Chapter 172
Fwoooosh!
A chilly Siberian city.
Inside a tidy building, a man in a black suit burst through the door with a clatter.
“Zakhar hyung!”
The name of the rough-looking bald man was Pavel.
He was Zakhar’s younger brother, infamous in this region for his ferocity.
“What is it?”
Zakhar’s face, unlike his brother’s, was covered in a thick beard.
“I heard news that some foreign Asian man and woman are approaching our building.”
“Foreigners?”
Zakhar frowned.
This city, Krasnoyarsk, was already ruined.
The streets were deserted, there were no shops open, and it was hard to tell how the city was even functioning.
The government had given up, and criminal organizations ran rampant.
Even ordinary citizens had to join an organization just to survive.
In other words, everyone here was basically a mafia member.
“They’re coming to a place like this without fear? They can’t be tourists, obviously. For what purpose?”
“How should I know? But the fact that they’re coming straight for us feels ominous, don’t you think?”
No matter how ruined the city was, countless organizations existed here.
So why come straight to their headquarters?
“What’s their aura like?”
“I don’t know. They’re too far to tell. What should we do?”
“Hmm.”
Zakhar tapped his fingers on the table, lost in thought.
“I have a feeling they’re here because of that Dungeon this time…”
“Then they should go to the Dungeon. Why come all the way here?”
“For now, have the guys on standby.”
A harsh city.
In a place surrounded by criminal organizations on all sides, vigilance was essential for survival.
You couldn’t count on two hands the number of organizations that had been wiped out by sudden raids.
“Should I just take the guys and go deal with them?”
“You?”
“They look young, so I’ll ask them a few questions, and if they’re useless, I’ll just take care of them.”
“Tsk, you crazy bastard.”
Zakhar looked at his younger brother, Pavel, with a disgusted expression.
That was always the problem with him.
Zakhar understood becoming rough while trying to survive in a place like this.
But when Pavel said thoughtless things like that, it was infuriating.
“What do you mean, take care of them? Just talk to them properly, persuade them, and send them back. Be careful. They might be masters.”
“Masters?”
Pavel snorted.
“Hyung, we wouldn’t flinch even if a Ranker came. Besides, there are only two of them. Two. Don’t you remember? We’ve taken care of more than two Rankers.”
The Zakhar brothers were S-Class Hunters.
Furthermore, most of the mafia members under them were A-Class.
That was why they could occupy several buildings in this City of Mafia.
They weren’t on the level to play on the international stage, but they were more than capable of being local thugs.
And Russian Hunters had fought people more often than they’d fought monsters.
Meaning, they had a vast amount of experience in hunter-versus-hunter combat.
Clueless Rankers who challenged them often ended up dead.
“Still, be careful. If we happen to run into a High Ranker, we’ll be truly fucked.”
“Aw, hyung. That’s your problem. You worry way too much. Why would a High Ranker come to a place like this?”
“…Is that so?”
Even Zakhar felt he might have gone too far.
It was unlikely that one of the only 100 such people in the world would come to a ruined provincial city.
Still.
“You’ve memorized the entire new Ranker list that just changed, right?”
“…Hyung, it hasn’t even been a week since it changed. Blockheads like us need at least a month!”
“Sigh. I told you it’s important.”
Zakhar shook his head.
Then again, the thought of his brother being smart was slightly chilling.
“Anyway. Be careful, just in case. And make sure to ask their reason politely first.”
“Got it, hyung. Just trust me.”
—
Halt!
Having revealed ourselves, Ki Soyul and I stopped in the middle of the deserted road.
“Looks like they really came, huh?”
Soyul looked at me with a fascinated expression.
As soon as we arrived, I had scanned the city with the Supreme Azure Mind Method and simply walked toward the place with the densest aura.
She must have found it fascinating since I hadn’t given her a detailed explanation.
“Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen… no, is it twenty? They’ve already surrounded us.”
The Shadow Empress closed her eyes and assessed the surrounding auras.
“Bingo.”
I nodded.
“Exactly twenty. They’ve got a very murderous aura, don’t they?”
At the same time, I turned my head and scanned the surroundings.
I spotted a beer can lying in a corner.
A crushed one, stomped flat.
Thud, thud.
I walked slowly through the silent air, then—
Clang!
I kicked it hard.
Whoosh!
The crushed can sliced through the air and flew somewhere.
Thwack!
“Gah!”
Along with a dull impact, someone’s scream echoed.
I spoke over it.
“I know you’re all watching, so come on out.”
Because the city was so quiet, even a small voice carried far.
“Hoh.”
At last, someone stepped out with an interested expression.
A man with a smooth, bald head and a body full of scars.
“Coming on strong right from the start, aren’t we?”
He chuckled.
“From the looks of it, you seem to be a decent fighter. Who are you, and what’s your business here?”
“Hmm.”
I was genuinely surprised.
I could understand him not recognizing me, but I didn’t expect him to not recognize Ki Soyul either.
Was he just not interested in Rankers?
Or did information reach this ruined city slowly?
‘I guess so.’
I’d heard something like that before.
In our small country, the internet was so developed that information spread quickly.
But in large countries like Russia or the United States, the more provincial you got, the slower information traveled.
“Are you the local mafia here?”
I asked, as a greeting.
“What?”
The bald man scoffed.
“Mafia? Hehehe. Yeah. What if we are?”
“I just have something I want to ask.”
“Something you want to ask…”
The bald man kept chuckling like it was the funniest thing in the world.
Then he stopped laughing and stared at me.
“Hey, hey. Young friend.”
“Yeah?”
“You don’t seem to know this place very well. This isn’t the kind of place where you can just show up and get answers to your questions. Do you know what you have to do to ask?”
“What do I have to do…?”
I asked out of pure curiosity.
“What do you mean, what do you do? Hehehe. You pay a price. Something of value.”
Sluuurp!
The bald man licked his lips with a grotesque expression.
‘Ugh.’
What was with that?
It made me frown on instinct.
“If you don’t have anything to give, you can either get your ass kicked and scram. Or go look somewhere else.”
“Hmm. Are there no other options besides those?”
“Other options?”
“Yeah. A counter-proposal. In exchange for me not beating you guys up, you cooperate willingly.”
“What?”
The bald man, who had been tilting his head like he couldn’t believe what he’d heard, suddenly scowled.
“You, you don’t seem to understand the situation you’re in…”
He flicked his hand.
Sssst!
The nineteen hidden Hunters revealed themselves.
‘They’re pretty decent.’
Each and every one of them was an elite.
I could see a few S-Class-level ones here and there, and everyone was at least A-Class.
Their level was about on par with the participants who had gathered in the early days of Delilah’s trial.
“Can you take responsibility for those words?”
The bald man’s face turned vicious.
His subordinates surrounded Ki Soyul and me with relaxed expressions.
“Are those guys for real? Their guts must be swollen.”
“Are they really acting so relaxed with just the two of them? Hah. This is ridiculous.”
“They don’t know how scary the world is. More precisely, they don’t know how scary Russia is.”
“Pavel hyung-nim, how about we start by breaking one of his fingers? Is there any need to just stand here and listen?”
Men with burly bodies covered in tattoos.
They gave off a delinquent vibe just from looking at them.
‘Nice.’
I smiled.
This actually made me feel more at ease.
Even if they were a criminal organization, provoking them first just to extract information had been weighing on my mind a little.
But if they came out this hostile, it meant I could beat them up to my heart’s content.
“Hey, look at that guy. He’s smiling?”
“Looks like he hasn’t come to his senses. Or is there something wrong with his head?”
“We can’t let him go, hyung-nim. Let’s pull out a toe too, shall we?”
Hmm.
I couldn’t let you go either.
You kept talking about doing things to a perfectly fine person’s fingers and toes.
I should return the favor.
A single word could repay a huge debt, but a single word could also lead to utter ruin, couldn’t it?
“Donghoon-ssi, shall I take care of all of them?”
Soyul asked in a cold voice.
I shook my head.
“No.”
Then I swung the staff that formed with a fwoooosh!
“It’s been a while, so I should give the unawakened ones some practical training.”
[Using Skill: Summon Skeleton Lord (S-Class).]
[Consuming 30 Energy.]
[‘Bone One’ appears.]
[‘Bone Five’ appears.]
[‘Bone Eight’ appears.]
I summoned a total of three skeletons.
Bone One, Bone Five, and Bone Eight.
Creak!
The skeletons that shot up from the ground cracked their joints and raised their weapons.
“What, he was a Necromancer?”
“Hehehe, but skeletons? That bastard. He’s looking down on us way too much.”
Shing! Shiiing!
The twenty Hunters drew their weapons.
“Hey.”
The bald man, Pavel, stepped forward.
“Kneel and apologize right now. If you do, I’ll at least spare your life.”
“Apologize? Why should I?”
“Tsk. He’s a madman. Let’s just beat him up. I’ll stuff you in a drum barrel in a bit.”
That was the end of it.
Further conversation was meaningless.
Now, after the physical conversation was over, we could talk again.
—
“Go.”
Whoooosh!
Bone One and Bone Eight sprinted forward at an incredible speed.
Slice!
Bone One’s greatsword slashed a mafia member’s ankle.
Thwuuuuump!
Bone Eight’s gauntlet smashed another mafia member’s abdomen.
One collapsed, clutching his ankle, while the other was launched into the air.
All of it happened in three seconds.
“W-What!”
“Crazy, w-what’s with this speed?”
The Russian Hunters panicked, but by then it was already too late.
Thwack! Slice! Slice!
Bone One and Bone Eight, unleashed.
They pounced like wolves among a flock of sheep.
“This son of a bitch!”
One of the S-Class Hunters who came to his senses swung his sword and stabbed at Bone One’s neck, but—
Claaaang!
“W-What!”
A heavy shock jolted his hand.
It felt like striking a suit of steel armor layered over and over.
Fwoosh!
The man felt his body suddenly ignite and let out a scream.
Bone Five’s fire-attribute magic.
“Gaaah! Gaaaaah! Water! Pour water on me!”
Tssss!
One of the mages created water and poured it over him.
They barely managed to extinguish the flames, but his skin was already red and swollen.
“Sh-Shit…?”
Only then did the Hunters realize something was wrong.
They were unbelievably tough and fast.
A-Class and S-Class Hunters were dropping helplessly.
An even match?
Bullshit.
Combined attacks and formations were meaningless.
When they pushed forward like bulldozers, dodging was the only answer.
‘What is this?’
Pavel suddenly felt a chill crawl up his spine.
He had dismissed Zakhar hyung’s words as nothing.
‘He was a real master?’
And to the point where several A-Class and S-Class Hunters couldn’t match him…
‘He’s a Ranker!’
Cold water splashed across his mind, which had been looking down on his opponent.
‘We’re fucked.’
The answer was obvious just by looking.
With his subordinates’ strength, it would be difficult to handle even one of those Bones.
‘Dammit.’
Zakhar hyung was right.
He should have always been careful.
“Guaaaah!”
At that moment, one of his subordinates screamed.
He hopped around, clutching his fingers and toes.
It was clearly the guy who had been running his mouth earlier.
“Damn it.”
That meant only one thing.
The opponent wasn’t using his full strength.
He was doing whatever he wanted while taking it easy.
If not, would he be able to so blatantly aim for fingers and toes?
‘What do I do?’
Grip!
Pavel tightened his grip on his axe.
‘He’s a Necromancer. Should I aim for the main body?’
But he couldn’t bring himself to step forward.
‘I can see it now.’
Just how powerful the aura was, pouring off the man and woman before him.
And only then did he remember.
‘Come to think of it…’
Recently… hadn’t there been talk of a High Ranker who used skeletons as summon?
He couldn’t remember the exact ranking, but he definitely remembered being shocked.
“……”
Pavel’s heart dropped to the floor.
A Hunter he thought he’d never have anything to do with, whose face he’d never even bothered to remember.
Why did he have to show up now, of all times?
‘Shiiiiiiit.’
There was only one answer.
One of the biggest reasons the Zakhar brothers had survived in the harsh mafia world.
Their pride was lighter than one might think.
“I-I was wrong!”
Pavel dropped to his knees and raised both hands.
“Surrender! Surrender! What are you doing, you bastards! Get on your knees right now!”
He screamed at his subordinates.
“I’ll tell you everything! Please just spare my life! Hyung-nim!”
(T/N: As you should. lol)