-Vol 5: A New Life-

-A Familiar Enemy-

5 days ago, at night in his room.

“Who exactly are they?” Kenshin asked, looking at Axel sitting next to him.

“I don’t know. I only remember living inside a glass room with many old men in white suits looking at me every time. Every two hours, they would leak some kind of gas into the room I was in. when I inhale those gases, I would feel pain throughout my body.” Axel said after staying silent for a short time. He shook uncontrollably as if he remembered something terrifying and started to mumble “the pain…it hurts…it hurts…aahhh!!”

“It's okay! It's okay. You are safe now. Nothing will happen to you anymore.” Kenshin hastily took him into his arms and patted his back while embracing him to his chest. The child was indeed traumatized by what happened to him, so much so that, just by remembering those days left him in a shivering mess. Axel calmed down after some time and remained silent. Kenshin also didn’t push this matter any further.

“Okay, then, here. Keep it.” Kenshin handed Axel a square box. Accepting it, he hastily opened it like the kid he was and pulled out a small black object with a red button on the center. Looking at it in puzzlement, he looked at Kenshin and asked: “This is?”

“It’s a signaling device,” Kenshin said, taking the small device from his hand and showing it to him. “When you are in danger like this again, just push this red button, like this.” Kenshin pushed the button in the middle. A red colored led started to blink in the middle of the remote. Then he pulled out another device from his pocket, which was rectangular, like that of a mobile phone.

“This is the receiver. It had a built-in map that would show me where you are. The moment you press that button, someone would come running to save you if I am not around. Okay!” Kenshin returned the remote to Axel, which the latter accepted and inspected even more closely than before curiously.

“Ohh! Can I show this to sister Ellie?” Axel asked with stars shining on his eyes.

“Your wish.” With a smile, tugging on his face, Kenshin watched him running away from him and inside Mrs. Yui’s house. Currently, Axel had made his permanent residence inside her house. It reminded of his days when Akari was also of that age, and before he realized, she grew up and left the nest to face the world on her own.

“Ena!” he called to no one in particular. With a shoosh noise and a gust of wind later, the twin-tailed girl with the hammer appeared standing beside Kenshin.

“Yes, Boss!” she said seriously. Although she was made in the image of mischievous Ellie, her intelligence was higher than her. Ena knew how to read the mood, and when Kenshin was this serious, she didn’t dare to joke around.

“Keep an eye out for those two, okay. When you see something suspicious, take action. Otherwise, don’t reveal yourself, okay!” Kenshin gave the small girl a look. Then he pulled out the receiver from his pocket and handed it to her. “Keep this with you all the time. When you see it making noise, just follow the green arrow that would come out of it. It will take you to the source of the distress signal.”

“Yes, Boss!!” Ellie shouted and pocketed the thing. Then with a salute, she vanished into the inky darkness of the night.

“Z1…Z2 come out.” As he called, two figure silently appeared behind him in kneeling position.

“One of you should keep an eye out for that girl, Ena. As for the other, stay in here and guard the house of my neighbor. Especially the woman whom I call Mrs. Yui. At night, when both Ellie and Axel at home, go to a nearby dungeon and try to clear them up, most importantly, just try to see if you guys can become stronger or not.”

“Yes.” They both whispered. In a flash of light, two cards appeared on Kenshin’s hands. “These are Hunter’s license I have made for you. Use it when you go inside a dungeon. Remember, you both are from a remote place who just recently discovered that you have skills. Say that when someone asks you about your origin. Don’t elaborate anything, always maintain a cold and aloof personality. That would prevent most to pry on your matters.”

“Yes.” The zombies nodded, and with a hand signal from Kenshin, they both vanished like how they appeared.

‘I hope this is enough…sigh!’ Kenshin sighed, looking at the cloudy dark sky as he thought about some unknown matters.

Present Day, inside the Dungeon with Chiba and Joy,

*Plop*

Making a plopping noise, the last Ogre in the open grassland fell down with half of its head encased in ice and littered with countless holes. Some were even deep enough to allow light to pass through them to the other side.

“I leveled up once again,” Chiba shouted enthusiastically. By now, she had already killed 15 ogres and leveled up thrice including this time. She was extremely happy as just in one day, she had gotten stronger nearly three times. Normally, this would have taken her more than six months to accomplish alone, at her normal pace.

“Congrats Kid. Show me what do you got this time?” Joy clapped his hands happily and gave a wink to her. Chiba could only force out a laugh. Checking out the corpse, she found a shining lump of metal and a bottle of blue liquid.

“Hmm! A Mana Potion and a kg of ExoHadron. Nice. Together, they would sell for 10,000G, especially that lump of metal if we find a willing buyer.” Kenshin said, examining the drops. Including this drop, they had already received more than a 100k golds worth of loot. Of course, all of them was going to Chiba’s pocket as she was the one who killed these monsters. Kenshin and Joy had already discussed this among themselves.

“My luck is really good.” Chiba cheered then looked at Kenshin was collecting the loot since the beginning. With a mild blush, she said, “Kenshin, I will give my share of the loot to you today. You have already given me two mana potions…so…”

“Don’t worry about it. Today, all the monsters are killed by you alone, so all the loots would be taken by you alone too. We have discussed this with each other, you don’t need to say anymore. Take the money and get yourself good gears. From henceforth, you would only become stronger, as such, you need to constantly upgrade your items and gears. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Good. Let's go. We will come tomorrow and challenge the second floor of this dungeon.” After that, Kenshin and his team left the dungeon. Joy and Chiba went to their rented hotel, while Kenshin went to the DCB market to register his drops and pay the taxes. While at it, he also wanted to look for a good buyer to sell off all their loots.

Just as he was about to enter the office, suddenly someone knocked over him.

“Ah! I am sorry, I didn’t see where I am going.” a middle-aged man with brown hair smiled and apologized to Kenshin.

“Don’t worry. It's not a problem.” Kenshin waved him off and went inside, but stopped and stared back. It's only a second, but when he looked back, he couldn’t find him anymore. Narrowing his eyes, he looked at the spot for a few seconds, before going inside.

Just as he was about to enter the office, he suddenly had a bad premonition. It was from his [Dragon Sense] which could perceive all the dangers around him. And not long after, he saw a bright ray of light heading towards him at such a speed that it was simply impossible to react.

On instinct, Kenshin activated [Opposites], pushing away everything around him within 5 meters outwards. As the gravity and laws changed within the sphere, everything around Kenshin, including air and ground beneath his feet started to push away from him. The light which was heading for him also caught in the bubble and pushed away from him.

BOOM!!!

With a massive blast, a deep trench of 5 meters deep formed around Kenshin, while on the outside, a conical shaped carter was formed. Its as if something had shaved off the ground with a scoop.

Instantly, the explosion attracted attention. People who were caught in the explosion dug themselves out of the ground and created distance from the ground zero. After all, everyone here was a powerful hunter. These hunters hastily ran away without bothering to check the reason behind the explosion.

As for Kenshin, he had a flabbergasted look plastered on his face when he saw the one who attacked him.

“You!!” Kenshin suddenly felt that this world was really too small.