As Bell came rushing, Nel craftily smiled behind the couch.

He carefully took out the bottle of pepper from his pocket and threw it in the direction of the burly man. Bell punched it on instinct.

His fist shattered the bottle into glass dust, causing the pepper powder inside to scatter everywhere. Most of it fell on the unsuspecting man’s face, eyes and nose.

“Argh!! What is this! Bastard!!” The burly man’s screams filled the silent room. His seven orifices burned as the pepper powder showed its efficiency.

“Crayson’s condiments! They sell only the best quality.” Nel answered, kicking the burly man’s legs. Bell lost his footing and fell to his ass. He barely stopped himself from kissing the ground the second time.

Nel leaped like a cheetah from the ground. He kicked the unsuspecting man who was struggling with burns in the head, throwing him to the ground. Putting his foot on the side of Bell’s head to keep it in place, Nel Applied a copious amount of mana into the knife’s blade. Ducking under a barrage of water bullets that would’ve punctured a hole in his skull, he brought the knife down on Bell’s ears holes.

He had already realized Bell was extremely strong and had a sturdy body. That elbow attack, in the beginning, would’ve broken his bones had he not increased Endurance an hour ago.

Nel chose to attack his ears because they weren’t as strong as his entire body and were closest to the brain.

“Arrgh!!” Bell screamed in pain, holding his left ear in agony as blood splashed out from the fatal wound. The knife had destroyed his left ear and nearly reached his brain through his thick skull. But that wasn’t all. The extra mana on the blade rampaged inside Bell’s body, causing massive internal damage.

Bell coughed out a thick, red-colored metallic-tasting globule of life essence. He also cried tears of blood and bled from his nose. Basically, he was bleeding from everywhere.

“Bloody hell, how dare you!” The other man screamed, but Nel had already jumped away towards his bedroom, which was just a step away from Bell. He closed the door behind him and grabbed his spear.

“Who are you?” Nel asked, leaning against the wall next to the door. He kept using [Mana Ripple] every few seconds to keep track of the only moving opponent.

“Who are we!?” A loud roar came from the other side of the wall. With a ‘bang’ sound, finger-width holes opened on his door. “The man you nearly killed is Bell. I’m Swan. You don’t need to know who we are. Just tell us, where is she?”

Nel inferred a few things from his words. One, somehow, the burly man was still alive with a ruptured ear. Nel was sure he had plunged it deep enough to reach his brain. Second, these guys were after someone, and he was caught in the middle.

But, who? Is it Lola? Or is it the woman he saved whose name he had forgotten? Nel was leaning more towards the latter since no one had seen him with Lola.

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Nel grunted. “You idiots attacked me outside of a dungeon. Are you not afraid of HA?”

“We don't give two shits about HA of this backwater place and don’t act like a fool!” The man, Swan, snorted. “We’ve got accurate information. You are the one who knows where she is.”

“As I said, I don’t know what you are talking about. Make it more clear.”

A few minutes passed, but Nel didn't get any answer. [Mana Ripple] gave no feedback either. For safety's sake, Nel decided to wait for a bit longer. “You still there?” Nel called, trying to see if they really left.

A few more minutes passed, but there was still no answer. Nel tiptoed towards the door and peered out through the bullet holes. An empty, destroyed drawing-room greeted him outside. Everything was in shambles. There were blood splotches on the floor but Bell and Swan are nowhere to be seen.

Nel pulled a huge chunk from his Magic Reserve and used [Mana Ripple] at his full potential. An invisible ripple of mana covered his entire apartment, giving him feedback on every little thing.

Mana Ripple works like sonar. On activation, a wave of mana ripples outwards under the user’s control, covering a certain distance. Whatever obstacle it passes through, the feedback will appear inside the user’s head. It was like moving your hand in the dark. You can’t exactly see anything, only feel it.

It was one of the cheapest lower-ranked detection techniques available in the market to buy for everyone.

The ripple covered the entire floor due to him using 30% of his remaining mana. From dust particles to insects, he sensed everything loitering in his isolated floor, but not the two guys.

Nel breathed a sigh and dropped to his ass on the floor. He was exhausted and also hurt. There were no obvious outward wounds, but those water bullets he body-blocked caused some internal wounds. It was not too severe, but he would have to visit a doctor soon.

But more than pain, he was left with a lot of questions unanswered. Their identity, the reason why they attacked, who are they looking for, and why they were so confident—he wanted answers to all these questions.

‘They are looking for a woman. But who?’ Nel questioned in his heart. In the past few days, he had only met two women and both encounters occurred inside the dungeon under strange circumstances. And now that he thought about it, both faced a similar situation.

It could be anyone.

Nel groaned, feeling a headache coming. Somehow, he got dragged into a mess, and now even his life is in danger. After a while, Nel climbed to his feet and searched for his handphone buried under the mess. Before everything, he needs to give the HA a call.

Some people, obviously outsiders, attacked him in his own home. It probably violated all the hunter ethics laws in existence. But, Nel’s intention for calling HA wasn’t to seek justice but to blow this matter up. He wanted to create a smokescreen and use this chance to warn both girls.

Nel found his phone trapped under the upturned tea table. As a device made from materials recovered from dungeons, its sturdiness was unmatched. Even after the violent event, it was relatively spotless.

Nel had HA’s hotline in the quick dial. The call connected as a lady picked up. Nel acted like a wounded victim and rained complaints on the poor girl without care. Following that, he dressed in his hunting gear and left his home, taking everything valuable with him.

His home was no longer safe. Since those guys retreated, they will definitely be back with help. Perhaps, they’ll bring someone stronger next time. Nel would be a fool to stay at that place. Nel wanted to call Chen to notify him, but neither his nor Loui’s handphone connected.

Amidst worry and confusion, he went into temporary hiding.

XXX

In a high-end hotel room, Swan barged in holding Bell on his back. There was only one person inside the room. It was a young woman in her late teens with long brown hair.

“Celpie, come here and help Bell.” Swan dragged himself inside with a lot of effort. Bell wasn’t exactly light, and he had already run out of mana. The girl came running, wearing a worried face.

“What happened to big bro?” She asked, worried. The burly man was bleeding from everywhere. His body and face had become pale, indicating he had lost a lot of blood.