Chapter 80

Chapter 80: A Movie Outing with Ria and Rin

Pressured from three directions, one of the cartel members released a thick smokescreen.

Dense smoke enveloped the cartel union.

But for Benny—a former knight squad officer with exceptional Presence Detection—it posed no real obstacle.

SWISH!

Benny's faintly Aura-clad sword sliced through something as he passed.

A severed arm sailed above the smokescreen.

"AAARGH!"

A cartel member screamed.

Eriksson, too, had honed his senses razor-sharp through sparring with the Sword Saint and Ria.

Even without Presence Detection, his senses alone were enough to pinpoint an opponent's location.

SLASH!

"Ugh!"

Eriksson's dagger sliced through the thigh of one cartel member as he passed.

Then Santos charged toward where the cartel had clustered, shield raised, and rammed straight into them.

CRASH—!

As if hit by a truck, three people were sent flying out of the smoke.

Among them must have been the smokescreen caster, because the smoke dissipated.

Where the smoke had been, one man was missing an arm.

Another was trembling with a slashed thigh.

"I can't move......!"

The thigh-slashed cartel member panicked.

Eriksson looked at him and taunted.

"Obviously. I coated my dagger in Basilisk paralysis poison."

"You crazy......!"

The one-armed cartel member erupted in fury.

"You little punks......! Do you have any idea who we are?"

Blood from the stump of his severed right arm solidified.

The blood that had spilled from the severed limb was drawn back and absorbed into his right arm, forming a sword shape from the blood itself.

He possessed a blood-manipulation skill.

He was Ricardo, the cartel's enforcer and S-Rank Awakened.

"I'll kill you all—!"

"Kill? Me?"

Benny smiled and charged at him.

A faintly Aura-rippling sword and a sword made of blood collided.

In raw power, Ricardo had a slight edge, but in swordsmanship and combat experience, Benny was superior.

The difference between a professional fighter and a brute with raw strength.

Benny toyed with Ricardo one-sidedly.

"Benny's strong......"

Eriksson felt a competitive spark watching him.

Meanwhile, as Eriksson and Santos moved to subdue the remaining four—

Among the three Santos had sent flying, a man with tattoos covering his face extended his hand.

He was Felix, the boss of the Central American Awakened Cartel Union.

When he looked at Santos and activated his skill, Santos froze in place.

"Santos......?"

Eriksson called out, but there was no response.

Felix then addressed Santos.

"Kill that kid."

Santos turned toward Eriksson and assumed a combat stance.

His eyes were unfocused.

"Santos? Snap out of it!"

Felix sneered at Eriksson.

"It's useless, kid. Once caught by my Mental Domination skill, no one can break free."

"You bastard......!"

Santos attacked Eriksson with his double-edged axe.

When Eriksson dodged sideways, Santos swung his shield.

Santos was a classic tank—his attacks were not fast.

Eriksson, on the other hand, specialized in speed and even possessed a Swiftness Skill, allowing him to evade with ease.

But the tide was against them.

It had effectively become a seven-on-two fight.

That was when—

WHOOOM!

Something flew through the air with a piercing whistle.

CRACK!

It was a spear.

The thrown spear impaled Felix's thigh.

The sound of bone shattering accompanied it.

"GAAAAAH!"

A scream echoed.

The one who had thrown the spear was Neville, who had been watching from a tree branch at a distance.

He had intervened when the situation turned bad.

Neville leaped from the tree and strode toward Felix.

"Hunters really do use all sorts of skills. Using a Mental Domination skill that even high-circle dark mages struggle with."

Santos's mental domination broke.

He collapsed to his knees.

Eriksson propped him up.

"......What a disgusting skill. I couldn't resist at all. I'm sorry, Eriksson."

"It's fine. That bastard just had a broken skill."

While Santos steadied himself, Benny and Neville drove the cartel union into a corner and neutralized them.

***

Ria and I headed to the scene to assess the situation.

When we arrived, the four of them had subdued the cartel members, bound them, and forced them to their knees.

'They're in rough shape.'

Every single cartel member had at least one broken bone, or was missing an arm.

And covered in wounds head to toe.

It had been a fairly brutal suppression.

Ria stepped forward.

"Did you learn anything?"

Eriksson answered Ria's question.

"We haven't interrogated them yet, but I overheard something while hiding in Stealth."

"What was it?"

"It seems they intended to use drugs that incapacitate Awakened to kidnap you, Captain."

"What......?"

Ria was incredulous.

So was I.

"Those insane bastards......!"

Eriksson continued.

"The drug only works on Awakened, so it probably wouldn't have affected you, Captain. It didn't work on Benny either. It's believed to be a sedative compound that only works on those who possess the system."

According to Eriksson's explanation, inhaling a certain amount blocked the system and caused loss of mana control, resulting in unconsciousness.

'Awakened do have a high rate of sleep disorders.'

Awakening also enhanced the senses.

The resulting hypersensitivity meant many Awakened suffered from insomnia.

Additionally, since Awakened could go days without sleep, disrupted routines often led to sleep disorders even when they tried to rest.

Furthermore, standard sleeping pills were largely ineffective on Awakened.

'So that's why the drug has demand among Awakened.'

Not being able to sleep was maddening, after all.

Eriksson went on.

"And that leader used a Mental Domination skill on Santos. It's probably a Unique skill."

A Mental Domination skill......?

Skills were generally known to have no grade classification.

But recent revelations had shown that an extremely small number of hunters possessed Unique-grade skills.

The second-ranked hunter in the United States had been the first to publicly disclose a Unique skill.

Once one person broke the ice, three more hunters followed, revealing that their skills were also Unique-grade.

'That's why people suspect my skill is Unique-grade too.'

Setting that aside.

I looked at the bound cartel members.

They grimaced in pain and avoided my eyes.

"I wondered what gave them the confidence to infiltrate—drugs and a Mental Domination skill. So they did have an ace up their sleeve."

"Right. And it seems someone gave them information about this place. But they didn't know specifics. Just that something of value existed here."

After hearing Eriksson out, Ria spoke.

"Then we need to find out who told them about this place and exactly what they intended. We need details."

Ria looked at Benny.

Benny nodded.

"Understood, Captain. I'll make them confess everything."

Benny flashed a bright smile.

That smile was somehow more terrifying.

The bound cartel members turned white as sheets.

Neville then said,

"You two should head home rather than watch what's about to happen. Not great for your mental health. We'll report the interrogation results."

Ria nodded.

"All right. Don't kill them or amputate all their limbs."

"Understood."

Ria and I turned and headed back to the Rift house.

Screams echoed from behind us.

About two hours later, Neville reported the interrogation results.

The information about this location had come from a mole the cartel had planted in the allied guild led by Paulo—Santos's fellow South American hunter and colleague.

'Nothing major. I half-expected the Hunter Association's Vice President's Faction to be involved.'

Then again, they were in no position to be scheming right now.

The Rift Management Bureau and the Hunter Association's President's Faction were pummeling them from both sides.

Multiple charges were currently under investigation and trial.

Setting that aside.

The cartel's purposes for coming here were, first:

They had planned to kidnap Ria and gradually brainwash her through Mental Domination.

Second, they intended to capture Bell, Fenrir's offspring, to raise as a tamed beast.

'Dream big, why don't you.'

Third, they had been told this location held numerous valuable treasures.

'Well, they're not wrong.'

Rin's orchard, Ria's garden, my Glace mushroom cultivation cave, and more.

It was a paradise of things more precious than treasure.

Hearing the interrogation results, Ria said,

"Fortunately, there's no mention of Rin."

"Right."

Among all the hunters who had arrived on the Fourth Floor, only a handful had ever seen Rin.

Thus, almost nothing was known about her.

Santos then said,

"......I'll personally escort the cartel union out."

"You'll take them yourself?"

"......Yes. I'll request cooperation from the Eagles Guild, which came from the U.S., and go with them."

The Eagles Guild would cooperate.

They had already been discussing attacking the cartel union over meals at the restaurant.

"All right."

That night, the Eagles Guild—upon hearing the news from Santos—raided the cartel's camp and captured the three remaining cartel members standing guard.

***

The cartel union's laughable infiltration attempt had failed miserably.

The captured cartel was escorted out by Santos and the Eagles Guild.

The Eagles Guild had left them able to walk. Just barely.

Truly, only barely able to walk.

'I wondered why the Eagles Guild was so hostile toward the cartel—apparently, several of their members had become addicted to that drug and were in treatment. One had died.'

Hearing that, their fury made sense.

In any case, the incident was settled.

Ria, Rin, and I took a day off from the restaurant and went outside the Rift.

Rin, seated in the children's car seat in the back, asked,

"Seonu, where are we going?"

How did she manage to speak so clearly at her age?

"We're going to see something fun."

"Something fun?"

In the rearview mirror, Rin tilted her head.

"Something you love."

"Something Rin loves? Seonu. Ria."

At that, Ria in the passenger seat and I exchanged smiles.

"How does she always say the sweetest things?"

"I know."

I then told Rin,

"We're going to see the Pocket Ping movie."

Whenever I brought Rin outside the Rift, I let her watch TV.

Her favorite was the children's cartoon called Pocket Ping.

"Pocket Ping? Yaaay!"

Rin was thrilled.

Ria's expression also held eager anticipation.

"This is your first time at a movie theater too, isn't it, Ria?"

"It is. I'm excited but nervous. What if I look like a total country bumpkin?"

"You couldn't look like that if you tried. Don't worry. I'm more sorry I didn't take you sooner."

"It's fine, we've been busy. Besides, I prefer going like this, the three of us as a family."

"That's true."

We arrived at the theater, parked in the garage, and got out of the car.

I took Rin's hand.

Looking at our reflections in the car window, I said,

"All three of us in masks, sunglasses, and hats."

"Can't be helped. We got famous whether we wanted to or not."

"True."

Not long ago, while out running errands with Ria, passersby had recognized us and asked for photos, calling themselves fans.

Unable to refuse, we obliged.

Those photos wound up on social media and spread everywhere.

They even made entertainment section news articles online.

'No wonder celebrities get paranoid.'

It was just easier to go around covered up.

We stepped onto the escalator.

"Amazhing......"

Rin was fascinated by the automatically moving escalator.

We printed our pre-booked tickets at the kiosk.

With time to spare, we headed to the arcade attached to the theater.

"Wooow...... what's all this?"

"It's called an arcade. Want to play some games?"

"Yeah."

Ria chose a zombie-shooting pistol game.

I gave her a quick rundown of the gun controls.

The game started.

"......"

Ria's reaction speed was far too fast, and her aim was pinpoint.

Every zombie that appeared was instantly gunned down.

Before long, a crowd of spectators formed.

"Is that reaction speed for real?"

"Is she ex-military?"

"At this rate, she'll clear it without losing a single life."

When the crowd grew, Ria deliberately let a zombie hit her for a game over.

We slipped away from the onlookers.

Then we played a hidden-object game for Rin.

Finally, before heading into the movie, we decided to take a four-cut photo at a photo booth.

"Starting the shoot."

Rin, whom I was carrying in my arms, kissed my right cheek.

Ria stood on my left and kissed my left cheek.

Apparently, the two of them had been secretly gesturing to each other to coordinate this pose.