"Hey, we're five. How about we combine our parties?"
Reynold turned toward the voice, but his view was blocked by a broad wall of muscle—a brawny, towering figure. Raising his gaze, he found himself looking into the scarred face of a massive man, his features hardened by battle and years of experience. Behind him stood four companions, each marked by a similar array of scars, suggesting they were seasoned warriors.
Despite their strong appearance, they wore green badges pinned to their chests, identifying them as [E]-Rank adventurers.
Lua, a black-haired girl standing at Reynold's side, instinctively clutched his sleeve, her wary eyes fixed on the strangers. "Rey, maybe we should find soone else… These guys seem—"
"Yeah…" Mona, another friend, muttered, her expression equally uneasy as she glanced at the scarred group.
The last of their friends, Saya, was silent but her gaze spoke volus; she clearly shared their apprehension. From any angle, these n gave off an untrustworthy, dangerous air, sothing that made every instinct scream caution.
But, to their surprise, King seed delighted by the offer. He stepped forward, his expression brightening. "What a fantastic idea," he said smoothly, ignoring the three girls' nervous expressions.
Stepping up, King extended a hand with a friendly smile. "I'm King, by the way," he said with warm tone as he offered his hand to the towering man who appeared to lead the group.
The man, who introduced himself as Rex, flashed a wide grin, revealing a row of sharp teeth. "King, huh? Quite a na!" He replied with a laugh that held a dangerous edge.
Rex grasped King's hand, his eyes narrowing devilishly as he tightened his grip. This was his signature 'finger-crushing' introduction, a tactic he loved to use to sow seeds of intimidation and fear in the minds of rookies he ensnared.
"Fitting, wouldn't you say?" King chuckled, matching Rex's energy and returning the grip with an easy smile.
Rex's grin broadened as he pressed harder, fully expecting to hear a grunt of pain soon. He relished the mont a rookie's expression twisted in discomfort, though King's mask deprived him of that visual satisfaction. Still, he pushed on.
But even after a long mont, there was no sound—no grunt, no wince. Instead, King's piercing azure eyes gazed back at him too calm until Rex felt an unsettling chill creep down his spine. Instinctively, he pulled his hand back.
'W-What was that?' Rex frowned as he sized King up again, though everything about him appeared perfectly ordinary. 'Nothing…' Convincing himself, he forced another laugh.
anwhile, Reynold and his three friends exchanged uneasy glances, bewildered by King's enthusiasm. Reynold leaned closer to King, lowering his voice. "Are you sure… King?" He asked, doubtfully.
King offered a reassuring nod, his tone radiating confidence. "Of course! Just look at these guys—they're clearly strong and experienced. With them by our side, it'll be a relief, don't you think?"
Reynold studied Rex, noting the older man's grin, which looked more predatory than friendly. But, trusting King's judgnt, he forced a smile and nodded. "You're right… It's good to et you, Mr. Rex!"
"Just call Rex," the man laughed.
"These are my friends: Lua, Saya, and Mona," Reynold introduced, gesturing to the trio.
Rex and his companions offered gruff nods in acknowledgnt, but for an instant, sothing changed. Rex's expression, along with those of his n, twisted into sothing almost sinister—a flash of malice that sent a chill through Lua, Saya, and Mona. Just as quickly as it had appeared, however, it vanished, replaced once more by Rex's creepy grin.
"Let's go ahead and register the request first," King said, eagerly nudging Reynold forward.
"Yeah!" Reynold agreed, equally excited.
anwhile, Rex flashed a sly grin at his four friends.
'This is almost too easy,' he thought.
They often pulled stunts like this on rookies, but never had it gone so smoothly. Most newcors showed a glimr of caution, even wariness. Reynold and the three girls certainly looked wary, yet they were swept along by King's enthusiasm, unknowingly playing right into Rex's hands.
'That idiot's making my job effortless,' Rex thought, silently thanking King. 'I'll kill him at the end as a reward.'
"Celine, it seems later has arrived sooner than expected," King said, already standing in front of Celine, who looked a little taken aback.
"Oh, you've already registered as a Hunter, I see," Celine replied, her expression warming with a kind smile. "Welco to the Occrypha Guild, Mr. King. I wish you success in your work as a Hunter."
Her smile was so gentle it could soothe anyone, yet King's eyes only sparkled with renewed interest. As he suspected, Celine was a truly interesting woman.
"Thanks, Celine," he replied smoothly, "but I'd appreciate a more… personal congratulations. How about dinner tonight? Just the two of us?"
"Eh?!" Celine's mouth fell open, caught off guard.
"This guy is seriously flirting…" Lua muttered, stunned at how naturally King seed to be making his move.
"Doesn't he feel the slightest bit of embarrassnt?" Mona grimaced.
"Apparently not." Saya shook her head, watching with disbelief.
Reynold, on the other hand, looked on with admiration. He was genuinely impressed by King's decisiveness and how effortlessly he carried himself.
But Rex wasn't amused. He just wanted to get this over with.
With hundreds of Hunters passing through the guild every day, Rex had mastered his thod of blending in. Under the pretense of a simple quest, he'd commit his cris and disappear back into obscurity, leaving no trace. If any of his accompanying Hunters turned up dead, the clerks would assu they'd simply fallen to a Demonic Beast. They wouldn't rember anything about him.
Yet for so reason, Celine seed to have a distinct impression of King—or maybe it was just that King himself was hard to forget, thanks to his brazen behavior.
"Hey, King, we're on a tight schedule here," Rex interrupted, patting King's shoulder.
The mont his hand touched King's shoulder, Rex froze, his entire body paralyzed.
Noticing King fall suddenly silent, Celine recalled his earlier warning about being touched. A flicker of unease crossed her mind. King's eyes were on her, yet it seed as if he was looking through her, at sothing distant, sothing beyond.
After a mont's pause, he pulled himself back with a dry tone, "Yeah." Then, his expression softened, and he waved with a grin. "Next ti, be sure to give your number."
"Oh, yes…" Celine replied automatically, waving back, her mind still processing his words.
anwhile, Rex seethed inwardly as he watched King walk away. His earlier, almost amused intention to kill King as a 'reward' had entirely vanished. This was the second ti in re minutes that King had made him feel a glimr of sothing close to fear. Rex had faced fear before, but this feeling was worse, and he loathed it.'
'I'll tear him apart alive.'
Outwardly, he forced a laugh and fell in step behind King, maintaining the facade of a Senior Hunter.
"Hey, King! Don't you have a weapon?" Reynold asked, noticing that King appeared to be unard.
"I do," King replied nonchalantly, "but I don't plan to use it."
The comnt was delivered so casually that it took them all aback.
There was no way he was going to use his main weapon to fight off weak Demonic Beasts and to kill a bunch of stupid Hunters not even capable of hiding their killing intents.
"Why not?" Mona asked, her brows knitting together in a frown. "You're pretty confident in yourself, huh?"
King looked at her and shrugged. "I am. If you don't believe in yourself, then who will? Confidence is trust in yourself, and if you don't have that, then what else is there?"
The group fell silent, surprised by the uncharacteristically thoughtful response.
"Wow, you're right, man," Reynold said, clenching his fists, determination flickering in his eyes. "I'll beco an SSS-Rank Hunter, and I'll save my village!"
King chuckled under his breath. "Damn…You really sound like a protagonist, Reynold," he murmured, almost to himself.
"P-Protagonist?" Reynold stamred.
"Yeah, you know, the hero in the story who fights for justice, the good guy. The hero who's the center of the plot," King explained with a nod but his eyes narrowed slightly thinking about the protagonist who caused his death.
"Right?! That's exactly what Rey is—like one of those heroes!" Lua chid in enthusiastically, nodding with such energy she nearly stumbled.
Even Mona and Saya nodded in agreent, their opinions of King rising a lot after his remark.
"H–Hero? Co on…" Reynold smiled awkwardly but he seed truly happy inwardly by King's words.
"The request is to locate so kind of rare mushrooms in the [Whispering Woods]," Rex interjected, his tone clipped as he shifted the conversation back to the task at hand, clearly done with the overly cheerful banter.
"Whispering Woods?" King raised a brow in question.
"You don't even know about it?" Saya looked at him in mild disbelief. "It's one of the most famous forests in Aurion—haunted by Demonic Beasts but full of rare materials. Hunters go there all the ti."
'He doesn't even know the Whispering Woods?' Saya thought, wondering if he was taking his job as a Hunter seriously at all.
"Oh, sounds like it could be interesting," King mused, nodding.
Saya grimaced. "Not exactly." She skimd through the request details and added, "And it looks like these mushrooms grow in the [Shadowed Trees]."
"Shadowed Trees?" King repeated, clearly clueless.
Mona sighed, stepping in. "The [Whispering Woods] is enormous, divided into several layers. The further you go, the more dangerous it becos. The [Shadowed Trees] make up the second layer. The first is just the outskirts."
"The problem is," Lua added, her voice low, "we've only ever hunted in the outskirts before…" As rookies, the thought of venturing deeper into a new zone was daunting.
"Don't worry, Miss Lua. We seniors are here for exactly that reason," Rex spoke up, quickly dismissing her doubts. "We know the Shadowed Trees well, so you don't have to worry about getting lost. Right, King?" Rex added, using King's presence to reassure the others.
"Damn right, Rex." King gave Reynold a firm pat on the shoulder, then added, "We're still rookies, but it's ti to level up. If we don't challenge ourselves and face tougher enemies, we'll never rise above E-Rank."
King's words struck a chord with Reynold, who gulped, feeling his nerves shift to resolve. He needed to beco a stronger Hunter, not only for his own pride but so his village could depend on him and not so random Hunters to save their village from Demonic Beasts.
Clenching his fists, he looked at his three friends with a serious gaze. He couldn't abandon out of fear right now. They have trained enough even before coming to Ocryphia and now they had trained a lot in the First Layer of the Whispering Woods for three months.
"Let's do it!"
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