CHAPTER 179: [SUSPICIOUS ELI]

"This was your better idea?" Caelen asked, his voice cutting through the damp quiet as he stepped over the trunk of a fallen tree—its bark split and still smoking from earlier combat.

The air hung heavy with the scent of ozone and charred wood.

Branches jutted like broken ribs from the forest floor, and with every step, the ground groaned beneath the weight of destruction.

The deeper they went, the darker it became—mist swallowing the faint shafts of light that managed to pierce through.

"I’m sorry to agree with him, Captain..." Mio said, breath uneven as he followed close behind Kairo. His threads flickered faintly around his fingers, useless now but restless. "But... is this really where Eli would go?"

Kairo didn’t answer right away. He could hear Mel and Zaira struggling to keep up behind them, pushing past splintered branches the size of pillars.

"Looking for the SS-Class boss that we know nothing about," Arman muttered beside Caelen, "except that it’s the size of a damn building, longer than a train, and can electrocute us in one hit?" He snorted. "Great plan."

Kairo’s expression didn’t waver, though the corner of his jaw ticked. "If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Eli," he said evenly, "it’s that he’s insane."

"Captain?" Mel asked from behind, voice tentative. "That’s a little much, don’t you think? He’s just been stressed—"

"I do not mean it as an insult." Kairo’s tone softened slightly, though the weight behind it remained. "He does what he must to succeed. Even if it means putting himself in danger."

’Even if it kills him.’

Kairo didn’t say it out loud, but the thought lodged deep.

Eli’s recklessness wasn’t born of arrogance—it was something else. Something desperate. Something that looked too much like resignation.

As if he never had a choice on any of the actions he’s done.

He exhaled slowly. "I made a sword because he forced himself to bleed—even when I’d already restrained him."

"You restrained him?" Jabby blurted out, raising an eyebrow. "Why would you tie him up? Isn’t that—"

"Oh, please." Mel shot her a look. "You literally kidnapped him."

"Only because we had to!"

’They had to? Bullshit.’

"And our captain had to bind him," Mel countered. "We were dealing with a mind-controlling S-Class octopus monster, remember? It wasn’t a date, Jabby."

Kairo’s lips pressed into a thin line.

He didn’t rise to the bait.

But from the corner of his eye, he caught Caelen’s amused look—the faint, dangerous gleam that always meant trouble.

"A monster that controls minds," Caelen said, raising a brow, his tone too casual. "Interesting."

Kairo’s fingers tightened around his sword hilt. ’Of course you’d think it is.’

He didn’t need to look to know what that expression meant. Caelen was intrigued—not because of the danger, but because it was something new to conquer.

Kairo knew him too well.

To Caelen, everything was a challenge.

A puzzle to solve. A record to beat. And if Eli had been part of a battle Kairo’s team won, then Caelen wouldn’t rest until he had one that was bigger, bloodier, or more impressive.

But that wasn’t what this was about.

Kairo’s gaze flicked toward him, sharp. The faint crackle of red mana in Caelen’s aura didn’t help his irritation. ’You see this as another contest, don’t you?’

He turned away before he said something he’d regret. "Stay focused. We’re not here to compete."

Caelen’s smirk didn’t fade—it only deepened, quiet and sharp. "I wasn’t aware we were," he said smoothly. "We simply came here to help."

Kairo didn’t even bother looking at him. His jaw tightened. ’You lying bastard.’

He remembered that dungeon—the one Eli and Caelen had entered together months ago. Two hunters.

One mission. One report.

And one survivor, no, the hero carrying out the other out, barely breathing.

No one ever explained what happened down there. Not Caelen, not the Association. Not even Eli, who brushed it off like it was nothing.

But Kairo had seen the data logs—Eli’s vitals had spiked, dropping from normal to near-death levels within seconds, right before Caelen emerged with him in his arms.

And now they were here again. Another impossible dungeon. Another chaos-filled mess. And, as if on cue, Caelen’s entire team "just happened" to appear inside it too.

The timing was too precise.

Too deliberate.

Too convenient.

Kairo forced the thought down, focusing on the path ahead. He couldn’t afford distractions. Not when Eli was missing—possibly hurt.

Possibly worse.

For now, he had to trust the enemy beside him.

For now.

He glanced through the fog ahead.

The air shimmered faintly with static, the ground trembling in short bursts like something massive had passed through recently.

"Keep moving," he ordered, voice low but controlled. "The serpent’s trail ends somewhere near this direction."

His grip tightened on his sword, knuckles white as bloodlight flickered faintly along the blade’s edge.

They moved in silence for several minutes. The deeper they went, the quieter it became—no wind, no insects, no life.

Only the sound of crunching bark beneath their boots, the occasional snap of a branch, and the echo of their breathing.

The forest felt wrong.

Ancient, heavy, suffocating. The colossal trees towered endlessly above, their roots coiling like veins across the ground.

Shafts of pale light cut through the mist, faint and cold, painting everything in ghostly hues.

Still no sign of Eli.

Not even a mana echo.

Kairo felt it first—the doubt.

The creeping weight that sank into his stomach like ice.

He pushed forward anyway.

But Caelen noticed.

Of course he did.

Kairo caught the whisper—Caelen leaning toward Punzo, his voice low, conversational. Then came the comments.

"Can a small hunter like Eli even get through this terrain without us catching up?"

"Eli’s rich, right? Maybe he already bailed. Found a safer route and left us to rot here."

"Feels like we’re just wasting time."

The remarks were quiet, but deliberate. Meant to reach him.

Zaira shot them a glare. "You’re wasting oxygen," she muttered, her tone sharp.

Mel crossed his arms, voice low but edged. "Say another word and I’ll make sure you don’t catch up."

Mio sighed quietly beside Kairo, tension creeping into his movements. He glanced up at him—measured, calculating.

And then, softly, as if trying to shift the focus—

"Captain," Mio said, voice barely above a whisper. "Earlier... before they showed up—Eli was counting, wasn’t he?"

Kairo’s brows furrowed.

"Counting?"

"Yeah." Mio nodded slightly. "He said something like... ’Three. Two. One.’" He hesitated. "It’s been bugging me. I didn’t think about it then, but... he seemed sure something was about to happen."

Kairo stilled.

He remembered it now—the faint murmur under Eli’s breath just before everything went to hell. The way his expression had shifted—fear fading into strange, almost reckless anticipation.

’Three. Two. One.’

And then—Caelen had appeared with his team.

Kairo exhaled slowly, the realization sinking deep. "He was expecting something," he said quietly.

Mio frowned. "You think he knew they were coming?"

Kairo’s eyes flicked toward Caelen, who was walking a few paces ahead, his posture casual, but his aura restless—like a coiled serpent itself.

"I don’t know," Kairo murmured. "But if he did..." His gaze hardened. "...then the question is...how?"

Because Caelen’s arrival hadn’t been salvation.

It had been disruption.

Chaos.

And whether Kairo wanted to admit it or not... it had also been a lifeline.

Without Caelen, they might all be dead by now.

He hated that truth most of all.

But enough about that.

’Come to think of it...’ Kairo frowned, his brows drawing together as they walked through the darkened path between the colossal trees.

The silence around them was almost unnatural—thick, like the air itself didn’t want to carry sound. ’Eli said something before. Something that stuck with me...’

He remembered now—Eli’s offhand comment, spoken too casually to be an accident.

Something about a friend—someone supposedly trapped inside the S-Class dungeon that had exploded months ago.

A dungeon that should have been sealed. A dungeon no one but the highest-ranking Hunters even knew existed.

Kairo’s steps slowed slightly, his sword hand tightening against his side. ’That dungeon was under classified restriction. Even Association staff didn’t have access to that report. How did he...?’

His chest tightened. Every memory of Eli’s strange behavior began to stack like puzzle pieces—small, disconnected things that now felt heavier when placed together.

How Eli always seemed to know when things would go wrong.How he moved through dungeons like he’d seen them before.How he spoke about Hunters and abilities with precision far beyond what a B-Class should’ve known.

At first, Kairo had chalked it up to intuition—to the strange way Eli analyzed people, how he seemed to feel danger before it happened. But now...

’Was it intuition... or something else?’

Maybe he was overthinking. Maybe it was exhaustion—the electric sting still in his veins from the serpent’s attack, the ache behind his eyes.

But maybe not.

He exhaled slowly, eyes narrowing. ’No one with his background should have been this competent.’

A high school dropout. A spoiled heir. A boy raised in comfort and luxury, with no reason to ever pick up a blade—yet here he was, surviving what most S-Class teams couldn’t.

And that file—his official record—it didn’t match the person Kairo saw in the field. His grades, his medical history, his training logs—none of it aligned with the way he fought or reacted under pressure.

It was like the Eli in the system and the Eli standing beside him were two different people.

He shook his head once, forcing the thought away. Maybe it really was just bias—people hated rich Hunters, especially ones who hadn’t "earned" their place. Nepotism was a curse in their world.

Kairo knew that better than anyone. He was living proof of it.

Still...

’When I see him again,’ Kairo thought, exhaling through his nose, ’he’s not getting away without answers.’

He glanced ahead, the fog curling like smoke through the path, and caught movement from the corner of his eye.

Caelen.

The bastard was watching him again—eyes narrowed, unreadable, the faintest smirk ghosting his lips like he already knew what Kairo was thinking.

Kairo sighed, his patience thinning. ’What now? What is this bastard up to?’