CHAPTER 98: CH 98: NEED TO GET RID OF HIM- PART 2

The world practically exploded the moment the official tower raid announcement hit the global networks.

Social media, news stations, and guild forums were inundated with endless streams of speculations, strategies, and wild theories.

The announcement that the first group of elite hunters would enter the tower—and that the raid would be broadcasted live—sent the world into a frenzy.

Everyone, from the smallest hunter associations to the biggest corporations, was talking about the tower.

Reaction videos, strategy breakdowns, and even gambling pools popped up overnight. Every screen was filled with Tower content, and the hype hadn’t even reached its peak yet.

But then, Legion dropped another bomb.

A public statement from the famous, secretive mega-guild shocked the world:

[Mr. X will be officially participating in the tower raid as Legion’s representative and will appear on camera for the first time.]

That sentence changed everything.

Within minutes, the online world was in flames.

Hashtags related to Mr. X trended on every platform, conspiracy threads blew up, and news outlets scrambled to cover the unexpected revelation.

Mr. X had always been a mystery—powerful, elusive, faceless. His identity had been nothing more than a whisper behind powerful deals and unrivaled potions.

And now, the world would finally see him.

Even the other guilds were stunned. None of them had imagined that Legion would unveil their trump card so openly.

In a luxurious penthouse overlooking the upper districts, Lamia Vincent sat with a glass of wine in hand, watching the news with a crooked smile.

"It’s finally time. The ghost steps into the light."

She said to herself, golden eyes gleaming.

Once the owner of the most exclusive auction house in the world, Lamia had lost control after a power struggle following an economic scandal.

But now, with Mr. X making a public appearance, she sensed an opportunity to claw her way back into the game.

She was already thinking of ways to exploit the moment when her phone rang.

Caller ID: Julie Dane.

Lamia raised an eyebrow.

"Well, well."

She picked up.

"Julie."

"Lamia. I assume you’ve seen the news."

"I have. It’s glorious. What are you plotting this time?"

Lamia purred.

Julie’s voice was sharp and focused.

"I need your help taking care of Mr. X. In return, once I reclaim control of the hunter market, you’ll be free to sell anything you want in your auction house—drugs, restricted items, whatever. No interference."

Lamia blinked. That was a tempting offer. Almost too tempting.

"Are you setting a trap for me, Julie?"

"No,"

Julie replied flatly.

"I don’t have time for games. I need you to create a fake, verified Mr. X profile on your old auction network. Use your backdoor systems. Then pretend to be him and break off his alliance with Legion. Cause chaos. Make it look like he betrayed them. If the world sees a rift between Mr. X and Legion, it’ll destabilize their influence and open the tower to everyone else."

Lamia considered the offer, her expression unreadable. She had dealt with Julie before. Ruthless, cold, but never a liar.

That’s why she was dangerous—because when she said she’d burn everything down, she meant it.

"You want to make Legion your enemy over this?"

Lamia asked slowly.

Julie’s voice dropped to a near growl.

"Legion was never my ally. They only tolerated me because they needed my resources. Now, I need them gone. I want to own the tower’s future. Mr. X is the only thing standing in my way."

Lamia twirled the stem of her glass between her fingers.

"And all I have to do is make the world believe Mr. X turned his back on Legion?"

"That’s all. Let the public do the rest."

It sounded simple. Too simple, maybe. But that was what made it effective.

The world already loved a scandal. And without knowing the true relationship between Mr. X and Legion, this deception could work perfectly.

Lamia leaned back in her seat, considering the chaos it would unleash.

"Alright. You’ve got yourself a deal, Julie. Let’s ruin a reputation."

She said finally.

Julie didn’t even say thank you—just hung up, confident it was done.

As Lamia began to prepare the back-end systems of her old auction site, she couldn’t help but feel a thrill of danger.

She was stepping into something far more dangerous than a business rivalry. But the prospect of returning to power, of owning the narrative, was too sweet to ignore.

She and Julie thought they had just set the perfect trap.

But what they didn’t know was that Mr. X had chosen to walk into the spotlight for a reason.

And no trap made without understanding his true nature could ever hope to hold him.

______

Just as Fenrir was about to drift into sleep, his system blared to life with a sharp, shrill alarm.

[INTRUSION DETECTED. BACKDOOR ACCESS ATTEMPTED.]

His eyes snapped open. Fenrir sat up instantly, system interface already pulled into view with a thought.

Strings of code and pulsing red indicators streamed across his screen. His eyes scanned the data, and he quickly pinpointed the source of the issue.

Someone was trying to breach the auction site’s internal handler line—his personal, encrypted connection to the network. Whoever it was, they weren’t just guessing.

They were using deep-level administrative access, the kind only known to a few high-ranking individuals.

Fenrir’s eyes narrowed.

"So... someone from the inside."

He stretched his fingers and cracked his knuckles, then let out a quiet sigh.

"It’s cute that they think they can outmatch me here."

With a few flicks of his fingers across the interface, Fenrir activated the system’s defensive subroutines.

Unlike other users who had to rely on pre-built protection protocols, he controlled the system’s mainframe directly—an advantage no hacker could ever predict.

The attempted break-in slowed for a moment, hesitating as if the intruder sensed a trap. But by then, it was far too late.

"Got you."

Fenrir muttered.

His system flared to life.

Not only did he lock the attacker out with a recursive firewall so complex it spun them in circles, but he also traced the connection back through a bounce path of dummy servers and false VPNs.

The identity popped up within seconds: Lamia Vincent.

Fenrir’s expression didn’t change, but his tone dropped into something colder.

"Ah. The ex-auction queen herself. Should’ve guessed."

He didn’t hesitate. A single command from him, and her access was cut off—not just to the auction site, but to her entire system interface.

Any data tethered to her unique signature was rendered unreadable. Permanently.

Across the city, Lamia Vincent stared at her blacked-out screen. Her breath caught as error message after error message flooded her vision.

[CONNECTION TERMINATED.]

[ACCESS REVOKED.]

[SYSTEM PERMISSIONS: NULL.]

She tried to override the failure, inputting emergency admin codes she hadn’t used in years, but nothing responded.

The entire back-end had been turned against her in an instant.

"No... this isn’t possible."

She whispered.

She stared at the screen, stunned. This was supposed to be her domain. She had built this system. She knew every backdoor and hidden line of code.

Yet tonight, someone had not only found her—he had crushed her.

For the first time in her career, Lamia Vincent felt truly helpless. Because as far as she knew, no one had ever taken control of the mainframe before.

And now she understood—this wasn’t just some hacker.

It was Mr. X.