A dark presence.


    An overwhelming pressure.


    An immense helplessness that seemed to swallow him whole.


    Having these emotions churn within him, Sung Han Soo could do nothing but cry for help—specifically at the smiling stranger that suddenly appeared in his line of sight.


    He begged with all his heart... for salvation.


    And then—


    "This much should be enough."


    —A voice echoed in the warehouse, filling the ears of all the upants.


    "Hm?" The Star who called himself Sloth looked in the direction of the sound''s origin.


    The three others also did the same, their eyebrows raised in both curiosity and shock.


    In everyone''s line of sight was a young man, most definitely a teenager, who had yellow blond hair, though most of his face was covered in a hood.


    Even though he seemed young and small, the hooded boy had a mysterious air of dominance about him.


    ''This guy...'' Sloth thought to himself in caution as he maintained a re


    This stranger had suddenly appeared out of thin air, almost as if he was always in the room without anyone noticing.


    Caution and suspicion interweaved into Sloth''s heart as he spoke.


    "Who... are you?"


    "I''m the one you''re looking for." Pulling his hood down to reveal his face, the men gasped.


    They instantly recognized him to be one of the two who fought the monsters in the S ss Dungeon Break—especially Sloth.


    After all, he had been watching the whole thing with his partner from a distance.


    "You... figured out we were watching you?"


    "Isn''t that much obvious?" The impudent boy spoke, advancing with a single step.


    "H-hey, how dare you talk to boss like that?!"


    "Yeah! You better—"


    One look from the young boy caused all the three men to instantly fall t on their face, passing out immediately.


    "Did you just kill them?" Sloth asked, his lips curling upward to form a grin.


    "They''re just sleeping." The stranger spoke, shrugging as he spoke nonchntly. "They''re not the ones I am after."


    Once he heard this, Sloth''s smile intensified. He instantly realized that this boy in front of him wanted a fight with him.


    ''Is that why he didn''te with his partner, even though he figured out my location?''


    "I''ve been bored waiting for you to arrive, you know? Thankfully we can finally meet like this."


    "Oh? So you knew I would be arriving here?" Sloth had many questions, and while he knew he would be able to extract as much as he could after defeating this idiot before him, he didn''t mind gaining bits and bits from their interactions.


    ''To think that the Leader wanted us to eliminate them, and one is already in front of me. If Iplete this task, and I end up taking care of the other one... wouldn''t that finally make me due for a promotion? Hehe!''


    He didn''t care for the motivations of the enemy before him. He was nothing more than a step that would lead to his sess.


    ''Sorry, kid. I''ve seen what you''re capable of. You''re very strong. In my base, I probably won''t stand a chance, but...''


    Sloth slowly brought out an orb from the inner pockets of the suit he donned.


    It glowed crimson, and it had a forbidden and ominous energy circting around it.


    He could see the surprised reaction the boy gave, as well as what appeared to be caution emanating from him.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Hehe! That''s right!" He desired the fear that came from the revtion of his power.


    With the powerful item he wielded, this entire fight was tipped in his favor.


    ''As long as I have this Blood Stone... no mere Hunter can defeat me!''


    *


    *


    *


    To be honest, I expected most of what happened here.


    The kidnapping of Sung Han Soo was in line with what would happen in the newly established future.


    They were bound toe to this location, but I still ced Shadow Demons in the shadows of the kidnappers while I waited here for them to arrive.


    Even after they came, I had to wait for their leader to show up.


    As expected, he was one of the two who were spying on Kuzon and I back when we fought those monsters in the Dungeon Break.


    He most likely recieved a mission from their leader to eliminate us, so he thought the best first step would be to kidnap the grandson of the Chairman and obtain more information.


    It was indeed a smart move, when looking at it from a particr angle.


    However, all of these preparations and nning only worked on the assumption that he could defeat me when it came down to a fight between the two of us.


    ''The glowing rock he''s holding makes him even more assured of his victory.''


    ''What''s that?'' I wondered to myself, looking at the crimson orb that glowed ever so brightly.


    It seemed like a culmination of Mana, but it also had an unpurified, disgusting feel to it. I had a very horrid guess what it could be, but I decided to wait until I had emerged victorious in my inevitable fight with this Shadows Of Light Executive member.


    ''He looks raring to go, and it seems the sphere he holds is his jackpot that leads to his assured win.''


    I was had a good theory about why that was.


    ''The crimson orb seems to function like a Mana Core. The people in this world don''t have Mana Cores, so if he harnesses that power in conjunction with the Mana Particles in his body, he should be capable of immense feats.''


    From the looks of it, all the Stars of the Shadows of Light had these Artificial Mana Cores, making them immensely powerful.


    ''In fact... too powerful.''


    I would have to wait until I was done with my fight to judge, but from the looks of things, as a terrorist group, their members were certainly too powerful not to havemitted more drastic atrocities.


    ''Just what is their goal? What is their true identity? I have a good idea, but... I''d like it to be revealed it to everyone.''


    That way, these criminals would no longer be able to hide in the shadows.


    *


    *


    *


    [A/N]


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