Chaser (1)
Pral was the port city of Nainel, a small country in the southern part of the Latna continent.
Blood spurted under the sunny southern sky.
“Ahhhhhh!”
After a desperate and painful scream, the last Hunter collapsed.
There were already four bodies lying around.
As he wiped the blood off his blade, Zhang Atanasio grinned.
“My level is low, but I killed about five people. I feel high.”
The higher the level of the opponent, the greater the pleasure compensation for the murder of Latnains.
The Hunters’ levels Zhang killed were in their early or mid-30s.
Unfortunately, he didn’t receive that much compensation.
He had to kill at least five or six people to feel good.
‘I’d love to go to the middle of the continent and hunt higher-level humans…’
Zhang clicked his tongue while collecting the bodies.
‘Because of the voice of the Thunder King, we can’t get out of this city. Hmm.’
He was a Level 62 Magic Swordsman.
Although he was one of the people who had low levels in Akhtarun, he was recognized as a talented person who could dare enter the Four Prohibited Areas in the outer world.
Still, Zhang was unable to escape the port city, Pral.
It was due to the Banned spell by the Thunder King.
-Head to the designated city without being seen by Latnians.
-When you arrive at your destination, stay in the city, and look for the incarnation of the Goddess.
-Don’t leave the city until you find the incarnation of the Goddess.
No matter how strong the trio was, the rule was created because their abilities were limited.
Hundreds of Earthlings were already high-leveled.
Some of them were even over level 80 or 90.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"}) It couldn’t have been easy to control such a large number of powerful people.
It was also the reason why Hollien had been surprised by Garhan’s decision to release them.
Instead, the order was as simple as it was compulsory.
Once they were under the Banned spell, they could never escape.
Like the other Earthlings from Akhtarun, Zhang stayed in the designated port city of Pral and continued to slaughter Latnains.
‘Well, it’s best to do it quietly to avoid getting caught.’
After disposing of all the bodies, he smacked his lips.
Zhang knew that he would be tracked down sooner or later if he continued to kill like that.
But he had no choice.
He was already too addicted to the pleasures of murder.
If he wanted to, he could have gotten out of the addiction.
While he was locked up in Akhtarun for decades, he had never killed people.
But Zhang didn’t forget the addiction.
Perhaps others would do the same.
‘Will I be happier if I give up on murdering people and insist on the no-killing lifestyle that I don’t want to do?’
Even though he knew that it would become more dangerous, he couldn’t stop.
The pleasure of killing was too sweet to resist.
‘Then I’ll slowly get out.’
Zhang quickly disappeared after removing bloodstains.
* * *
No matter how well he erased the bloodstains, if too many people disappeared in a short period, he would eventually be caught.
Eventually, the bodies of Hunters were found throughout the city.
It didn’t only happen to that city.
Even the capitals of each country or the Four Prohibited Areas and the minor frontier cities were affected.
People noticed.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"}) Massive serial killings were taking place throughout the Latna continent.
‘It’s the work of Aliens!’
‘What are these evil demons doing?’
The conclusion was not based solely on prejudice against Aliens.
Most of the casualties were Hunters, and they were quite high-level.
If such people were involved in indiscriminate murder, it was unlikely that Latnians had committed it.
Of course, there were plenty of bad people among the Latnians.
Many people committed robberies, rape, and other crimes with a clear purpose.
However, the indiscriminate killing changed the story.
Usually, serial killers targeted those who were socially disadvantaged.
They purposely didn’t aim for high-level people.
But what if the serial killer was a powerful Hunter?
It could only be the work of Aliens.
‘What happened? They’ve been quiet for years.’
‘And it’s not just one or two people!’
Suddenly, at the same time, high-level Aliens appeared as if someone had released them, causing them to cause mass genocides in various parts of the continent.
A dark atmosphere spread throughout the continent.
People were afraid and suspicious of each other.
Aliens’ genealogy was indistinguishable from Latnians until they were killed.
Serhithran, a forbidden city in the Ice-Flame Forest, was no exception.
* * *
Inspections were being conducted throughout the city.
It was all due to the killings done against Hunters recently.
Fortunately, the Aliens had been cleared by the Valtara Warrior Felard Bean, but there was impossible that no other Aliens remained.
“You mean there’s a Goddess incarnate among the Valtara warrior’s group, right?”
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"}) “That’s right, Almara. It’s not that difficult to get the information out because there are so many rumors going around.”
A young beauty in her 20s spoke informally to a man of her age. And the man talked to her in quite a polite manner.
The woman was white-haired and grey-eyed, while the young man had dark brown hair and dark skin.
Neither of them had anything unusual on the surface.
However, they weren’t ordinary humans.
Almar Vallaur Glakiers was a Silver Dragon who turned 650 years old that year.
Saltus Lintbroom Lapeltrausd was a Green Dragon who turned 530 years old that year.
Both were powerful Dragons belonging to Upper Draconium.
In human form, Almara and Saltus continued to walk through the streets of Serhithran.
If they made eye contact with powerful-looking Hunters, the Hunters avoided meeting their gaze as much as possible.
Dragons were said to be slow to level up, but they gained extraordinary abilities when they had lived for hundreds of years.
Nevertheless, they were hiding and pretending to be humans.
“I don’t want to make a fuss.”
“Hollien’s orders come first.”
The strongest three had sent Aliens all over the continent in search of the Goddess of Darkness.
In other words, traps had been set up.
If the target was caught in the trap immediately, there was nothing more for them to do. But the trap was broken. Even if the opponent ran out, there should’ve been traces left behind which could infer the target’s identity.
That was their mission.
They had to obtain information on Darkness’s incarnation through the traces left by the target, keep track of it, and capture it alive if possible.
Almara suddenly tilted her head, recalling the new liaison of Great Earth, who delivered Hollien’s order.
“And what happened to Alejandro? Wasn’t he supposed to be the liaison?”
“I guess something happened to him. Did we, uh, bow because we were scared of him? I was just afraid of unique items.”
“That’s true.”
While talking, the Dragons explored Serhithran.
Like ordinary humans, they asked questions and gathered information.
Three days allowed them to get a rough outline.
A total of four people fought against the Aliens of Serhithran.
It was a Hunter team consisting of male and female Valtara warriors, a young Mage with red hair, and a Magic swordswoman with silver hair.
They also discovered their names through Hunter Guild.
“It was Artis Venetian, Effir Venetian, Felard Bean, and Kibie Bierne, right?”
Saltus muttered.
“Which of them is the Goddess of Darkness?”
The Goddess of Darkness, Kybriel, was the one who created all the Dragon races.
She was their creator.
But neither showed any sign of awe.
“Since when did Dragons care about their parents?”
“Yes, if Kybriel wanted to be treated as a parent, she wouldn’t have made us like this in the first place.”
The two Dragons were in agony over their profane conversation.
“The most suspicious of them all is the female Valtara warrior…”
First of all, the name Kibie sounded a lot like Kybriel.
Besides, she had dark hair and was even a woman.
It was best suited to the image of the incarnation.
But Almara shook her head.
“That’s too obvious. Do you think she is so simple as to disguise herself like that?”
She had to hide her identity, but she didn’t seem to have chosen to be a warrior because she was conspicuous.
“She can’t be so stupid if she is the Goddess of Darkness.”
Likewise, she couldn’t be a warrior with a huge body.
In that case…
“It’s either the red-haired Mage or the silver-haired Magic Swordswoman.”
It was unlikely that she was the red-haired Mage.
Even the Goddess would have maintained her identity.
Dragons could change their gender when they turned into a human or fairy.
However, if she did so, the gap between the soul and the body would’ve become so severe that she wouldn’t be able to properly use her abilities.
Of course, in rare cases where biological and psychological genders differed, the ability to change genders could be stronger…
“Kybriel’s incarnation has always been a woman. That can’t be true.”
After the deduction by the elimination method, the Dragons were sure.
The silver-haired Magic Swordswoman was the incarnation of Darkness!
“The problem is there’s no way to track them.”
Saltus was perplexed.
“There is no trace of hair or blood.”
“She knew she was being chased when she was attacked. But she should have taken the time to clear their traces.”
“So how do we track her down here? It seems that she went to the Basterds, but feels like a ruse.”
“Tracing spiritual arts has made everyone so comfortable these days…”
Almara shrugged her shoulders.
“When in pursuit, it was common sense to run on my feet for information, even when I was young.”
“You’re treating me like a child, aren’t you? I’m an ancient Dragon, too.”
Even though he grumbled, Saltus understood what she meant.
There were many ways to track the opponent even if they hadn’t left a part of their body.
They could track what she had done, what she had bought, what she had said in Serhithran.
That alone was a good enough clue.
“Let’s hurry.”
Almara’s steps became quicker as she encouraged Saltus.
“Come on. We should catch the silver-haired Magic Swordswoman.”
* * *
“… What?”
Effir, who was dozing off in the coaching box, suddenly opened her eyes.
She tilted her head as if she didn’t understand.
Kibie asked Effir, who was sitting next to her.
“What’s wrong, Effir?”
“I feel like I’m being misunderstood for some reason..,”
As she scratched her cheek, Effir pouted.
Ryu Han-bin, who was following the wagon, laughed.
“What, out of the blue? Are you still sleeping?”
With a strange expression, Kibie looked at Effir.
“The truth is, I feel like I’ve been treated like a fool for some reason. It’s just my imagination, isn’t it?”
“Probably.”
They reassured each other.
They then looked at the view in front of them.
The wagon was passing through a huge wilderness.
It was a land dyed in red on all sides.
There was no animals or plants insight.
It was made up of nothing but soil, rocks, and bizarre stones.
Dried black grasses were often seen, but it only highlighted the desolation of the place.
Ryu Han-bin muttered.
“We’ve come all the way here without a hitch.”
Three of the strongest beings had sent Aliens to all the major cities on the continent.
They took up all the roads with a lot of trade and checked all the people coming and going.
They got such information from Grace’s memories.
Through that, they managed to avoid the tasks of Aliens by choosing the deserted routes.
Since they left Serhithran, Han-bin and his party had never entered any city.
They were determined to take advantage of the rare route.
“Serkaltan, we had to stop by, but we couldn’t see anyone else in other places…”
Han-bin looked back at the wagon and asked.
“How much longer, Artis?”
Artis, who was sitting behind the wagon, opened a map.
“It’s only half a day away. We’ll be at the Lion Rock soon, the east entrance of the Grand Maze.”
