Immediately after I exited the Seeier Organization’s building I took the opportunity to finally utilize the storage feature of my Rankers Tag and put all my valuables inside of it.

The convenience something like this brought was priceless.

With my load significantly reduced once I left the Ranker event I managed to travel quite a distance far from it, in a short time.

I was sure to be quick in my exit to avoid any dangers unfortunately my efforts were in vain as at a certain point the map warned me I was being followed.

The map seemed to be able to detect energy levels and profiles quite well through its terrain scanning system as it specifically told me there were experts following me; some of which were physically larger than me and had superior energies and constitutions.

I hadn’t gotten to figuring out the map, I still had only a surface level knowledge, although right now knowing the [surrounding observation augmenter] came in handy.

Through the map I had complete knowledge of the surrounding terrain, thousands of kilometers were analyzed in real-time creating a very detailed picture using Mana Energy Waves but also other resources and technologies.

I suddenly thought maybe trading for the map wasn’t all that bad after all and found myself discarding the regret I had felt when I found out the Seeier Documents value.

It turned out this item was amazing, worth its weight in gold and more; through it, I clearly saw that they were tracking my steps and that it was a group of 4.

I suddenly realized that this must be commonplace after these events, I was naive to think they would be completely peaceful.

I used my knowledge of the terrain to cover up my steps as best I could, although I doubted I could lose them, they probably had a talented tracker with them.

I also used the knowledge I had learned from the Toltemic to set up some traps, they probably were waiting until night to ambush me and kill me, thinking that I was clueless that I was being followed.

The fact that they had this type of strategy and were doing this as a group meant they probably weren’t that strong.

I set up a couple of nasty surprises along the way, and led them toward a dangerous beast the map had pointed out, which I managed to get through undetected.

***

The 4 Ranker Killers Mudro, Uritan, Klunein, and Baratf who were tracking Guso, were patiently waiting to rob him of his valuables and upgrade their Ranks after killing him in the dead of night.

They had noticed Guso was by himself and after a bit of observation concluded he was nothing more than a common Warrior.

Life for a Warrior in the lower Ranks was harsh and dangerous, you had a huge target on your head as soon as people found out what combat class you were.

For Warriors it was best to stick in groups as it was not the safest to travel by yourself and have your identity exposed.

For those Rankers of Volunterra with a combat class other than Warrior, it felt like they were the lions and everyone around them was their prey.

It was for this reason that there was a rise of Warriors transitioning to Beast Masters, as beasts augmented your battle capabilities and also had sensory capabilities that could prevent ambushes.

They were anxious and excited, they were used to doing this kind of thing, it was just hard to find a good target.

When they found out about the upcoming Ranker Trading Event they were joyous and excited because they knew a big boon was coming their way.

Many days before the event even began they had already done a good share of killing, many had been viciously claimed as their victims merely for their Rank and belongings, they had even managed to fell a D Rank.

After enjoying their newfound riches at the event they resumed their activities after its end not satisfied with what they had already accumulated.

They were all low D-ranked Rankers but all had unique combat classes.

Klunein was a BattleMage adept at binding and area of effect magic, Uritan a modified person with Bear features and strength, he was doing the tracking.

Baratf was a low-level wielder with a bug-type parasitic bio weapon attached to his left arm and shoulder, and last was Mudro, a nefarious Spiritualist.

In fact, he was the leader of the group, and he practiced quite the macabre technique, called 20 Deadly Ghost Hands.

He had effectively sealed the spirit essence of enemies he killed within his hands, it was a borderline Dark Art, although he claimed they were sealed within his hands willingly.

He inherited his Spiritual Art adeptness from his Clan that practiced Spirit-Taming Arts in his village, although the truth was he hadn’t inherited much, as early on his Expert journey he was forced to start as a Warrior since he had no talent for Spiritualism.

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But after a series of events involving deceit, treachery, and murder; combined with his limited but still important knowledge in Spirit Arts, and a bit of macabre inspiration, he had come up with a technique unique to himself Ghost Hand Arts now called 20 Deadly Ghost Hands.

After perfecting his technique he had also as a result managed to improve and gain insight into his Spirit Taming Arts which he had been so bad at before, now he was master over two animal spirits which accompanied him at all times.

He had created his own school of Spirit Arts and Spirit Taming Arts and so naturally he considered himself a prodigy.

As they were tracking their target suddenly one of them screamed out in agony, they turned to see what had happened, maybe they had also been attacked, sometimes the predator can suddenly turn into the prey so was the Ranker world.

They turned and saw the wielder that was with them had been severely injured.

He had been caught by a trap, it was a trap made of wood and hidden very well, it was also very vicious.

They looked over in surprise at first, but soon the Spiritualist knew what had happened.

Their prey was aware that it was being followed and it had set them up.

The Spiritualist grew furious, he thought he had been careful, but now they had suffered a casualty, a humiliation like this he wasn’t going to let slide.

He was done waiting, in a situation like this it was best to act swiftly, rush, and overwhelm your opponent.

“Everyone change of plans, we kill the Warrior maggot now! Let's hurry or he might become difficult to catch if he gains any more distance on us.”

Mudro decided to cut his losses and he and the remainder of his group left behind the Wielder in his agony as they hurried on forward to chase Guso down.

Guso had set up many traps not just one, they were more wary now though, and managed to avoid most of them, although some of them did get injured.

The murderous Spiritualist grew even more furious; he felt like he was being played with and he wasn't going to take this humiliation lying down.

He hadn’t felt such shame in a long time he was going to make sure to pay him back tenfold.

They increased their chase trying to push him to a corner, they were confident that in a direct battle, they would come out on top.

Eventually, they got to a clearing but all of a sudden they heard a loud visceral scream the Mage Klunein had gotten attacked and was currently being torn to shreds.

It was a Wild King Beast, what type they were not too sure, but it was terrifyingly strong.

The beast ended the Mages life in seconds and moved on to attack the Modified Bear-Man, the man started defending for his life but the Beast was much stronger than him despite him being a D Rank expert.

In a Battle of pure strength and savagery, it was suicidal to try to go toe to toe with a wild beast, especially when you’re caught off guard.

Mudro the Spiritualist was mortified he couldn’t register what had just happened.

Things went from being completely in their favor and control to suddenly everything going terribly wrong and now he was in a life-or-death situation.

He knew he would be next if he didn’t think of something fast, ignoring his partner's screams for help he decided to flee and give up on the chase of the unknown Warrior Ranker.

He had no choice but to swallow all the negative feelings he was feeling inside and focus on preserving his life.

He might be able to defeat the beast but not without paying a heavy price.

His decision to flee although cruel and treasurous turned out to be the correct one in his opinion.

He had managed to pull off an escape from mortal danger without too much injury.

The Beast did chase him but it gave up after a while and decided to feast on the ones it had already killed.

Whether cruel or not he didn’t care, all that mattered was his survival, they were just pawns to be used for his inevitable rise to the top.

Still, the feeling of shame would not leave his mind, he had been outsmarted, outmaneuvered, and handed a very bitter defeat.

He had underestimated his opponent and paid the price for it.

Mudro did his best to restrain his anger by reminding himself that eventually, he would get the chance to get his revenge, he made sure to engrave the appearance of the unknown Warrior in his mind so that he would never forget, he knew the Ranker world was smaller than some might think.

One day he would repay this bottom feeder Ranker one hundred times over what he had done to him today.