On the street across from the Hitman Guild, there existed a luxurious large building.
From its presence alone, this building wasn’t inferior to the Hitman Guild, in fact, it was actually taller and took up more space compared to the Hitman Guild.
After all, the Hitman Guild operated on efficiency and discretion, whereas this building wasn’t the same, it actually wanted to garner the attention of as many people as possible.
——-the Bounty Hunter Guild.
Usually, Hitmen only do a single job: assassinate;
But different from the purity of the Hitmen, Bounty Hunters were a bunch that were willing to accept any job——-
Treasure hunts, bodyguard, exploration, secret searching, thievery, so on and so forth. If the reward was especially great, no Hunter would mind acting as a Hitman once in a while.
Around sunset.
As a new bounty was posted, it immediately drew the attention of the Bounty Hunters.
—-because the reward it offered was especially generous.
“A desolate, fragmented world? Does a place like that really have treasures?” someone hesitantly asked.
「 Fool, you’re a newbie, aren’t you? Places like that are especially prone to hiding secrets that only a few know about 」someone else mocked him.
The first person angrily turned towards where the voice came from, but as soon as they saw the other party, his rage was immediately quelled, not a single peep came out of him.
『 How regretful, this bounty requires at least an Unsolvable or Unlivable rank Hunter, I can’t take it up 』someone sighed in regret.
“It’s not just a ranking restriction, there’s also a requirement that you have to be a professional treasure hunter, having a minimum of 10 successful treasure hunts” another Hunter complained.
「 Look at this third requirement: must be a close-combat expert with flexibility, no casters allowed because anti-magic monsters might be in the vicinity… 」
“From the looks of it, only highly experienced oldbies would be qualified to accept this bounty”
“With such high requirements, that treasure might be quite extraordinary”
The Hunters were loudly discussing this among themselves.
While the Hunters qualified to accept this bounty had all silently taken it up and left.
Unlike the Hitman Guild, the Bounty Hunter Guild encouraged competition.
As long as they fit the bounty issuer’s requirements, any number of Hunters were allowed to accept the same bounty.
—–but as for who could finish the job and ultimately claim the bounty rewards, that depended entirely on each individual’s strength.
…
Half an hour later.
This was a destroyed world, a no-man-land.
Two Hunters nervously greeted each other.
“Dual Talons Eagle, I didn’t know you would also take up this bounty. If I knew ahead of time, I wouldn’t have come” a black-faced robust man with a firm physique said.
Standing across from him, a gnome carrying dual short swords on his waist laughed: “Ahaha, so it was Peeling Heart Demon Thorns. This bounty’s rewards were too generous, I couldn’t help myself”
The black-faced man hesitantly suggested: “Then… how about we work together during this and split the bounty?”
“Good idea” the gnome clapped his hands in agreement.
“Then it’s decided?”
“Hm, then it’s decided”
“Alright, let us be on our way, according to information on the bounty, the ruins should be here…”
The black-faced man looked down at the information in his hand while moving towards a certain direction.
Behind him, the gnome’s expression became cruel.
It can’t be helped; this is such a good chance.
Since both of them are Hunters at the same rank, it’s questionable who would come out on top in an all-out skirmish.
But he’s exposing his back to me so casually.
If I don’t act on this, I’d be letting this good chance down!
The gnome silently drew his short swords.
“Die——-”
He shouted as his swords slashed into the black-faced man’s body.
Clang! Clang!
Two loud metallic noises.
At some unknown point, the black-faced man had already turned into a metal pole that was buried deep into the ground.
Pain.
The gnome looked down in disbelief.
A sharp thorn had pierced through his heart.
The black-faced man regretful voice came from behind him:
“Now why did you have to do such a thing? It would have been so much better for us to split the bounty”
The thorns pulled back.
The gnome collapsed.
The black-faced man sighed and stepped forward, hacking the other party’s body into minced meat with the black demon thorn in his hand.
“I’m sorry, I really didn’t want to desecrate your body, but you’re too sly that I’m afraid you might have other preparations”
After finishing it all, the black-faced man took out his information again and carefully examined it.
This world had already been destroyed, the civilization that used to dwell here had already vanished without a trace, leaving only scattered structures and buildings that withstood the ravages of time.
“Southwest… quite a bit away from the warp point”
“Hm, so it was an intact structure, if that’s the case, it might contain some treasures of the previous civilization”
“How curious, I must get it in my hands; if I can’t use it, it wouldn’t be that bad to turn it over to the Guild for the bounty either”
Looking at the Southwest direction, the black-faced man’s gaze became calm.
He leapt upwards and started flying Southwest.
Time slowly passed.
Around midnight, the black-faced man caught up with a small-scale group.
This was a bounty hunting team of five, each of them an expert treasure hunter in their own rights, quite a famous group within the Guild.
As they noticed someone approaching from behind, they immediately prepared their defenses.
The black-faced man stood from a distance, watching this team of five.
It’ll be a bit tough.
“Gentlemen, have you also taken up this bounty?” he asked.
“That’s right, Peeling Heart Demon Thorn. Scram, don’t force us to kill you” the group leader raised his voice in response.
The black-faced man clasped his hands together and said: “Can you let me join you? This kind of mission is better with more people, and I only want 20% of the bounty after this is over”
“You want to die or something? Hurry and get out of here!”
“10%, I only need 10%!”
“Fucking scram already!”
The black-faced man helplessly hung his hands and replied: “Alright fine, consider me coming here to play. Give me 5%, that should be low enough, I only need 5%. And for the upcoming journey, I’ll be responsible for scouting ahead”
The team’s leader appeared hesitant.
Peeling Heart Demon Thorn is certainly an expert, if we have him as the scout, the safety of the group as a whole would be greatly improved.
Most crucially, perhaps he doesn’t want to return empty-handed, but he only wanted 5% of the bounty.
The leader looked to his men.
Everyone slightly nodded.
The leader then shouted again: “That would be acceptable, but we need to sign a contract!”
He tossed a magical covenant over.
The black-faced man received it, confirming that the conditions written on it finding it to be extremely strict.
——-this was a magical covenant that had gone through numerous investigations to ensure zero loopholes, one that could certainly ensure mutual cooperation.
The black-faced man signed the contract without much fuss.
The magical covenant glowed and disappeared from his hand.
It had been completed.
It was only now that the people of the 5-man group let down their guards.
The leader also smiled and said: “Good to cooperate with you, I kinda offended you a bit earlier, don’t take it to heart”
The black-faced man shook his head and said with understanding: “That’s alright. After all, we Hunters have been mixed with both good and bad people recently, there are always some who like to play dirty”
He approached and greeted them.
Everyone put their weapons away.
Someone popped open a bottle of liquor, took a sip, then tossed it to him.
The black-faced accepted the bottle, took a sniff, and appeared surprised: “Void Flower?”
“That’s right. Consider that our apology for earlier, during a bounty, we’re all very cautious” the man laughed.
“I suspect that there were others who have accepted this bounty, we should quickly be on our way soon” the black-faced man nodded and said.
The team leader laughed: “It’ll be fine, with how strict the qualifications for this bounty was, very few would be able to accept it. And I’m sure none of them can deal with the six of us at once”
The black-faced man nodded: “You’re right, that’s why I’m also regretful. I really don’t want to split the bounty with you bunch’
As soon as he said that.
Countless sharp thorns erupted from the ground, piercing hundreds of holes into everyone in the blink of an eye.
Four of them lost their lives right away without being able to scream.
Only the team leader remained, trying to hold onto his last breath while unwilling to accept: “Clearly… the covenant…”
The black-faced man sighed and threw the bottle in his hand on the ground.
“Do you really think I’m just a close-combat Professionist?” he asked.
The team leader was no longer gasping for breath, but still clung on with his eyes opened wide, waiting for an answer.
The black-faced man looked around.
Desolate earth in every direction, not a single soul to be seen.
If not for this bounty, no one would have ever arrived at such a silent world.
—— in other words, it was very safe.
The black-faced man then looked down and muttered: “———In reality, I have a Causality Law ability, as long as I can form a contract with another party, I would never be killed by the other party, and I can one-sidedly violate the contract”
Hearing that, the team leader started shaking incessantly, while bloody coughs came from his throat.
He opened his eyes wide, staring closely at the black-faced man.
——if a gaze could kill, the black-faced man would have been dead several times over.
The black-faced man enjoyed his look before death, then his lips curled into a smile.
“You were lucky”
“I very rarely reveal the answer. This time, I especially told you because I like your rage and despair”
Saying so, he crushed the other party’s head under his foot.
Everything returned to silence.
Five corpses.
Blood soaked the ground.
The world was in complete silence, the wind lightly blew to scatter the foul smell of blood.
The black-faced man walked out from the blood-soaked ground, looked down at his bloody footprints, and slowly scowled.
He quickly produced a new pair of shoes and changed into them.
After that, he sped up and continued moving forward.
Continuously forward.
A few hours later.
Finally, the ruins of a city slowly appeared in his vision.
The black-faced man looked down at the information in his hand and sped up again.
Soon!
He entered the ruin, then discerned the geology of the area through the various pictures provided in the bounty information.
Until a certain point.
He discovered the structure mentioned in the information.
—-unfortunately, another Hunter had also just reached the structure.
That Hunter was also holding the same information he was, cross-referencing it against the surrounding structures.
“No need to look, it’s this building”
The black-faced man threw the information on his hand away and told the other party.
The other Hunter looked at him.
“So, Peeling Heart Demon Thorn, seems like this bounty really is considerable, even you felt tempted by it” saying so, the Hunter drew his weapon and took a stance.
Fierce killing intent erupted from his body.
A fight was about to begin!
On the contrary, the black-faced man acted like nothing was of concern and pointed at the gate of the structure:
“That door is very tattered, we shouldn’t use too much force or the entire thing might collapse”
“What are you saying?” the other Hunter asked.
“This structure has been standing here for countless years, if our battle is too intense, it might destroy the entire thing and affect our follow-up treasure hunting” the black-faced man continued.
The other Hunter appeared hesitant.
The black-faced man sighed and showed his hands: “The two of us are the first two Hunters to reach this place, but others are definitely coming soon. Are we going to fight one another to the death and let them take advantage of it?”
The other Hunter also felt that to be reasonable.
“What do you suggest then?” he lowered his weapon and asked.
“Very simple, we’re going to hunt treasures together. After this is done, we’ll split 50/50, there would be no need to fight, and we’re both getting the bounty, that’s the most profitable for both sides” the black-faced man replied.
The Hunter thought about it for a few moments and quickly replied: “That’s naturally fine, but we need a binding contract, I suggest an Irrevocable Deed”
The black-faced man also agreed: “I think that’s natural, otherwise, there would be no way we would be able to cooperate in peace”
The two of them spent some time drafting and signing an Irrevocable Deed.
The other Hunter sighed in relief, put his weapon away, then took out a small tool to unlock the door.
“As you’ve said, this door has become incredibly tattered, but it’s still connected to the walls, so we can easily destroy the entire building if we’re not careful”
While saying so, he slowly turned the lock-picking tool in his hand.
Ka-chak
The lock was opened.
The Hunter sat crouched in front of the door, not moving an inch.
“What decent lock-picking skills” the black-faced man praised.
He pulled back the thorn that pierced through the other party’s head, then carefully put the corpse away into his personal storage.
——it’s very possible for others to come here, later on, I can’t leave them any clues to discover.
“Alright, I’m finally here, let me take a look at what kind of treasure it is this time…”
The black-faced man muttered excitedly, then lightly opened the gate.
——-he froze.
There was nothing on the other side of the gate except a man wearing a suit of heavy armor and a sword in his hand.
“Peeling Heart Demon Thorn – Fu Chuan?” the other party asked.
The black-faced man looked at the other party for a while, searched his memories, then calmly asked: “That’s me, who are you? I don’t remember there being someone like you among the Unsolvable and Unlivable rank Hunters”
The other person replied: “Of course there isn’t, I’m Sealing rank”
The black-faced man laughed: “What did you come here for; you shouldn’t have been able to accept this bounty at your rank”
The other party sighed and replied helplessly: “That’s exactly why I made so many arrangements and spent that much efforts to lure all of you into accepting this bounty: to get promoted to Unsolvable rank”
Declaring so, he raised his sword.
The Six Paths Great Mountain sword.
