NOVEL WEB Chapter 84: What Happened Here...?
'I hope he made it okay while in the Gate…'
Stella had been worried since earlier; after all, he never returned, and the Gate never closed. It was only natural that her trepidation progressively grew.
Then again, she didn't exactly know why she was so worried over a man who originally had a sharp object placed at her neck…
Did she have a thing for bad boys or something?
Surely not…
'Wait! Why am I even thinking about whether I do or don't like him!? Gah…!'
With a flustered state of mind, Stella followed behind Lexi and Issa, trying her best not to let her embarrassment show on her expression.
Before long, they entered the Gate.
And that was when they saw it…
From one side of the boundless sand dunes to the other side, there were giant dismembered corpses and monster limbs scattered everywhere. Crimson-green blood stained the sand in a spotted fashion, making the entire place appear quite apocalyptic. Especially when considering that some of those monster wyrm corpses were the size of skyscrapers, clearly indicating their ranks as extremely powerful monsters.
"…Just who could've done this…?" asked Lexi, her tone incredulous. "These are Sand Devourers and Elite Sand Devourers, which we could've taken care of quite easily. But what about the Sand Devourer Lord and— is that a… Tyrant King corpse!? And there are multiple of them! Just what is going on here!??"
Dominic furrowed his brows.
He looked around and noticed that all of the monsters were missing their Magic Shards and most important parts, which meant that this massacre wasn't the result of a scuffle among the Sand Devourers. This signified that there were…
"Other Hunters," said Dominic, annoyed. "And they got here before us, somehow sneaking through all surveillance measures. Furthermore, this Gate appears to have mutated, as there are far too many Sand Devourers, extra Mini Bosses, and more than one Boss Monster."
"However, as you bunch are surely aware of: if something like this occurs, which happens on very rare occasions, then a new Boss Monster has been crowned."
"!!!" "!!!" "!!!"
"Something more powerful than a Tyrant King!? What sort of entity could possibly trump over a B+ Boss Monster!?"
"This doesn't make any sense!"
"And someone finished off all these monsters before us!? Which Hunter Party could accomplish such a thing!? This backwater city doesn't even have a single B-Rank Hunter Party!"
Dominic silenced all of the agitated voices with an icy glare. Luckily, Stella didn't experience this, as she kept quiet from beginning to end. "To take over the position of a Tyrant King, this new Boss Monster must either be of the B++ Rank or the… A- Rank."
Shock once again rippled through the expressions of the MoonShiner Party members.
If what their Party Leader was saying was true, and they pulled the shorter end of the stick, then didn't that mean they were about to come face to face with an A- Rank Boss Monster!? Something that could even face off against your average A-Rank Monster!?
"We must retreat and inform Headquarters of this incident!" most shouted. "We aren't properly equipped to deal with something like this! Even the weakest of A-Rank Boss Monsters are capable of single-handedly eradicating small cities!"
"No," Dominic instantly rejected. "We will advance. And we will figure out just who has the gall to steal what should've been ours."
"But, Captain—"
"Shut up!" Dominic snapped back, urging their traps to stay shut. "Am I the Party Leader or are you all the Party Leader!? Just be obedient and follow my orders!"
Although begrudged, the MoonShiners slowly nodded. In front of their Party Leader, they were all pork chops. And though this development became exceedingly dangerous, if it really came down to it, they could just sacrifice the weakest among them and escape.
Their eyes all instinctively fell on the vivacious girl who kept an eternally fake smile plastered on her face. Under their venomous intent, she couldn't even muster the courage to defend herself.
This was simply the true way of the world.
The weak had no say in front of the strong.
It was cruel, but it was life. Nothing could change that, no matter how outwardly peaceful a civilization appeared.
'I just wish… wish that I had people close to me who didn't treat me like this… Like disposable trash…' Stella thought despairingly, yet maintained a false bravado.
The other members of the B-Rank MoonShiners quickly returned to venturing forward and scouting out the surroundings.
Just like that, they disregarded Stella's presence.
Nonetheless, no matter how far they traveled, the number of strewn-out Sand Devourer corpses did not diminish. In fact, they only seemed to increase the further they went in.
"To have killed so many Sand Devourers, and for them to all appear like they were one-shotted… Just what sort of monstrous Hunter are we dealing with here…?" asked Issa, her pupils erratically flickering. "And I know it's more likely to be a Party of Hunters, but doesn't all of them seem like it was done by the same person? Like someone of the A-Rank…?"
"The A-Rank?? Issa, you surely jest!" Lexi retorted, with John, a burly man, adding, "Yes, it can't possibly be someone of the A Rank! Even in the capital, A-Rank Hunters are few and far between! Do you actually believe that a Hunter of a distinguished status like that came out here to butt-fuck knows where??"
"…No, I guess not," Issa responded in a dejected tone, no longer speaking up.
Stella, on the other hand, was secretly scanning the vicinity, trying to find any sign of the hooded man that came in before them. 'Could he have been the one who did all of this…? And if so, just how strong is he actually…?? Or has he already died…?'
She was both worried and curious about the enigma that was the hooded man. She still wanted to understand his mother's connection with her mother, and for that to happen, he had to be alive.
'…Just be alright, okay…?'
...….