state after some time. Then neither the Association nor the empire would suspect anything more than a fluky phenomenon—as long as no one was wiser than that and suspected otherwise. With the Thousand Tricks privy to their existence, Noctus knew the Level 8 hunter would prove to be a significant roadblock to their plan.

How much does he know? How did he find out about us? Furthermore, why has he not come after us yet?

These worries had kept Noctus from making a decision.

Back in the days before Noctus’s fame had turned to notoriety, he’d looked down on treasure hunters. They’d been rowdy thugs who thought they ruled the world, drunk on the power given to them by mana material. They’d been lowlifes who lived only to serve their own wants without so much as an inclination to uncover the underlying principles of the energy that gave them their strength in the first place.

But now Noctus had a new perspective on them. After taking in a substantial amount of mana material during his experiment below a vault, he had come to realize just how powerful a force mana material could be—enough to warrant the egotistical behavior of hunters bolstered by it. Feeling how powerful he’d been made by just the relatively thin flow of mana material in White Wolf’s Den, Noctus could hardly imagine how much power the Grievers must’ve gained through their conquests of treasure vaults far more dangerous than White Wolf’s Den.

Noctus had absolute confidence in his spell-casting abilities, but he wasn’t foolhardy; he couldn’t be sure if he could win a fair fight against the Thousand Tricks. His apprentices seemed to share the same sentiment, as none of them called for the team to fight the hunter. In fact, most of them were leaning towards the “flight” option.

Having been relayed the events that had transpired in her absence, Sophia, completely unfazed, closed her eyes and pondered for some moments. But just as the other apprentices were about to break the silence, she opened her bloodred eyes.

“Let’s fight. It must be so,” she declared with quiet confidence.

Flick slammed the desk before him. “So-Sophia! We’re talking about a Level 8! Tell me you have a plan!”

The team had already conducted an extensive investigation on the Thousand Tricks but hadn’t found any information on his modus operandi. While, of course, other agents of the empire and the Association would also cause them enough problems, the “unknown” was both sought after and feared by Magi.

Sophia curled her lips in an almost diffident smile and said, “What’s the matter, Flick? We’re truth-seekers who operate beyond the confines of the laws of humans. There’s no reason to back down.”

Upon hearing her words, Flick, a man a decade her senior, took a step back as if he was intimidated by her look. And none of the other apprentices protested—not because they agreed with Sophia, but because they were silenced by the imperious aura about her.

Her unyielding determination was the very quality that had earned Sophia her place as Noctus’s first apprentice. She was a zealot for the astral god—the manifestation of the universal truth—which meant that morals, laws, and the opinions of others (including her master) had absolutely no bearing on her actions.

To Noctus, she was the most troublesome but also promising apprentice; she was a truly fitting member of Akashic Tower.

Sophia, putting her hands together, turned to Noctus and proposed her brilliant idea, “I know. But the incoming investigation party is full of high-level hunters—the perfect test subjects for our defense system. We could even stop the information from spreading further if we wipe them all out. What do you think, Master?”

Noctus squinted in scrutiny.

Sophia was treating the hunters the Tower had been dreading as mere test subjects. There was no trepidation in her eyes; defeat hadn’t even crossed her mind. She even looked like she was enjoying the prospect of facing the hunters.

And the look in her eyes pushed Noctus to make up his mind.

“Very well. Pull out all the stops.”

Now that the Thousand Tricks was on the scent of their team, Noctus knew Akashic Tower wouldn’t emerge from this unscathed; his only out would be to eliminate the entire investigation party. Only once the Tower defeated the empire’s and the Association’s agents would the Master of Magi’s life’s work come to fruition.

“Take the lead, Sophia,” commanded Noctus. “Use any resource necessary, and bring me their heads on stakes.”

Teary-eyed, Sophia beheld her master. “You can count on me, Master. Thank you for this opportunity.”

The other apprentices watched silently, stewing in fear and jealousy.