The Villain's Story

As soon as Richard and Logan entered the other world, which they had termed Giganta due to the abnormal giant structures around, they rushed towards the main camp and issued an emergency. Everyone gathered in the middle of the camp.

It took a while for Logan to explain what had happened, and Sabrina herself chimed in and told them about their experience, leaving out Alan's domain. She told them about the terrifying monster.

"If...that's the case, isn't he already dead?"

A member voiced out, Richard noticed that a lot of them had come to that conclusion.

"No, The contract is still active. I don't know how he managed to survive, but he is still alive."

It caused some of them to heave a sigh of relief. If whatever Sabrina had told them was true, then no matter how many of them gathered, they still would be unable to defeat the monster.

Sabrina suspected the monster was SS rank, or even above. That alone caused them to tremble and think Alan was guaranteed to be dead, However, if he survived then Sabrina was wrong, dead wrong. A monster of that caliber would kill Alan in a second, and Sabrina wouldn't be alive as well. It wouldn't have let her escape.

Although they still suspected the monster was strong, they relaxed, nonetheless.

She continued to check on Alan's state with the help of the contract between them. He was weak, and tired, but he was alive, furthermore, he was in a small amount of danger. Either he had escaped the monster and hiding, or was still in the middle of fighting or running from it.

She knew he had the power of the entire city she had seen, and also a few other trump cards...so he should be able to hold out.

Logan sighed, and ordered them all.

"Gear up and get your magic ready, we will depart soon and go rescue the brat."

One of the hunters voiced a response, one that made them all tremble once more.

"What if...that thing actually is an SS-rank beast? Alan could be running from it, but I don't think us going would help...it probably is playing with him."

Sabrina felt a rage burn inside her, but Richard stepped in.

"I know, but we do have to try. Besides, our job is not to beat the thing, only rescue Alan. Furthermore...if it is as strong as expected. We won't be the ones taking care of it. Someone else is coming."

They all looked at him with confusion, Logan included. Nonetheless, he didn't voice it out and appeared confident, to give the other hunters some hope.

They all donned their gear and made the necessary preparations, although it was getting dark, they had no choice but to go as quickly as possible. They didn't know how much more time it would take before Alan couldn't fight back any longer. They knew time was of the essence.

The troupe left quickly, Richard went inside the portal for a bit to take care of something, and then joined them soon.

Logan begrudgingly agreed Sabrina's participation in the mission.

'So far for a single kid...'

He sighed, having accepted his fate. The group rushed towards the north, all inside vehicles they had transported from Earth to travel in this terrain. Thanks to those, their speed was quite fast.

"Keep your guards up!"

The entire troupe was tense, the core strength of the Wellingtons and Twilight were all here on this excursion, and it all to save one person.

They knew he was important, being the only spatial mage on Earth and also the most talented youth there was. The Wellingtons didn't want to lose a major source of their money, the sole producer of their spatial equipment industry, and Twilight's star. Twilight couldn't afford to lose Alan at all, he was the major cause behind their rise in recent years.

The night was coming, and as the sky darkened the members only got more vigilant, they knew that a monster could attack at any moment. A majority of them were also unaware of this particular area, and the atmosphere was tense.

"Shit...shit."

Sabrina cursed as she kept checking Alan's status every minute or so, sometimes she had the thing open all the time. She was relieved to see that he was fine. Richard was also doing the same thing, he was checking the state of the contract that bound Alan to Twilight. Although it couldn't tell him more accurate details like Sabrina's. He was just glad that Alan was alive.

He knew the kid, and knew he could take quite a bit of damage before succumbing. He just prayed that he could hold on a little against the fearsome monster, and they would be there. Although the existence of the city in the mountains and the beasts that inhabited it was a big concern, they had brought priceless stealth items that would help them traverse.

According to Sabrina, the land beyond the mountains was just an empty snow field, that gave them some relief. They only needed to cross the mountains, and the journey ahead should be smooth enough.

After they reached the location of the ravine, Richard and Logan, the two strongest of the group, rushed ahead. Their speed surpassed the vehicles, and they were soon nowhere to be seen. They were going ahead to scout for a bit, and possibly reach Alan first and help as much as they could

The group, still within the vehicles, would arrive later and provide as much assistance as they could.

Although Logan was stronger than Richard by quite a bit, he found that his speed was really lacking compared to Richards, who was disappearing from his vision.

"Night Reaper, huh...strange but fitting name."

It was Richard's moniker, one he had attained during the brutal struggle for Twilight's rise to prominence, wielding the elements of darkness and shadow was no easy task. Yet, he made it even more feared than it was within the guilds and major powers.

The perfect assassin.

Richard's body had already melded into the darkness and Logan could no longer see him, he used his own mana to enhance his speed, but it still fell short.

Sighing to himself, he took out an artifact which greatly enhanced his speed. Being the patriarch of the richest family, he had quite a few of these. He combined them all and only now did he catch up to Richard, who had stopped in front of the mountains.

Seeing him stop instead of going forward raised an alarm in his mind, and he quickly got close. He was about to ask what was wrong when he saw the veins on Richard's neck. He peered closer and was chocked to find his entire face was red, and his eyes bloodshot. He was clenching his teeth.

Logan took out his weapons, in case something attacked.

The group behind them caught up soon, and all of them were perplexed to see their advance party having stopped beneath the mountains.

"What are you doing? We need-"

Sabrina was interrupted in the middle of her sentence by the fluctuations of her mana contract and astral bond, shocked, she looked up towards the city in the mountains. She couldn't actually see it because of the clouds that blocked her vision but...

She sensed it, Alan's mana and his life force, within the city. At the exact location which should be the center of it.

Shocked, she staggered. Richard's voice was heard soon enough, filled with rage.

"Alright... That's how it is."

It had been a while since he used a priceless artifact to determine whatever was inside the city. There, he saw life signatures of creatures that looked like humans but were not. They ranged from D to A rank, and some were S-rank. But that was not what caught his eye.

He sensed the signature of a human, but it was not of an ordinary human. A human that held strength equal to Logan...or even slightly above.

"You..."

He knew who that aura belonged too, and the owner of it, high in the city, was aware of Richard's presence. He could imagine the sneer that was already present on that dreadful face.

"So you didn't die...fucking bastard."

The rest of the group, including Logan, was confused. He hadn't used any artifact to sense what was up there, and thus waited for Richard to inform them.

The rest of the party waited anxiously, they could hear the curses that flowed out of Richard's mouth, and even the veins on his neck. He seemed to be in a trance...of full hatred.

"That's how it is...you ran here? You did all that and now take the rising star of my guild as a hostage?"

He chuckled, Logan backed away, sensing a murderous aura around Richard.

Richard took a big breath, and turned around after he calmed himself. Looking towards the rest of the group, he said.

"Set up camp here, I'll return to the guild and come back with all the manpower Twilight has to offer... Logan, you come with me and get the Wellingtons on this as well."

Logan, clearly surprised by Richard's words, asked.

"What? Why?"

"David Umber, he is here."

Logan stopped, and a serious expression appeared on his face as he and Richard disappeared quickly, going back towards the portal. Some of the older members of the troupe also had a look of disgust and hate on their faces as they began to set up camp.

Meanwhile, back on Earth.