SSSSS-Rank: Negative Leveling

Luthra lay on the forest floor, the large hole in his stomach bleeding a lot.

'Shit, that hurt. That fox woman is unreasonably strong.'

A blue screen appeared in front of him.

[Hostile entity has withdrawn. Vitality is stabilizing at 3%. Natural regeneration is inhibited by negative energy residue. Immediate medical attention is recommended.]

'I don't have money for a hospital. This is an inconvenience.'

He pushed himself up, hissing as pain shot through his body. He looked down at the wound. It was not healing. He tore a long strip from the bottom of his cheap shirt and wrapped it tightly around his middle, creating a makeshift bandage.

'This will have to work for now. My first priority is to fix my weapon.'

He picked up the broken pieces of his chain. The metal was cracked and warped. He needed ten F-rank cores and one E-rank core. The problem was that the fox and her shadow wolves had scared away all the weak monsters in the area.

'I have to move to a different section of the woods. Sigh, I am starting to get hungry.'

He started walking, his pace slow because of the injury. He had to find some weak monsters, then find a single, stronger one. It was a simple plan.

---

In the Hunter Association headquarters, the main meeting room was full of important people. The leaders of the top ten guilds and the Association President, Paulas Kenijo, were all gathered around a large holographic table.

The atmosphere in the room was serious.

"The energy signature was unmistakable," a man with a severe haircut, the master of the Fist King Guild, stated. "It was a Beast King. For one to appear so close to the city is a major incident."

Jax, a man with a calm face, looked at the holographic map. "It appeared, and then it vanished. The question is why."

A technician spoke from the side of the room. "President, we have drone footage. We detected a hunter making contact with the entity."

"Put it on the main screen."

The holographic table shifted, now showing a video from a drone's perspective. It showed Luthra kneeling in the forest clearing in front of the white fox.

The Fist King Guild master scoffed, "What is this idiot doing? Kneeling to a monster? He is a disgrace to all hunters."

Another guild master, a woman who led the magic-focused Silver Tower Guild, had a different opinion. "Wait, he is communicating with it. That is not something a normal person can do."

They all watched as the fox transformed into the white-haired woman. They saw her grab Luthra and lift him up. Then, they watched her plunge her hand into his chest.

"It's over for him," someone muttered.

But then, the unbelievable happened. The Beast King, a being of immense power, suddenly convulsed and collapsed to the ground. The video had no audio, so they had no idea what was said or done. It was a silent, shocking scene.

They saw Luthra wrap a chain around her neck, and then saw her blast him with energy before she disappeared.

The room was completely silent.

Jax was the first to speak, his voice very calm. "Technician. Run that sequence again. Zoom in on the moment she touched his chest."

The video replayed in slow motion. The woman's hand entered his chest, and then a wave of visual distortion, like heat haze, pulsed from the point of contact. The drone's sensors went wild with corrupted data for a split second before the woman fell.

"What was that? A counter-skill? A defensive artifact?" the Silver Tower master asked.

"We don't know," the technician replied. "The energy reading was a mystery. It was like our sensors were trying to measure the concept of nothing. The data is unusable."

Jax looked away from the screen, his fingers tapping on the table. He looked at his personal assistant.

"Find out who that man is. I want every piece of information we have on him. His registration file, his assessment results, everything. Bring it to me now."

The assistant quickly typed on a data pad. After a moment, he looked up, his face was confused.

"Sir… I have his file. His name is Luthra. He just registered not too long ago."

"And his rank?"

The assistant hesitated before he answered.

"Sir, he does not have one. His rank is blank."

Jax slammed his fist on the large holographic table, causing the image of Luthra's blank license to flicker.

"This is completely absurd, how can a hunter be 'Unranked'? That is not a real classification, the system must be broken, or your employee is incompetent!"

He pointed a finger at the technician who was standing nervously at the side of the room, casing the technician to flinch. 

"Sir, the data is correct, we have checked the assessment logs multiple times, his final score was zero in every category because he destroyed all the measurement devices."

Jax scoffed, his voice loud. "Destroyed them? That makes it even more suspicious, this man is clearly dangerous and not registered correctly, he must be apprehended immediately for a full investigation!"

The master of the Silver Tower Guild spoke up. "Jax, you are being too hasty, did you not see the video? He made a Beast King collapse on the ground, a being that could destroy this entire city. We should not be treating him as a common criminal."

Jax stood up from his chair, his body tense. "He is a threat, an unknown variable, my Fist King Guild will personally-"

Paulas, who had been silent for the entire meeting, finally spoke a single word.

"Jax."

The moment the name was said, Jax, who was in the middle of a loud declaration, immediately stopped talking and sat back down in his chair. He stared forward at the holographic table and did not speak again.

Paulas looked at his personal assistant, who was standing by the wall.

"Are we able to contact this Luthra?"

The assistant looked at the data pad in his hands. "We have the address he provided on his registration form, President, it is located in the Omafo district."

Paulas nodded his head slowly. "Then it is a simple matter. Send a team to his location, they are not to be hostile, you will only extend an invitation to him. I wish to speak with this young man, I am sure we all do."

He looked around the table at the other guild masters, and they all nodded their heads in agreement.