X-Rank Hunter

Somewhere in the mountain range far away from the Biga village, a huge mountain was cut into a half horizontally and its top was nowhere to be found, revealing only a widely opened plateau.

Many huge dead trees were lying all over the plateau accompanied by a sea of dark petals that as if they just lost their life. Many of the trees were cut into pieces and many deep ravines and cracks and craters on the ground were revealed.

At the very center of the plateau, two persons were could be found. One was standing triumphantly with a sheathed sword resting on his left hand. His eyes under his straw hat were blazing in cold glint as he gazed down to the other party who was now kneeling on the ground with her upper body remained upwards.

Despite the furious battle, the one standing didn't have any traces of injuries at all, even his clothes remained neat and it appeared that he didn't break any sweats at all.

In opposite, the other party was in a complete mess. Her physique was unkempt and many cuts were revealed on her ever-before soft skin and voluptuous body.

Behind her was a long and deep ravine that passed through the plateau, seemingly no depths at all.

Despite the hardship of standing and the weakness she felt, the other party was still smiling widely accompanied by a soft chuckle.

"I am no match at all." The one kneeling on the ground remarked in awe to the one standing in front of her.

It went without saying, the one kneeling on the ground was no other than Vanessa, one of the Knights Of Hell!

In front of her was of course Jason! He narrowed his eyes to the demon in front of him as he responded nonchalantly, "I'm just lucky."

Vanessa had then again chuckled as she said, "Your sword, 'Espada Ng Panday [1]', really is frightening. I'm really curious to see who will win between us when we fight again with my main vessel," There was a moment of pause before Vanessa continued with a wide grin, "Vessel of the Angelic Sword!"

Jason stared more intently to the other party for a moment before he spoke in nonchalance, "I'm looking forward to it."

It seemed that he didn't even care whether the other party knew about his identity or not!

After saying those words, Jason unsheathed his sword with his right hand and pointed it to the other party as he asked, "Any more last words Vanessa? Or maybe I should call you Delilah, the Queen of Beguilement..."

Vanessa smiled wildly as she replied, "You really knew me full well. Since that was the case, let me give you some piece of advic..."

Pluck!

Vanessa was yet to finish her words when she found that the world before her was rotating wildly. She didn't need to think deeply just to know what just happened since she already knew that she was already beheaded by the other party!

"You really are a deceiver even after your last breath." Jason remarked in awe, astonished by the cunningness of the other party.

After which, he gazed at the sky above, seemingly thinking about something. Not long after he sighed deeply as he muttered, "I wonder how is that woman doing right now."

He then turned his gaze to the direction of the village and then disappeared with a mist.

****

It didn't take so long for Jason to arrive at the village but the moment he arrived, a forest of fire immediately greeted him.

"What in the world happened here..." Standing just outside the forest of fire, Jason couldn't help but mutter in disbelief.

In a distance, he saw Sam standing in front of the forest of fire as well, his fists were tightly clenched, seemingly tempted to destroy the ball of fire he was gazing into.

Jason disappeared from where he was standing and appeared right beside Sam.

"What happened here?" As he went beside Sam, Jason asked immediately. Nevertheless, no worries were revealing on his face.

Sam turned around and saw the other party. His eyebrows twitched uncontrollably as he exclaimed in frustration, "Just where the hell did you go? Is it really hard for you to finish off a single demon?"

Jason couldn't be bothered by the attitude of the other party as he asked again, "Tell me what happened here."

Sam then turned back again to the forest of fire and gazed at the ball of fire floating above it. Its size was about three meters in diameter and it emitted a brilliant light that shone through the dark sky.

As if it was saying, "Since the sun hid behind the clouds, I will then replace it and be the sun!"

The ball of fire was even almost comparable to the size of the portal floating in the midair just above the forest of fire as well.

Nevertheless, the portal was as if couldn't be bothered by the scorching heat on its surroundings as it continued to float leisurely in a distance away from the ball of fire.

There was a moment of pause before Sam replied with gritted teeth, "I'm not so sure as well. When I arrived here a while ago, it's already like this, but by the looks of it, this is probably the doings of that pest from Santermo clan." Sam clearly pointed out the ball of fire that he was seeing.

"You mean Jino?" Jason asked, but he was not so surprised at all. Even he as well could tell the gist of what had happened, but what he wanted to know was what exactly did happen. There was a moment of pause before he continued, "Well, he wouldn't turn out like this if he didn't face stronger enemies. That being said, he probably has encountered a worthy opponent."

Jason then turned his gaze to the ball of fire floating above as he asked, "How is the village?"

"I still haven't check it but it should be fine. There's no way that its barrier would be shaken by something like this." Sam responded calmly as he asked, "Can you do something about this fire?"

Jason stared at the fire in front of him as he replied, "It's no problem at all."

After which, a black mist started to appear on his left hand and it slowly formed itself into his sword. He then unsheathed his sword ready to cut down everything.

"What a frightening sword aura..." Sam remarked in his heart. Just by looking at the other party's sword, Sam could feel a shudder running through him. Even though he already saw and felt it before, feeling and seeing it once again really had no difference from the first time.

After Jason unsheathed his sword, he raised his sword to put a stance ready to slash his sword against the fire!

"Blade of Silence!"

Swoosh!!!

As if a death wind that traversed through the fire, the entire forest of fire had been quenched in an instant as it turned out that it was silenced and was unable to continue existing anymore.

Ashes covered the land and it was even being taken away by the wind. Black smoke from all around rose to the sky and the intense heat slowly died out.

Seeing what just happened, the ball of fire floating above was taken aback before it managed to land its gaze on the one who put out the fire. It immediately tried to rush to the other party but barely after making a move, it found the other party just above it ready to cut it down.

"You as well, take a rest." Jason spoke calmly as he brandished his sword to the ball of fire.

Swoosh!

After that was done, the ball of fire was shaken and slowly formed itself into a human form. It was Jino! And it seemed that he had no more strength left and had already passed out. He then fell from the midair and his naked body crashed down to the ground with a heavy thud.

The surroundings had yet again turned dark and the sun had no plan to take a glance down below.

Sam then walked closer to Jino and gazed down into him. He then snapped his finger and something like a beast skin covered the private parts of Jino. After which, Sam lifted him by shrouding the other party with his World Energy to carry him to the village.

What happened just now happened so fast that the people inside the village failed to catch up. They even found their eyes and mouth simultaneously widened in shock.

But it didn't take long for them to recover from their shock as they realized what just happened when they caught sight of two monsters who first left the area a while ago before the battle begin.

"The village chief and uncle Jason have come back!" A certain hunter screamed in excitement.

"I told you, no one can beat them, not even demons."

"Hey, when did you tell me something like that?!"

Different kinds of commotion immediately broke up as they watched the two slowly coming towards the village.

They all really were thankful that the other party had finally come back!

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[1] Espada ng Panday Es-pa-da -nang -Pan-day means Sword of the Blacksmith.