CHAPTER 31: DAMIAN’S NEW SPY MISSION?

Damian decided to stay the night down there while Leo worked on getting a new apartment for him. To his surprise, Leo actually found one in that short time—and the apartment was way better than the one he’d lived in before.

"You don’t even need to pay rent," Leo said. "I’ll cover it for you. And it’s close to the café, so you can always get there on foot."

Leo was doing a lot for Damian. He knew that one day, Leo would come asking for payment in return. That much was certain.

"Thanks," Damian said. "And when is our next meeting? Do you know?"

"Tomorrow. We need to discuss Lion Beast—and also the other hunters that might be coming to the city."

Damian was curious about these other hunters Leo mentioned, but he didn’t ask. He just left the underground base.

Before leaving, though, he used his new ability to change his aura—more precisely, his smell.

In the end, this would be a test. Damian would only know if it worked if Lion Beast didn’t show up to get him. He also destroyed his phone. There was no way to know if Lion Beast would try to track it, so it was better to be safe.

With his new apartment key in hand, Damian went to see it. The building was close to the café—a tall complex with lots of units.

His apartment was actually the penthouse, which was really nice. He couldn’t believe how luxurious it was, and all of it was being paid for by Leo.

There were four rooms, a big living room with a cozy fireplace, and a comfortable red couch.

But the most beautiful thing about that apartment wasn’t the apartment itself—it was the view. From up there, Damian could see a large portion of the city.

Damian enjoyed the view. He grabbed a bottle of wine that had already been waiting for him, poured himself a glass, and stood there, watching the city.

He stayed like that for over an hour—and nothing happened. If Lion Beast had been able to track him, he definitely would have shown up by then. Which meant his new ability—the one that could hide his scent and change his appearance—had worked perfectly.

"I can’t believe it actually worked in the end..." Damian thought.

It had been a gamble. He hadn’t known for sure that he’d learn an ability that would actually help him. Even though the demon who gave him the skin had those capabilities, that didn’t guarantee Damian would gain a similar skill.

But in the end, everything worked out.

Damian left his new apartment. He wanted to buy a new phone—and maybe at least stay in touch with Samantha and Leo.

But something was still bothering him. He wanted to continue his work as a cleaner, but as long as Lion Beast was around, that wouldn’t be possible.

As far as he knew, the other people at the Hunter organization weren’t after him. This was something personal—just Lion Beast.

In theory, if Lion Beast died or left the city, Damian would be able to go back to his normal life. But neither of those things seemed likely, and Damian had no idea how to make them happen.

"I don’t have the power to face him... and he doesn’t seem like he’s planning to leave anytime soon..."

Things weren’t easy for Damian. With not many options at the moment, he focused on just getting himself a new phone.

Since the city was pretty big, Damian didn’t bother changing his appearance. Lion Beast was counting on being able to track him by scent, and if he couldn’t, then he’d probably assume Damian was hiding somewhere.

There was no way he’d imagine that Damian had found a way to mask his scent overnight. That sounded impossible.

Anyway, Damian went to a store and got himself a new phone. After that, he added Leo and Samantha’s numbers so he could message and call them.

Samantha was a bit confused about the sudden number change, but it didn’t last. After that, she was fine with it.

She had no idea what was really going on with him. In fact, hardly anyone did. Lion Beast had made this personal.

With nothing much to do at the moment, Damian returned to his new apartment and stayed there, resting and thinking about his next steps. He needed to wait for things to settle down...

The next day, during the night, he got another surprise. The meeting at the café was still on, but this time Leo was there.

In fact, Leo arrived pretty early and wanted to speak with Damian in private. It seemed like he had something on his mind.

They met at the conference table. It was just the two of them.

"I noticed you’ve managed to mask your scent, and I’m pretty sure you can change your appearance too," Leo said. "You somehow learned my S-rank demon friend’s ability, didn’t you? You can admit it."

Damian had already expected Leo to figure out what he’d done. Still, in this situation, it was better for Leo to know than for Damian to be unable to hide from Lion Beast.

"You could say I did. But why are you bringing this up?" Damian asked.

Leo looked thoughtful, like he had a plan in mind.

"What do you think about infiltrating a Hunter academy? Recruitment is starting soon, and you’re the best candidate for the job," Leo said.

The sudden change of plans caught Damian off guard. He frowned and asked, "And why do you think that? Can you give me good reasons?"

"Of course I can," Leo said with a smile. "You can disguise yourself even better than my demon friend. Those academies have scanners that can detect demons no matter how well they hide. But you could slip in without being noticed."

"That way, you could infiltrate the academy for me—and at the same time, get away from that SS-rank Hunter and have a bit of peace. After all, the Hunter academy is pretty far from here."

The idea seemed interesting. Damian would be safe from Lion Beast and, at the same time, learn useful things at the Hunter academy.

Now, with his new ability, he could modify his aura. That meant the lack of visible mana around his body could be fixed. He’d be able to infiltrate without any problem.

"Not to mention that demon-hunting missions are common during your time at the academy," Leo said. "That way, you’ll be able to collect more demon parts. What do you think?"

"And what exactly do you want me to do in there?" Damian asked.

"Find out whatever you can about the dimensional portals that were discovered—and the dungeons. We demons haven’t been able to get close enough to learn anything. The hunters are guarding that information with everything they have."

Damian had no idea what those dimensional portals or dungeons even were. It seemed like the kind of info so secret that only a few people knew about it. Nothing had ever been shown on TV, and no one had talked about it at the Hunter company where Damian worked.

The offer sounded good.

"Also, they have a cleaner job at the academy," Leo added. "I figured that might appeal to you, since you seem to enjoy it."

Without thinking too much, Damian decided to accept the offer. He had no idea if giving information about dungeons or portals to demons would end up being a huge threat to humanity—but he needed to think about the benefits he was gaining.

"I think I’ll accept. But what about my apartment and the café meetings?" Damian asked.

"You can leave the academy on weekends," Leo said. "But like I said, the academy is far from here. You’ll have to travel back, though with your current power level, teleporting shouldn’t be too hard."

Well, that would definitely be a problem for Damian. He’d have to figure out a way to travel quickly, and soon. Luckily, Leo had mentioned that the recruitment would begin in a week.

After that conversation, they had the meeting. This time, it was different. The demon groups present weren’t enemies. Everyone was united now, since the situation had gotten worse for them.

They talked about Lion Beast, other S and SS-rank hunters that would be coming to the city, and also about Damian, who would infiltrate the Hunter academy for them.

When the demons heard that, they were thrilled. They looked at Damian with deep respect and reverence.

"You’re already part of the family," one of the demons said. "If you manage to get us information, we’ll do everything we can to help you with anything you need."

Damian’s fate had taken a new turn in just a matter of days. He now had to infiltrate a Hunter academy.

But to be honest, he liked the idea. It would be a great way to get his hands on more demon parts—after all, demon-hunting missions were frequent.

Not to mention, he’d be safe from Lion Beast.

Damian was excited about the idea.