Returning to the Mysterious Era

Chapter 307 - Hunters Who Really Like to Lead The Way

Nathan was a bit dazed as he left the house. He discovered that there were more than just four Blood Race members in the building in his follow-up investigation. He discovered bodies of fallen Blood Race members, totaling seven or eight, on the second and third floors.

It seemed there had been a small gathering among the Blood Race members the day before. Nathan had not expected this. Had these Blood Race members not encountered trouble, he would have had to face them during his assassination attempt. If he had burst through the window, he might have found himself surrounded by a swarm of low-ranking Blood Race members. It would have been almost certain death.

He was well aware that, in a direct one-on-one confrontation without the advantage of an ambush, he wasn't a match for even a low-ranking Blood Race member, let alone a group. Thinking about it made Nathan shudder as cold sweat soaked his back. Although every Mercury Hunter was prepared to die, it didn't stop them from fearing death.

He preferred living well to a heroic sacrifice. His thoughts churned, and Nathan recalled the question lingering in his mind. What force was hunting these Blood Race members?

Judging by the gruesome deaths of the low-ranking Blood Race members in the building, they hadn't had the slightest chance to retaliate. It was also clear they had been brutally tortured. The force responsible had crushed them as effortlessly as one might squash an ant.

There were no traces of the weakening effects from Mercury Thorn on these Blood Race bodies. They hadn't even had a chance to display their regenerative abilities. Their clothes weren't torn or damaged—they had simply died where they stood.

Moreover, the most critical aspect was the state of these low-ranking Blood Race corpses. Their skin had turned a ghastly gray, and their bodies were stiff and lifeless. They looked as though all their vitality had been drained.

It was eerily similar to the way humans were desiccated after being drained by the Blood Race. Was this some kind of poetic justice?

Nathan was anything but calm. The scene had left a profound impact on him. He hurriedly left the crime scene, anxiety gnawing at him, and arrived at an underground bar before he knew it.

It was a place to drink; however, it was also well-hidden, and entry required a pass. Nathan took a deep breath, descended a stairway around a corner into the darkness, made a few turns, and soon found the entrance to the underground bar. The two men in black sunglasses standing on either side reached out to stop him.

Nathan took off his sunglasses, revealing his pass. His sapphire-blue eyes glowed faintly in the dim light. It was the signature mark of a blue-eyed Hunter.

"Alright. Go ahead." The two at the door nodded and returned to their positions.

Nathan pushed open the door and entered. Inside, it resembled a regular bar, but with a more refined atmosphere. It was more like a fusion of a cafe and bar, with partitions dividing the space. Tables and chairs were placed intermittently. Several people were chatting in small groups or going to the bar to get a cocktail.

There were about a dozen to twenty people in total, which was quite a turnout for that hour. After all, everyone had blue eyes. This underground bar was actually an important base for Mercury Hunters. It served as a hub for exchanging information, repairing equipment, issuing notices, and more. Mercury Hunters were organized into two parts: strict and loose, much like the direct bloodline and branch lines of the Blood Race.

One group was militarized from a young age and resembled a highly trained army, while the other operated as lone wolves who hunted the Blood Race independently. Their purpose was the same, but their methods differed.

This location in Bright Mountain City was a large base due to its proximity to the Alphama mountains, which was home to the Blood Race direct bloodline. Thus, Mercury Hunters kept a constant presence here to monitor them.

They also routinely fought off Blood Race branch line members who flocked to Bright Mountain City, maintaining order from the shadows. At the very least, they prevented the vampires from becoming too arrogant.

Nathan was familiar with the base, so he went straight to the bar, ordered a cocktail, and took his drink over to the crowded area to listen to the others brag and calm his nerves.

"Drink up, bottoms up!" A burly man with a beard was the most boisterous as he held up a glass of strong liquor. He toasted others and downed his drink in one gulp, then refilled his glass.

After two or three drinks, the air was filled with the pervasive odor of alcohol.

"Kurt, why are you drinking so much today?" A man who had just arrived and ordered a drink at the bar seemed to recognize the burly man with the beard and walked over, sitting beside him. He took a sip. "Bad mood? Failed a hunt?"

"Niel, you guessed it," the burly man named Kurt shook his head, letting out a long burp in frustration. He exhaled and continued, "However, it wasn't the failed hunt that brought me here to drink..."

"I was scared. Damn it, I was nearly scared to death!" Kurt put down his glass, rubbed his face with his hairy, powerful hand, and cleared some of the drunkenness from his eyes. He cursed loudly, "Damn it, I was almost scared to death last night. I couldn't sleep a wink thinking about that scene..."

A hint of lingering fear flashed in Kurt's eyes. Nathan, listening nearby, rubbed his chin, feeling an odd sense of familiarity. He, too, had come to the bar after being scared in search of solace. It gave him a little more sense of security...

"Don't keep us hanging, just say it," the crowd urged him.

"Let me have another drink to steady my nerves," Kurt said, rubbing his slightly red nose and pouring himself another drink. After downing half the glass, he continued, "You guys have seen turtles, right?"

Some hunters around him exchanged glances and nodded.

"That's exactly what I saw last night." Kurt gritted his teeth, pressing the throbbing vein at his temple. "A low-ranking vampire was dead, with all its limbs and head smashed into its body at the joints—just like a turtle!"

He paused briefly, then he vividly described the gruesome state of the Blood Race member he had found. "There were other Blood Race members nearby, all showing signs of interrogation and torture. To be honest, seeing these inhuman monsters dead like that was satisfying at first, but when I examined the scene more closely, I got disgusted and had to take a break..."

Kurt picked up his glass and downed the rest of his drink. As he broke the ice, other hunters nearby began sharing similar experiences.

"At dusk the day before yesterday, I had a target on Fania Avenue in Bright Mountain City's eastern suburb that someone killed before I even got there. That Blood Race member didn't even get a chance to fight back before it died..."

"Same here. I was tracking a target yesterday around noon, but they suddenly vanished. On my way back, I saw a body by the roadside river and it was the Blood Race member I had lost track of..."

"Now that you mention it, I think I also..."

"..."

In just a few words, everyone began to piece together a picture of a mysterious force. It was clear that this force had been ruthlessly targeting the Blood Race branch line in Bright Mountain City over the past few days. Furthermore, it wasn't hiding its actions. It was almost as if they were doing it to send a brutal message to the Blood Race direct bloodline.

Nathan listened intently, feeling a growing sense of unease. Suddenly, the door to the bar swung open again, and a four-person team entered. Their captain, a one-eyed bald man wearing an eyepatch, radiated a fierce, cold aura.

"Brother Ossie..."

"Brother Ossie is back."

"How did things go over in Falk Town in the west suburbs?"

Many hunters greeted him, clearly demonstrating the bald man's fame within the base. Nathan had heard of him too. Ossie's team was a well-known Mercury Hunter squad in the area and had been active in Shire County for the past two years, boasting a target hunt success rate of over seventy percent. It was quite impressive.

"Brother Ossie, what's the word? Was it a Blood Race branch line gathering for a blood feast? The newspaper said a lot of people died and half the town's probably gone... damn it!" One of the Mercury Hunters spat on the ground, showing no attempt to hide his disgust for the Blood Race.

"Were there a lot of Blood Race members, or were higher-ranking ones involved? If you need more people, we're ready to help..." Someone was concerned about the escalation and volunteered.

The bald giant Ossie didn't respond to anyone. He just walked to the bar, ordered a strong drink, and downed it in one go.

He wiped the remnants of his drink off his face with the back of his hand before saying, "Yes, there were many Blood Race members in that town, including vampires above low rank. But they were the dead ones. The major murder case in the newspaper—all the victims were vampires!"

"!!!"

Nathan's pupils contracted. No one among the Mercury Hunters made a sound. A strange, oppressive silence filled the air.

"Wha... what does that mean?" a hunter muttered.

"What does it mean? Exactly what it sounds like! Heck, I even saw Count Anders himself among the pile of dead bodies..." The burly Ossie turned and slammed his glass on the counter, gesturing for a refill. His voice was heavy, as if he couldn't control his strength.

"Count Anders?!"

"Damn! A Blood Race branch line leader, dead just like that?"

"That was a high-ranking Blood Race branch line! This..."

Suddenly, the underground bar turned into a chaotic marketplace, buzzing with overlapping chatter.

"Enough!" Ossie suddenly raised his voice, "These people are seemingly only targeting the Blood Race. They're powerful and mysterious, which is a good sign for us. I think we should report this to headquarters immediately and attempt to make contact with them..."

"What do you think?" He swept his single eye across the crowd.

"Agreed."

"I'm in."

"Sounds good to me."

"..."

Nathan also voiced his agreement, his gaze flickering with thought. He felt that something was stirring beneath the surface, as if something big was about to unfold.

The recent shocking events seemed to be nothing more than minor tremors before a cataclysmic volcanic eruption.

***

Cassius had kept himself busy in recent days by stocking up on supplies. But he wasn’t stocking up on food or weapons, but medical products. Specifically, a miraculous healing potion that addressed root problems: Blood Race life vibration energy.

It was an incredible item, and essential if he wanted to venture into ancient ruins. No one knew if these perilous areas would pose a threat to veteran combat artists. Traps, ancient poisons, dangerous creatures, and dormant high-ranking Blood Race members were all things he needed to vigilant about. So Cassius had swept through Bright Mountain City, targeting mostly low-ranking Blood Race branch line members.

They were useless as cultivation material but adequate for healing. But he had another awkward reason.

Cassius didn't know the way.

The Book of the Devil only had the general location of the Akaba Ruins and the route within. However, the Alphama mountains were vast, and finding the place could take considerable time.

The last time he'd traveled there, a thick fog had shrouded the mountains, and he'd been guided by a strange dark figure. When he left the ruins, he only remembered the path from the ruins' exit to the Blood Race's Blood of Immortality ritual site.

Cassius and Duomo had been pursued by scarabs back then. They'd hastily fled into the forest and descended in the darkness. The forest's characteristics had faded in his memory, and he couldn’t recall the exact path he had taken. Originally, they had planned to capture and interrogate some Blood Race members, but even the low-ranking ones didn't know. However, when they captured higher-ranking members, they also knew nothing.

The Alphama Blood Race direct bloodline seemed extremely secretive. However, that was to be expected, given that the ruins housed many ancient, slumbering creatures that just wouldn't die. The Blood Race's true essence was hidden there. There was no way they'd let outsiders know its location.

So eventually, Cassius and his two companions decided to stir things up. If they created enough chaos, the Alphama Blood Race direct bloodline members monitoring Bright Mountain City might be forced to reveal themselves. Once that happened, they could interrogate or track them.

On September 21 at 6 p.m., in a low-profile, luxurious villa in the suburbs...

Bang!

A Blood Race member's cheeks rippled as he was fiercely knocked through a floor-to-ceiling window. He slammed into the ground amid a shower of shimmering glass, scattering debris everywhere.

Dazed, he tried to struggle to his feet, but his skin cracked in hundreds of places, as if something inside was forcing its way out. Veins burst, and blood sprayed out like jets, staining the area red.

Crash!

Bricks cracked, and a hole exploded through a thick wall. A blond man strode out, his black boots crunching over broken glass. He was dragging a Blood Race member by the hair like a dead dog. He left a winding trail of blood behind him.

He slapped the Blood Race member, jolting it back into the land of the living.

"I ask, you answer. Resist, you die. Lie, you die. Try to dodge the question, you die..." The man lifted the vampire's entire body off the ground.

Two minutes later, the man gently pressed down with his hand and the vampire’s head exploded like a watermelon, splattering onto the ground.

"His survival instinct was strong, but his lies were weak," Cassius said as he slowly straightened, gazing up at the clear sky.

"These Blood Race direct bloodline trash are good at hiding. Don't even have the guts to come check the crime scene? A bunch of spineless turtles." He stomped lightly, flicking the blood droplets off his shoes.

Just as he was about to head back, a figure vaulted over the wall and landed in front of him.

It was none other than Saint Feinan. He quickly closed the distance to Cassius. "Good news. We've found someone to lead the way."

"Did the interrogation work?" Cassius raised an eyebrow.

"No, not the Blood Race. It's a group of Mercury Hunters who came to us on their own. They claim to know the location of the Blood Race direct bloodline's Blood of Immortality ritual site and are willing to lead us there without any conditions. They said they just like guiding people and have been fed up with the Blood Race for a long time..."