Warmup.(2)

At first, no one moved. Everyone had their pride as high ranked hunters so there was no way they were going to allow a random hunter to goad them on.

Furthermore, both Baek Yonho and Ma Dongwok were still conscious, so their fight wasn't over yet.

There was no way this unknown hunter could survive the wrath of two experienced S-ranks.

Almost as if on cue, the two S-ranks got up out of the debris and slowly walked up to Kenjaku, both of them looking at him with cold gazes.

"You think you're in the big leagues 'cause you scared off little Hwang Dongsoo huh? Damn brat! You've done something you shouldn't have!"

BOOM!

Baek Yonho started to fully transform into his beast state, causing his mana to exponentially increase. Meanwhile, Ma Dongwok just expanded his muscles, using his mana to fuel his physical strength instead.

Now, they were both almost at max power.

"Tch. As I've said before..."

Baek Yonho rushed at Kenjaku, swiping at the man rapidly with his mana infused claws. Wanting a piece of the pie too, Ma Dongwok flanked Kenjaku, and sent out multiple punches at his back in an effort to create a pincer attack with Baek Yonho.

"...you fools all need to come at me together, or else..."

WHOOSH!

Red lightning flashed across Kenjaku's body as deflected Baek Yonho's claws with his elbows and rushed into his space, battering his body with several blows. Each blow was like a cannon, leaving behind crater like injuries in the man's flesh as he fell to the ground.

Not even bothering to block Ma Dongwok's punches, Kenjaku tanked it, spun around and violently struck the large hunter square in the face, sending him flying back into the wall like a ragdoll.

"...you'll end up like these two. Face down in the ground."

The gym, once loud and boisterous with clamoring voices, was now dead silent.

No one expected this.

No one expected Kenjaku to be this strong.

Go Gunhee grabbed the railing atop the platform with both hands, his breathing increasing as he replayed the scene within his mind.

'I must have him! We already missed out on Sung Jinwoo! We can't let another one in a million prospect escape our grasp!'

Looking over to Woo Jinchul, Go Hunhee noticed the former looking right back at him. They shared the same thought. They could not let this chance escape.

On the Japanese side, Goto Ryuji clenched his shaking fists as his heart rate rapidly increased.

"Hanekawa, he said his name was Kenjaku right? I've never heard of him. Is he a new S-rank?"

Hanekawa, an A-rank hunter under the Draw Sword Guild and a translator from the Japanese Hunter's Association, was Goto Ryuji's contact for information. She had researched everything about Korean Hunter's before they came here.

Pulling out her smartphone, the woman started scrolling rapidly, trying to search for Kenjaku's file.

"Huh? He's not showing up in the known S-ranks...wait. There's no way. His file says that he's a D-rank fighter. Maybe he just reawakened?"

Goto agreed with her deduction. That was the only possible explanation.

"Translate this for me, Hanekawa. Let's play a-"

"I'm tired of waiting."

BOOM!

Kenjaku kicked Goto Ryuji into the wall before the man could even react and grabbed Hanekawa by the hair, slamming her into the ground, leaving her unconscious in a crater.

"Goto!! Hanekawa!! You scum!!"

The Japanese hunters, incensed by this embarrassment, all rushed at Kenjaku with their auras flaring at max potency, their eyes filled with bloodlust.

Opening his arms, Kenjaku laughed as he saw the crazed look on their faces.

"Ha, yes, that's what I want to see. That's the effort you should be putting into this every day!"

Nine S-rank hunters versus Kenjaku, it was a sight that the onlookers would never forget.

Kenjaku's speed was incredible as he deflected, countered and blocked various attacks, some magical, some physical all at the same time. It was as if there were multiple versions of himself.

"Geurgh!!"

Ten seconds.

Ten seconds was all it took for the first hunter, Akari Shimizu, to be sent barreling across the floor, her eyes rolled to the back of her head.

Kei, seeing this, lost his temper completely.

"Damn it! Die!"

Opening his palm, freezing mist started to quickly take over the gym, dropping the temperature rapidly.

"Ice M-"

SLAP!

Kenjaku suddenly appeared in front of him and slapped his palm against his own, completely nullifying Kei's technique with his overwhelming mana.

"Too slow."

Kenjaku clasped his fingers around Kei's hand and slammed him on the ground, knocking the wind out of him.

Dodging some magical arrows that came at him with nimble finesse, Kenjaku moved in a blur, appearing in front of Atsushi Kumamoto.

"This is over."

Using Kei's body as nunchucks, Kenjaku infused it with mana and started beating down the other hunters, his speed so mind-boggling that not a single S-rank could keep up.

This fight only went on for a few more seconds.

Throwing Kei's body to the floor as if it was garbage, Kenjaku looked around at his work, taking note of all the hunters now incapacitated.

"Hunter Kenjaku, I'll have to ask you to stop. We have a raid in four days. We need to be in top condition."

Cha Hae-in reluctantly intervened as she appeared behind Kenjaku and laid her palm on his back.

"They will be healed in time, so there's no need to worry."

BOOM!

Squinting her eyes as the full force of her mana erupted from her body, dwarfing the other hunters by a considerable margin.

"I'll only say it one more time. Stop this nonsense."

Her threats were like music to Kenjaku's ears.

"Or what, Cha Hae-In?"

Tired of his foolishness, Cha Hae-in delivered several punches in less than a second to his back, seemingly finishing him off.

When she noticed her punches going through his body though, her senses went on high alert, but it was too late.

'He dodged all of them perfectly at point-blank range?! How?'

WHOOSH!

Cha Hae-In felt an incredible wind push her head back as Kenjaku's foot stopped right in front of her face.

'I didn't even see when he kicked me. But...who stopped him?'

Looking to the side, Cha Hae-In saw Sung Jinwoo holding Kenjaku's ankle, his hand shaking from the amount of force he was exerting.

"You could've killed her."

Kenjaku easily freed his foot from Jinwoo's grip, his expression unmoved by the latter's appearance.

"If that's all it would take to kill her, a renowned S-rank, then she should just quit. And if you think coddling her will help her get stronger, then you should follow right behind her with your own resignation, kid."

Jinwoo was getting visibly agitated by Kenjaku's behavior as his dark blue mana started flowing across his body.

"Kenjaku, I've been meaning to put you in your place for a long time."

Kenjaku, unfazed by his threats, released his own mana, clashing with Jinwoo's.

"Then do it. I'm right here."

Just as Jinwoo clenched his fist and brought it back to swing at Kenjaku, Go Gunhee appeared between them, stopping them from fighting.

"Gentlemen. Let's stop here. Enough damage has been today."

Jinwoo clenched his teeth and lowered his fist, turning to help Cha Hae-In in the next moment. Kenjaku knew that he was barely holding himself together.

But, their battle would take place at another time.

Turning to Kenjaku, Go Gunhee continued, "Although I applaud your show of strength, our raid team has been incapacitated and some might not recover in a four-"

"Not to worry, chairman."

Longinus suddenly appeared in Kenjaku's hand as he stabbed into the ground, causing several circular waves of silver light to pulse through it.

Whenever these waves hit a hunter, their injuries would miraculously instantly heal, while also waking them up from their fist-induced slumber at the same time.

Within moments, every hunter was as good as new.

"Urgh...what happened?"

Goto Ryuji held his head as he sat up from a hole in the wall, shaking off the headache he had.

Looking around at all his comrades doing the same thing, slowly getting up from craters, he knew what had happened.

They had lost before they even knew it.

'If he was an enemy...we all would have died. To think a hunter like this exists in Korea of all places...'

The gym was awfully quiet as the Japanese hunters picked themselves up from the debris.

Even Baek Yonho and Ma Dongwok said nothing as they dusted themselves off.

The atmosphere was strange.

Glancing back and forth at Longinus, Go Gunhee said, "Well, I think that solves it. Everyone looks fine. Hunter Kenjaku, let's take a walk and allow the others to finish up."

Longinus disappeared in a flash of red lightning that struck Kenjaku's shadow before it left.

He knew why he commanded it to, and when he saw Jinwoo glance at him when it did, he knew he made the right decision.

'I knew I sensed something there. So he tried to hide one of his soldiers in my shadow huh?'

Turning to walk away with Go Gunhee, Kenjaku looked at Jinwoo and whispered something to him as he passed by, causing a cold look to appear in the young man's eyes.

'He knows...all about my shadows?! How?!'