Chapter 108 Revenge Time (5)
Chapter 108 Revenge Time (5)
Chapter 108 Revenge Time (5)
Chapter 108: Revenge Time (5)
Susan Valkoch's suspicions were accounted for.
Which meant that Hunter and Seraphina were ready to fight her despite having no equipment. Even if Seraphina didn't have her sword, she had grown strong enough to battle opponents on par with her level barehanded. Her armor was never that protective, either, though it was a good measure to block one or two hits onto the vital points.
Hunter was even more convinced in his strength, owing to all his experiences that had taught him a lot about his origins and inheritance.
Unaware of the two's thoughts running in their heads, Susan Valkoch got to her feet and swept the air, resting her arm horizontally before her chest, "Capture them."
Just like what could have been expected from the noble, Susan Valkoch didn't bother fighting Hunter and Seraphina herself. She instantly commanded her two most loyal and strongest soldiers to take action and deal with the unexpected variables that could threaten her house's future and were surely holding more information about Lothar and demons.
Reacting to their master's order with just a split second of a lag, the female guards brandished their spears and zoomed at Hunter and Seraphina as though carried by a wind. That was surely some advanced movement skill helping them close distance with their prey in just one breath.
Once the gap had been breached, the soldiers took their respective opponents head-on.
Hunter, believing in Seraphina, entirely focused on the woman thrusting the spear's tip at his stomach. It was quite a low point she had been aiming for, but quite an effective, since Hunter had to quickly change his guard, to say nothing of it not having enough means to kill him should it land and just help her restrain him.
His arm growing colder with the blood condensing on his left, Hunter read the guard's intent and strength as though reading the book. He was aware that she was on the level of competent and famous hunters from his union and that her skills must have at least bordered the S Rank. She was also fueled by Susan Valkoch's noble blood.
Which meant that though her attack was straightforward, it carried so much force and speed that no mere human or demon would be able to protect themselves well against it.
Hunter was far from normal, however. Just the fact that he could freely move his origins within him put him ahead of people relying on skills to use the aforementioned sources of power.
And he had advanced far ahead with his origins in the recent days.
BANG!
The spear met with Hunter's palm, striking something hard and unbreakable. There was a loud clang, which meant that Hunter's skin hadn't protected him from the attack but something else. Of course, he could have some skill to turn his flesh into steel or diamond, but upon closer inspection, the female guard noticed a crimson circle protruding from his palm.
It glimmered with golden stars, seemingly a jewel of the highest grade.
Far from a mere jewel, this golden circle was a part of Hunter's Blood Origin. It was literally his origin, which humans could only peek at through special means.
Yet, Hunter had taken it out to use it in a battle. Was he risking a lot? Of course. If he were to lose that Blood Origin, he wouldn't be able to use his main skills for a long time, the least of it being a month. Which was only possible because he had divine blood flowing within him. It meant that blood would condense into a Blood Origin upon its shattering for some unfathomable reasons.
"Your spear is exceptional, I'd say," Hunter smiled at the shocked guard, who had yet to recoil from the draw. His words weren't said just to show off, for even if his Blood Origin was still young and far from its peak, Hunter had expected it to be enough against humans under a small noble like Susan Valkoch.
He underestimated what he was dealing with. Well, snatching this spear meant he would be able to fetch himself quite a sum to pay for his apartment back in the hunter union, though.
Kindled by that thought, Hunter showcased what his Blood Origin was capable of. He thrust his palm forward, seemingly slamming the air, yet the Blood Origin didn't allow its owner to look like a clown, conjuring a thin and sharp blood blade, which steamed off with otherworldly coldness.
It extended like a red rose's spear toward his foe. Its speed was far faster than the flexible red roses, for it was focused on simply going back and forth, meaning Hunter could beef up the velocity of his skill in exchange for blood's flexibility.
Some might even call it a blood bullet.
"Ah!" the female guard cried as her stomach got pierced by Hunter's skill. He effortlessly tore through her armor and cracked open her smooth flesh, popping her bones and organs. This much force ravaging her insides nearly made her tumble backward, but her pride as a soldier kept her on her two.
Which Hunter sneered at, repeating the move once his blood blade returned to his origin. This time, he shot the soldier's thigh, forcing her to kneel before him. He took a glance at Susan Valkoch's indescribable expression, then compelled the woman to utterly kneel before him as he struck her another thigh.
Since Susan's expression hadn't crumbled, Hunter inwardly shrugged and finished his job, beheading the female soldier as though she was a chicken. Her body dropped flat onto the ground, bathing in its own blood. As for her head, it rolled to Susan's feet, staining her boot.
On the other side of the room, things were about to reach their crescendo as well.
Basking in her flames from head to toe, with her crimson hair dancing behind her back like a cape of the fire goddess, Seraphina had overpowered the guard with her strength and skills. At her feet, there was a split into two spear, which had some burn marks.
The sight of it made Hunter sigh and yearningly look at the broken item. It still should fetch him some money, which he would use to provide for his team… but what a loss it was!
Having enough self-lamentation, Hunter tore his gaze off the halved item and looked at his now second girlfriend calmly dealing with her opponent. Seraphina was always like a beast honed in the wilderness, and now Hunter could see the calmness of a predator in her eyes and aura as she deflected all guards' attempts to wound her.
Once there was an opportunity, she would slam her fist straight into her opponent, dragging her backward to Susan Valkoch's desk. Since the battle was about to be over, Seraphina knew she could safely break through her opponent's space, tangle her arms around her neck, and take her into the deathly lock with flames licking into her flesh along with her prominent strength.
After executing that move perfectly, Seraphina dropped the dead body and ran back to stand beside Hunter, feeling safe in his space.
She smiled at him and nodded.
Reciprocating her feelings, Hunter was inwardly overjoyed that he could draw out a smile, blush, and a lot more from this adorable yet scary wild beast.
Hunter forced himself to turn away from Sera's smile and pierced the noble with his now serious gaze, "Seems like we can drop the pretense now."
"Indeed. I doubted from the start that these two hadn't told you what I had done," Susan Valkoch kept her poker face or perhaps the noble mask of calmness while responding to Hunter. There was a sweat bead trickling down her face, however, which had betrayed her feelings.
Her heart must have been pounding against her chest with so much fear that perhaps all her life had flashed in her eyes while Hunter and Seraphina had been dealing with the guards.
"That's just my curiosity at this point, but wouldn't it have been better for you to step in and help those guards?" Hunter asked while using his blood roses to pick up his trophies off the ground. The exquisite spear and another one's broken pieces were now in his hands.
Susan harrumphed, "Their skills, simple as they may be, were of the highest level I could provide to them. I had also been providing them with my noble insignia, so their strength was connected to my wealth and surname. If they can't pose any threat to you, let alone achieve my command, with so many blessings, I don't feel obliged to help them and just feel disappointed."
If she had picked up that Hunter and Seraphina weren't there to kill her, then what she had done was perhaps, for her, the best. She couldn't afford to get wounded or hindered herself, after all.
Hunter was once reminded of women's intuition and rolled his eyes. At least Seraphina was quite clueless in this regard, and that was an adorable side of her.
"Well, that's some noble stuff that I can't really bother to understand," Hunter shrugged. He never wanted to be a noble, and even if his inheritance had a castle and spirits working there as maids, his main goal had always been to become stronger and be surrounded by beautiful women.
Though that had been quite shaping into something else, Hunter always aimed to be surrounded by people whose feelings weren't a mere master-servant relationship but much deeper than that. Of course, Brandi's face flashed in his mind as he thought about that, but no man would be able to keep such a beautiful maid for years and do nothing to her at all.
With how loyal and selfless she had become, Hunter knew that this maid would get above their master-servant relationship and become closer to him at some point. The same went for Nakisha, though he was quite frightened of what might turn into if he were to really become her mate.
"Because of what had happened with the demons, we didn't even have a chance to get some income, you see? So we're here to get all those beautiful paintings you have hanging here… those vases seem expensive, too! I don't know about flowers, but there's a limit to how much we can pick up! Let's see…" Hunter mused aloud as he stroked his hairless chin while looking around, already putting Susan Valkoch below him.
Not like she could do anything about it. She could only watch and inwardly comment.
'If it's this much, then it's fine. They don't seem to be aware of my treasury… and even if they were, I would never give them a chance to enter it.' Susan thought. She would surely think of something to keep them at bay. In fact, she was already thinking of some excuses with her shrewd mind.
One of them was related to refugees and her commoners' plight.
That would have been quite effective had it not been for Aimee already having her hands on Susan's treasury…
Seemingly clueless about her thoughts, Hunter spoke up, "All bundled up, Sera?"
"Yes!" Seraphina replied with tons of enthusiasm.
"Well, we're off, then!" Hunter didn't bother saying farewell to the noble and simply left the room with his girlfriend, both of them carrying lots of paintings, vases, and other stuff that had been decorating Susan Valkoch's office. It was so expensive that they would be able to sell it for a great sum and get their hands on better equipment.
Hunter thought aloud, "I'll get us the best room in the hot springs!"
Seraphina grinned, "You still haven't given up on them? Are they even open during this monster tide?"
Hunter froze.
Seraphina went past him, then blankly turned around, finding him standing still with chattering teeth. He loved cold baths, and his blood was cold, so there was no way he felt cold!
She then rebuked herself for not thinking of something so obvious.
Sera grinned, "We can just sneak in, right?"
They had sneaked once into a noble's lands, so doing the same crime twice didn't really trouble Seraphina.
Hunter seemed to like the idea, "Indeed. We've come this far; how can we even give up on hot springs?!"
"I agree," Seraphina chuckled. Hunter was so cute! The day in which she genuinely thought of a man as cute or just saw him in a positive light had indeed arrived. And it filled her with so much warmth.
Both of them returned to their inn with lots of spoils. Aimee and Mayun had soon brought a lot of stuff as well. In relation to Hunter and Sera's spoils, the golden-haired noble and the white witch had brought a mountain of treasures.
It was possible because Mayun had quite a tricky skill.
Her cauldron had increased space. It wasn't like a spatial ring from famous fantasy stories, but it was so handy that Mayun had used it to cajole Aimee and show off what she was capable of, wanting to work with the dark prince she had taken an immense liking to.
Not aware of those events, Hunter casually commented on Mayun's usefulness, "Spatial room in the cauldron? And that cauldron is a skill, right? That's pretty cool!"
"Hehe! Do you want to see it?" Mayun grinned without a hint of her usual personality.
Hunter lifted his chin, "Once I get control over my skill, I'll have something much better than a spatial room! But I am interested in what you have here! This might actually help me get better at my skill."
In the meantime, Aimee and Seraphina had a short talk themselves.
"So he took responsibility? Good." Aimee smiled.
"You were expecting it?" Sera sighed, knowing that Aimee was years ahead of her in this area. Though she was curious as to why Aimee was smiling. Wouldn't it have been better if Hunter played both cards and kept her interested in him without making a move?
It'd show that he was really into Aimee.
Asking was one of the best ways to clear doubts, so Seraphina just openly shared her thoughts.
Aimee nodded, "It'd be indeed sweet. There's one but, though. He's been aiming for both of us at the same time. Which is why if you were to open your heart to him and he put those feelings aside just because he got me, I would be more troubled than you can imagine."
"I don't understand, really…" Sera awkwardly averted her gaze.
Aimee chuckled, "We're in a harem with a man being the linchpin. In other words, we don't deserve a man who gets swayed by every new relationship he gets into. We deserve a man who takes on his responsibilities and makes us content. If he were to lay hands on Mayun, I'd knock… or pound… some sense into him so that she would slip away from his mind. But you are different. And we're friends, so I could tell better what had been troubling you."
In a way, Aimee played her role as Hunter's Queen to the best of her ability. She knew that he would get surrounded by women and that there were sexy spirits in his inheritance as well, so there was no point dwelling on it. She was also a noble, and her mother had a harem, too.
She also understood that Hunter wanted Seraphina, so the faster, the better.
Of course, all this harem stuff had scratched some of Aimee's honey phrase.
She looked meaningfully at Seraphina, then took her to the corner, "He was so damn selfish on our first time, now that I think about it. He didn't show me anything of himself and just fondled my tits. There was a moment where he considered my feelings, but horniness came over him. Just what I should have expected from a man younger by ten years by me. At least he amended himself later."
"Th-that's nice, right?" Seraphina spoke with a few fears in her tone.
Aimee knew that her friend had some trauma about it, "It was really nice. I'll make sure he doesn't repeat any of his mistakes and slowly helps you overcome your fears. Seraphina, however much lecherous it sounds, I will tell you this—sex is amazing. Our man has unlimited stamina, so there's no winning against him when he gets serious or too deep into it."
"…" Seraphina gazed at her friend, whose cheeks were slightly red. She was definitely happy and relaxed, earnestly speaking of her love and experiences related to it.
Sera felt the warmth of love herself, so she could believe her.
But the past trauma was often hard to deal with.
"Hey, Aimee! Come over here!" Hunter suddenly called.
"Coming!" Aimee blinked for a second, then her honey phrase seemingly draped over her face and heart as she smiled and skipped over to her beloved.
Seraphina could swear she had seen flowers around her!
'So cute… I want to be like that, too… I want to love Hunter more…'