Deep night.
Two seemingly ordinary office workers were walking down the street, occasionally glancing around. The taller man raised his wrist and checked his watch.
“We’re running a bit late, we need to hurry.”
“What can we do? That blasted director forced us to work two extra hours. If it weren’t for our orders, I would have gnawed his throat out right then and there.”
Speaking in hushed tones, they gradually made their way toward a dark alley. Down in the gloom near a building, there was a set of descending stairs. Walking briskly, they went down, completely unaware of the solitary figure standing on the rooftop high above, watching them.
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When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they approached a heavy metal door. The tall man raised his hand and knocked in a strange, rhythmic pattern. In the center of the door, at eye level, a specialized sliding panel scraped open.
Two eyes peered out at them.
“You’re late…”
With that, the slot slammed shut. A few more heavy thuds echoed from the other side before the door finally swung open.
“Yeah, we got held up at work,” the shorter man replied to the burly guard standing behind the entrance.
“Heh, I didn’t think you two were ready to actually submit to playing human…”
“Shut up and do your job…”
Without looking back, the tall man pushed past the guard, heading deeper into the corridor.
“Tsk…” The guard clicked his tongue and shut the heavy door.
The two men walked forward at a steady pace. They passed several closed doors from which faint, rhythmic moans leaked out. Some were enjoying a woman, some a man. The air itself seemed thick with an intoxicating lust.
But the two men paid no attention, marching further in. They descended a few more flights of stairs and navigated past various rooms until the heavy thumping of loud bass and music finally reached their ears.
The tunnels they walked through resembled a sprawling sewer system more than normal passageways. Everywhere, crowds of men and women filled the spaces. Some danced, others made out—the scene was wildly debauched, especially as bodies ground against each other to the beat of the music. Soon, they arrived at a large open area down below. It was a massive dance floor packed with people in revealing clothes, partying and letting loose. Standing on an overlooking balcony, the two men gazed down.
“Heh, looks like a lot of fresh blood tonight…”
Their eyes kept snagging on the swaying, sweaty bodies of the women below. Combined with the pounding bass, the atmosphere was highly charged.
“Alright, let’s go. We need to meet with the boss. We can grab something later…”
The tall man tugged the shorter one along, and they descended into the crowd. Wading through the sea of bodies, the shorter man occasionally groped the asses of various women, eliciting sharp gasps that were quickly drowned out by the music. But strangely, instead of causing disgust, it seemed to excite the women, as if everyone here was under some sort of mass hypnosis.
Pushing through the throng, they arrived at a secluded VIP corridor.
Guards let them through without a word, and finally, they stood before another set of heavy metal doors. The doors parted, revealing a massive, lavishly furnished room with large leather sofas and soft, ambient music.
Sprawled on the largest sofa was a tall man with strikingly handsome features and a perfect physique, intimately tangled with an equally beautiful, curvaceous woman.
Preoccupied with his own affairs, the boss seemed to ignore their entrance.
“Mmmmm…”
The woman let out a soft, trembling moan; her legs suddenly jerked and wrapped tightly around the man’s waist.
“Yes… more… give it to me…”
But just as the woman pleaded for more, the man suddenly buried his fangs deep into her neck.
She didn’t even have time to react.
The two men standing nearby simply watched as he tore into the woman’s throat. The boss began to absorb the woman’s blood in a terrifyingly swift manner, causing her plump body to visibly dry out and wither into a husk in sheer seconds.
“Ahhh…”
Gathering up the remains like common trash, he tossed her shriveled corpse aside. A few nearby guards immediately rushed in to clean up the mess, dragging the remains into an adjoining room.
“Ahhh… it’s so delicious when their animalistic desires take over…”
The boss leaned back against the plush sofa, sensually licking a drop of red from the corner of his lips.
Opening his eyes, he revealed twin orbs of deep, crimson red, intoxicated by the bloody feast.
“Boss…”
The tall man spoke up, causing the crimson eyes to snap into focus on him.
“What is it? By the way, you’re late…”
“Boss, we got news about the hotel. There was a fire, but the human forensic experts discovered that the human remains inside had been killed before the blaze started.”
“So, someone definitely slaughtered my subordinates? And you still haven’t found a single clue after two weeks?”
The boss’s eyes narrowed dangerously as he glared at the tall man.
“No, boss…”
“Damn it… I don’t give a damn about those worthless grunts. What matters is that there were multiple Orbs of Despair hidden there, and more importantly, someone figured out how to find that place.”
The boss rubbed his temples in frustration, messing up his perfect hair.
“Alright… act carefully for now. I’ve heard that a lot of our people on the streets have been disappearing lately. I don’t know how they’re tracking us down so efficiently, but we need to deal with this… now get out and bring me a decent snack…”
His tongue darted out to wet his lips again. The tall man rolled his eyes internally and turned to leave, the shorter man following closely behind. But just as they reached for the door handle, all the lights in the entire club suddenly snapped off.
Everyone’s pupils dilated. The boss abruptly stood up from the sofa.
“What’s going on?”
“I don’t know, boss, I’ll go check…”
“Bang—!”
Before the short man could finish, deafening gunfire erupted from outside.
Immediately following it were loud screams and the frantic sound of stamping feet. The energetic, lustful dance floor had instantly transformed into a slaughterhouse.
The sounds of gunfire and chaotic shouting only grew louder.
Gradually, the screaming died down as the fleeing crowds scattered. The chaotic thundering of footsteps faded, but the violent sounds of combat and gunfire between his guards and the intruder did not lessen in the slightest.
“Damn it, what the hell is happening? Go check!”
The boss barked his order. The tall man exchanged a quick glance with the short one and gestured for him to move.
The short man immediately sprinted out. The massive dance floor below was now entirely empty. He looked up toward the corridor they had originally come from. In the distance, the loud sounds of a brutal fight echoed off the walls.
“Damn it, kill her! She’s a hunter!”
One of the fleeing guards screamed at the top of his lungs as he sprinted toward the main hall, joining a group of other armed thugs.
The short man followed behind them. Running up the stairs, he navigated through the winding corridors.
The sounds of carnage grew deafeningly loud.
“Bang… bang…”
More gunshots rang out. The short man ducked behind a corner wall, cautiously peering out to see what was happening.
His eyes widened in shock.
In the corridor, dozens of armed guards were rushing toward a lone figure wearing a half-mask that covered the lower part of her face. It was a girl with flowing black hair and piercing, dark blue eyes.
Her figure danced among the guards, weaving and dodging with terrifying grace. She would unleash a devastating strike, and naturally, at the end of her fluid sequence—right after a guard would fall or stagger backward—the barrel of a handgun would snap up, aiming straight for their head.
A muzzle flash blinded the corridor, followed by the deafening crack of a gunshot. The short man watched as a guard’s head practically burst open. The body crumpled to the ground and instantly dissolved into ash, leaving behind only an empty pile of clothes.
“Damn… she’s definitely a hunter, judging by those movements…”
He watched as the girl steadily advanced down the hallway. Sometimes she delivered crushing kicks; other times she threw devastating punches with a hand adorned in a red glove, a strike so powerful it sent guards flying as if they had been hit by a monster.
But what terrified the short man the most was the distinct look of amusement dancing in the hunter’s cold blue eyes.
“Shit… maybe she’s not alone. We need to do something about this.” He quickly turned and sprinted back down to his boss, who had already stepped out of his VIP room and was looking toward the commotion.
“What is it?”
“It’s a Hunter!”
“A Hunter? Just one? Is he strong?”
The boss fired off three rapid questions, his expression turning deadly serious.
“No, it’s just one girl for now, but she’s ridiculously strong…”
Having rushed all the way down, the short man scrambled to the boss’s side.
“? No, I don’t think she’s that strong if it took her this much time to kill a bunch of trash… I would have handled it much faster… let’s wait and see who decided to visit us…”
Turning around, the boss lazily slumped into a nearby chair, pouring himself a drink as he waited.
“Boss, could it be the same person who hit the hotel?”
The tall man standing beside him asked.
“It’s entirely possible.”
Several minutes passed, and the sounds of combat finally died down completely.
The rhythmic clicking of footsteps approached, echoing loudly in the vast, empty hall.
Soon, a young woman materialized at the top of the balcony overview. She was wearing some kind of dark tactical top, paired with a short, iridescent skirt below. A red glove encased her right hand, and the lower half of her face was concealed behind a sleek black mask.
Her dark blue eyes instantly locked onto the boss sitting in the chair.
Without a word, the girl turned and began descending the stairs.
Glancing around her surroundings, she steadily approached the boss, stopping about fifteen meters away.
Her hands were completely empty.
From the very first second the boss laid eyes on her, he felt an overwhelming surge of thirst. He wanted this body, this face, everything…
This girl was excruciatingly beautiful and possessed an incredibly potent energy—even real mana. Draining her would not only grant him a massive surge of power, but breaking her spirit would be an incredibly satisfying way to spend his time.
“Welcome. Would you care for a drink?”
He gestured politely toward the bar.
The girl didn’t say a word. She simply tilted her head to the side, her eyes conveying a single thought: *Are you mocking me?*
“Ah… you’re a Hunter, aren’t you? How could you ever trust us… but I’m curious. Are you the one who destroyed my hotel?”
Hearing the question, the girl remained perfectly still for a few seconds before giving a slow, deliberate nod.
The boss’s expression instantly froze over.
“It’s commendable that you managed to deal with that big brute…”
He stood up, taking a few slow, predatory steps toward her.
“But how did you find this place?”
He asked simply to mock her, not genuinely expecting an answer. But to his surprise, the girl finally spoke.
“Sigh… naturally because the sewers are full of rats.”
Hearing her words, the boss gritted his teeth. His patience snapped. He gave a sharp nod to the tall man, who immediately drew a weapon and began marching toward the girl.
“You shouldn’t have come here.”
Because the tall man was huge and stood directly in front of the boss, he blocked the boss’s view of the girl.
The boss watched with satisfaction as his subordinate closed the distance, but in the very next second, the unmistakable mechanical *clack* of a weapon being racked echoed through the room, immediately followed by:
“Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!”
An automatic burst violently shattered the silence of the hall. The tall man clearly didn’t expect it and didn’t even have time to react.
The boss watched in shock as his subordinate’s body was riddled with holes, culminating in his head bursting right before he dissolved completely into ash.
Following the carnage, the girl lowered the assault rifle.
The boss saw the rifle seamlessly vanish into thin air right out of her hands, leaving her to stare back at him with a mocking smirk.
“Bitch!”
The boss couldn’t hold back anymore. Despite the bizarre situation with the vanishing and reappearing weapon, he raised his hand without hesitation and aimed fiercely at the girl.
“Kill her!”
Issuing the command simultaneously, he concentrated a thin beam of dark energy and fired it straight at her.
On the flank, the short man, having recovered from his initial shock, sprinted forward, trying to seize the opening.
The thin beam of energy crossed the distance in a flash, nearly grazing the girl. But she managed to duck to the side with supernatural speed. Spinning rapidly, she instantly raised a handgun, aiming at the approaching short man.
“Bang!”
Even though the man was prepared and tried to dodge, the bullet tore into his side.
“Damn it.”
Having fired her shot, the girl ducked again, simultaneously evading another energy blast unleashed by the boss.
The short man abruptly straightened up, intending to strike the girl while she was distracted. But then, the bizarre happened. The girl had already lifted her leg, swinging violently toward his face. Instead of dodging or blocking…
As if under a sudden, overwhelming compulsion, the man found his entire focus forcibly dragged toward the girl’s intimate areas, totally captivated by the movement of her short skirt and her tight ass. He even had time to swallow nervously, right before the sharp thud of her boot slammed brutally into his face.
“Fuck!”
While the short man stumbled back, trying to regain his senses, the boss zeroed in on the girl once again.
But she didn’t give him the chance. Reaching out with her gloved hand—which now glowed faintly with an ominous, dark-purple energy—she grabbed the dazed short man and hurled him directly at the boss with immense force.
The distance between them was too short. The boss couldn’t sidestep in time. The short man collided heavily with him, but the boss stood his ground, maintaining his balance.
Raising his hand to launch another energy strike over the short man’s shoulder, he suddenly noticed that the girl had already ducked low, while he had aimed high.
Under the boss’s widening eyes, a katana materialized into the girl’s hands. With a lightning-fast, precise motion, she pulled the blade sharply upwards in a sweeping, diagonal arc.
For a split second, the boss thought he could use this moment to his advantage—let the girl strike his subordinate, allowing him an opening to finish her. But what happened next was truly terrifying.
The katana sliced smoothly through both of them without meeting the slightest resistance.
The scene froze abruptly. The girl took a calm step forward, coming to stand parallel to the boss, her gaze fixed straight ahead.
A moment later, the upper torsos of both demons separated cleanly from their legs and toppled to the ground.
Laying there, the boss stared up at the girl in complete stupefaction. In his final, desperate moment, he tried to lift his arm one last time. But just as before, the dark muzzle of a handgun materialized seemingly from thin air, aiming straight between his eyes.
“Bang…”
[You killed a level 7 demon, gained 3000 experience]
**Chapter 30: The Night Hunt**
