咪咪影场

The demoness didn\'t seem as docile as the days before and shook Yuri\'s shoulder. "My Mark. Tell him to come, now."

"Didn\'t you growl at him like your enemy when you saw him last time?"

I can\'t blame her though, Mark was not in his Demon form.

Sighing inwardly, Yuri shut the safety plastic on the microscope closed. She straightened and looked into the demoness\' eyes. "Your Mark can\'t come now, understand? He is busy. I am busy, too."

A week had passed since she became a Hunter, and her body had already grown stronger by quite a lot; that made her much more laidback than usual. She could do things that were hard for her previously much more easily now.

For the past couple of days, she had been attempting to increase the speed of her body\'s growth so that she could become an A-ranker quicker.

So, she was indeed busy.

Dona bit her lips, her eyes tearful. "Mark…"

"Ah, don\'t cry at me." Yuri rubbed her forehead, vexed. "Mark told you he would come back here when it\'s time, right? He is currently attending a meeting with A rank Hunters along with his brother and is going around places—he\'s super busy. You can\'t disturb him now. He\'s already walking on thin ice as it is."

Dona blinked. Then, like a silent puppy waiting for its master, went to the couch and rolled up silently on it. She hugged the pillow and closed her eyes. "Dona will wait."

"Aww…" Yuri rubbed her nose.

She threw a bag of chips at the demoness but Dona didn\'t even look at it. It wasn\'t going to last long, she thought. It\'s just a while more till the attack—resist the urge girl, resist the urge.

Suddenly, her phone buzzed and Yuri looked at it. It was a message from Mark. Her heart skipped a beat.

Mark: How are you doing?

Yuri: Fine, Dona misses you a lot.

Mark: Sigh… I am too busy, and I want you to come to a Five-Star Restaurant, I don\'t know the name but it\'s just 20 kilometers away from our lab. Find it and come here. Find some way to sate Dona till then, please. I\'ll repay her after this shit\'s over.

Yuri: Okay…

Mark: Come prepared, you probably will have to fight.

***

A week had passed since Yuri became a Hunter. A lot had happened in the due time. Mark\'s life in general had been rather chaotic the last whole week. He had spent the days around humans. So, so irritating days.

Birds of the same feather flocked together.

Heilan Neslan and Bale Neslan weren\'t especially good people, the people they surrounded themselves with were the same too. Most of them were snakes in human skin. Most were trying to test him when he spoke to them and he had to avoid speaking too much or else he might reveal his fake identity—he was walking on thin ice indeed.

And today, today had been the climax of his human life the last week. Today, his brother asked him to go with him to meet the candidates who will become the next A-rankers using Yuri\'s method.

There were two boys, twins with innocent eyes. The two were loyal kids that Bale had picked up from the slums and trained extensively.

After meeting them, the day wasn\'t over either—soon, Mark saw a woman enter the luxurious restaurant room they had booked for themselves. She had blond hair, greenish eyes, and a weird vibe that just made Mark uncomfortable. She greeted Bale, looked at the boys indifferently, and then sat herself beside Mark with a wineglass in her hand.

"Young Master Hailen," she greeted, seeming humble. "My name is Sana. A simple, weak B-Rank Hunter like you—I am not a healer, though."

I don\'t like her, Mark thought, gauging her silently.

Reol\'ran also frowned. "By her body language, she is an assassin."

"Assasin?"

He checked her stats.

=•=

[Sana]

[Tier 1]

[Physique: 33 (Low)]

[Mind: 33 (Low)]

[Hunter Abilty]

[•> Breath Stealer: The ability to steal the breath of others and make them breathless as long as they were within a meter distance from her.]

=•=

Sneaky shit.

Just as Mark was about to greet Sana back, another woman entered the restaurant. She was old. Face wrinkled and back bent. She walked into the room and Bale helped her into the place by supporting her hand. That surprised Mark.

This hulking giant of a human had never been respectful to anyone else he had seen.

Who is this old woman?

"Bale, Heilan, it\'s been a while since I saw you brothers," she said, smiling kindly.

Mark awkwardly stood up. The Internet hadn\'t shown him this connection. He didn\'t know who this woman was or what relationship she had with Heilan.

She is an A-Ranker.

Mark used Heart Input silently and it accurately hit Sana. He whispered into her mind: "Flatter this old woman and mention the connection Hailen and she share between each other while at it."

Sana sipped on her wine and smiled flatteringly. "Old Aunty Reema. The best healer of our Hunter generation." She blinked. "And Heilan\'s—the worst healer\'s—grandmother. Such an enigma, I wish I could learn from you."

"Yet your disrespectful sitting posture suggests otherwise little lady," the old woman coughed and sat on a chair. "But where is the Scientist you mentioned, Bale? I want to see her myself so that we won\'t have to delay our plans too much."

Bale blinked at Mark.

Mark assured, "Grandma, I just texted her. She\'s on the way."

Mark had a feeling that Yuri would have to fight today. A gut feeling of sorts.

Would I have to protect her?

Is this some kind of test?

…

Yuri entered the restaurant room with a lollipop in her mouth. Seeing so many people turn to her, she turned awkward for a second but quickly calmed down. She took note of everyone: Two silent boys, a grandma, a blond woman, Bale, and Mark.

"Greetings?" she said, blinking.

The blond stood up and went near her to shake her hand, Yuri awkwardly took it. The handshake didn\'t loosen after a couple of seconds and Yuri\'s face began to redden. Her brows furrowed and she tried to get rid of the hold.

The woman didn\'t allow her to move.

Yuri began to grow breathless.

Mark\'s hand trembled. If need be, he was ready to use his strongest ability in this situation—Clown\'s Circus if he had to. He didn\'t have to.

Yuri\'s eyes shook and suddenly, her shadow warped. Tendrils of small snake-like creatures moved out of her shadow and bit into Sana\'s shadow. Sana paled and took a step back. Her face began to grow purple as she took deep breaths.

"That was not the greeting I expected," Yuri said.

Sana fell to the ground and clutched her chest. Her body was increasingly paler. She was dying.

B-Rank Hunter Ability—Shadow Curse.

In merely the last week\'s time, Yuri\'s stats had grown beyond a Demonling and was already at the entry level of Lower Demons. She was now a B-Rank Hunter.

"Ah, it would have been better if Yuri had gotten the Ultimate Demonic Art that the snake had instead of this Demonic Trick. But this Shadow Curse isn\'t half bad. The ability to bite the shadow of the enemy and curse them to death. Perfect assassination method."

Reol\'ran mind-shook her head. "A Hunter can\'t be born with an Ultimate Demonic Art. That\'s impossible. If you develop an Ultimate Demonic Art yourself, you will understand why—that is an exclusive tool for demons of Tier 2 and above. A Hunter can only have a Demonic Trick. And that\'s their limit."

"A pity. But this sure is convenient, though. In merely a month or so, Yuri would be even stronger than me."

"A fundamentally flawed path of strength regardless. Being a Hunter is Yuri\'s blessing and a curse at the same time. A-rank is the limit for her with the path of a Hunter and I doubt she would ever break that limit in her short lifespan. Whereas you? You have infinite potential."

Mark didn\'t speak. Yuri came and sat beside him on the seat that Sana had been using before the scientist arrived.

Mark wrapped his hand around her waist.

"What is the meaning of this, Grandma?" He asked, emphasis on the last word.

The old grandma smiled kindly at Mark, standing up and moving towards the blond woman who was writhing on the floor in agony.

"It was on my orders that Sana moved. Only when an ambush happens will people instinctively rely on their strongest source of protection. Yuri used her ability instinctively upon the ambush and it\'s not any worse than any other Hunter Abilities—Now I know her method doesn\'t create inferior Hunters but the real deal."

Yuri frowned but remained silent. Mark put the hand over her head, calming her down.

The old woman—A-rank Healer Hunter Reema, to be exact—touched the blond assassin\'s forehead and the dark coloration over her skin began to recede. Soon enough, a sweaty-faced Sana stood up, and bowing, ran out of the room in embarrassment.

"Whatever it was for," Mark said. "Since you planned to touch our partner, test or not, you should have warned us."

"Calm down, son Heilan," the old woman replied, smiling. "Don\'t grow a spine out of nowhere, I\'ve seen you cry to your brother more than you had seen the scientist\'s face. Even if she was hurt, I would have healed her. I am pretty good at healing, you see?"

The old woman then ignored Mark and focused on Bale. "Has she given the Awakening Method to your scientists?"

"Yes," Bale said.

"Good. So we just need two Tier 2 Demons in our hands and we can turn these two little boys of yours into A-rank Hunters."

"Was this why I was invited here? For a test? If so, I\'d like to take my leave as I have many pending research waiting for me," Yuri said humbly.

The old woman shook her head. "I am also here to help you quicken the process of you becoming an A-rank Hunter. It\'s my little secret but if I use healing on you, your pace of growing stronger would increase by a lot and you will become an A-rank Hunter in just two more weeks."

Both Mark\'s and Yuri\'s eyes shimmered.

The old woman sighed, "Take that as repayment for scaring you. I could hear your frightened heartbeat even from here, calm down."

Yuri gulped.

Mark blinked. Since he wasn\'t in his demon body, he hadn\'t noticed. His senses weren\'t the best. Yuri had been frightened?

She seemed so calm.

She truly is the best at poker face. And this comes naturally to her.

Rubbing her nose, Yuri said, "It\'s my first time being ambushed like this, you see?"

Of course she had nearly pissed her pants!

Someone nearly choked her to death magically after all. Luckily, with Mark here, her heartbeat quickly grew calm and she began to grow anticipant.

I\'ll be an A-rank faster.