Chapter 67: Message

A post was made on Heartland Nation Hunters Association main social media accounts and in just a few minutes, its topic took over both the online and physical world.Major news channels all over Arden picked up the information and made it their headlines, helping the hunter association spread the good news to everyone who was still stuck to their television, awaiting news.

And in barely an hour after it spread, the entire world burst into noise again — but this time it was the sound of celebration, even louder and wilder than during the competition.

"The Great Seeker has returned!"

"No threat would dare raise its head again with his return!"

"Finally... the Lunaris are finished!"

"Hunt those purple, amphibian-like aliens down and burn their world to ashes!"

"Slay those purple, amphibian-looking aliens and burn their world to the ground!"

"Mom, Dad... we’re safe again."

Those were the types of words that spread across every crowded street.

Relief and delight washed away the previous worries and dread.

===

The Heartland Nation Hunters Association headquarters was a tall and magnificent building in the middle of Greenwood Haven, a large city inside Heartland Nation known to house most of the influential personnel because of how secure it was.

At the moment, Crimson Sterling sat calmly in her office and scrolled through plenty of videos posted online by happy citizens rejoicing about the defeat of the threats.

Her red hair fluttered gently with the wind circulating in the spacious office as her eyes switched through different reactions in the videos.

For one, she was glad that people could now relax and live without fear of the Lunaris ever attacking them, but at the same time she was also depressed about the state of her brother.

According to the doctors and healers at the hospital, they claimed the damage he had taken was more than any of them had ever seen.

They even called in a B-rank healer, Melody, who is the strongest healer in the entire Arden, and her response was the same: the damage was simply too severe.

Melody reported that it would take an estimate of at least three months for him to fully recover since he has an S-rank physique. Nonetheless, if he were anyone lower, they would definitely not recover from such damage.

Crimson sighed loudly.

"Brother... please recover quickly," she muttered as she turned off the monitor.

But just before she could relax, the door of the room was flung open and a young lady dressed in a suit ran in holding a tablet.

"Lady Crimson, there is something you’ve to see," the secretary said with a panicky voice as she brought the tablet in front of Crimson.

Crimson frowned as she observed what was displayed on the screen and immediately her eyes widened.

She stood up with a stern look on her face. "Prepare a helicopter immediately."

The secretary nodded quickly and ran out of the room, leaving only Crimson with her confused thoughts.

===

It was late afternoon, barely four hours after the great battle ended, and at the moment the ruined area was filled with a lot of heavy tractors and people — mostly engineers, cameramen, and reporters.

The engineers could be seen noting details on their tabs and giving instructions to the tractor operators while the media crew strolled around capturing the event and broadcasting it for interested viewers to see.

There were also squads of strong hunters stationed for the main purpose of protection. But not from monsters, instead they were here to prevent dark hunters from hurting or abducting the workers.

Except for the noise of moving tractors, reporters, and the discussion between the engineers, the area was mostly peaceful.

Nonetheless, at a certain area a group of people were gathered with worried and puzzled expressions as they observed something in the middle.

It was a writing on the ground.

But not any ordinary one. It was a threat.

—YOU HUMANS WILL PAY!—

Those were the exact words written, but that wasn’t the only thing that made the people worried.

It was what it was written with.

Lying dead beside the writing was a young girl around the age of six or so, wearing a white dress now stained with her own blood.

Her chest had been split open and her heart dug out. The blood used for the writing came from her, precisely, it was her heart that had been used.

It was a gory sight.

Those who could afford to stare at it did so with moistened eyes, their hands covering their mouths to hold back the sounds of their crying.

Some — the few reporters and cameramen who were not used to such scenes — had started to throw up.

Only the hunters managed to do neither but their expressions were stoic and grave.

Thanks to them, no one had captured or broadcast the scene for the world to see, as they did not want people to panic right after experiencing relief.

For the moment, they awaited an important figure who was already on her way.

A few minutes later, a helicopter flew toward the scene and hovered above them.

Crimson, now wearing a neat black dress, floated from the aircraft and descended upon the scene gradually.

Once she landed, the crowd cleared a path for her and she strode to the front where the gore lay bare.

Her expression was cold and grave.

Her gaze lingered on the corpse, studying the grave wound until her face grew even colder, then she observed the writing.

—YOU HUMANS WOULD PAY—

It was easy to know the perpetrator — the missing Lunaris youngling, the same one they had been looking for earlier.

And more importantly, the exact spot of the writing and the corpse was the place she had stood when she activated her special vision to search for him.

’He is not only alive, but he saw us searching for him earlier. How did he avoid my sight?’ she wondered with a frown.

"Lady Crimson, what should we do about this?" one of the hunters asked, and others followed.

"Take care of the corpse and wipe this off the ground for now. I’ll report the matter to the investigative board and they will look deeper into it," she responded calmly, though her expression was not.

Then she turned to the workers who were looking at her with awe.

"I’m counting on every one of you to keep this to yourselves... understood?" she said, her voice cold and stern.

Just like the hunters, she could not allow news of this to get out.

The cameramen and reporters nodded immediately.

Crimson flashed them a small smile and then returned her gaze to the spot with a deep frown.

’This is going to be troublesome,’ she thought.

So far, no one had managed to escape her sight, this Lunaris was the first.

She had observed all the Lunaris representatives earlier and their strength was measly compared to hers, so it couldn’t be that the perpetrator was much stronger than her to avoid her scan.


Only one thing explained it — a special ability.

’That was it...’

Someone with the ability to make her skill useless was definitely not ordinary.

She did not need a prophet to tell her that this person would cause a lot of trouble.

But she was not afraid of trouble.

As the one who now headed the hunter association at the absent of Norian, she swore to herself to do everything possible to catch the bastard before he hurts more people.