Ruin Hunter

Heh, doing you a favor?

You think you can just say the word and I'll do it?

Seeing that message left by Gon's unreliable dad, Jing Yang almost laughed. Fine, I'll do it!

"To leave behind a line of writing like this, this Ging Freecss must be an incredibly skilled Nen User, right?" Menchi asked. "Jing Yang, Shizuku, do you know him?"

Shizuku shook her head. "No."

Dago and the others were even more clueless.

Even on websites reserved for Hunters, all one could find on Ging Freecss was a string of question marks. His information was classified as top secret.

As unlicensed amateur Hunters, they had even less chance of knowing anything about Ging.

"Do you know him, Jing Yang?" Shizuku asked. As she lowered her head slightly to look down, the glasses on her nose slipped a little farther, making Jing Yang want to push them back up for her.

Jing Yang said, "Even my grandma knows that a major figure once named him one of the world's five greatest Nen Users."

"He's that amazing?!" Menchi was startled.

"The world's five greatest..." Dago and the others were a little dazed. The idea was simply too distant. Did that mean this Ging Freecss could rank among the top five even amid the countless masters across the world?

Besides that, Ging was also one of the Hunter Association's Twelve Zodiacs, holding the position of "Boar."

Ging was known as the wanderer among the Zodiacs—the sort of unreliable person who spent all day roaming the world and could never be found when something came up. It certainly sounded like the bearing of a true master.

Still, Jing Yang had no reason to tell them that. Did they think information was free?

Jing Yang reminded them, "I'm not planning to provoke someone like that. As for what you decide to do, I have no idea."

He headed farther down the passage. Menchi and Shizuku wholeheartedly agreed and followed after him.

Dago and the others stood frozen behind them for a while. "If you don't want to provoke him, why are you still going deeper? Wait..."

They followed as well.

Jing Yang said speechlessly from up ahead, "I'd like to leave, but why don't you tell me how we're supposed to get out?"

"We can only keep going forward! Besides, we're just taking a look, not randomly touching things. How is that disturbing anyone?"

"Menchi, Shizuku, did you bring your phones? Since we're already here, let's record a vlog to turn in..."

Jing Yang's voice echoed through the empty, ancient tomb chamber.

Part of Jing Yang's attention remained on the outside world.

The night was no longer as deep, and the moonlight had dimmed somewhat.

A cool breeze swept past. A faint sheen of sweat covered Babimayna's forehead as he stared fixedly at the terrifying two-winged bone dragon before him. The powerful, twisted aura emanating from it had every nerve in his body taut.

The bone dragon radiated a terrifying presence. It lowered its head toward Babimayna, but did not attack.

Several Kakin soldiers had gone pale as they faced off tensely against the monster.

As though sniffing their scent, the bone dragon paced around while staring at them from its horrifying, shadowy eye sockets.

Damn it, it's been waiting around forever. Why doesn't it just attack?

Nearby in the woods, Jing Yang, possessing Wu Er among the tiger pack, grumbled inwardly. After he and Shizuku's group had been sent into the ancient tomb by the Divine Characters, that pale ghost had immediately transformed into something resembling an undead dinosaur. It had all the oppressive, savage aura it needed, but why wasn't it making a move?

Babimayna was also hesitating. The bone dragon-like monster before him might be someone's Nen Ability or Nen beast.

Moreover, since the monster had not attacked on its own after all this time, there was a strong chance that it was a counterattack-type ability like his own.

If he attacked rashly, the consequences might be impossible to predict.

But if he continued to hold back, they might remain stuck in this stalemate...

Just as Babimayna made up his mind to at least test it and uncover some information about the monster, several muffled thuds sounded behind him as bodies hit the ground. His pupils contracted. In order to deal with the suddenly appearing bone dragon at full strength, he had long since withdrawn his En. He had not expected someone to take the opportunity to launch a sneak attack.

He darted away and glanced back, somewhat surprised.

"Don't be nervous. I'm not an enemy." The man who had appeared at some unknown point laid the several Kakin soldiers he had knocked unconscious on the ground, then looked up to see Babimayna still fully on guard and smiled. "You don't need to be afraid. Didn't this child say it? Hui Guo Rou must all die. You aren't Hui Guo Rou, so he won't attack you."

He was a dignified, steady-looking middle-aged man with neat blond hair, dark sunglasses, and a suit that did not quite fit the surrounding environment.

Who the hell was this?

Jing Yang, possessing Wu Er, stared in astonishment. He had been watching the entire time, yet he had not noticed how this middle-aged man in a suit had appeared. Was it a teleportation Nen Ability? Or was he simply incredibly fast?

The middle-aged man remained composed. He waved at the ferocious, terrifying two-winged bone dragon. "Shiro, long time no see."

"Hui Guo Rou..." The bone dragon turned its huge head toward him and murmured, "Must die..."

Then it transformed into a mass of white Nen aura and vanished.

Why does he sound like some local earth god? Jing Wu Er silently complained.

Babimayna let out a breath, but did not completely relax his guard. He frowned as he glanced at his subordinates, who had been effortlessly subdued. "Who exactly are you? What you did hardly qualifies as 'not an enemy.'"

"Because they looked like they wanted to beat me up when they saw me, so I just happened to... I have to admit, when it comes to self-restraint, I'm far worse than my teacher."

The blond middle-aged man smiled and extended a hand as though conducting a business negotiation. "Let's get acquainted. I'm Allantrail Blanchette, a one-star Ruin Hunter with the Hunter Association."

"The founder of Blanche Company?"

Babimayna immediately understood. Strictly speaking, he was still on territory under this man's responsibility.

He reached out and shook the other man's hand. "Babimayna."

Allantrail released his hand and smiled. "I know. A private soldier of Kakin Kingdom's First Prince."

"Who is your teacher?" Babimayna asked.

"That is confidential." Allantrail said.

"What about Shiro just now?"

"Also confidential."

Babimayna frowned and asked again, "When did you discover this place? Did you seal the entrance to the royal tomb?"

Allantrail looked surprised. "Could it be that the Hui Guo Rou Royal Family wants that thing back? They wouldn't be able to sleep at night."

"That isn't something I can judge." Babimayna's expression did not change. "Confidential."

What a pair of cryptic bastards!

Jing Wu Er cursed inwardly. And there are two of them!

Inside the ancient tomb, the group walked along the passage. Menchi held up her phone, filming the walls all around them as she went, while Jing Yang pondered something else.

That pale ghost kept saying that Hui Guo Rou had to die.

Babimayna was not Hui Guo Rou, so the ghost had not attacked him. Naturally, he would not die.

The reason the ghost had reacted so strongly and transformed into a two-winged bone dragon was probably that although Babimayna was not Hui Guo Rou, he was a trusted subordinate of the First Prince, Benjamin. Did he carry Hui Guo Rou's scent?

Is it a dog or something? It can smell that?

"Ah." At that moment, Dago and the others, walking ahead with flashlights in hand, seemed to have discovered something.

Thanks to Split Patient s for the donation...