After confirming Lucien’s death, Team 11 finally relaxed slightly. Although the interrogation had failed, his corpse would still serve as solid proof for mission submission.
Deepak and Imran quickly dragged the Vampire’s body aside while the rescued Federation personnel were freed from their restraints.
The three elental Sprouts quietly stood beside Vikram. Despite still being at Level 1, their performance during the battle had left a deep impression on everyone present, especially the surviving Federation escorts, who looked at the small Sprouts with visible disbelief. They had personally witnessed how devastating those elental attacks truly were.
Isha stepped forward and spoke seriously to the rescued group. "We need full details. What exactly was stolen?"
A middle-aged Federation officer stepped forward, his face still pale from the ordeal. "The convoy was transporting ergency blood stabilizers, dical regeneration serum, encrypted Hunter communication devices, and classified intelligence reports."
Isha’s expression grew serious. "Classified reports regarding what?"
The officer hesitated for a mont before answering, "Vampire territorial movents, supply routes, and investigation records related to several missing settlents."
The surrounding Team mbers frowned imdiately. Intelligence information falling into enemy hands was far more dangerous than the loss of ordinary supplies.
At that mont, a calm female voice echoed from nearby. "The supplies themselves aren’t important."
Everyone turned toward the speaker.
A beautiful young woman slowly stepped forward from among the rescued personnel. She had long silver-black hair and unusually calm blue eyes. Despite having been kidnapped, her posture remained refined and composed.
"The information is what matters," she continued calmly. "If those reports reach the wrong hands... entire settlents could disappear."
Vikram looked at her directly and asked, "What’s your na?"
The woman t his gaze without flinching. "Evelyn Xavier."
The mont the surna "Xavier" was spoken, Isha’s eyes subtly changed for a brief second, as if she had recalled sothing important. However, she remained silent.
Vikram instinctively checked her through the System.
[Na: Evelyn Xavier]
[Ability: ???]
[Rank: ???]
[Status: ???]
Every detail except her na was completely hidden. Vikram’s eyes narrowed slightly. She clearly possessed sothing capable of blocking System detection.
He asked calmly, "You don’t look weak. So why didn’t you fight the Vampires yourself?"
The underground chamber grew quieter. Several rescued personnel also subtly glanced toward Evelyn.
However, Evelyn simply looked at Vikram in silence for several seconds. Then, without answering, she slowly looked away.
Seeing Evelyn remain silent, Vikram’s gaze toward her gradually grew colder. The atmosphere inside the underground bunker beca noticeably tense.
At that mont, the middle-aged Federation officer hurriedly stepped forward.
"My na is Marcus Hale," he introduced himself quickly, then looked at Vikram with a serious expression. "There were many Vampires besides Lucien. And... There was another Vampire with them. A Baron-level Vampire."
The surrounding Team mbers imdiately beca serious.
Marcus continued, "Its face was hidden the entire ti. We never saw his or her true appearance. But just the presence alone... was enough to terrify the other Vampires. Because of that person, Miss Evelyn didn’t fight."
Hearing this explanation, several Hunters nodded slowly. Against a Baron-level Vampire, ordinary resistance would have been futile.
Isha spoke calmly to the rescued personnel, "If everyone cooperates properly, we can resolve this situation."
Most of the Federation personnel nodded imdiately. However, Evelyn remained silent, as though the entire conversation had nothing to do with her.
Her indifferent attitude irritated Vikram even more. His eyes narrowed as he spoke coldly, "Whenever I ask a question... it’s your duty to answer."
The atmosphere turned awkward.
Evelyn finally looked directly at him again, her expression calm and indifferent. "Why should I?"
The mont those words left her mouth, several Team mbers grew nervous.
Vikram, however, remained composed. "Because I saved you. If I hadn’t arrived... you would’ve died pitifully underground. Since I saved your life... your life now belongs to ."
For the first ti, Evelyn’s calm expression cracked slightly. She clearly hadn’t expected such bold and unreasonable logic.
However, her eyes quickly turned cold as well. "And who exactly are you... that I should listen to you?" She continued calmly, "With a single order from ... you could be expelled from the Hunter Federation. Your Hunter status, residence, food allocation... everything could disappear overnight."
Several Federation personnel beca visibly nervous. Her tone made it clear she wasn’t bluffing.
Instead of getting angry, Vikram suddenly chuckled lightly. "You can try." His gaze sharpened. "But no one can do anything to . However... if I beco angry... I can do many things too."
For a brief mont, both of them stared directly at each other. The air in the chamber felt suffocatingly heavy.
At that critical point, Isha suddenly stepped between them. "Enough."
Her voice carried a clear warning.
Marcus Hale also hurriedly moved beside Evelyn. "Miss Evelyn... please calm down."
Only then did the tense confrontation ease slightly.
However, the hostility between Vikram and Evelyn had already beco unmistakable.
Seeing the atmosphere growing increasingly tense, Isha quickly grabbed Vikram’s arm and pulled him away from the underground chamber. She then calmly instructed the others, "Bring the rescued personnel outside."
The rest of Team 11 imdiately began escorting the Federation mbers up through the tunnel. The three elental Sprouts quietly followed behind Vikram.
Soon afterward, everyone erged back onto Blackstone Highway. Several Hunter Headquarters vehicles from Caron City had already arrived after receiving the ergency communication. Federation personnel swiftly secured the area while dics checked on the rescued convoy mbers. Lucien’s corpse was also carefully loaded as mission proof and investigation evidence.
After brief coordination, everyone boarded the transport vehicles and began the journey back to Caron City.
---
Inside one of the Federation vehicles, Evelyn sat quietly by the window with Marcus Hale beside her. She remained silent for several minutes before suddenly asking in a calm voice:
"Who exactly is that guy? The rude one who threatened ... and said he didn’t care about my threats."
Marcus glanced at her briefly, understanding she was referring to Vikram. After a short hesitation, he replied seriously, "Miss... he’s the son of the Strongest Duo. Two SSS-Rank Hunters who sacrificed themselves to kill Lord Dracula, the King of all Vampires."
The mont those words reached her, Evelyn’s expression changed slightly.
"...Dracula?"
Realization slowly dawned in her eyes. "So... he’s Vikram?"
Marcus nodded. "Yes."
Evelyn beca thoughtful. "Strange. I heard he was the famous lazy Hunter, the one who constantly skipped missions and slept all day. Then why was he personally participating today... and even leading the battle?"
Marcus looked equally confused. "I honestly don’t know either. The few tis I saw him before... he was either sleeping or avoiding work. This is the first ti I’ve seen him fight personally. Frankly... he feels like a completely different person now."
Evelyn quietly leaned back into her seat. After several monts, a faint smile appeared on her lips.
"Whatever," she said softly. "Since he threatened ... I should punish him."
However, despite her words, there wasn’t a trace of real anger on her face. Instead, a mischievous smile slowly curved at the corner of her lips. Especially after learning he was Vikram, her earlier irritation had strangely vanished completely.
---
anwhile, inside Team 11’s vehicle, Vikram was still thinking about Evelyn. He suddenly turned to Isha and asked, "Who exactly is that rude girl?"
Several nearby team mbers imdiately understood who he was referring to. Kavya even let out a small laugh. "You an the girl you almost started fighting with underground?"
Vikram nodded calmly.
Isha replied directly, "She’s the daughter of Charles Xavier."
The answer imdiately sparked another question in Vikram’s mind. He still didn’t know much about the major Hunters of this world.
"Who’s Charles Xavier?"
The others looked slightly surprised by the question. Isha explained calmly, "Just as Caron City has Mist King... Brooklyn City has Charles Xavier. He awakened an SSS-Rank ability related to sand manipulation. He can transform his body into sand and control massive quantities of it. His title is... the Sand King."
The mont Vikram heard the description, his expression beca strange. Several familiar fictional characters instantly ca to mind.
"So he’s like Crocodile?" he asked quickly.
The others looked completely confused. "...Who?"
"Or maybe like Gaara or Sandman?"
Once again, everyone stared at him blankly.
Vikram tried explaining, "One controls sand like a storm. The other can transform into sand itself."
After hearing Isha’s full description again, Vikram finally understood. Charles Xavier wasn’t exactly like either one individually. Instead, he was more like a mixture of both, soone capable of turning into sand, controlling deserts, creating sandstorms, and completely manipulating terrain. A genuinely terrifying large-scale ability.
Isha looked at him strangely. "I still don’t understand who those people are."
The rest of the team also looked confused. Naturally, no one in this world knew the references to One Piece, Spider-Man or Naruto.
Vikram could only laugh awkwardly.
He was about to ask more questions when the convoy finally reached Caron City Hunter Headquarters. The large Federation building soon appeared before them.
Soon afterward, all the vehicles ca to a stop. Team 11 and the rescued personnel got out one after another and imdiately headed toward the mission submission departnt.
The mont Team 11 entered the Hunter Headquarters building, they imdiately drew attention once again.
Especially because they had returned with injured Federation personnel, Lucien’s corpse, and confirmation of multiple completed missions.
Nurous Hunters nearby looked over curiously.
"What happened?"
"Wasn’t that the missing convoy mission?"
"They already returned?"
Whispers spread rapidly throughout the hall.
The receptionist from earlier widened her eyes in surprise. This ti, Team 11 wasn’t submitting just one mission, they were submitting two major missions together: the Hollow Creek Spawn Nest extermination and the Missing Caravan investigation.
The mission departnt quickly beca busy. Federation officers began checking drone recordings, confirming survivor identities, examining Lucien’s corpse, and verifying the destroyed Spawn Nest footage.
Soon, the giant holographic screen inside Headquarters updated automatically.
[Mission Completed]
[Exterminate Vampire Spawn Nest near Hollow Creek]
[Reward Confird: 4000 Contribution Points]
[Additional Reward for Imdiate Execution: 2000 Contribution Points]
[Mission Completed]
[Investigate Missing Caravan near Blackstone Highway]
[All Surviving Federation Personnel Rescued]
[Primary Hostile Eliminated]
[Reward Confird: 3000 Contribution Points]
[Additional Reward for Safe Rescue of All Personnel: 3000 Contribution Points]
The mont both missions were publicly verified, the entire hall erupted in noise.
"Two missions?"
"They completed both today?"
"That fast?!"
Several Hunters looked completely stunned. Both missions were far from simple patrol tasks.
anwhile, Team 10 also happened to be inside Headquarters. Even Carol widened her eyes slightly as she looked down at Team 11.
"...What exactly happened to that lazy guy?"
Beside her, another team mber muttered blankly, "This can’t be the sa Vikram."
The ranking hologram suddenly refreshed.
[Current Monthly Team Rankings]
[1 — Team 11]
[Current Contribution Points: 15,000]
The mont the ranking updated, the hall beca even louder. Everyone clearly rembered that last month, Team 11 had barely managed to accumulate a little over thirty thousand contribution points after struggling the entire month.
And now, barely into the new month, they had already reached nearly half of last month’s total.
Even several Team Captains watching nearby beca serious. Especially Lex Luthor, whose eyes narrowed as he silently observed Vikram.
According to reports, the previously infamous lazy Hunter had suddenly beco the central reason behind Team 11’s explosive rise.
anwhile, Team 11 themselves looked surprised. Rohit laughed loudly. "At this rate, we might actually keep first place this month."
Sana and Kavya unconsciously glanced toward Vikram. Everyone understood one thing clearly now, ever since Vikram started participating personally, everything around Team 11 had begun changing rapidly.
The mont Team 11 climbed to first place, the atmosphere inside Hunter Headquarters subtly changed.
Previously, many Teams had mocked Team 11 for relying almost entirely on Isha while dragging around a "legendary lazy guy."
But now, that sa Team had suddenly exploded upward like a monster.
Several Team Captains quietly began feeling pressure.
Because if Team 11 maintained this montum, they might dominate the monthly rankings completely.
Even Hunters who once laughed at Vikram now looked at him differently.
anwhile, from the upper floor railing, Carol silently observed Vikram for several seconds.
For the first ti, she began seeing him in a different light.
However, only a mont later, she quickly controlled her thoughts and turned away.
"...Whatever, I still have my own mission to focus on."
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