X-Rank Hunter

"You damn old man, how dare you lay a hand on me!" As Janine rushed towards Bantay, she immediately greeted the other party with a punch he deserved. She didn't even try to hold back her strength with her normal form as a crisp sound of the wind was being formed when her fist was landing towards the other party.

Janine was more than sure that with this punch of her, and with her insanely strong Physical Energy, she could send this beast flying or even turn him into a meat paste. Janine was just excited to see already what would be the pitiful face of the other party be like after he received her punch.

"Careful!" But before her fist could even land, she heard a worried voice shouting at her. And this made Janine immediately annoyed.

The voice was naturally coming from Ben. And she was disgusted to hear such a word from a coward like him. Asking her to be careful? That was too hilarious. The one who should be careful was the one who she would punch.

Janine didn't listen to Ben. As if she didn't hear Ben's words at all. Her fist went against the beast in front of her accompanied by her grin that was expecting to see the pitiful state of that beast already.

But contrary to her expectation, the beast who saw the approaching Janine didn't try to dodge at all but instead, he just simply caught her fist with just a mere hand.

A strong shockwave was then immediately formed as Janine's eyes couldn't help but widen in utter shock. Her fist was caught just like that? Was the world trying to joke around with her?

Kwaaak!

But before Janine could even think more about what had just happened, she would have just found herself being punched by the other party on her stomach. She spurted a mouthful of liquid before she was sent flying and rolled furiously on the ground for a pretty far away distance.

"What the heck..." Ben's heart skipped a beat upon seeing such unbelievable sight. His guess was really correct, this beast's Physical Energy was incredibly strong. If he was hit by any of the other party's attack, Ben guessed that he would definitely suffer.

And not only the beast had an incredible amount of Physical Energy, after fighting it for some time, Ben saw that this beast had also an abundant amount of Life Energy that could heal his wound in almost an instant. Just what kind of monster did Jim had tamed? Ben couldn't help but praise the capability of Jim in beast taming.

But then, no matter how great Jim was, and the beast he tamed, it didn't change the fact that the beast was being controlled by someone else. If Jim was already great for having such a beast, then how great the one who was controlling this beast would be? When Ben thought about it, he couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva as he knew that they would have another troublesome opponent they needed to deal with.

That being said, Ben couldn't be reckless in any of his moves just like Janine. He should be serious as well in eliminating this beast in front of him for he knew full well that they should face the one controlling this beast sooner or later.

With that in mind, a bone rib sprouted out from his chest. He then grabbed it and then plucked it out. As he held the bone rib, it became longer and longer until finally, it became a bone spear.

"Bone Spear (II)" Ben couldn't help but mutter its name. He wasn't planning to use any of his upper-level weapons that cost him a lot of World Energy just to summon them. But instead, Ben was determined to just use one of the lower-level weapons he had. He was afraid that if he went all out just by fighting this beast, and use one of his upper-level weapons, he wouldn't have any more World Energy to fight the unknown X-rank Hunter. That would really be annoying if that happened.

And besides, he was confident as well that he could defeat this beast with just this weapon he was using. After all, even though it was only one of the lower twelve, its strength was not something to take lightly with.

So after Ben had unleashed his spear, his cold gaze pierced through Bantay as a killing intent was even being released from him. 

Bantay, on the other hand, only stared at Ben but it was obvious that he was ready for the incoming attack.

So then, after Ben took a deep breath, he finally made a step forward to put a stance. The cold glint of his eyes was just chilling as the Weapon Energy he released was shaking the ground itself. So after a moment, he threw out a lunge from a distance as something like white energy shot out and rushed towards Bantay like a bolt of lightning.

The speed of the attack was just astonishing as it only took few seconds and it was about to reach the target's body already.

But Bantay wasn't even planning to dodge as if he wanted to receive the attack head-on. He didn't even move in the slightest as if he was just waiting for the attack to land on him.

And this made Ben a bit frustrated. This guy was just taking his attack too lightly? And as if his attack didn't give any kind of threat at all, the other party was as if wanting to receive his attack with widely-opened arms.

Ben couldn't help but grit his teeth. He even put more of his World Energy in that attack for him to enhance the output damage of that attack.

Kaboom!

And just like that, his powerful attack finally landed on Bantay as a loud boom had immediately resounded. A smokescreen was then formed and covered the body of Bantay and his surroundings.

On the other hand, as if Ben had used up a certain amount of energy, he was even gasping a couple of mouthfuls of breaths. As if he was too tired. But no, he didn't really spend too much of his energy to become tired and gasp for air as a result. It was only because of his anger and frustration that made him be like that.

In any case, he was more than sure that this time, he hit the other party. And with that kind of attack, he was certain that he could deliver a huge blow as being barely alive was the only best condition for the other party that could be.

"Ho ho ho, why so fierce?" 

However, just as Ben was expecting the other party to suffer badly, he suddenly heard a sarcastic laugh inside the huge smoke that was now covering the body of the beast he had attacked.

The voice was a voice of a little girl and with the tone of her voice, Ben could see the other party smiling without actually seeing her.

Ben's eyes narrowed into a slit as he raised his guard even more. At that moment, he was more than sure about it, the other X-rank Hunter finally appeared!

But Ben was surprised about it. After receiving the blessings of The Light, his sense of feeling had drastically improved. He could feel very clearly everything around a hundred or two radii of him.

But at that moment, the girl who had just spoken didn't have any presence at all. As if she wasn't even there in the first place. It was very similar to when Jim had erased their presence when they were in the illusion world.

"Are you wondering why don't I have any presence?"

However, No matter how hard Ben had raised his guard, he would have just heard another voice from the other party just behind him. Not only that, he even felt that someone was standing behind him back to back drenching him in cold sweats.

What was going on? Ben wanted to turn around but his body refused to move. His opponent was just standing behind him, why was his body refusing to obey his command? Ben couldn't even grit his teeth as his body was instead shaking in fear.

Fear? Was he frightened? Ben suddenly thought about it. Besides his younger brother, he didn't feel this kind of fear to anyone else before. Just how in the world was this happening to him?

"Oh? You are scared?" Ben heard the other party speaking yet again as she continued, "So there is someone you are so afraid about huh. What is it? A monster? A demon? Or perhaps, death?"

The voice of the little girl standing behind Ben was just the same as usual as the smile on her lips bore no emotion. Who else could it be other than Elaine De Rosa?

But Ben was still yet to respond to her words when she spoke yet again after a moment of pause.

"No, no, I don't think you are afraid of any monsters, demons, or even death." With the same smile, Elaine paused for a moment before she continued, "You are afraid of losing to your brother and afraid of never surpassing him in this life. Am I right... ...Ben Cosa?"