“…Both of you, stay here. I’m heading there to have a look!” instructed Gerald as he got up and took his empty glass before walking in the direction where the four men were sitting. Since the customers had to refill their own drinks in this restaurant, it was perfectly normal for Gerald to get more water for himself. On his return trip, however, he made sure to ‘accidentally’ drop his glass right next to the four men’s table! Seeing that some of the water had accidentally splashed onto a few of the men’s pants, Gerald quickly reached for the glass while ‘apologetically’ saying, “I-I’m sorry!” In response, one of the men simply got Gerald’s glass for him before handing it back to the youth while saying, “It’s fine. Be more careful!” “I-I will!” replied Gerald as he noticed the tattoo on the man’s wrist while taking his glass back. Following that, he then hurried back to his dining table. The second he sat down, however, his expression instantly turned slightly unpleasant… No

“…What power… What kind of monster even are you?! Regardless, we bear no grudges against you! What reason do you have to kill us?!” interrogated one of the Soul Hunters. After all, he was right. Gerald had simply attacked them out of the blue! It certainly raised quite a few questions. “Hah! I don’t need to explain anything!” retorted Gerald, finding it laughable that they even considered the possibility of him telling them his motive or his identity. That was simply impossible! With that in mind, Gerald then made his move… and in the blink of an eye, the three remaining Soul Hunters found themselves dead as well. To think that they weren’t even able to find out who Gerald really was before death… Regardless, now that all four of them were dead, Gerald began searching their bodies… and eventually, he found four Soul Hunter tokens. As the name suggested, these tokens represented their status as Soul Hunters, and anyone who was accepted into the organization would receive one.

“We’re just here for some minor business, mister!” replied Gerald with a subtle smile as he stood up the second he saw Juno signaling for him to help. In response, the Soul Hunter simply looked at Gerald with a bleak expression before arrogantly retorting, “And who the hell are you? Can’t you see that I’m talking to her? Do you think any of this concerns you?” Upon hearing that, Gerald instantly frowned… and the next thing the Soul Hunter knew, he was already flying backward from Gerald’s force palm attack! Seeing that, the other Soul Hunters immediately got up, unsheathing their daggers at the same time as they glared at Gerald. None of them had expected Gerald to make the first move. Naturally, they hadn’t anticipated him to be this strong either. “Those aren’t ordinary people! They definitely have a reason for being here! Get them!” declared one of the Soul Hunters. Hearing that, the other Soul Hunters instantly bolted toward Gerald and his party! Even so, Gerald wasn’

Their attention was brought back to Rey when they heard his quivering voice say, “I-it was so terrifying, Mr. Crawford…!” Looking at Rey’s fearful expression, Gerald then frowned slightly as he asked, “What is? What did you see?” “Yeah, I mean, there doesn’t seem to be anything around…” muttered Juno who was feeling just as bewildered as Gerald was. Still, both of them were sure that whatever had scared Rey wasn’t a ghost. After all, the duo couldn’t sense the presence of ghosts at all. “I-I’m not too sure either… But just as I got up after doing my business, I suddenly felt a cool breeze blow past me… But… then…” muttered Rey who was now shaking so much that he couldn’t even finish his sentence. “…Then what?” asked Gerald. “…W-well… When I turned around and looked up… I saw a pair of bloodshot eyes staring right back at me…! I-It was so terrifying…!” stuttered Rey as he recalled the incident he had witnessed. Upon hearing that, the duo instinctively looked up… but even a

“Stay back and let me deal with it!” added Gerald as he quickly turned to face the boar that was now charging in his direction instead since Juno had switched her torchlight off. Watching as the sharp-tusked boar opened its mouth wide—clearly aiming to chomp down on Gerald—Gerald knew that a single bite from it could either kill a regular person, or at the very least, maim them. Naturally, with that in mind, Gerald wasn’t about to allow the boar to do that. Dodge rolling to the side, Gerald then summoned the Astrabyss Sword. Though the sword’s main purpose was to deal with ghosts, Gerald believed that it would still hurt as a regular weapon. Regardless, though the wild boar definitely looked ferocious, its humongous body made it quite slow and inflexible. As a result, it was unable to fully stop after Gerald dodged its attack, and it ended up ramming right into a large tree! As a sea of leaves fluttered to the ground upon the boar’s impact, Gerald knew that it was now or neve