X-Rank Hunter

"Just where in the world did master go?!"

Bantay frenziedly searched for his master as he ran past many trees and rivers already. But no matter how fast did he ran, or how hard did he grit his teeth, he just couldn't find his master in this seemingly endless woods. That master of his really made him worried. This place was still unknown to them, they shouldn't just be aware of the other X-rank Hunters but of the other dangers that might possibly lie anywhere too.

He already thought that his master lacked awareness and didn't care if he encountered any dangers since he could just endure and overcome it all over time. Bantay thought that it was because of the other party being beaten every now and then making him accustomed to facing difficulties. But even so, his master shouldn't have taken things too lightly just like how he was being left behind by his master. Bantay had even regretted the fact that he came out from his master's body. If he had just stayed within him, things wouldn't be like this and he would still be guarding his master till now.

How could his master leave him like this?! No matter how hard Bantay gritted his teeth, he'd just found it hard to calm his frustration.

If Bantay would just learn that he was the one who actually left his master, just what kind of reaction would he do? He might probably have a hard time thinking about who to blame.

Bantay continued to run all over the place in search of his master when suddenly, he smelled a stink of blood looming all around. Bantay had immediately halted his steps and turn his guard on. From what he smelled, this stink of blood might probably have come from many beasts. Just what was going on here?

Bantay slowly made a step forward as he followed the smell of blood. It couldn't be that his master was here to massacre all the beasts in the area, right?

Bantay shook his head. If it really was his master, no traces of blood would definitely be left. Only dried corpse. Or perhaps, not even a dried corpse would be left since his master might use it as a vessel for his blood to make a Blood Warrior.

In any case, Bantay was certain that it wasn't his master who caused this stink of blood. It might probably a fight among the beasts or perhaps, something that was done by one of the X-rank Hunters.

Tap! Tap! Tap! Bantay continued to walk forward as he followed the smell of blood. Until finally, he stumbled upon a corpse with some of its body parts being cut off and were missing. He looked around him and saw many other beast corpses. Some of the corpses had their body torn into pieces and were splattered on the ground. Just what vicious thing could possibly do something like this?

Bantay was just looking around and was guessing what caused this horrible sight when he caught sight of a certain pond not too far away. In the midst of the pond was a small patch of land where a certain tree was rooted. The tree had blue leaves with a trunk bluish in color. Its leaves kept falling from time to time as it could be noticed that the pond was actually filled by the blue leaves of this tree.

Bantay narrowed his eyes. Not just because of the tree or the place itself was strange, but also because he found a little girl under the tree who was seated on a chair and was taking a sip from a cup of tea. After taking a sip, it seemed as if she had taken the last drop of tea on her teacup as she picked the kettle placed on top of the table near her. After which, she had yet again enjoyed her time taking a sip from a cup of tea.

Who was this little girl? Bantay frowned. To think that despite the horrible sight everywhere, he would find a peaceful place amidst it. And there was actually a little girl who was just enjoying her time taking a cup of tea. This girl was really strange!

Bantay slowly, but carefully walked in the little girl's direction. As he walked closer, it was noticeable that the stink of blood was fading although the place he was going was just next to the horrible sight where many beast corpses were splattered on the ground. What even more surprising was that while the stink of blood was fading, it was actually being replaced by a fragrant scent of something like a fragrance of a flower.

Bantay looked around but saw no flower at all. Besides the blue leaves of the blue tree, there was nothing else around that could possibly smell fragrant.

After some time of careful walking, he finally reached his distance closer to the little girl who was under the blue tree.

After which, Bantay saw the little girl smiling at him as she said after taking another sip from the tea, "Oh? A much stronger beast this time? Did the level difficulty had just leaped by several folds after knowing how strong am I?"

Bantay narrowed his eyes trying to see through what the girl was saying. As he couldn't understand it at all, he then finally asked, "What do you mean? And who are you?"

It was quite obvious that the little girl was a bit surprised. She chuckled softly as she responded, "Do you mean to say that you don't know this place at all?"

"What if I don't know?" Bantay replied coldly. This little girl was dangerous, Bantay could feel it with his sixth sense. He stared even more carefully at the little girl as he asked then again, "Who are you?!"

"Oh? It seems like you don't really belong to them. But well, it's understandable since the next wave of monsters was just about to come." The little girl said. There was an obvious joy blended in her tone of voice though.

"..." Bantay didn't reply immediately. What was she talking about? What wave of monsters? Was she talking about the beast corpses splattered nearby? Was this little girl the one who caused their horrible death?

After some moments of pause, Bantay asked again, "Who are you, kid?"

He couldn't care much about whatever the girl was talking about. He felt that he needed to be more careful against this little girl than the waves of monsters that the other party was talking about.

Chuckling. The girl chuckled softly again. To think that this beast in front of her was actually wary of her. It appeared that high-level beasts were really way more intelligent than the low-level ones.

"I'm Elaine De Rosa." The little girl replied with a smile that as of not a smile. Since it was highly likely that the other party didn't know this name, there was no harm revealing it. And besides, even if the other party knew it... Elaine didn't even think of the possible consequences if the other party knew this name. Because she knew that they were in a different dimension and no one except the other X-rank Hunters could possibly know her infamous name.

And Elaine was more than certain that this old beast was not an X-rank Hunter. And he was probably a resident here in this place. Or perhaps... Elaine suddenly thought of something but she wasn't sure if that was the case. But at least, there was a possibility that what she was thinking about this beast was true, this beast was probably a tamed beast of one of the other X-rank Hunters.

"Elaine De Rosa?" On the other hand, just like what Elaine had guessed, the other party didn't know her name. Bantay couldn't help but frown. The name didn't ring a bell at all. Maybe this girl was a residence of this place? But that was not the only thing that Bantay wanted to know. He asked who was she, not her name alone. Of course, it was possible too that he didn't know her name since they were in a different dimension, but who was she for real? What was her identity? Why was she here in this place?

With that in mind, Bantay asked yet again, "But who are you?"

Elaine smiled. It appeared that she knew what the other party was pointing out. But the way how the other party asked a question, it was as if he was a stranger to this place. Her assumption for this beast that he was a tamed beast of one of the X-rank Hunters had increased.

So then, Elaine took another sip from the cup of tea before revealing her favorite smile. She fixed her gaze at the beast in front of her as she asked, "Have you ever heard of the X-rank Hunters?"

Elaine wanted to confirm if the other party was a tamed beast of the other X-rank Hunters. And surely, if the other party was a tamed beast of one of the X-rank Hunters, then he would have known about this strange title.

"X-rank Hunters?" Bantay was a bit surprised before he finally revealed a smile, "So you are one of them huh."

Too bad, his master wasn't here. Their distance was too far away as well for him to inform his master through telepathy. It appeared that Bantay could only try to study the strength of this person before him and tell his master every information he could gather.