Chapter 31: Run
Disappointment spread through the group of men like a fast-moving disease. They came here to beat up Mark, only to leave empty-handed... no, they also got sore legs and at least dozens of mosquito bites each.
"What do we do now?"
Ron growled in frustration. He was the biggest guy here. Compared to everyone else, he looked like a towering wall.
He was only a D-rank hunter, with strength near the bottom among hunters, but his massive body often made people overestimate how strong he really was.
Getting paid to come here and beat up an F-rank hunter had made Ron excited from the start. Normally, during dungeon raids, hardly anyone thought much of him, so he wanted to vent his frustration on a hunter weaker than himself.
But starting trouble for no reason was hard to explain to the Hunter Association, so he could only wait for someone to hire him to beat up another hunter.
As long as everything was done properly, he could beat people however he wanted because the person who hired him would take most of the responsibility. He would still be punished too, but compared to getting to beat up lower-ranked hunters to blow off steam, he could accept that punishment.
Of course, accidentally beating someone to death would be a huge problem. But as long as they didn’t die, it wasn’t a big deal.
The rules among hunters in this world were pretty interesting. They cared more about protecting ordinary people than protecting F-rank hunters.
To the Hunter Association, hunters dying was completely normal because anyone who chose to become a hunter had chosen a life of constant fighting and could lose their life at any time.
Ordinary people kept society running and created most of its material wealth, so they were given far higher priority than F-rank hunters.
But it was different for E-rank hunters and above. They possessed much greater strength and were far more useful during dungeon raids. Naturally, their value was proportional to the benefits they received.
You could say F-rank hunters were a strange existence that this world never openly rejected, yet quietly cast aside.
During dungeon raids, they couldn’t even serve as cannon fodder because their speed and strength were far too weak, making them almost completely useless.
In everyday life, they were pushed away from job opportunities because they carried the label of being a "hunter." To the ordinary people of this world, hunters were people who fought and did dangerous work, not people competing with them for regular jobs.
Of course, if they had specialized knowledge and skills, they could still secure a place for themselves. But unless they were top-tier talent, they would be looked down on by their coworkers for being hunters who only knew how to hide in safe places.
"Can you really blame us for this? Don’t worry, you’ll be paid in full."
A fat man clicked his tongue in annoyance. Hiring a D-rank hunter to come along like this wasn’t cheap, but if everyone split the cost, it was basically the same as skipping a week of drinking.
"I’m not talking about the money. I want to beat that trash F-rank into the ground."
Ron glared so fiercely that a few of the men were almost scared enough to piss themselves. A D-rank hunter only needed to throw a punch with the full strength of his muscles, without even using any special abilities, to kill a healthy grown man instantly.
"Look! There’s someone behind him!"
One of them spotted Mark following behind Nexus and shouted excitedly. After suffering all night, it was finally time to let out all their pent-up emotions.
Their excited howls reached Mark’s ears, making him stop in shock. His eyesight wasn’t very good, so he had to squint before realizing there were so many people ahead.
They were about fifty meters apart now. Mark was about to turn around and run, but he couldn’t leave Nexus behind. So he grabbed Nexus by the shoulder and tried to pull him back.
"Run..."
Mark realized he had pulled with all his strength, yet Nexus’s "casual" walking pace didn’t change in the slightest. There wasn’t even the tiniest vibration in Nexus’s body.
This didn’t make sense. Even an E-rank hunter shouldn’t have this much strength. Based on what Nexus had just shown, he had to be at least D-rank. There was no way he was an F-rank.
Remembering the shattered crystal sphere, then thinking about Bell’s personality, Mark immediately understood. Bell had lied about Nexus’s true strength.
When Bell met with Nexus privately, it wasn’t to collect a debt. He had actually been trying to recruit him. So it turned out he was the only real piece of trash, while Nexus had just been pretending to be one.
But that huge guy named Ron standing in front of him didn’t look like a pushover. With that fierce expression and those bulging muscles, Mark figured he had to be at least a C-rank hunter.
"If you want to, then run by yourself."
Nexus spoke calmly as he walked, casually holding his disciple recruitment banner high so the group could see it clearly. Other than having overwhelming strength, he could also tell that none of these people had any intention of provoking him.
"Be careful. That big guy isn’t ordinary."
Mark left behind one sentence before running away at full speed. Any one of the people in that crowd could kill him with a single kick. He’d have to be crazy to stay and fight.
"What the hell is going on? Why is Mark running, while that guy is walking toward us?"
The fat man looked around in confusion, but the ordinary people didn’t have good enough eyesight to see what Nexus was doing.
Only Ron frowned because he could read the words on the banner. After frowning for a few seconds, he burst into laughter.
"Hahaha, so this guy really is a lunatic. Ignore him. He’s not coming for us. Look at his footsteps. He’s walking in a straight line, clearly a little off from our direction."
Ron was only a D-rank hunter after all, so he naturally feared the Wolf Guild. As long as Nexus kept going like this, he wouldn’t get into any trouble, so of course he was happy.
After hearing the reassurance from the strongest person there, everyone relaxed. They weren’t afraid of fighting Nexus. What they were afraid of was Nexus playing the victim and claiming he couldn’t repay Bell because they had gotten in his way.
The crystal sphere used for awakening cost a fortune. Even if everyone here sold off all of their family’s assets, they would barely have enough money to buy a low-quality one.
"Hurry! Don’t let Mark get away!"
The whole group shouted and sprinted after him like a pack of mad dogs. But they were selectively mad, running in a wide curve to avoid bumping into Nexus and giving him no chance to set them up.