Chapter 25: If You Lure A Shark, Expect To Get Eaten.
" The person who sent us is an S-Rank Variant. Don Flamingo."
Variants.
Awakened who commit criminal acts and have a bounty for their heads.
There were hunters out there who were secretly Variants, bounty-less criminals who were low or mid-ranked in their majority. They often used an alias to commit their atrocious acts.
Then, there were the bounty Variants, high-rankers who were infamous for their persona in the underworld.
Murder, theft, rape.
The list of hideous crimes was endless for this group of human garbage.
Adam raised an eyebrow after hearing this name.
" What exactly did he ask you to do?"
" To kill master, and retrieve his body."
'So that's it...'
It seems like killing him was only one of their objectives.
They also needed his corpse for some reason.
This Don Flamingo guy was more than likely a member of the organization who was chasing him.
A Variant Group.
Why did it have to be an organization and not a single individual?
' He's too weak.'
There was no way for Don Flamingo to be the single culprit, let alone the mastermind.
Adam watched One Piece until the Wano arc, so he knew what Don Flamingo could do.
The current him could kill the string guy with little to no difficulty.
'If it was a guy like Kaido then maybe I would struggle a bit, but I don't think I would lose to him either. Not with my adaptive regeneration and my legion.'
He didn't know if Kaido existed in this world, but if he did, he could be a troublesome opponent.
' I wonder if the current Luffy can beat him. Zoro seemed to be slightly weaker than his post-time-skip counterpart from the show…'
Adam's problems kept piling up, and there was little he could accomplish by rushing.
It's been a week since he awakened and he was already one of the strongest hunters in Star City, there was no need to be impatient.
But, there were certain things he couldn't just ignore.
His safety and that of his loved ones was a top priority.
" Did he contact you personally?"
" No. His subordinate, a spy in the Hunter's Association led us to him. We communicated via a holographic video call."
'That was dumb on his part, very dumb.'
Adam could only shake his head in disappointment.
" Do you remember the guy's face ?"
" He had a mask on, master."
" How do you know he was from the association then ?"
" He was wearing an executive's suit from the association. That's how we made the connection."
Adam frowned at this information.
' This is weird man… Are they leading me? A trap maybe?'
He doubted that Don Flamingo wasn't aware of his identity as RED.
Even if Irene was the only one who officially knew his identity from the association, it wouldn't be abnormal for this same information to be hacked.
Stupidly enough, Adam was asked to use his fingerprint for both identities. Something that Irene explained was not negotiable, since there were laws even she, as the president of the Hunter's Association wasn't allowed to break.
And that was a liability for him.
If someone managed to hack all the personal profiles in the association's system and make a thorough investigation while comparing fingerprints and matching demographic factors, it wouldn't be a surprise if they knew he was RED since long ago.
Especially if they had a spy in an executive position.
" How tall was he?"
" Around 180 cm."
" Hair color?"
" Blonde."
" I see… Alright, you three are dismissed."
As commanded, the newly created shadow soldiers were obediently swallowed by Adam's shadow.
' They are stronger than my average shadow, but weaker than my commanders. Should I appoint them as Elites within the army? Mmh~, for now, I will place each of them under one of my commanders. Let's see how they do.'
...
( 6 Days Later)
Sitting around a large wooden table, six individuals could be seen, their mood sullen.
" So, no news from those three?"
A guy with black hair, long enough to reach his hips, asked with expectation, his snake-like eyes glinting with hope.
"No, I lost track of them."
Don Flamingo was especially mad. He knew the three would get their ass beaten.
After all, to the amazement of all of them, Adam proved to be far from a weakling F-Rank like they first expected.
His hope was for Adam to extract information from them, which would lead him to find the mole he had planted in the association. This was all a plan to lure him out. To fool him into leaving the city by himself and catch him. After all, capturing him within Star City was too risque at the moment.
Before, they just wanted to get rid of him. But after surviving the Ogre attack, they started questioning themselves.
He was an irregular.
Since they couldn't see what happened inside the dungeons once their "leader" tampered with them, they came to the collective conclusion that he had the prowess of a high ranker since day one.
Especially after the B-Ranked dungeon incident.
Don Flamingo actively participated in Adam's first dungeon with his leader's aid. But, the B-Ranked dungeon was all his leader's doing. Yet, they still failed to kill him.
So they had to change their approach.
They need to put their hands on him somehow.
They theorized that since he was the son of two geniuses only seen every once a century, he inherited their talents.
Because of this, he adapted incredibly fast to his powers, which appeared to be not only a teleportation ability as they first thought, but pyrokinesis as well.
Both Rose and James had similarly astonishing expedients. In a few months after registering as F-Ranks, they quickly climbed the ranks, accomplishing S-Rank status in record time. Rose obtained her rank a week earlier than James.
This could only be done because they had already awakened with S-Rank prowess. The months it took them to officially reach it was due to training and for the sake of accumulating experience.
No matter how strong you inherently are, in a world where monsters can pour out of interdimensional portals, you need more than just strength.
Control, mastery, discipline.
The "strongest couple" title wasn't just for show.
As the offspring of such monsters and based on his abnormal resilience, they estimated his rank to be around A.
But, as if fate wanted to laugh at their faces, they got access to his most recent personal profile as "RED", where they saw his new Rank.
' To think the kid not only awakened
with the same prowess as his parents, but he even surpassed them in raw talent. I was too quick to judge him.'
If only Don Flamingo knew how wrong he was.
Adam was utterly talentless. He was a normal human up until the point his system activated and he remembered glimpses of his previous lives.
Talent is useless to the current Adam. He was an ever-evolving existence with bottomless potential.
A guy with long red hair and a regal appearance, like that of royalty, side glanced at the lady officiating this meeting, his voice showing a tinge of hidden anger.
" I hope you have a plan missy. Star City hasn't fallen, yet you're wasting our time with a brat we can easily kill."
" HEY!! Watch your mouth you fucking lizard!!!
A green-haired little girl shouted at the top of her lungs. Her body trembling in madness.
" Tatsumaki, sit."
In an almost robotic manner, the little girl sat down on her chair. Though the anger in her eyes still lingered.
" Lord Antares, if that "brat" could be killed so easily we wouldn't be having this meeting. He's associated with two SSS ranks and a few high-rankers."
Antares's eyes glowed with a red tone for a millisecond, his suppressed feelings almost taking the best of him.
" Also, our strongest individuals are not allowed to intervene on the surface. Our initial plan was crushed the moment the kid survived that Ogre."
The Dragon Monarch leaned back on his seat, his eyes analyzing Alice's every microexpression.
Yet, no falseness could be perceived by him.
" Are you certain that the only way of breaching the gate, is by using that brat's heart?"
Alice nodded.
" That's what master instructed. His heart is the key. But, if we manage to bring him to our side, he can willingly open the gate."
The red-haired man scoffed before standing from his chair.
" I don't care if the kid is dead or alive, just get the gate open. Tell your boss that I've been patient enough, our alliance can be withdrawn as easily as it was made."
That statement sent a shiver down everyone's spine, Alice included.
"I'm going back to my dimension. Call me once you stop playing around."
A red portal opened before the dragonic being, which soon after closed after the latter stepped inside it.
After the atmosphere calmed down, Alice turned to the two individuals to her left. Her voice was as monotonous as always.
" You and Don Quixote are the only ones who can currently go to the surface."
Tatsumaki trembled after hearing the word " surface ". Her eyes, which looked almost dead, regained a spark of life.
Noticing this, Alice made a hand gesture. Soon after, Tatsumaki's lifeless glance replaced her semiconscious one.
'She's fighting the mental control, as expected of an SSS-Rank. I have to talk to master, she can't do missions by herself in this state.'
She then continued with her instructions.
"Do something, it doesn't matter what. But bring that kid's heart with you. Whether it is a beating one inside his living chest or a rotting one from his corpse, it is up to you. You're in charge Orochimaru."
Unexpectedly, the string man did not complain, while the sannin nodded his head in approval.
They would find a way, it had to be done.
"You're all dismissed."
....
*ARGH!!*
In a closed room with some traces of vegetation, a behemoth that looked like the perfect mixture of a lion and an eagle could be seen limping backward.
Its wings, once pristine and majestic, were now bloody and torn apart.
One of its hind legs was completely amputated, a legacy of the beating it just received.
Surrounded by over one thousand beings coated in shadow energy, the elder Gryphon, an S-Ranked Boss monster, found itself cornered against the walls of its prison. The room it knew it had to protect by mere instinct.
"" It is my first time seeing a human like you. I believed hunters lived to hunt monsters, never knew they befriended them nowadays.""
Even under the pressure of being completely overwhelmed both in numbers and strength, the beast never once lowered its head.
It was programmed to never fear its adversaries, to protect the dungeon religiously, no questions asked.
Yet, even with an almost brainwashed behavior, with a psyche preestablished to serve an unknown outer entity, it couldn't help but feel awe at the human who was watching everything unfold from the back of this monstrous army.
" Well, surprise! Now, just die quietly, I got an appointment with a classmate after this."
Adam on the other hand, sat on top of a shadow throne with Stheno on his lap as she fed him grapes from a bowl she was holding.
Right behind him, Anansi stood as she massaged his shoulder lovingly.
"" W-what?!""
*BOOOOOM!!*
The poor Gryphon was so distracted by Adam's shamelessness that it failed to see the incoming attacks of the mage squad stationed in the army's rear.
The combatants in the front, seeing an opening, rushed toward the dying boss, piercing and stabbing it with everything they had.
But, that proved to be unnecessary.
The boss had died after the first few spells from the mage squad reached it.
" That should be a record right?"
At the side of Adam's throne, Ragnar, in a more humanoid form, nodded his head.
" That is the case, my lord. 6 minutes and 24 seconds."
Adam returned the nod with a satisfied smile.
" Good enough, for now. We should raid an S-ranked dungeon next. The last one we raided was a bit difficult for them. Hopefully, this time around you three don't have to intervene."
The three generals looked unconvinced, but they would put their trust in their subordinates.
Soon after "arising" the Gryphon from his death and appraising his new humanoid appearance, Adam looked at the side.
A system interface that only he could see floated before him.
Reading the information it presented, a mischievous smile stretched on his lips.
" Just one hour to go~."
[ Time remaining for Random Power Generation function to be unlocked: 59:59:54]
...….
Don't get accustomed to this many updates in a few days! I'm too inspired for some reason.
I won't update for a while, this time for real.
>_<
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