Surprise Mother******?

Mary looked at me with confused eyes. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. The wound in my chest was healing so fast that it only took less than three breaths of time.

I stood up and turned around my eyes fell on the killers. They were already running away. The moment they saw my wounds recovering at that speed, they didn't even think twice before running away.

But, how could I let them leave? I stomped my foot on the ground and dashed towards them. The sword in my hand moved as I jumped and slashed while swinging my sword back.

"Shadow Breathing Technique- Reverse Emptiness"

My feet touched the ground and slid. I ran towards another killer and stabbed him from the back. Likewise, I continued to kill the remaining killers, and only after killing all of them, did I turn around and finally went back to Mary.

Those killers had nothing valuable but I managed to learn something new in this battle. Even if they aren't hunters, they might not be weak. If he didn't have the Undying Body, then he would've probably lost here.

"What are you sitting there for? Let's go, we still have to reach your home, right?"

I smiled at her and asked. There was nothing else to do. After all, she was still in a state of shock. It was surprising that she cried because of my injuries. But, then again, it didn't matter whether she cried because of me or because of her safety.

I didn't care about anything at all. I just wanted to go with the flow. Holding my hand, she stood up and we continued our journey.

After that, we didn't encounter any killers rather we did encounter some boars and some other monsters but we were quick enough to either dodge them or defeat them.

Like that, we spent the entire day walking and the entire night sleeping. And, the next day, we continued until noon when finally reached our destination.

When I reached there, I was quite surprised. Because the village wasn't that big at all. In fact, it was covered with a wooden wall and it was the size of fifty miles.

Neither big nor too small! It was good enough for nearly eight hundred people. There were literally less than a thousand people. And, they were quite poor as well.

The village had small houses and the people were wearing rough clothes. When they saw spotted us, they immediately came to greet us, especially her. Although the village was small and poor, the people were good.

They took us to the main village chief's house and we stayed there. After a while, an old man came in. He was barely walking on a stick. When he saw Mary, his eyes suddenly overflowed with tears.

"Y-y-you shouldn't have come."

When Mary heard those words, she shook her head.

"First Elder, my father created this village shedding his blood on the wars. I can't let other people dictate and take over this village."

Slowly, the elder calmed down and wiped away his tears. Finally, he said "Jojo Village will attack us before you could officially register as a village chief. They will kill us and take over our territory."

"But why? First Elder, we don't have that many resources. We don't have that much wealth or territory. Why do they want to get us so much? They even sent professional killers to kill me? Why are they spending so much on this village which will give them nothing?" Mary asked.

Her voice was filled with rage and confusion. Even I was confused. Before coming here, I thought this village would be good enough. But, when, I saw the condition of this village, I immediately felt bad.

Because the children were barely wearing anything. The women were like sticks without any food and the men were also filled with tiredness and diseases. They were in their worse condition.

This is not possible to happen in just a few days. They must be in such condition for months. The problem is that her father only died a few days ago. So for me, things didn't add up.

"Profession killers? Impossible!" Suddenly, the elder said something that made us perplexed. We didn't understand why he suddenly said something like that.

"First Elder, we were attacked by the professional killers. And, they were also Goblin Rank. If it wasn't for the hunter next to me, I would've died on my way." Mary continued to convince the elder but the elder only looked at me and shook his head.

"Mary, Jojo Village doesn't have enough resources to spend on them. I don't understand what you are talking about."

Hearing his words, Mary and I looked at each other for a moment. Suddenly, our eyes shrunk as we felt something was missing here. I looked at the elder and asked.

"Old man, how strong is Jojo's village? No, how strong was her father?"

The elder looked at me and said "Respect Hunter, the Jojo's Village isn't strong. The only reason why they were able to kill her father was by poisoning him. We are still unaware of the person who poisoned her but he was weakened due to poison and only then they were able to kill him."

I thought for a moment and turned at Mary.

"I am not sure about your village's condition or Jojo's village condition. But now, I am pretty sure that the death of your father wasn't done by Jojo Village. It must be the third party who is controlling the Jojo Village to obtain something from your village."

"But, to recruit the group of Goblin Rank and Boar Rank Killers, you would require a lot of money. That means something which your village has is definitely worth the cost."

Mary looked at me for a moment and shook her head.

"I am pretty sure that we don't have anything that would attract such forces. I mean to spend so much just to kill me and then launch an attack from another village would have cost them a lot. Why would someone spend so much on our helpless village?"

"No, it can't be." Suddenly, the elder shouted. We turned our heads and saw the frightened gaze in his eyes. His body was trembling. He quickly turned around and said.

"Follow me!"

We were a little confused but we quickly followed them. When we followed them, I sensed something was off here. But, I didn't say anything. I just quietly followed him.

We eventually reached far away from the village. We were almost close enough to the forest. When we reached there, he stopped. I was quite confused because we saw nothing around here.

"It must be because of this. But how? How did they know about this? It doesn't make sense. Only I and he knew about this." The Elder started muttering loudly while we looked at him with confusion.

"Elder, what are you talking about?" Mary asked as she got closer to him.

"Mary, cut your skin and drop blood on the ground." The Elder spoke. And, his words confused Mary but I began to understand something.

Mary looked at him with confusion while he just stares at her. She finally bites her finger and a drop of blood falls to the ground.

Whoosh!

The next moment, blue energy suddenly turned to dust in front of them. And, they see nothing but a giant tree in the middle. This tree was quite big and it had five mango-shaped red fruits.

"Elder, what is this?" Mary asked with confusion. She didn't know anything about these trees and fruits.

"Mary, step back! Respect Hunter, would you please go near the tree and get the fruits. Our bodies can bear the impact of the mana released by the tree." The elder turned his head at me and asked.

I nodded my head and walked towards the tree while Mary retreated far away from me. I raised my hand and plucked the first fruit. At this moment, something strange happened.

Splash!

I got a knife piercing through my stomach.

"ALEX!" Mary screamed from behind as she dashed towards the tree but suddenly, the wave of mana smashed her away. She barely got up and tears fell down her cheeks.

She looked at the elder and choked.

"W-why?"

At this moment, the elder was no longer the same. His stick was now a long knife and he was standing straight. Though his looks hadn't changed even a little.

"Because our clan needs that tree and your village." Suddenly, a voice rang behind her. When she turned her head, she saw five people wearing black robes. They ignored her and walked towards the tree.

The elder immediately turned around and bowed in front of them.

"Welcome, Commander!"

But, suddenly he noticed them pause for a moment. There was a hint of surprise and shock in their eyes. Before he could turn his head, a pair of hands suddenly twisted his head.

Looking at the face of the elder man, I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Surprise, motherfu*ker?"