Elvin James

"Fine…" Hans muttered softly with his hand raised, "...you won."

Indeed, he overlooked the fact that his body smells blood. Freya had been on many dungeon raids, she must have seen many killers murder their fellow humans. Additionally, if she could smell 14 different scents of blood from him that means she already deduced what happened. 

"And you yielded, just like that?" Freya narrowed her eyes and proceeded to stop the pressure she was leaking, "Why did you kill that many people?" 

Hearing her words, Hans slightly trembled. As expected she already knew. 

"I have to."

Jason's and his bodyguards' death was justified but for others, it was not. 

"Oh, did I hurt you?" Freya walked towards the living room and sat on the table top. 

"It's self-defense."

"..."

"..."

"I see…" 

Hans kept his eyes on the woman, afraid she might say more information. 

"2 days." 

"Huh?" 

Bewildered by her sudden words, Hans asked. His eyes rolled left and right. 

"What two days?" 

"Two days, you come back here. The gathering will be 2 days from now so be prepared." 

Hans nodded. Since there's still two days before the gathering, it might be enough time to raid four orange dungeons. His strength, including all of his trump cards, already reach A-class so an orange dungeon wouldn't be a problem to him. 

Suddenly, as if a bright light lit in his head, Hans stared at Freya. 

Sensing his intent gaze, Freya didn't back down and stared back. Her eyes seemingly glittered under the dim lights. It's past 5:48 pm now and the cold weather blends perfectly in the atmosphere.

"Can I ask for help?" 

Freya replied coldly, "Hmm… what help? Tell me."

Hans smiled. With Freya's help, he might even raid more dungeons than what's planned. 

...…..

After he ate, Hans was allowed to leave at 8 pm. It's not like he doesn't want to leave but rather that woman stopped him. She then cooked food. No, calling it food was blasphemy. Garbage might be the right term. It was so bad that he almost puked in front of the table. 

His grandmother would always say that women are good at cooking. It was misleading. 

As soon as Hans left the place, he saw people walking on the sidewalk. It seemed like he was inside an apartment. With the apartments' small space and simplicity, it would be hard to tell that an SS-Class Awakened temporarily lives here. 

'Well, people have different tastes.'

Hans grabbed a taxi for himself and go home. The place was quite far, it took him 30 minutes before he arrived at his worn-down studio apartment. 

"Good evening, Hans." 

The voice of the old lady next door echoed inside his ear. Hans waved his hand and tiredly smiled. 

Entering the room, he was greeted by its dark surroundings. Hans turned the lights on and took off his shoes together with his jacket. Although Freya let him borrow her jacket for a while, Hans still needed to return it. Hans went straight to the bathroom and washed himself up. 

'Too many things happened today.'

He felt guilty. If only he knew Jason already harbored murderous feelings to him, he could have prevented the death of others. 

'Sigh—' 

Hans got out of the bathroom and went straight to his bed. He sprawled on the soft cushion and huddled under the sheets. With his eyes narrowed, he opened his status window. 

Tr-tring—

[Name: Hans Luther

Age: 23                 Level: 22      

Race: Human (87%), ??? (13%)

Potential: ??? 

Strength: 104             

Agility: 75

Stamina: 70

Mana: 68

Unused stats: 16

Talent: Unlock at Level 100

Innate Skill: [Endless Plunder (C)] 

Plundered Skill: [Body Enhancement (B)], [Mind's Eye (E)], [Acrobat (D)], [Hide (C)], [Berserk (C)], [Lurk (E)], [Dragon Kick (A)], [Turtle Shell (B)], [Fire Control (B)]

Skill: [Mirror Clone (B)] 

Mana Property: Evil.] 

Perhaps it's because he's low level that even though he didn't participate in the raid, he still leveled up by two. 

Hans distributed all his unused stats to his mana attribute. Although he could have used it in strength, he thought that having large amounts of mana can prolong his skills. Furthermore, now that he had many skills in his arsenal, adding the points to mana would be the best option out of the four. 

Hans clicked the blinking box in the corner of the screen. There, a wide row of unseen messages was presented on his face. 

There were 9 unplundered skills in total. Hans picked the skills which he thought would benefit him in the early and mid stages. 

'No, not this. This… not this one… And finally this one.'

Out of the nine skills, Hans picked only four. Although others were also good like the 'Flame Fist' and 'Guardian Shield', he already has more powerful skills similar to those. 

'Hmm… this is it.'

[Holy Light (C)] 

[Hardened Skin (C)] 

[Light Of Judgment (B)] 

[Constantine Sword Style: First Cut (B)] 

'Holy Light' lets him cleanse all negative ailments he received. Of course, if that ailment surpasses the Holy Light's rank, this skill wouldn't work. 

'Hardened Skin' is a passive skill giving him stronger muscles. Overall, good for defense. 

'Light of Judgment' came from Ada. For some reason, Hans was troubled by the fact that a mage had sword skill. But then again, everyone has different tastes. 

Light of Judgment is a simple slash skill albeit with more damage and contains the faint light attributes which would reduce the monster's defense every hit. 

And finally… 

'Constantine Sword Style: First Cut.'

At first, Hans wouldn't want this skill as he already has the Light of Judgment. When suddenly, Plundy said that he knew a swordsman named Constantine but because his other memories were sealed, he couldn't remember any further. 

Thus, Hans kept it. Since Plundy knew this Constantine guy, then he should be awesome, right? Plundy wouldn't acknowledge anyone weaker than his masters so it's given that Constantine might have been a strong swordsman. 

The Constantine Sword Style is a set of techniques derived from weaving. It's a complicated process but the style was cool in his opinion. 

'A sword that you can bend at will.'

Meaning, this was a style that focuses on sword twisting and bending, giving the user insane sword flexibility. 

"Ah, it seems like I needed to learn how to use swords." 

There are many dojos throughout the country he could apply for. Hans kept this in mind before closing the messages. 

And with that, the dungeon spoils was sorted. 

[Name: Hans Luther

Age: 23                 Level: 22      

Race: Human (83%), ??? (17%)

Potential: ??? 

Strength: 104             

Agility: 75

Stamina: 70

Mana: 84

Unused stats: 0

Talent: Unlock at Level 100

Innate Skill: [Endless Plunder (C)] 

Plundered Skill: [Body Enhancement (B)], [Mind's Eye (E)], [Acrobat (D)], [Hide (C)], [Berserk (C)], [Lurk (E)], [Dragon Kick (A)], [Turtle Shell (B)], [Fire Control (B)], [Holy Light (C)], [Hardened Skin (C)], [Light Of Judgment (B)], [Constantine Sword Style: First Cut (B)] 

Skill: [Mirror Clone (B)] 

Mana Property: Evil.] 

"Come to think of it, Plundy now that you're C rank, do you have any other added functions?" 

Last time, he got the 'consuming blood' function that lets him consume other species' blood and gain free stats points. 

[Hmm… I don't have anything new.]

"What?"

[I think it's just my memory that was unlocked.] 

"Sigh—, thankfully I didn't expect anything."

[It's been a year since the last user so I already forgot my other functions.]

Hans, whose eyes were closed, suddenly jolted awake in surprise. 

"Did you just say a year?" 

[Yes.]

"Is it m—" 

[I'm not talking about the Earth year, you moron!] 

"Oh, then how many days is uhmm your year?"

[Hmm… I'm not good at math but it should be around 10 Billion days.] 

"..." 

Uh, did this guy exist before the big bang? 

.... 

Yellow Rank Dungeon Site. 

Philadelphia, USA. 

Click—, click—

The scene investigators struggled to stop the media from capturing large news. And what happened inside this yellow dungeon could be a potential large scoop. 

Lieutenant Martin held his head and massaged his temples. He was the one in charge in this case and to be honest, this was by far the most troublesome case he got in his 9-year service as an Association Police. 

Media flocked through the scene like a moth in a flame. He didn't stop them. He knew it was inevitable. He strode towards his vehicle but was blocked by many reporters. 

"Lieutenant!! Lieutenant!! We have some questions to —" 

"Do you have any suspects!!?" 

"Lieutenant, what's your opinion about—" 

"We confirmed 14 deaths at the scene. Lieutenant, would you tell us what happened!!?" 

Before these reporters could approach him, they were stopped by other officers. He's not in the mood for an interview right now. 

After approaching his vehicle, Lieutenant Martin pulled a cigarette from his pocket, set it in his mouth, and lit it. 

Puff—

His chest was pounding so hard that he could hear it screaming for help. He's anxious. The moment the Association Police Chief said that Elvin James might come here, his legs trembled in fright. 

He's an A-class Awakened. Before he became a police officer and served the country, he was a member of the Reaper Organization. It was the apocalypse's early days, and the organization was at its peak. 

Elvin James was a former member of the organization as well. 

Sometimes, they get to raid dungeons and he was also part of it. Lieutenant Martin knew him and knows how he works things out. Thus, he's afraid. After all, that guy has a terrible personality. When he vented his anger, all of his teammates died suddenly without knowing. 

And he was one of those people who escaped. Fortunately, Elvin didn't seem to mind. He doesn't even care. 2 years later, the Reaper Organization was disbanded after a failed raid took the lives of almost all the strong members. 

After their fall, he was approached by the Association Director and was offered a decent job. He has a family now, a wife, and 3 kids. Now, hearing his name again brought back all the fears kept inside his heart after many years. 

He heard that guy retired due to illness. That was complete bullshit. 

Elvin is not dumb. He knew that the world revolves around power and being an individual Awakened limits that power. That was why he built the company to find subordinates he could use. 

Now, he almost controlled all potion companies in the US. A cunning bastard indeed. 

Puff—

The smoke blew towards his face followed by a voice calling him from behind. 

"Lieutenant Martin!! 5 cars parked in front of the restricted area!! We can't stop them." 

Hearing his officer's words, Lieutenant Martin aggressively threw the cigarette and pulled his collar up. With the chilling wind blowing in his skin, the goosebumps he felt intensified further. 

"Let's go."

But even then, he's a Lieutenant. He has responsibilities he needed to shoulder. This was the oath he promised in front of his country, family, and more importantly to himself. 

So this time, he won't cower. 

...….

Brrrooomm—

A black luxury car stopped in the middle of the streets until its engine closed. Behind it, 4 cars halted as well before men in black suits went out. 

They immediately surrounded that luxury car which attracted the reporters' attention. The names of the deceased haven't been confirmed yet, that is why they have no clue who's the big man inside that car. 

Clack—

With a clicking sound, the door opened. The people held their breaths, trying to see a glimpse of the dark silhouette. Shortly afterward, a man stepped out. 

His white hair indicated his old age and yet his face wasn't affected by the natural flow of time. It's as if his face stopped aging at 40. This man was tall as well. He was well over 6 feet with visible muscles that could be seen by the naked eyes. 

The man looked elegant in his brown suit. At first glance, the people were entranced by the charm he gives but were quickly taken aback when they recognized his face. 

"E-E-Elvin J-James!!!" 

"Why is he here!?" 

"Could one of the deceased be his relative or friend?" 

"I don't know but damn, he's scary."

Instead of flocking towards the man, the reporters backed away, forming a path towards the restricted area. No one dared to ask and no one dared to speak. As if world time stopped, silence permeated in the vicinity. 

Step, step—

At that moment, Elvin stopped in his tracks and stared at the man who blocked his way. 

"Get out of my sight, Mr. Lieutenant."

Elvin spoke briefly before he ignored him and began to continue his way towards the restricted area. He passed beside Lieutenant Martin when suddenly, a hand caught his shoulder. 

"This isn't the place to vent anger, Mr. James."

"How…" Elvin turned around and glared at the Lieutenant, "...dare you put your hands on me?"