SSS-Rank Hunter Reborn: Private Tutor to the Count's Bastard Son

While retracing their steps back.

Ferda suddenly crouched low. He sensed something unusual stirring beyond the fog.

After stopping in place, he slowly inhaled, then held his breath completely. Erasing his presence entirely, he crept forward bit by bit. At the same time, he quietly drew the Arcane Dagger. Ready to strike at any opening.

Some time later.

The source of the presence came into view.

'...A lich.'

A skeleton wearing fancy wizard robes and holding a staff. He seemed to have some dignity, but nothing too impressive. Just then, a familiar voice confirmed his guess.

[Hmm, looks like a guy who just reached Great Person dignity.]

Hearing Prang's voice, Ferda's gaze shifted slightly to the side. Not far from the lich, he spotted an archer in gray robes standing there blankly.

Someone with a thin presence but higher dignity than the lich.

The moment he saw him, Ferda was certain.

'That guy is...'

The forest keeper Heron.

Then Prang must have spotted him too, because he let out a surprised voice.

[Oh, that one looks pretty strong. He's Hero grade, but almost at the threshold. If he wasn't undead, he would've reached Legend dignity ages ago.]

A formidable enemy who had single-handedly burned down Serneck Forest. Of course he'd have that level of dignity. With that thought, Ferda crept forward little by little.

[Hey, sorry, but can I ask you something?]

Just then Prang suddenly spoke up. His tone sounded pretty serious, so Ferda listened. Soon after, Prang asked in a stiff voice.

[Are you like some kind of corpse enthusiast or something? I mean, how can you keep hunting down undead nonstop ever since we made our contract?!]

Prang shouted like he was complaining. He kept grumbling about something after that, but it didn't register. It was probably just nonsense anyway.

Then suddenly, the battle began.

CRASH—!

Actually, calling it a battle was kind of embarrassing.

It was just three spirits repeatedly turning the lich to dust. Of course, Ferda couldn't see the spirits' forms, so to him it looked like the lich was putting on a one-man show.

[But why's that guy just standing there watching?]

Just like Prang said, Heron was simply standing there doing nothing. He wasn't providing covering fire or even trying to distract the enemy. He just stared blankly at the battlefield.

Sensing he was up to something, Ferda kept his eyes fixed on him.

How much time passed like that?

When the lich was reconstructing his body for the third time, Heron made his move. Heron suddenly plunged his arm into the ground. The moment Ferda noticed it was his left arm, he immediately activated his skill.

'Hide Walker.'

Ferda's presence vanished completely.

Then faint vibrations rippled through the ground. Watching the sand grains tremble slightly, he silently breathed a sigh of relief. If he'd used the skill just a bit later, he would've been detected.

[What's that? Searching? Or some kind of detection ability?]

Prang muttered in confusion after noticing the ground vibrations.

To cut to the chase, it was both.

That was one of his most threatening abilities.

"When Heron plunged his left arm into the earth, his hand transformed into tree roots. Soon dozens of smaller roots spread out in all directions. His senses heightened to the extreme, detecting the presence of everyone in hiding.

It was a special ability he'd gained in life by grafting a branch from the World Tree where his left arm used to be.

'...Twenty-seven people.'

The positions of all the dark elves preparing to ambush were revealed at once. Soon his creaking head turned toward the forest beyond the western plains.

'Found you.'

Heron's eyes gleamed coldly.

His prey, Silvan Arcdute, was right over there."

An ability to detect all life forms within a 500-meter radius around himself. At the same time, an ability to track mana flows and locate specific targets or objects. He used it so often in the original story that it stuck in memory.

Around that time, Heron withdrew his arm. Soon a red orb appeared in his hand.

Seeing this, Prang muttered in bewilderment.

[Huh? That's a Life Vessel, isn't it? Why would he suddenly destroy his ally's weakness...]

But Prang couldn't finish his sentence. Heron suddenly crushed the Life Vessel. The lich crumbled into sand and disappeared, and all the power he'd possessed flowed into Heron.

[What, what? His dignity suddenly went up?!]

Prang's voice trembled slightly as he watched the scene.

His tone was clearly flustered. Meanwhile, Ferda maintained an indifferent expression. That was also one of Heron's special abilities.

'Devour.'

The ability to absorb existences and draw up power.

If he absorbed a being with dignity, his own dignity would rise as well. Of course, it was only a temporary effect.

Then a familiar face appeared in Ferda's eyes.

Silvan, looking flustered and panicking. He must have tried to steal Heron's dominance and failed.

'Makes sense.'

Because Plunder only works on 'others' whose dignity is two levels lower than the caster. Here, 'others' doesn't mean Heron, but whoever made him undead. The existence the lich mentioned—the 'King.'

'The First Disaster.'

Also known as All Death, a great catastrophe.

In the original story, he was described as having at least World-rank dignity or higher. That would only be one level difference from Silvan, so naturally Plunder would fail.

Then Heron's body shuddered. Seeing this, Ferda's eyes turned cold.

By failing at Plunder, Silvan's action was recognized as a preemptive strike against Heron. What did that mean? It meant regardless of the necromancer's dignity effects, he could now attack Silvan.

WHOOSH—!

Sure enough, Heron immediately shot an arrow. The power was truly tremendous. A Hero-grade spirit got slammed straight into the ground.

Watching that scene, he gripped the Arcane Dagger tighter.

Now was the time to act.

[Be careful. That guy has Legend dignity right now.]

With Prang's warning.

Ferda slowly exhaled the breath he'd been holding.

Then he started moving. His feet touched the ground, but made no sound. With each step, his presence faded more and more. From his toes to his knees, belly, arms, fingers, chest, face.

Finally, he melted perfectly into his surroundings.

BANG BANG BANG BANG—!

With a rain of arrows, hundreds of undead were annihilated. The cemetery shook violently from the aftermath. But his steps didn't stop. Then Irona, coughing up blood, got tangled up with Silvan and fell. Ferda kept walking.

Thud! THWACK!

Two spirits went down, and Heron approached right up to Silvan's nose.

Now only five steps remained.

The bowstring slowly stretched back.

Three steps.

Nether mana condensed, forming a pitch-black arrow.

One step.

At that moment, their eyes met.

The golden eyes widened. Then a bright smile bloomed on the youthful face. A laugh full of joy at their reunion. At the same time, Heron's arrow aimed at Silvan's forehead.

No more steps left.

So he simply swung his dagger.

SLASH—

He could see exactly where to strike.

So first he cut off the right arm. Then the left arm. Even after cutting off both arms, he didn't let his guard down. Ferda liked to be thorough.

THUNK! CRACK!

He tore the lower body to shreds. Then he poured all his mana into the heart area where nether mana was concentrated. When the incompatible mana types collided, it immediately overloaded. What came next was simple.

He smashed him up just short of death, then slammed his head straight into the ground.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye. The price for showing his back to a World-rank talented assassin. Only after rendering Heron unable to fight did the rage he'd been holding back explode like a volcano.

"Who exactly are you pointing that arrow at?"

THUD—!

He slammed and crushed his head into the ground over and over. When his lower body and then upper body became tattered, he heard a familiar voice.

"Ferda!"

He stopped at that voice.

As his reason returned, his vision gradually widened. Soon he saw Silvan, who had somehow gotten right up close. Meeting that brightly smiling face, Ferda asked in a worried tone.

"Are you hurt anywhere? Feeling nauseous at all?"

"Mm-hmm, I'm fine, but Irona is..."

He seemed to say something, but it didn't register clearly. All he could see right now was just Silvan. Only after confirming there were no serious injuries did the surrounding scenery come into view.

The first thing he saw was Irona. From the blood at the corner of her mouth, it seemed she'd overloaded from the shock of her spirit being reverse-summoned.

Meanwhile, Irona was trembling like she'd seen a ghost. With wide eyes, she asked in a stammering voice.

"Wh-where did you come from? I couldn't even sense your presence?"

Of course she couldn't sense it.

Even Heron, who temporarily had Legend dignity, couldn't notice him. There was no way Irona, who had no dignity at all, could have detected him.

"Take this."

Pretending to reach into his coat, he pulled a potion from his inventory and threw it to her. Then with cold eyes, he checked on Heron's condition. Due to his severely damaged body, the nether mana was rapidly draining away.

[Oh, his dignity's back to normal now.]

Whether the duration of Devour had ended or it was because his body was destroyed, Heron's dignity had dropped back to Hero-grade.

After securely binding Heron, he explained to Silvan what had happened while he was away.

The reason he'd left his post, that he'd found an exit, and why Heron's dominance couldn't be stolen—everything.

Some time later.

"Ah, I see! Then naturally you couldn't steal his dominance."

Silvan nodded with sparkling eyes.

Since he couldn't explain the Plunder skill, he just said the dignity of whoever controlled the lich and Heron was probably very high. Fortunately, Silvan looked satisfied with just that explanation.

"Ferda really knows a lot of things I don't."

Deep respect gathered in his golden eyes. Seeing those innocent eyes, his conscience pricked a little, but he deliberately ignored it. A while later, Silvan turned his gaze to Heron, who was face-planted on the ground.

"Hmm, so I can't make him my ally then."

Silvan clicked his tongue regretfully. Just as Ferda was about to open his mouth to respond, someone else cut in first. It was the three spirits who had barely recovered with Silvan's mana.

[Of course not!]

[How dare he aim an arrow at the King!]

[We should cut his throat right here!]

Was it because they were embarrassed about getting slammed into the ground by Heron's attack? Or were they truly concerned for Silvan's safety? The reason was unclear, but the spirits all agreed it was a bad idea.

"Okay, I get it. Since you say it can't be done anyway."

As if telling them to calm down, Silvan smiled faintly. But then Ferda suddenly shook his head.

"Actually, you can do it."

"What?"

Silvan's eyes went wide. The spirits also seemed surprised and writhed around. A moment later, Silvan tilted his head with a puzzled expression.

"But you just said..."

"That was about stealing dominance."

Plunder couldn't be used on Heron. Because whoever made him undead had considerably high dignity. But there wasn't a rule saying you could only use Plunder to make subordinates.

"Just drain all the nether mana, then resurrect him. Right?"

"By resurrect, you mean..."

"Reviving an undead that's been rendered unable to fight. Like what you did before."

The reason for draining the mana was to completely erase any trace of the First Disaster. Then use Resurrection of the Dead to bring him back. At those words, Silvan's eyes widened.

He seemed to finally understand Ferda's intention.

"Mm, it's worth trying at least."

Plus, Resurrection of the Dead came with the extra skill Absolute Obedience. If it succeeded, it would be much better than using Plunder.

"Then first we need to drain the mana..."

Silvan frowned. He was probably feeling stuck. Ferda also found it difficult to completely drain mana without the system's help. But then, one of the spirits crept closer.

[Your Majesty, please leave that to me.]

It was Squishy.

Come to think of it, Squishy had a talent for eating things. Hadn't he swallowed the lich's magic whole? After thinking it over briefly, Silvan gave Squishy some instructions.

"Don't break him, just drain the mana. Can you do that?"

[Yes, of course.]

Squishy grinned.

[I'm confident at picking bones clean, leaving nothing but bone.]

At his confident answer, Silvan nodded.

Once permission was granted, Squishy inflated his body greatly. Then he swallowed Heron whole. Occasionally there were worrying sounds like bones being chewed.

Some time later.

A single corpse with all its mana drained appeared.

"Well then, shall we give it a try?"

Silvan rolled up his sleeves.

Soon strong determination blazed in his golden eyes.