Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Tall and burly, rough facial features, and the iconic one eye, the demon hunter looked absolutely familiar to Hao Ren. It was Hasse, the original owner of the gear Hao Ren was wearing.
Of course, it was the Hasse of 600 years ago.
Hao Ren almost jumped out of his skin when he saw the senior demon hunter. His first reaction was to hide all the demon-hunter camouflage gear he was wearing. Hao Ren may have been able to put away his dagger and crossbow, but he needed the suit and badge as identifications, especially the suit. He could not possibly go naked in public.
Now, Hao Ren regretted putting on the suit.
However, regretting was all Hao Ren could do—he knew that he needed to put on a full suit to increase his chances of fooling the demon hunters. Even if he had known beforehand that an elder was nearby, he would have still done the same.
But who would have known that the elder was Hasse.
Hasse had not noticed that Hao Ren was the only demon hunter he did not recognize on the scene. Hao Ren’s Asian-looking face was not the problem; demon hunters did not stick to a particular race, and their looks would change to blend in as well as suit local conditions within a specified period. But of course, they could also stop the process at will. This appearance assimilation did not require any outside help such as camouflage gear. Hao Ren’s Asian face only suggested that he had been active in Asia for an extended period. What caught Hasse’s attention was the clothes that the Stalker wore.
It somehow looked familiar.
“You are the Stalker?” Hasse was a little doubtful. But out of politeness, he did not show it on his face.
“It is an honor to meet you, Elder,” Hao Ren said as he concealed his nervousness. It was customary for a Stalker to greet and show reverence to an elder from Coldpath. Lone Wolves might be recluses and were not easy to get along with, but they were still members of the demon hunter organization. They still needed to show enough respect to the elders. “I think your Hunter group and I have some misunderstanding.”
Hao Ren then said no more as he was afraid to blow his cover by talking too much. He shot Lockheed a look, telling him to explain the matter.
Lockheed was cooperative. This one-track mind probably felt guilty of spoiling Hao Ren’s operation, he related what had happened to Hasse and took all the blame. What was more commendable was that Lockheed had even straightened those details out where Hao Ren had a hard time to make up. Hao Rao listened. Even if he was as thick-skinned as Raven 123345 was, he could not help but feel shame in his heart for duping such an honest guy.
Hasse had now learned the whole story from Lockheed. His single eye stayed on Lockheed for a moment before said with a stern voice, “A mistake is still a mistake although it is your intention. I will keep it in the record.”
Hasse then looked at Hao Ren again. “Stalker, I apologize to you for their reckless action that has ruined your plan. But it is not the time to harp on the trivial. We should instead find a way to repair the damage—those witches have escaped from our encirclement. I have just learned that there is not only a werewolf among them but also the scent of a vampire. It is unclear at this moment that how a werewolf and a vampire could get along, but this combination was a challenge to us. We need to cooperate to complete the hunt this time.”
This was what Hao Ren had been waiting for. “I agree with you.” He nodded quickly.
“Now the moon has come out,” Hasse said as he looked up at the night sky. “Werewolves and vampires will become more powerful under the moonlight. I am afraid we won’t be able to catch up with them tonight. But then again, they would not make it very far tonight. Just as your intelligence shows, their goal is the hibernation place of an ancient vampire; unless they have given up the target, they will not go very far.”
“They might go to the hibernation place next,” Hao Ren said. “But I have no idea of the hibernation place’s specific location.”
But Hasse just smiled. “Do not worry, I roughly know the position of the hibernation place. If I am mistaken, it is in an old castle, and there are not many castles in this area.”
Hao Ren’s heart missed a beat. This group of demon hunters has made so much progress? Hao Ren thought to himself.
He tried hard to conceal his nervousness and only let out an appropriate surprised look on his face. “Oh? You have already gotten the information? Then our next move is much easier.”
Hasse nodded and sighed softly. “I did not expect a group of otherworldlings to seek out the ancient vampire. They even have the means to remove the seal. Had we known you earlier, we would have saved ourselves many troubles.”
Hao Ren felt a little weird now. He almost could not believe that his lie had pulled out a chain of clues. He almost started to believe in his own lie.
The witches had escaped, and the demon hunters halted their hunt for the night. Hasse had ordered to stay in the cemetery for the night before they resumed the pursuit at dawn. The gloomy grave was not an auspicious place to camp for ordinary people. But for the demon hunters who dealt with the dark forces all year round, any leveled ground was an excellent campsite. Those dead trees and collapsed tombstones were just decorations in the camp.
By Hao Ren’s rough estimation, this Hunter group probably consisted of 60 demon hunters, which was very small compared to the Sacred Army a.k.a Battle Group during the Mythological Era.
But for the witches led by Madam Marie, it was a disaster.
The bonfire began to rise in the cemetery. The demon hunters cast the power of the Letta runes into the few remaining sculptures in the cemetery to turn them into stone guards. These stone guards would work with the demon hunters who were on night shifts to patrol the surroundings.
Hao Ren and a few demon hunters sat at the long table at the center of the cemetery and talked about the hunt. Food and drinks that the witches left behind were still on the table, but the demon hunters had no interest in them. They only ate from their own supply. The demon hunters deemed this food on the table was ridden with black magic and stenchy.
Hao Ren saw them as being pretentious. But he must act the same too. After all, he was not interested in the food on the table also.
A demon hunter saw a large number of empty plates and sneered. “Those witches have an enormous appetite.”
Hao Ren pretended to know nothing.
He knew it was Lily who cleaned the plates.
Hao Ren was embarrassed but did not show it on his face. He looked at Hasse who sat beside him. “Can you tell me who the ancient vampire you are tracking?”
Hasse looked somber. “You should have heard the name of the oldest vampire before, Vivian Ancestor.”
Just as Hao Ren had expected…
Hao Ren tried to keep calm and pretended he was surprised. “The poorest one?”
“Yes, the poorest one.”
The atmosphere appeared a bit uncomfortable for a while.
Even Hasse’s reply was inadvertent.
“Ahem, the Countess of the Crimson Moon. There is no demon hunter who does not know her.” Hao Ren quickly broke the silence, “You plan to kill her? Do demon hunters not always stay away from her?”
Hasse shifted his posture. His face was more solemn than before as his one eye stared dead at Hao Ren. Hasse only looked away until Hao Ren thought that Hasse was suspicious. “We are not coming to kill her.”
The reply truly surprised Hao Ren this time. “Not to kill her? Then what?” Hao Ren asked.
“You should know that she is an ancient who frequently goes into hibernation,” Hasse said, looking at Hao Ren. “The Countess also occasionally plunges into extreme violence. She is unpredictable. She has already been hibernating in this place for over two centuries, which is pretty long even for her standard. It is unusual.”
“Unusual?”
“Coldpath has been keeping an eye on this maverick Countess. After she appeared in the world for two centuries, we realized that something was wrong and launched an investigation. Not long ago, we found out that she was not dead but in a long hibernation. Later, we discovered this place and detected strong negative energy in the vicinity.”
The words “negative energy” alarmed Hao Ren.
“Old demon hunter like you should have heard about this negative energy,” Hasse said, looking at Hao Ren. “The Countess will occasionally go mad. And when she is at it, her energy will dominate the entire region.”
“That is to say?”
“The Countess may have a problem in her hibernation—she has gone crazy in her sleep, and now she is about to wake up. I estimate that with high chances, she will wake up in a state of violence.”
While Hasse explained his findings and conjecture, Hao Ren had thought of something closer to the truth.
Vivian’s Malevolence was forming. The violent Vivian that Hasse talked about was not the real Vivian but a Malevolence.
Hao Ren was pretty sure about it because he had a handwritten record. Vivian would only turn violent before she went into hibernation and she would wake up fully sober—her grumpiness when she was disturbed during her sleep was an exception. So there was only one possibility for the appearance of the negative force: a new Malevolence had been born.
No wonder the demon hunters had come after Vivian. No wonder Hasse took such a risk to come to this place although he had suffered several beatings from Vivian previously. They were coming to stop the Malevolence.
“Do you think you can beat her?” Hao Ren frowned. He figured that the demon hunters might not know the existence of the Malevolence, but they should know how terrible Vivian was. “The Sacred Army directly from Coldpath has never beaten Vivian once during the Mythological Era.”
“Of course, we can’t win. Once the crimson moon rises, the disparity of strength between the Countess and ordinary creatures will be immeasurable. No one can ever resist the power of the moonlight,” Hasse admitted. “We do not expect to beat her. We plan to buy time. First, we will draw her to a remote place, and then let her stay under the moonlight as long as possible. The Countess’ madness will not last long, especially when she just wakes up. As long as we can survive this short moment, our mission will be accomplished.”
