CHAPTER 78: CHAPTER 0079: HUNTING 2

A few hours slipped by unabashedly.

Modret quietly walked out of the research office and flapped his wings, heading into the skies.

’For the last target...’

Before the members of the Axarel family realized what was happening, Modret had already eliminated four of them—only one remained.

If his guess wasn’t wrong, by now Axel should have completed his own mission to eliminate the other four.

The whole city was quiet; however, no one could have expected the tumultuous situation occurring beneath the surface.

A faint smile tugged at Modret’s lips as he increased his pace.

The last person wasn’t difficult to find, and Modret didn’t need to be as cautious since he was located outside the city.

He had taken the longest for his shadow servant to locate, because of his unique movement ability that enabled him to blend into trees for a limited amount of time.

Modret headed up into a thick fog of cloud, using it to obscure his body from the humans down below so no one would notice anything suspicious. Then, gradually, after leaving the city, he flew out of the clouds and silently began scanning the forest.

His eyes swept over every tree he could spot, and using his enhanced vision, he was able to scan a wide range of them.

His gaze continued to move through the trees, not pausing in the slightest no matter how much time passed.

’This is really too difficult.’ Modret frowned internally and continued spying like a silent assassin waiting for his prey.

Time dragged on slowly, and soon Modret couldn’t wait anymore. Impatience gnawed at his heart, and shaking his head wryly, he raised his hand midair.

Then—

Black flames poured out like a fountain onto the trees...

The terrifying Null Flames seemed as though they had encountered their worst nemesis, and they burned fiercer than ever—turning more than twenty trees to ash within a few seconds.

Modret flapped his wings, weaving silently through the trees and pouring out more flames.

At that moment, he heard a gasping noise, causing a smirk to play on his lips.

’Bingo!’ Modret thought internally, then without hesitation, flew in that direction.

Reaching the spot, he saw a man with third-degree burns quietly gasping for breath as he struggled to crawl away from the trees.

’What a flawed ability.’ Modret felt slight pity for the man, but the movement of his raised right hand didn’t pause.

"You—Modret!!!" the man managed to mutter through clenched teeth upon seeing the black flames surrounding him.

"Yeah... me—Modret."

At those words, a mass of black fire surged silently, engulfing the man whole and burning him to ashes.

The black flames that had threatened to turn the forest barren retreated into Modret’s body, and he couldn’t help but marvel at the destruction he had caused.

More than half of the land was darkened, and ashes drifted about, making the forest seem like a deserted place.

’Damn.’ Modret didn’t take the time to admire the beauty of his destructive might.

Since he was done with everything for now, it was best to head back to the inn and likely visit the black market to plan their next course of action.

Thinking of seeing the blind girl again, a strange feeling surged in Modret’s heart, and subconsciously, a smile bloomed on his face.

’What?’ Modret was shocked by his own reaction.

’There’s nothing to smile about... this time, I’ll teach her a lesson for scamming me!’

With that in mind, Modret disappeared into the clouds.

...

A few minutes after Modret had left, five figures appeared at the location of the attack.

The one in front—a slender lady who looked to be in her early thirties, with a beautiful appearance and a pair of dark glasses covering her eyes—stared intently at the scene.

Draped around her shoulders was a black fur coat that radiated the aura of a seasoned expert.

She took two steps forward, then reached down and grabbed a handful of ashes.

"I can sense the peculiarities of a unique flame—Modret!!!"

Her expression remained unchanged, and even her tone sounded casual.

"Master, I can’t reach the others as well," the panicked voice of a man in his twenties rang out.

The lady nodded, looking as though she had expected it. "He likely eliminated everyone before finally killing Karic. After Karic alerted us, we still arrived late despite coming almost immediately."

She raised her gaze to scan the destruction in the forest. "Modret, is this how much strength you’ve obtained in such a short time?"

Her tone sounded playful—almost amused.

Another lady behind her intoned, "Master, then... do you mean the others are dead?"

The lady nodded casually. "It’s a mistake on my part. I thought everyone could hold him for some time, but he has truly grown stronger..."

Everyone fell silent, staring at the lady and waiting for her to decide their next course of action.

"This is good. At least we know he’s still within the city, and... he’s still as impulsive as a child."

After she finished speaking, she turned to a slightly pale man with freckles on his face.

"Take us back to the Axarel manor. I need to get something. Then we’ll come back and deal with him..."

"Yes, Lord!" The man bowed respectfully, and faint silvery light spread toward everyone as they vanished.

...

Unaware of what had transpired, Modret returned calmly to the inn.

Following the back door, he slipped silently into his room, removing his mask.

Sitting at the bedside table was Axel, seemingly lost in deep thought.

"Anything bothering you?" Modret walked up to him.

"No, young master." Shaking off his dazed expression, Axel answered quietly.

"Did you completely deal with them?"

Axel nodded.

"I made sure not to leave any traces."

"That’s good."

After a brief silence, he continued, "It’s still early. Let’s head to the black market. I want to talk to the blind lady to confirm that all the troubles are... eliminated for now."

Modret decided internally.

Axel remained staring at him, causing Modret to turn his gaze away and fall onto the bed.

His muscles ached.

"I’ll recover my mana for a bit before we go to the black market."

"Alright..."

Axel agreed as he watched Modret enter a state of mana recovery.