“Yeah?" Amelia laughed.

When Nel looked at her in confusion, she elaborated. “Before you came, there were two hunters who saw us. But none of them came to my rescue.”

Nel didn't know what to say. He wasn’t aware that she had met other hunters before him and that none had extended a helping hand. Instead of speaking, he looked down.

“Honestly, I don’t blame them.” Amelia chuckled to herself.

Nel looked at her with a raised eyebrow. The girl shrugged her shoulders in response. “It’s true.” She smiled. “If I had been in their shoes, I might have done the same. "In a dungeon, everyone is responsible for their own self.” Amelia looked over as she said this. “Isn’t that the first lesson we learned as a hunter, Nel!?”

“I guess I’m terrible at remembering things.” Nel joked, making Amelia laugh. She shook her head from side to side.

Silence reigned between them as both stared at the busy street while lost in their own thoughts. A few minutes later, Amelia cleared her throat to attract Nel’s attention.

“Do you know why that man tried to kill me?” She asked as a strange emotion flashed in her eyes. Without waiting for Nel’s response, she continued, “I saw them killing people. Hunters. Our hunters.”

Nel’s eyes widened as his mouth hung open.

Amelia rested her chin on her knees while wrapping her hands around her legs.

Her story continued.

“They beheaded the corpses and gathered them in one place, inside a strangely drawn circle.” Her voice cracked. “I was so scared. They are barbaric! I’m still having nightmares.”

Nel remained silent, not knowing what to say. His own blood was boiling.

“Those bastards! They’ve gone too far!” A throaty growl came out of his mouth. Nel clenched his fist as his fingers dug into his palm.

These foreigners were treating them, locals, like pushovers. They were doing whatever they wished.

“Have you reported this to HA?” Nel asked. His voice took a frosty tone.

“I did.” Amelia sighed. “But, they made me swear not to spread it.”

“...”

Nel was left speechless. His eyes twitched as he suddenly recalled the things Kove said. The HA of their town was being pressured by top officials of HA. Even if they wanted to, they couldn’t do anything.

In a way, their hands are tied.

As long as they followed the rule and kept things limited to dungeons, they’d remain legally untouchable.

“This is—hmm!?” Nel stopped talking and looked at his front. His eyes widened while his heartbeat sped up.

Across the road, on the opposite side, a burly man stood with his hands inside his pockets. Nel couldn't see his face as it was hidden by his hoodie.

He was the man who had beaten the shit out of him.

“Shit!” He cursed under his breath and stood up, ready to make a run for it. Grabbing Amelia’s hands, he dragged her as they disappeared into the crowd.

“What are you doing? Hey! Nel, why are we running?” Amelia creased her brows, but she let herself be dragged by him.

She had a sliver amount of trust in him. At least, in her heart, Nel wouldn’t do anything to bring her harm.

“I’m being followed,” Nel said.

Amelia gasped, then whipped her head to the behind. She didn't see anyone there.

Swoosh!

Suddenly, Amelia’s ears perked up at a faint whistling sound. It was like something sharp cutting through the air as it came their way.

“Nel!” She screamed, pushing herself to his back and tripping him.

Unable to maintain his balance due to unexpected assault, he fell face first with Amelia on top.

Swoosh! Thud!

“Shit!” Nel cursed as an obsidian arrow struck the road next to his head. Spiderweb cracks spread out on the concrete with the arrow as the epicenter.

“What!?”

“Hey! What’s your problem?”

“Take your fights to your home. Idiot couple!”

“Careful! He has a weapon! He is a hunter!”

People showed displeasure as Nel and Amelia knocked into a few pedestrians as they fell. Some tumbled to the ground. The curses were from them.

Some recognized his status due to his spear and quickly scurried away.

Pissing off a hunter is the last mistake they’d ever dare to do.

The crowd parted around them like how a rock parts sea.

Nel narrowed his eyes. Those guys really dared to attack in the open. They were completely ignoring the warnings by HA.

“Nel! What is happening?” Amelia asked as her voice trembled. “Someone attacked us in the middle of the road!”

“I know.” Nel gently pushed her off him. “Amelia, there is something I haven’t told you. I don’t have time anymore. Please do me a favor and rush to HA.”

“Wha-? What do you mean?” The girl stammered. She looked at Nel’s broad back as he stood up under the pointy stare of others around him.

Her eyes traveled to the black arrow lodged butt-deep in the concrete. Her breath hitched at the sight of it.

She was not a naive girl who doesn’t understand the gravity of the situation. The last time was just a special circumstance, after all.

Narrowing her eyes, she stood up and dusted her ass. “What do you want me to do?”

Nel smiled. The girl knew her priority and wasn't acting as dumb as she was back then. It earned some points in his book.

“Search for a man named Klaus Lanus and tell him everything happened just now,” Nel said as he kept walking away.

Complicated feelings surged inside Amelia’s heart as Nel’s form melted into the crowd. She wanted to help.

Nel saved her back then, so she wanted to repay the favor. However, after watching the arrow and how silently it approached them, she understood she would be a hindrance.

Instead of helping him, she might put him at further risk.

It’d be better to help him in the way she can. Following Nel’s footsteps, she took advantage of the crowd and disappeared.

XXX

“Should I follow her?” Sixteen whispered to herself as she watched Nel and Amelia disappearing from the top of a building. Her sharp eyes were following after Amelia like a hawk.

The two steel bells she wore on her left ear chinked as they vibrated suddenly. However, a man’s voice came out instead of the bells’ chimes. “No. Stick to him.”

Sixteen narrowed her eyes towards the endless waves of people panning the streets.

“She might be useful.” She argued. “We need to keep him away from entering dungeons.”

“That girl is useless. I did a full background check on this guy. She is not among the ones who are his friends or acquaintances.”

“... okay.” Sixteen said in a subdued tone before going silent.

“Lure him somewhere deserted.”

“Got it.”

The sound stopped coming from her earrings. Sixteen narrowed her eyes, feeling conflicted. She stared in the direction Amelia runoff for one last glance before hopping to a different building.

However, she had an inkling in her heart that she shouldn't ignore her. She had gained a keen sense of things after living her life on a knife-edge for so long.

She took out an old and rusty compass from her pocket. The needle fluctuated wildly before stopping while pointing towards the north-eastern direction from where she stood.

Exercising her nimble legs, Sixteen hopped from one building to another as she followed the trail left behind by Nel.

A dark and cold mana beacon fluctuating at fixed intervals. The compass was an artifact capable of capturing that beacon.

She applied a sliver of mana into her earring.

“What is it?” The man’s voice came after a few seconds.

“I think he is moving towards the 5-star dungeon.” Sixteen informed, leaping over the billboard of a restaurant.

“Got it! I’ll intercept him.”