Meanwhile…

At the edge of Seven-Ring Holy Tower’s territory… around the Vicious Thorn Forest…

“Shasasasasasasa… Hattori the Hidden? This bounty of the so-called demon-hunting mission… can only be mine to claim. Seven-Ring Holy Tower… Shasasasa…. you ignorant kitten… it’s time to end your happy vacation at the Sorcerer Continent. I’ll have you experience just what real fear is. Tremble! Fear me! Shassasaasasa….”

This Dark Demon Hunter had a pair of cold taciturn eyes, ones that were beaming dark crimson light. There was a shroud of gray flame floating above his head while his five bony fingers each had a skeleton-shaped ring. Keeping his ricketed body balanced with a magic staff, he opened his mouth and laughed maniacally.

This Dark Demon Hunter… appeared to be much more malicious than the cruel Black Sorcerers.

…

Sniff!

At Sacred Ruined Vale, a Demon Hunter clad in pale white bone armor was standing in the middle of the desert as his Cerberus was sniffing a Black Sorcerer-apprentice’s corpse.

The Cerberus had an extra, third eye on its forehead. It seemed to be a kind of rare mutated Cerberus.

“Any leads, Pague?” The bone armored Demon Hunter asked his Cerberus.

“Hmm, still no luck. Although I can confirm that there’s a certain connection between the Symbiotic Insect implanted here and the Brasshirta Bug. Yet, this Black Sorcerer is quite skilled at hiding. I am still unable to detect his exact location.”

The bone armored Demon Hunter looked at a flock of white birds that were flying across the sky and replied coldly, “Ah, I see…”

…

Black Isotta Sorcerer Academy.

A black robe wearing Demon Hunter landed on the ground.

Boom!

The stone pallets beneath his feet creaked open and formed a pair of one-meter large footprints.

Slam!

A huge crocodile tail emerged from his robe and slapped on the stone pallets with its metallic scales shining brightly.

Croooow crooow…

A Black Isotta Guardian Owl flew over and landed on a high ground in front of the Demon Hunter and loudly proclaimed, “Assignment from the Demon Hunter Consociation! Track down and slay Hattori the Hidden, a Black Sorcerer who is currently hiding within the territory of the Seven-Ring Holy Tower.”

Then, a bright ray shone on the Demon Hunter’s Sorcerer Barrier—it had two Rank 3 Honor Badges imprinted on it!

Croooow…. Croooow….

The Guardian Owl flew away right after completing its task.

A moment later, the Level 3 academy head slowly hovered out from beneath Master Peranos’ floor, as if riding on a shroud of watery mist.

“Gabriel, you’re back…”

…

Bone Bell Tower Academy.

Slammmmm!!!

Two Demon Hunters were sitting at a table.

The two-meter tall muscular sorcerer, clad in full metallic armor, slammed his enormous hand on the table.

“Curses! The Seven-Ring Holy Tower finally caught wind of our academy’s scandal. They even approved the Demon Hunter Consociation to pass down a demon-hunting mission to gather up the best Demon Hunters of the same rank just to hunt down that cursed degenerate! After this incident, we—the Bone Bell Tower Academy will lose our reputation and struggle to recover from it in the next thousands of years. Damn it!”

Another Demon Hunter—a sorceress sat calmly on the sofa and replied coldly, “There’s only one way to turn this around—we will have to deal with this traitor ourselves. Hmph, the Holy Tower has underestimated this Hattori too. How could they treat the important task of eliminating the genius Black Sorcerer like a game!”

Slaaam!!!

The table shook violently as the giant Demon Hunter slammed his fists onto it. “Looks like we’ll have to request the academy to increase the tracking effort. We must head to the location where that tracking sorcerer was killed… to see if there’s any lead.”

“Sigh. Alright. That kid who could secure an Honor Badge during his Level 1 Sorcerer days… We’ll have to send out elite Demon Hunters who are extremely capable. We must do our best.”

Spreading their dusky bat wings, the sorceress and sorcerer both flew out of the room.

…

Umbra Sorcerer Academy

A young beautiful blonde sorceress lifted her long golden hair up in the air by utilizing nature’s elemental energies as she wrote magical arrays and runes on a high-end table.

Every single rune was shining scarlet blood rays and formed neatly together. Thousands of runes blinked in an orderly rhythm, as if they were singing an ode.

And the blonde sorceress… she was the strongest Sorcerer-apprentice thousands of years ago in that Holy Tower Qualification Battle… the representative of Umbra Sorcerer Academy.

She was the renowned “Demon Kisser Kuryak”.

Her fame amongst the six sorcerer academies was almost as well-known as the recent Pale Mask Grimm.

And now, she was back… with the extreme capability and prowess of a Level 1 sorceress, basking her left hand in evaporating scarlet red magic ink.

As layer after layer of scarlet magic runes were sketched down, a star brightly shone in the sky before curtaining down a cloak of emerald starlight onto the altar that she was completing her pen work.

Then, the sky returned to normal—the usual sinister scarlet red night.

This altar… the cursed altar seemed to be reacting to a certain law of the Sorcerer World.

“Kuryak, seeing you now reminded me of the first time we met. It was that day that I’m certain that you’re a genius at curses. Now look at you, you’ve indeed shown your worth. Your name will surely be imprinted in the books of history. In fact, you might even surpass me as a sorceress,” a Level 2 elderly sorceress in a black scarf proclaimed with her hoarse voice.

Kuryak’s eyes curved like the crescent moon as she smiled sweetly—so sweet that she did not look like a cruel, bloodthirsty Dark Sorceress at all.

“Master, without your guidance, how would I achieve what I have today?”

After replying humbly, Kuryak swiftly picked up a Symbiotic Insect out from a Black Sorcerer-apprentice’s head, provided as a research sample, while conjuring out a Magic Interdiction with the other hand.

Pooof!

The Black Sorcerer-apprentice, almost instantly, exploded into a screen of bloody mist.

Unfazed, Kuryak picked up a small tumor and giggled. “Now… allow me to observe just what kind of materials these Hattori’s creatures needed to resist against Curse Sorcery.”

“Despair collector? Teehee… well, its strongest side… surely is also its true weakness.”

…

There were more and more Honor Badge bearers flocked towards the compounds of the six sorcerer academies.

They were all elite Demon Hunters, proficient in elemental energies and combats. In fact, they were all masters in combat.

They were all survivors and masters of combats after surviving from various and various of Foreign Land conquests. They possessed strong unshaken fighting will and skills. Their ability to think on their feet and fighting versatility were far greater than any Arcane Sorcerers who were on the same rank.

And only these combat veterans could complete this one task—to hunt down and slay a Black Sorcerer.

…

Several days later…

At the Vicious Thorn Forest…

“Argh… It couldn’t be!!”

Hattori the Hidden leaped out of a gigantic tree with a loud excruciating screech. His skin was covered in hundreds of red goosebumps.

Then, these goosebumps exploded into red bloody vapors in the air—forming vapors of skulls kissing one another in the air.

Realizing something was off, Hattori the Hidden quickly hid in the giant tree. A short moment later, his body extended out from another stone wall several dozen meters away.

Creeak!!!

The giant tree snapped in half as its massive trunk started to bend, as its leaves began to turn yellow and dry.

The thousand-year-old gigantic tree had turned into a pile of rotten wood in mere minutes.

Seeing this, Hattori the Hidden mumbled with a pale face, “It can’t be. They used my Symbiotic Insect to curse me? They even broke through my Brasshirta Tuber and Dusk Skull Shackle. Now all that I can do is to use the “Blood of the World” to shift the curses!”

As Hattori closed his eyes, his exposed flesh and bones—due to the explosion earlier had begun to grow layers and layers of leaves, rocks, and sand… and quickly heal up into new parts of his body.

“It would appear that I had attracted the attention of the Seven-Ring Holy Tower. I can’t stay here any longer. I must head to the Black Domain,” Hattori the Hidden mumbled.

“However, it’s quite apparent that this Curse Sorcery could only work when I’m at my weakest state. And… they’ll also need to utilize my Brasshirta Bugs, huh? Hehe, my weakest state only occurs for fifteen seconds per month… so that’s fine. As for the Brasshirta Bugs… it’s time to recall them back to me…”