At the teleportation gate present in Vernes,
"Hey, look over there," a man pointed at people wearing black suits with a logo on their shoulders as they walked past them.
"Wow, they are from the World Association," another man replied as he recognized the famous logo.
Everyone knew about this logo, which belonged to the World Association, considered the most influential association in the world. The fact that the World Association had three SSS Rank hunters leading it was enough proof.
"They look like high-ranking hunters, so cool!" a kid shouted among the adults.
"Father, I wanna join the World Association when I grow up," he looked at the man beside him.
The father just ruffled his hair, not breaking the little kid's dream so early in his life. Getting into the World Association was not easy at all. Only those who attended the World Academy and a few others were lucky enough to join it.
Listening to the people praise the team of hunters, they smiled proudly. This was the general reaction they got whenever they ventured through cities.
"Don't grin too hard, Henry," a woman said to her team member.
"Come on, it's my first time in Somaria, Clara," he replied, ignoring her.
"And our leader is not saying anything, so let me have my fun," Henry replied, waving his hands toward some people.
"Okay, we have some criminals to catch. Let's finish this assignment quickly," the man standing in the front replied.
He was a middle-aged man, but his whole team respected him. He was a high-ranking person in the World Association and a peak S Rank hunter.
"See, even the team leader doesn't want to deal with you, Henry," Clara mocked him as she giggled.
"So, Maxzil, was it?" another team member asked.
"Yeah, and don't use mana unless a fight breaks out; we will avoid any civilian casualties we can," the team leader said as they stepped towards the Teleportation Gate.
In this team alone, there were two S-Rank hunters like, Henry and Clara, with other peak A-Rank hunters. And their team leader, who was an S+ Rank hunter. Although this was too much firepower for A-Rank hunters, it was better to have such teams for low casualties and damage.
From their previous teams, they had confirmed that the mana traces device was legit, so they could now finally move with a qualified team to apprehend the criminals.
**********
Kai and Dane came out of the washroom, but they were invisible to others right now. Only an S-Rank hunter or those with high sensitivity to mana could sense them in their current state.
Kai had changed their appearance in case they were caught due to some security measures. It was an extra precaution due to their line of work. In fact, they only did it because of the special security they spotted in the hotel lobby. Dane and Kai were professionals who took some shady missions from Spyder. So, it was easy for them to spot a man like Garreth among ordinary bodyguards.
Especially Dane; it was because of his extraordinary intuition that Kai followed him, regardless of the crazy things he did. Dane could sense if a person was dangerous or not. Call it intuition or talent, but it helped him climb the ranks in Spyder.
"Let's behave normally," Dane signaled Kai, who nodded.
They went to the lift as it opened up.
The highest floor was not accessible from the standard lift, but opening the VIP lift would alert others.
One hotel staff opened the lift, and Dane and Kai got in.
The hotel staff had no idea that two A Rank Hunters were standing behind him, ready to take his life if he noticed them somehow.
"Room 402," the staff member muttered as the lift stopped, and he stepped out.
Dane nodded as they pressed a button in the lift that took them to the 55th floor. Above that were the VIP floors, and Dane knew how to infiltrate the highest floor because he had done a similar mission before.
The lift stopped on the 55th floor, but no one was there to notice the empty lift opening.
"Why is the lift going to the 55th floor?" a man noticed the abnormality in the security cam.
He pressed a button nearby and spoke,
"Hey, check the lift and find out why it went to the 55th floor," he notified security to check it before any malfunctions happened that could ruin their image.
"Let's move fast," Dane dashed with Kai as they saw a man leaving his room.
They could see each other, so Dane just needed to signal Kai to follow him.
The man was closing his door but didn't notice the two A+ Rank Hunters who entered his room.
"Are you sure this is the correct way?" Kai asked as they made their way to the balcony area.
"Trust me, that over there is Room 05. I confirmed it during my last mission," Dane pointed above to higher floors.
Kai knew that Dane had the habit of doing such useless things during his missions, so he believed him without further questioning.
"Now, how will we go up there?" Kai asked as he looked down from the 55th floor. Falling from this height would make them use their mana to protect themselves.
And this much would have been enough to gather the attention of the security. So Kai looked at Dane, who was smiling with a wide grin.
"It's quite easy; I will throw you up there, and you will pull me up," Dane explained with a grin, but Kai's face darkened as he realized what Dane was making him do.
"Oh, come on; we can't chicken out now. And even if you fail, there are no high-ranking hunters here. So we can escape easily," Dane tried to persuade Kai, who finally gave up.
"Okay, do it," Kai said as Dane grabbed him by his stomach.
"On the count of three, okay?" Dane said as Kai nodded.
"Three," Dane said as he launched Kai, whose eyes went wide as he could feel the air against his face.
He wanted to look down and beat the hell out of Dane, who was looking at him with a grin on his face, but reaching that specific balcony was more important.
Usually, that height was something Dane and Kai could reach if they propelled themselves with mana, but that would have made so much noise that their plan would have failed before they even reached the highest floor.
*Grab*
Kai used aura around his fingers to pincer the metal of the building as he reached the balcony and finally landed there. He turned and looked down at Dane, who was waving his hands like an idiot.
"This idiot," Kai immediately took out a gauntlet-type weapon and pointed it towards Dane.
A black wire fired through the gauntlet in a second as Dane caught it with his hands.
Right now, they were invisible, so nobody could even notice a man floating towards the highest floor with the help of a rope.
Kai's eyes were looking around to see if anybody had noticed them or not.
In 6 seconds, Dane also arrived at the balcony of Room 05.
"Nice, now we just need to search for the money," Dane said, but Kai's face turned into one of shock.
"What do you mean search? You told me you knew where the money was," Kai whispered.
"I did, and this is Room 05," Dane also whispered, but seeing that Kai's anger was about to burst, he stopped pushing his limits.
"It's somewhere in the bedroom area; don't worry, I will find it quickly," Dane assured Kai.
Dane looked at the balcony window, which was made of a unique material that would not break easily.
He covered his hand in the aura and made a thin cut at the edges of the window carefully.
"Done," Dane whispered as he carefully removed the glass.
They knew that the person on the highest floor was some kind of big shot, but they needed this money as soon as possible. Despite the risk involved, they had no choice. In their previous conflicts, they had already killed a team of B Rank hunters sent by the World Association.
But now, both were sure that the World Association would soon send their high-rankers for them. What they didn't know was that the team coming to hunt for them already knew about their locations due to the chips in their bodies.
Dane stepped in, and they saw a man snoring loudly, sleeping on the bed.
"Shh," Dane pointed at Kai.
"Should I kill him?" Dane asked Kai, as he was not sure whether to kill the man who was sleeping or not.
Right now was the best chance to kill the man on the bed, as the guards outside would not notice.
"Do it," Kai was not ready to take another risk for now.
Whoever this person was didn't matter to them, as both could not recognize his face. In their jobs, they had learned about certain people that were not supposed to be harmed in any manner by their organization, and the man sleeping on the bed was definitely not on the list.
Tom, who was sleeping peacefully, had no idea that he was about to be killed right now by two A+ Rank hunters. The guards outside couldn't notice them due to Kai's unique ability.
*Step*
A noise of a step came from behind, and Dane and Kai were about to turn when an overpowering, sinister killing intent enveloped them, stopping them in their tracks.
Despite working for years in a job that required killing people and meeting those who killed others, they had never felt such killing intent.
*Step* *Step*
The noise of the steps grew nearer as both Dane and Kai were too shaken to even turn to see who was the person behind them. The fear clouded their judgment as their hands trembled.
With each step they heard, their heart rate went up.
"I would advise against killing that man," the duo heard the voice of a young man filled with coldness.
"If you don't want to die, that is."
A/N : A little announcement in the Author's note for the privilege readers.
