Marlon met with his raid party .

There was Selena, wearing a pretty white battle suit that aligned her curves in a bold manner. With a gentle expression on her face, she nodded at him as he entered the room.

Next to her was Max Payne.

Like his father, he had short white hair in a cut that accentuated his handsomeness. He was dressed casually and was chewing on a bar of chocolate shamelessly when Marlon arrived. He waved at Marlon briefly and went back to devouring his chocolate.

"Marlon, long time no see."

And then there was someone he was not expecting to see at all.

Drever Sterling.

Drever strolled forward with a smile on his face and stretched out his hand for a shake.

Marlon smiled back and shook his hand.

"It's really been a long time. Where have you been? I didn't even see you at the academy."

Back in the training camp, despite being the strongest and the titled leader, Drever never actually looked down on him or treated him badly. Marlon had a lot of respect for him.

"I have been leveling up. I couldn't afford to remain weak after my shameful defeat by the lunaris," he responded.

"It wasn't your fault. Those lunaris were different breeds of monsters disguised as sentimental beings."

"Haha, you can say so. Anyway, I heard about all your feats. Taking care of a dungeon break all by yourself and surviving the dreaded five-star breakthrough trial. You've really changed."

"Everybody has changed since we last met. Yourself as well. You're nearing C-rank already. That's impressive."

Drever smiled wryly and scratched the back of his head embarrassingly.

He continued the conversation.

The two of them spoke for a while, recounting their time at the training camp.

"Ahh, I almost forgot to ask. That day, during the horde attack at the camp, you were the masked guy, right?"

His question drew the attention of the other two, especially Selena.

There had been rumors since the entrance exam that Marlon was the masked savior that night, but no one had actually heard it from his mouth, so the news still remained as rumors.

Now that an opportunity had appeared to know who that mysterious person actually was, they all paid attention.

Marlon could feel their eyes on his body.

He responded casually, confirming the rumors.

Max's mouth that was soiled with chocolate was agape for a short second, and Selena's eyes furrowed.

It all made sense to her now.

No wonder there was a sudden closeness between her sister and Marlon afterward.

As for Drever, he really did not react much. His guess had been confirmed during the competition.

After they were done speaking, they all discussed their area of expertise.

Max Payne had a talent that made learning any weapon he desired to learn very easy. He could use all bladed weapons, shields, and even modern weapons like guns, placing him as a versatile fighter.

According to Selena, her talent had evolved and she could control up to fifty vines at once, and the range was not a joke either. Her talent was useful for a lot of things.

Drever's talent had also evolved. His sword technique, lightning control, and movement speed had grown exponentially.

He had also gained a wide-range AOE skill that dealt paralysis on targets for a short amount of time.

"What about your powers? Is it limited to just punches? So you will be our main close-range combatant?" Max Payne asked as he took out a new packet of chocolate.

"Not really. I have basically all types of attacks you can think of, but yeah, punching is a lot easier and usually my go-to in any situation," he responded casually.

There was no need to share his true prowess now.

Something within him loved the looks of awe on spectators when he showed his true powers.

"We have six B-rank danger zones to clear. If possible, I would want us to clear one per day, so we can clear all of them in a week," Marlon said.

The three of them looked at him as though they were staring at a lunatic.

They were not informed beforehand about the number of danger zones they would be raiding or their ranks.

The fact that he had six high-ranking danger zones was already crazy.

A proper party with B-rank hunters would take at least three days, even if they were really powerful, to clear a B-rank danger zone. These parties were usually composed of ten hunters.

Yet their party was only four, which was the bare minimum.

The strongest among them was Marlon, who was at C-rank and nearing B-rank.

Then there was Max Payne sitting at the early stage of C-rank. Selena and Drever were almost comparable in levels, with Drever being stronger by a few digits.

For the first time since they met, Max stopped eating.

"How do you plan to get inside in the first place? If we aren't B-rank, we would need at least ten C-rank hunters to enter, and we are only four. I thought it was C-rank danger zones, which is already insane," Max spoke out exactly what the others had in mind.

Marlon did not see the reason for them to argue and doubt, so he summoned a clone unit.

Ten clones appeared, startling them.

The three of them observed the clones with awe. Selena's composure was broken as she saw ten Marlon doppelgangers standing in front of her.

Even without inspecting them, she could feel the difference in power. Each clone was C-rank.

"Impossible…"

They all reacted.

Yet Marlon ignored their awe.

"This should explain things to you, right? With my current aether capacity, I can summon one hundred clones. Think about that before you doubt next time," he said firmly.

He gave them time to process, then he told them to get ready.

"Get everything you need. I do not want to share my resources with you guys later. If that should happen, you would pay fifty percent more than the normal price. You have ten minutes."

Saying that, he left.

He had mastered the positions of most of the offices at the Hunter Association, the ones he needed to be precise.

He went to Crimson's place, and she was not there.

Before he left, he was greeted by the ever cheerful Anna.

"She asked me to give you these."

She handed him four spatial rings.

"This one with the bright and bold engravings is for you. Give the rest to the others."

She instructed.

Marlon nodded subtly as he transferred all the items from the ring into his inventory.

He had received a total of twenty high-grade aether potions, ten strength-boosting potions, ten agility-boosting potions, and ten high-grade healing potions.

It was magnificent.

"Lest I forget, your money from those loots has been transferred to your account," she informed him.

"I got a call from the bank already," Marlon nodded.

"It was Lady Crimson's idea. She said there was no need for you to pay for anything, hence why we transferred the money easier than the usual protocol."

She explained, and it finally cleared all the doubts Marlon had.

"I will pass this to the others."

He said and turned to leave.

Just then, the entire Hunter Association trembled as though an earthquake of a large magnitude had taken place.

Numerous alarms went off at once, signifying danger.

The main generator went off, plunging the entire Hunter Association into darkness and silence for a few seconds before the backup generator took over.

"What is happening?"

Anna, who had lost balance due to the earthquake, lifted herself up and asked in a worried tone, looking at Marlon, whose back was still turned toward her.

He did not respond.

The moment the earthquake took place, Marlon felt fear take over his body, causing all his hair to stand as his body shivered.

The sudden change went away only after a few seconds, but the sensation remained.

Alarms could be heard going off from different floors in the massive building.

At the same time, footsteps and screams could be heard.

But they were all blurred in Marlon's hearing.

His danger alarm rang and continued ringing, his danger sense skill picking up on a power that should not exist.

Something almost comparable to what he felt with the planet eater.

"This… This can't be."

He stopped his spiraling thoughts.

He lifted his head and looked outside through the glass walls that made up the floor he was on.

And then he saw it.

The entire world had been plunged into silence, and the sky was beginning to change to a bloody red hue.

Something was approaching.

Behind him, Anna was kneeling and shivering. She could feel it as well.

A cataclysm.

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