-Vol 5: A New Life-

-Monsters in Hoards(1)-

Kenshin jumped over the wheelhouse to look for other areas where hunters gathered. Although the boat was huge, it was still modeled like a tugboat. The back side was extremely long while the front side only contained the main room, the engine room, and a basement. While he was searching for the girl, he had already arrived at the front part of the boat, since he didn’t want to go inside the chambers since normal hunters weren't allowed there, he just jumped up and using the various rails as a pivot to climb atop the wheelhouse. Just when he stepped into it, his eyes landed on the vast ocean ahead of him.

Although it was night time, and the only illumination had been the bright moon hung on the sky, Kenshin still could see everything clearly from his spot. He began thinking about his past as well as his unknown future, his mood changed into that of somberness. It was during that time, he suddenly felt like being stared at. His senses were very accurate, even if someone was looking at him from a kilometer away, he could still feel it. Looking down, he found two old men, holding a beer bottle each, were looking at him with astonishment.

Feeling a little odd standing at a higher position where elders stood below, he jumped down and landed gracefully near the two old men. After having a closer look, he recognized one to be the captain of the boat, but for the other, he didn’t saw him when they were introduced to them before the ship left the shore. Bowing politely he looked at them and said “Hello! My name is Kenshin Muto, nice to meet you.”

The old captain was the first to regain his composure, smiling brightly, he shook his captain cap and said “Haha! Brat, you really are something. Nice to meet you too.” The old man praised him, but Kenshin was unsure why? What did he do to receive such praise from him? Before he could voice it out, the other old man continued “We have felt you fighting with that huge creature. Your power is astonishing.” The old man’s deep voice made Kenshin very surprised. He felt a trace of Intent mixed into it, making the listener more docile. But to Kenshin was no more than just an itch in the ear, but still, he was quite startled at this old man’s power. He must definitely be a hidden power, sent by DCB to not let the situation go out of hand.

‘It seems I am still not fully aware of Yuki’s methods.’ Kenshin shook his head and looked at the old men before pulling out his phone from his shirt pocket. Pulling out the image sent by Suguro, he showed it to the two old men. Then he started to speak “Captain, did you see this girl? Is she in this boat or the other?”

When the old captain saw the picture on the phone, he couldn't help but take a deep breath. Suddenly the jest in his eyes vanished as a cold look surfaced. A formless aura exploded from him, sending ripples in the water below the boat. Looking at Kenshin, he started to speak coldly “Why are you looking for her? who are you?”

At first, Kenshin was a little startled when he felt the old man exploding with such mighty and bloodthirsty aura. Such dense aura would form unless the person killed many monsters and had gone through many life and death battles. For such a character to become a normal boat’s captain, Kenshin felt this old man must have a story to tell. But his threatening was just out of his expectations, that reaction after seeing that girl's photo was also absolutely out of imagination.

‘What relation did this old man have with this girl? Even so, did this old man thinking of me as a pushover?’ Kenshin activated his [King’s Presence] fueled with his semi manifested Intent. Suddenly a red aura exploded out of Kenshin’s body, taking the form of a red flame that covered his whole body. A pressure that was many times greater than what this old man just let out came out raving everything around him. Even the boat’s metallic body was unable to endure it, bending and deforming every second. Of course, Kenshin didn’t use his full Intent or the full force of his [King’s Presence]. His full force attack of those two would have thrown sent the old man into the water in front.

“Old man, cool your head first. At this age, such anger isn't good for health.” Kenshin said calmly, but his attention was fully focussed on the other old man who was sitting calmly all along, even when Kenshin used his Intent and skill. Kenshin knew his skills well, for him to totally shrug off his [King’s Presence] like that would mean, his WIL must be higher than his. Kenshin’s own WIL had already surpassed 700, for this man to have WIL greater that means his level must be higher than 150. Why would such a man tag along in a low-level mission like this?

“Old man, sit down and listen to him first. I don’t think he is a bad person.” The other old man acted naturally as if there wasn’t a heavy pressure crushing everything around. He put his arm on the captain’s shoulders and pulled him to ground, making him sit and transferred some of his energy to help him endure Kenshin’s pressure. After that, he looked at Kenshin in the eye and spoke: “Boy, I think that would enough for a show of power.” As if something compelled him, Kenshin felt like he should stop his pressure. Shaking his head to clear out that compelling force, he stopped the pressure, but he looked a bit more warily at the other old man. Just now he had forced him, someone with WIL above 700, to bend to his wishes just form a few words.

Although he ultimately failed, it also spoke volumes about his WIL and his corresponding level. Kenshin had an urge, so he activated his system to scan the old man;

[Hachiouji Daisuke][Human]

[Level ??]

[HP: ??][MP?]

[ATK?? DEF?? WIL?? PHY?? AGI?? INT?? WIS??]

[Skills]

??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???

…

The list was extended until ending at number 32. Kenshin felt like his world was flipped upside down. It was his first time seeing someone having that many skills. Even back in the north, those top existence who had come to fight didn’t have that many skills at their disposal. Although he hadn't seen everyone’s stats back then, just how many he had seen, no one had this many skills. Generally, hunters choose to master what skill they had to absolute limit…one reason it was because they didn’t know how to awaken skills that what naturally awakened. But to see someone other than him having this many skills, it was really an eye-opener for Kenshin.

‘This old man must be a very terrifying hunter. There was a possibility that he had surpassed level 200. What is such a legend doing here?’ just as he was about to observe him more, a sudden shout coming from the back of the boat startled him and the two old men.

“Monsters! Sea monsters attacking!!”