-Vol 5: A New Life-

-Wiped-off the Map(2)-

While Kenshin and Joy were running at their full speed towards Yonezawa, Aoi assembled her team as they rode the helicopter to that place directly, the same one they used to come here in the first place.

“Secretary Lee, this is really important. We are having a very nasty situation here, dungeons are disappearing, and powerful monsters are appearing out of nowhere.” Inside the helicopter's cabin, Aoi was calling the Elders’ Council’s secretary. He seemed to be skeptic about this whole dungeon disappearance thing, but Aoi wasn’t any normal hunter either, so he couldn’t just ignore her.

“Even if you say so, what you said is just too much for me to believe. How can dungeons just vanish like that? Well, I can use the command module of the Elders’ Council to assign few level 150 hunters to that area, but, I think disturbing the elders for this matter is really pointless.” A very low pitched, and a calm voice came from the other side of the phone, causing the Miko girl to grit her teeth.

“Okay, please do that for now.” Aoi then cut off the phone, fisted her hands in anger.

“Is everything alright?” Noa Adams asked as she stealthily inched closer to Aoi.

“This damn Lee, he isn't ready to hearing explanations at all. Moreover, he was saying that he shouldn’t worry the elders for this small matter! This is a small matter? A whole town is on the verge of wiping off the map, and they ate calling it’s a small matter? Let's just go there as soon as possible. We are still largely in the dark about the casualty count.” Aoi commanded, earning a thumbs up from helicopter pilot and co-pilot.

“Don’t worry, with our combined power, I don’t believe we cant conquer a silly animal!” Noa said as she valiantly slapped her chest, showing her valiantness.

“I am not that optimistic about this one…sigh…lets just go there and see for ourselves. We have already lost all types of contact with the DCB over there. It must have destroyed or perhaps disabled all communication devices in the area.” Aoi shook her head, browsing through her official DCB portal, trying to find any possible news about Yonezawa. Through helicopter, it should take only ten to fifteen minutes to reach there.

She no longer concerned herself with Kenshin or Yuki, the matter was just too important for her to be distracted. Clasping her palms together, she looked deep in thought while thinking about everything Kenshin told her. She couldn’t believe it and didn’t want to believe it at all. But the truth was right in front of her eyes. Try as she might, she can’t deny it.

‘For once I hope a guy just lie to me.’

Meanwhile, at a certain place…

“What happened Kenshin, you are lagging behind! Are you getting tired?” Joy mocked, looking at Kenshin who was a little lagging behind.

“You damn baldy, you are cheating. You are clearly using a skill.” Kenshin shouted. Meanwhile, he was also dumbfounded at Joy’s endurance. That time when he had seen his full stats, he didn’t find anything special with it. But, now this Joy was completely dominating him in this long marathon. Even before his awakening, Kenshin knew his stats in PHY and AGI had long surpassed Joy’s, then how?

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“Haha! I never took you for a sore loser. If you can't compete with me, then just admit defeat. Why are finding excuses?” with a long wide smile, Joy pulled a face to mock Kenshin.

“You know what, I just want to punch that shameless face of yours.” Kenshin ground his teeth in anger.

“Haha! Don’t be jealous of this handsome and manly face. Little white faces like you should just stay at home.” Joy said in a disdainful tone.

“Huh! Little white face! Where did you learn that word, more importantly, what does that even mean?” Kenshin asked as he was also hearing that word for the first time.

“I don’t know, its just an internet slang. I just thought of using.” Joy shrugged his shoulders. As they were bickering, they passed by a speeding car that seemed to be running away from something.

“You think there’s something wrong with the driver? I think he is running away from someone.” Joy pointed that out.

“What? are you spider-man or something? Why does every speeding car look like a problem to you? Just concentrate on your way, or I will overtake you.”

“Ha!! In your dreams.” With that, Joy suddenly accelerated, leaving Kenshin in the dust.

“Dman! I knew you are cheating!!” Kenshin followed after Joy, after his frustrated shout. Even with his passive [Highspeed Movements] aiding his agility, he still couldn’t overtake this Joy, making Kenshin wonder if Joy had taken some pills or something.

“Say, Kenshin, where do you think you will stand against that giant you mentioned? I mean, strength-wise…” Joy asked. His voice was heavy, seemingly thinking of something.

“That faceless giant!! Well, if I have to compare strength, I can at most prickle his pinky if I attack with my full power. That’s the highest I can reach against him.” Kenshin said heavily, thinking of the power gap between them. Even if that giant was just talking normally, to Kenshin, it felt like he was standing on pins and needles while facing a deadly monster barebacked.

His confidence had taken a huge hit after that, but it also gave Kenshin the motivation to strive forwards and become even more strong.

“And this tiger monster also appeared the same way as that giant, after the destruction of a dunegion…what is the possibility that we can stop it?” Joy looked towards Kenshin while frowning. His face was twisted into a frown.

“Frankly, I don’t know. I really don’t know. I just know that, unless an army of level 150 hunters came, that tiger monster can’t be defeated. But the good thing is that it didn’t seem to be that intelligent to me.” Kenshin looked at the bright side, which, at this time, wasn’t of much use.

“I hope you are right and we can manage to curb this threat…or else…” Joy trailed off midway. He didn’t want to complete that sentence. It was too ominous.

“Don’t jinx it, dammit!!” Kenshin shouted.

In Yonezawa at that time, an atmosphere of utter destruction prevalent everywhere. The city known for its scenic spots and a few hot springs and even natural geysers was now reduced to a pile of chars and a lot more trenches. Body of both young and old, women and children littered everywhere, and not a single building could be seen standing.

Roar!!! Boom!!!!

A guttural roar was heard from the destroyed city, as a huge amount of shock wave generated from it, wiping away the remaining building that was barely standing. Red blood coated everywhere, from both human and animal.

Not to mention common people, even Hunters couldn’t stand their ground and soon crushed to meat paste by the might of the black tiger.

“Freedom is such a nice thing, don’t you think so too, Bleake?” atop the mighty tiger that single-handedly reduced a city into ruins, killing thousands and making a popular scenic spot into a ghastly ruin, a small figure could be seen lazing as it played around with the fur.

“Roar!!” the tiger growled in response as if to agree with the small figure sitting atop it.

“Even so, I have never thought a desolate place like this would one day enter into the ranks of so-called elites, gaining the ability to harness the power of magic. Haha! Thanks to that, our shackles were loosened, enough to the point of us breaking out.” The small figure continued to mumble on his own, while the huge panther continued to growl and hum to agree with the figure.

Unexpectedly, the panther wasn’t the only thing that came out of the destroyed dungeon, something or someone else also appeared, who had remained hidden until now.