CHAPTER 343: CHAPTER 343: SMITH AND JIM

"What’s wrong?" Audrey asked confusedly.

She and the other girls couldn’t sense anything. But it was clear from Muku and Raya’s actions that something had definitely happened.

"There’s some human activity around the shark’s corpse. More and more people are gathering around it like they are calling each other over. There seems to be a fairly strong person there as well..." Muku replied.

"Okay, you can go ahead and check. We’ll wait here with Raya" Audrey replied understandingly.

If there was someone Muku categorised as strong. Then that person had to be R5 at least. So if they accompany him, they would only hold him back.

So it was better to let him go alone. It sucked and they wanted to accompany him, but it would be impractical for the time being.

"Okay. I’ll go see what’s up. If they can be reasoned with, I’ll be back before long... And Emily, can you please prepare me some of the best meat you have here? I miss your cooking" Muku spoke as he got up.

Hope didn’t make things hard for him this time as she understood the seriousness of the matter.

"Way ahead of you. I’m already preparing something right now... I’ll tell you about it when you return. Go take care of business already" Emily replied with a smile on her face.

"Sure. See y’all soon" Muku replied then disappeared.

.....

A few kilometres away from the mansion...

"So what do you think boss? That is obviously the body of a R5 beast. And it was killed recently too..." A random soldier in red attire addressed the blond-haired leader.

They stood some distance away from the corpse since even its lingering mana was quite difficult for them to withstand with their R4 or less, strength.

"Hmm. I’m not sure. Let’s wait for Mr Smith’s conclusion. He’s the one who found it and is examining it after all. I doubt it has anything to do with those weaklings we’re after though. The intel says that none of them is even PR4. If they are involved, they were probably the meal of this thing or whatever killed it..." The leader replied.

"Hmm. That makes sense. I hope he’s done soon so that we can leave. I don’t want to be here if the killer decides to come back..." The soldier replied fearfully.

"Tsk. What are you afraid of you wimp? We have Mr Smith here. If that thing does come back, it will just walk into its own death. After all, there’s no way it would be unscathed after fighting this creature" Another soldier butted in disdainfully.

"You idiot! Don’t you ever use your brain? Do you think we’d survive if Mr Smith fought that thing too close to us?" The first soldier replied in a disgusted tone as if looking at the idiot teammate of his made him want to vomit.

"That’s enough you two! Get back into your position before I break your legs... But he’s right though. We wouldn’t want to be here if Mr Smith had to fight a similar rank beast even if it’s wounded" The leader interjected to diffuse the situation before it got too serious.

The soldiers did as they were told quietly. Of course, the soldier the leader supported was happy while the one he didn’t felt salty...

"Look! Mr Smith is coming back!" A random soldier shouted from the crowd.

Honestly, while these people were called soldiers by the organisation. They lacked the discipline soldiers had. This was obvious in actions like randomly talking to their superiors and shouting.

Anyway, the organisation only cared about results. So it didn’t mind if they behaved however they wanted in normal situations as long as it didn’t affect them...

"Mr Smith! Welcome back, sir. Do you have any orders for us?" The leader asked after saluting when Mr Smith landed in front of him.

"Why not just ask what you want to ask Jim? You’re my best friend. You know I don’t care about protocol..." Mr Smith who was a man dressed in a black tuxedo and had his short black hair combed neatly spoke to the leader named Jim with a smile on his face.

"No Mr Smith. We’re at work right now. Our off-work relationship doesn’t matter" Jim refused to budge.

"Tsk. That dutiful personality of yours really annoys me sometimes you know? Would it kill you to be free with me like you’re with your subordinates? I mean, I’m literally your best friend you bastard!" Mr Smith completely broke character as he began cursing Jim out loudly.

The soldiers could feel the frustration in his voice. However, none dared say anything lest their leader punish them for insubordination.

And they had long gotten used to the weird exchange between the two highest-level officers in their group.

"...." Jim refused to say anything more.

"Tsk. Fine. Whatever! Be that way. Just know that you’re treating me after this mission as compensation for this emotional damage" Mr Smith spoke as he grabbed Jim and pulled him closer then began ruffling his hair like an older brother. This was obviously done to make Jim break, but it didn’t work.

"Fine sir. I’ll treat you. But that’s only if you let me go right now" Jim replied as he let Mr Smith ruffle his hair. It wasn’t the first time. So he was completely unmoved.

"Hehe. Great! Anyway, now let me tell you about what I found out from the beast corpse... The way it died is odd to say the very least. I couldn’t sense any other mana apart from its own. I couldn’t even sense any other form of energy for that matter. Which should be impossible considering how mangled its body is. The core was literally ripped out of the chest. Something I’d like to think cannot be done without mana buffs..." Mr Smith spoke a little more seriously than before as he got into official business.

"So why do you think we should do air?" Jim asked seriously.

"I think you should go after that pretty girl back at the headquarters before someone else snatches her away" Mr Smith replied seriously.

His words almost made Jim explode in anger. Like wtf was the bastard saying at such a serious time?! And in front of the soldiers too. Was he trying to ruin his reputation?

Well, that didn’t matter. This bastard Smith won’t ever get a reaction from him no matter what he does!

"Ha! Almost had you there huh?... On a serious note, tell the men to retreat from the corpse and keep on looking. Whatever did this is too eerie and definitely not something we want to mess with. Staying here any longer is no different from risking our lives if the creature decides to come back for the meat" Mr Smith replied seriously this time after a little joke.

What the soldiers didn’t know was that he was mixing in serious information and jokes to keep the soldiers calm. He felt that if he straight-up said it seriously, some might panic too much.

After all, what he revealed should be impossible. A brutal and traceless killer? That was definitely nightmare fuel.

But because of how he presented it, the soldiers didn’t think about it too much.

All except Jim who knew that something had to be wrong since Smith was being a little extra with his actions even if he did things along those lines before...

Of course, he played along and ordered the soldiers to retreat from the area.

They then continued their search after circumventing the corpse without touching it... Well, except for when Mr Smith was examining it. But he didn’t take anything either.

All this happened under Muku’s watchful gaze from a tree top close by.

He was back in his nightmare armour. So of course his presence was completely nonexistent. And after spending so much time in the beast world. Even his gaze was traceless.

He had learned the mysterious art of being able to look at a target with zero intention. His gaze was no different from the one a harmless animal gives a human.

Such a gaze wasn’t something even an Evolver’s evolved sixth sense could sense.

And so, he was able to see the heartwarming interaction between the two friends as well as the hidden meanings.

And honestly, he was impressed by how they could communicate by saying anything like that. There were no real hints at all apart from acting a little extra...

Muku was only able to notice what was going on due to Smith’s slightly off body movements.

Anyway, their interaction almost made him want to leave them alone. And he would have done so too... If they didn’t end up going in the direction of the mansion.

He could rush back and fly it away. But why should he do that when the other side was obviously the aggressor in the situation?

Sure, he didn’t mind letting them go if they missed them... But it seems their clash was unavoidable.

He couldn’t help but feel a little excitement as he realised that he was likely about to have his first ever R5 fight with a human.

With those thoughts swirling in his head. Muku disappeared from his spot.

.....

Somewhere close to the mansion...

"So you’re really not going to talk to me properly until we’re off duty?" Mr Smith went back to troubling Jim again.

"Yeah, Jim! Talk to the man! Do you want him to cry?!" A voice sounded behind Smith who was facing the rest of the soldiers.

"Yeah! Jim. Do you want me to..." Mr Smith instinctively agreed with the voice.

However, he quickly realised that there shouldn’t be anyone behind him. And he also couldn’t sense anyone behind him.

A cold chill went down his spine as he slowly turned around...