After successfully fending off the Holy Knights' attack, I returned to the Magic Tower.

"It's Yusin!" Eunsol greeted me. She scampered over, clung to my leg, and rubbed her face against it. When I shook the plastic bag, her eyes sparkled. I handed it to her and sank onto the comfortable sofa in the lobby.

"Tower Master! Are you injured?" Ea appeared in a shimmer of light.

"I'm fine. More importantly, what about the thing I asked you to look into?"

"I was just about to report. I have acquired a number to contact Pharaoh Menes."

"Ooh! That was fast."

Ea's hacking skills were truly impressive. I immediately dialed the number she gave me.

"…She's not picking up." The call just kept ringing.

"That is strange. In that case, I will find a way to contact the Gravekeepers' manager."

"Please do." To set the stage safely, I needed both factions: the Holy Knights and the Gravekeepers.

* * *

Deep in the night, a man prowled Achasan. He moved low to the ground like a beast, climbing the hill on all fours.

'I can smell it on this mountain.'

He was none other than the serial killer Armin Walter, wanted by hunters all over the world.

'She's definitely on this mountain.'

As a secondary effect of his Unique Ability, Spirit Change, he could remember the scent of a soul he had encountered. No matter where his prey was, they could not escape his pursuit. He had never once lost a target he had designated as a 'vessel.' A one-hundred percent success rate. Not a single one of his targets had ever survived, which was the primary reason he had become so infamous.

'She's definitely here.'

Armin Walter moved slowly, careful not to leave any traces.

'Hmm.'

He stopped, his eyes darting around like a reptile's. The scent of the soul was definitely coming from up ahead. However, he had a bad feeling. He trusted this premonition completely, as it had saved his life countless times.

'I'll have to give up for today.'

Even though he coveted that vessel with all his heart, he pulled back. Just as he turned to leave…

Arrows flew at him from all directions. He dropped low, taking evasive action.

'BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!'

'CRUMBLE!'

Immediately after, electronic mines planted on the ground exploded. His body was engulfed in smoke as a barrage of arrows and firearms rained down.

"Kegh!"

The man hastily escaped the smoke and ran straight down the mountain cliff. The arrows deeply embedded in his back and leg were not from a hunting device but were made of sand.

'A trap by the Gravekeepers.'

He could feel the hunters who had been hiding in the mountain chasing after him. Clutching his wounds, he quickly descended. He was a monster who had evaded the entire Hunter community for twenty years; his movements were agile, his judgment swift. Using the dense trees and terrain, he shook off more than a dozen Hunters at once.

'I'll go back and re-strategize…'

His senses screamed a warning. Walter raised both arms above his head, and in that instant, someone's foot crashed into them. 'CRACK!'

Walter was thrown backward. He coughed up blood and fell to one knee as a woman in golden armor holding an Egyptian-style staff descended before him.

"Found you, you little rat." The 3rd Pharaoh, Menes, smirked arrogantly.

"…How did you know my location?"

"Hmph. Did you think you'd shaken off the hunters? No. We let you go. If we caught you there, those damn Vatican bastards would get a piece of the pie."

Menes slammed her staff on the ground. In the empty night sky, giant stone statues suddenly formed one after another. This time, she swung her staff horizontally, and a towering wall of sand rose behind her.

"There's no escape. Surrender quietly."

"…Hahaha!" Walter staggered to his feet. "You know nothing, rookie Pharaoh."

"What?"

"You will never catch me." A glint flashed in his eyes. They were by no means the eyes of a cornered rat.

* * *

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