He was pretty lucky with the last portal. Before he swapped with his clone, the group had already found the boss lair, and all he had to do was get inside and kill the boss.

Nonetheless, the boss was still quite strong and possessed a necromancy talent. It was able to resurrect its dead soldiers to fight for it. However, with a single venom burst, the resurrected soldiers were wiped out, and with a simple punch from Marlon, the boss itself was put down. The entire battle did not even last for one minute.

At the moment, Marlon was standing with the remaining hunters on the ground of the deadlight district. Each of them had their face masks on to prevent inhaling the foul and possibly poisonous stench that lingered in the environment.

Every hunter present was staring at Marlon, their eyes filled with disbelief, admiration, and other overwhelming emotions.

Each of them held a special sense of gratitude toward him, as he was the one who had single-handedly saved their lives from certain death.

Sandra stepped forward.

"I want all my shares of the loot transferred to you. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be alive right now."

She declared it in a loud and resolute voice.

One after another, the hunters followed her lead, stepping forward to announce that they would also give him their respective shares from the loot.

Marlon simply smiled and nodded in response.

While the monster cores alone were already worth a significant amount of money, they were not the most important part of the loot.

The special loot he had obtained personally was even more valuable. For example, he possessed two talent awakening crystals, over one hundred skill books containing different categories of skills, and even two true cores.

For starters, in Arden, there was no such thing as awakening crystals.

If such items truly existed in the open market, then most unawakened billionaires and millionaires would have already awakened by now.

As a result, the value of these crystals was even higher.

If he chose to sell them to specific individuals, each crystal would be worth well over a billion, especially considering that they were high-level talents.

Regardless, he had already chosen a suitable subject for the B-rank awakening crystal.

As for the A-rank one, there was no way he would miss the opportunity to awaken it for himself.

Thinking about all the benefits he had gained from the mission, a smile crept onto his face, and for a brief moment, he forgot that he was still standing among grieving hunters.

However, none of them found his expression strange.

After all, who wouldn't smile after being praised by fellow hunters, especially beautiful ones like Sandra and Clarissa? Better still, he now single-handedly owned loot worth billions in total.

Marlon allowed himself to enjoy the excitement for a short while before refocusing on the present.

He carefully observed the hunters around him.

Their numbers had dropped from thirty to barely twenty.

Aside from the six hunters who had died in the field-type danger-zone, six other hunters had also lost their lives, scattered across the other danger-zones.

In fact, the only group that had not experienced any form of casualty was his own.

This was another reason why everyone present respected him. Some of them, especially the women, had even asked for his number.

It was clear they wanted to conduct more raids with him, as their safety would be practically guaranteed.

However, Marlon politely turned them down. He disliked disturbances, especially phone calls.

Not only that, he had already made up his mind to only clear B-rank and above danger-zones in the future, and naturally, most of them would not be able to accompany him.

Nonetheless, when Clarissa and Sandra asked, he did not turn them down.

One was a healer, while the other was an enhancer. With Drain, he did not need much assistance for himself, but the same could not be said for his clone, which could not use the skill.

And to be frank, he liked both of their personalities.

Clarissa reminded him of a special woman who had once cared for him back on Earth, while Sandra possessed a strong, caring, and reserved persona that he found appealing.

"I am ready."

The summoner's announcement interrupted his thoughts.

"Good. Get on with it," Marlon replied coolly as he nodded.

The summoner smiled before activating his summoning skill, bringing forth several massive flying creatures.

The hunters mounted them, and soon, they began their journey toward the Black Tower.

A few minutes into the flight, Marlon noticed something moving within the fog below and immediately signaled for the summoner to lower the flying beast he was riding.

The summoner complied.

As they descended gradually, Marlon spotted the special vehicle used by Tinubu and his gang, with two familiar faces seated inside.

Both of them wore worried expressions.

Marlon frowned.

"Is it already happening?"

BLACK TOWER

In the deadlight district, it had always been difficult to distinguish between morning, noon, and evening due to the dense fog that constantly shrouded the streets. Only nighttime was easy to identify, as it was the only period when a noticeable change occurred.

At this moment, on the streets surrounding the massive black tower, chaos had erupted.

It was a gang war, just as Tinubu had predicted.

And they were up against one of the strongest gangs in the deadlight district—the Leon Brotherhood.

Unlike Tinubu's gang, known as the Black Brotherhood, the Leon Brotherhood controlled more than half of the territories in the area.

Not only that, they also possessed the strongest overall fighting force.

It was said that even to become the lowest-ranked member of the gang, one had to possess strength comparable to an E-rank.

As a result, none of their members were weak.

There were even rumors that the Leon Brotherhood regularly raided danger-zones to train their men.

And in the current battle, their strength was on full display.

The streets trembled as explosion after explosion echoed throughout the district, accompanied by loud war chants and the unmistakable cries of pain and death.

It was bloody.

The Leon Brotherhood numbering in hundreds, clad in their bright uniforms, occupied one side of the street, launching powerful magical attacks toward the Black Brotherhood entrenched on the opposite side.

The Black Brotherhood were on the other side and struggled to hold their positions.

Considering that the war was taking place within their own territory, and worse, near their main base, they were clearly at a disadvantage.

BOOM!

A massive fireball exploded right beside Tinubu, who was taking cover behind a collapsed building opposite the black tower.

The gang leader clenched his teeth in frustration.

"I'm out of aether."

He had never imagined he would find himself in such a situation.

Turning to the few members hiding behind him, he gave them a quick hand signal.

They nodded in response.

With precise coordination, each of them leapt out from cover and unleashed their long-range explosive attacks toward the Leon Brotherhood.

WHOOSH!

The sound of projectiles tearing through the air rang out sharply, followed almost immediately by violent explosions.

However, before they could retreat back into cover, dozens of ice spikes suddenly coiled through the air, piercing their bodies from multiple angles.

Seven of them died on the spot, while the others were left with ghastly injuries.

"No! Jose! Logan!"

Tinubu cried out, his eyes burning with both anger and grief.

Without hesitation, he rushed forward, dragging the injured men back behind the collapsed building while remaining alert to his surroundings.

Fortunately, the Leon Brotherhood was momentarily engaged with other Black Brotherhood members who had taken up different strategic positions.

As a result, none of them noticed him in time.

By the moment one of them finally reacted, it was already too late. Tinubu had already pulled his injured men back into cover.

He squatted beside them, carefully inspecting their wounds with deep concern.

Given the severity of their injuries, even crude healing potions — an impure version of standard healing potions produced within the deadlight district — would be unable to heal them properly.

"Fuck."

He cursed under his breath.

The explosions and screams continued without pause, growing louder by the second, and so did his frustration.

"How did the Leon Brotherhood find out about the hunters' arrival?"

He wondered grimly.

That was the true reason behind this war.

The Leon Brotherhood was demanding the presence of the hunters and one hundred percent of all the loot collected.

They were greedy.

They had always been greedy.

That was precisely why Tinubu had kept news of the hunters' arrival as discreet as possible.

Yet somehow, despite all his precautions, the information had still leaked.

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