[Faceless Hunter 2] Chapter 46: Return of Yuki (Patreon)

Even as a Mind Slime, Xen had found eating anything besides minds tasteless.

Abyssal stone was like eating molten rock that burned him from the inside, so Xen shapeshifted into an Abyssal Slime to use his Abyss-Tempered passive—which converted the corruption into thin trickles of clean mana and made escaping far less torturous. Still, it would take a while.

And I don't want to keep them waiting, Xen thought as he looked up.

The Guardian's carcass above him was like an impenetrable mountain. Beyond it, on the ridge where he had last seen them, were four humans he knew well. Even with the abyssal stone muddying his Geomantic Perception, he knew it was them by Alex's stance, Kenji's slow pacing, Daisuke patiently sitting because he was secretly lazy, and Hina, who wouldn't stop moving and was likely demanding they dig Ghostwire free.

Knowing they were waiting for him compelled him to keep pushing through his abyssal tomb. But just as he returned to eating, something new registered at the very edge of his perception. Dozens of signatures. Moving fast, in formation toward the Guardian from the direction of the staircase to the 10th floor.

Those must be the Saviors and first responders the Guilds sent to check out the situation now that the floor is open. I had hoped to leave quietly before they arrived, but it seems I couldn't free myself in time.

The next mouthful of abyssal rubble gave way to the porous black stone of the 11th floor itself. Finally, he could swim his way out of here, as his Cinderburrow only worked through porous rock or sand.

"Cinderburrow."

He liquefied and slid into the rock like water into a sponge. Expending the mana he had painfully accumulated from eating abyssal stone, he kept the intensive skill running until he managed to reach the surface.

When he finally pooled out of a crack on the surface behind a fallen amber crystal, he saw the Guardian's carcass as a black hill in the distance, and the ridge with his human party on it was less than a hundred meters away.

Now to see if I have enough biomass to spare. System, make me an Elf.

Putrid steam billowed off him as the Abyssal Slime form he had assumed melted into a puddle and began to reform. The A-grade Shapeshift did the work in seconds, but it could only craft an Elf with the biomass he provided it, and he was starved. The elf that stood up was a deprived shadow of what Yuki Tanaka had once looked like. His cheeks were hollow, his collarbones stood out, and his wrists were as thin as sticks.

I look terrible, Xen mused as he inspected himself in the amber crystal's reflection. Should I fix it with Perfect Guise? Mhm. He traced a finger along his collarbone. Maybe I should keep it, as this starved look will lower everyone's suspicions.

However, he was still naked. So Xen activated Perfect Guise, and the S-grade illusion clothed him in the same Guild Association-issued cloak and a pair of Wellington boots he had worn before. He then reached into his mouth and fished out his Hunter badge from his slime, where it had spent the last few days sitting beside the hilt of a broken mithril shortsword, and held it in his hand.

Checking his reflection in the amber crystal one last time, he nodded in approval at his illusionary clothes.

I look like a healer who spent days running from monsters to survive. Perfect.  

Xen turned and climbed the ridge to meet his party once again.

***

Hina noticed him first. She was rushing down the ridge before anyone else had turned their heads.

"Yuki! Where the hell have you been!" She yelled, finally drawing everyone else's attention.

"I've been hiding—oof." The wind was knocked out of him as Hina barreled into him, picking him off his feet with ease and pulling him into a tight hug.

"I thought you died!" Hina said, spinning him around and finally putting him down. He had to expend mana to quickly repair his Perfect Guise before she noticed. "What the hell happened to you?" she said, inspecting him closely. "You look like a corpse."

"You don't look much better," Xen retorted. Up close, he could see how bad the last few days had been for Hina after getting his bearings, as the sudden hug had taken him by surprise. The cut on her head had scabbed over unevenly, and there was dried blood in her hairline she hadn't been able to wash out.

The others skidded down the ridge at different speeds, with Alex reaching Xen first.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you alive, Yuki." Alex was all smiles as he patted him on the shoulder, while Kenji just nodded in agreement, with his eyes slightly wet. Daisuke came last and squinted at Xen through his glasses.

"Your mana," Daisuke said. "It's so thin. What happened to you?"

"It's been a long few days," Xen replied, and everyone grunted in agreement. Then the mood shifted.

Hina grimaced. "Yuki, did you hear about Ghostwire—"

"I already know," Xen assured her and tapped his mask. "I learned of his final moments through the Faceless Mask."

Hina's gaze fell to the ground. "He got buried alive after killing the Guardian all by himself." Her hands clenched at her sides. "He would have gotten out if not for the Stormbringers."

"I know it's sad," Xen said, "but Ghostwire told you, didn't he? That he would finish his mission with ruthless efficiency, and then go out of his own accord?"

Kenji slowly nodded. "He kept his word."

A mournful silence fell over the group. Xen just stood there in awkward silence—he wanted to give them their moment—but he had also never experienced being mourned before. It was a strange experience and almost made him feel bad. His lies made them feel like they had lost someone, even though he was still right there.

Then he moved on, because beyond the ridge, dozens of powerful people were about to arrive with questions, and he needed to get their stories straight if they were to survive.

"Listen carefully," he said, earning himself four pairs of saddened eyes. "Dozens of Hunters have already arrived, and they are going to want answers. As it stands, you are all complicit in the murders of an Ether Technocrat captain and her party. You know them as well as I do—they will tear this place and anyone in it apart for answers once they learn of Iris's demise."

Everyone tensed at the seriousness of his tone.

Xen had learned after killing the Stormbringers just how important it was to cover his tracks. He could shapeshift and let his past personas die with their crimes, but these humans didn't have that luxury.

"It should go without saying, but do not mention Ghostwire ever again. Cassius von Stormbringer and his group confirmed Ghostwire's strength, and he will become the prime suspect in the murders. That's perfect. Let the story die with Ghostwire."

Everyone dutifully nodded.

"Good. I also know you all want to join the Radiant Accord, but refrain from mentioning the guild for now. We will handle that all on the surface, away from prying eyes." Xen began walking over the ridge. "Come on, let's leave this hellscape alive and together."

***

They had to pass the Guardian's carcass to reach the stairs.

Up close, the dead Guardian looked less like a monster and more like a quarry after a landslide. Obsidian ribs the size of subway cars lay in a tangle, and abyssal mana still seeped from the cracks.

Around it, the Hunters had already set up shop. Guild Association squads in gray swarmed the place, stringing up lights to pierce the darkness and marking the ground with paint, while others were putting up a medical tent beside a fallen leg. Lyra lay on a stretcher outside the rising medical tent, and Garrick sat on the ground beside her, his shield across his knees, looking exhausted.

On the far side, Xen recognized a Stormbringer team unloading equipment from an armored vehicle that resembled the one used to farm the Orcs.

Cassius von Stormbringer stood in the middle of it all, shouting at an elf holding a clipboard.

"I don't care how many tons it is! Bring diggers, earth mages, or the entire guild if you have to." He jabbed a finger at the black hill. "There is a corpse buried under all that whose head I need in a box before my father sets foot on this floor. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Master Cassius—"

"Then why are you still standing here?! Fucking move."

Xen kept to the middle of his party, and while they all cast curious glances at the scene, he didn't dare to look. All because of one man. Jeokhon was leaning against an obsidian rib, a silver flask in one hand that likely contained blood.

Once we are past him, I doubt we will encounter much trouble—

Xen tensed as, for a moment, the vampire's red eyes drifted across the ridge and settled on his party walking away. Xen didn't dare look at him for fear of catching his gaze.

Please don't come over here. If he catches the scent of my blood, it's all over.

Thankfully, Xen felt Jeokhon's heavy gaze lessen as the vampire shook his head and went back to his flask.

Xen let out a sharp breath in relief. Now all they had to do was make it to the stairs, but that was going to be easier said than done, as he detected more Hunters rushing in.

***

The arriving Hunters were all too busy killing the abyssal monsters and rushing toward the Guardian to care for a disheveled group trekking silently across the porous stone. A few asked if they needed help, but they simply waved them away.

It wasn't until they reached the stairs that a Guild Association officer stepped into their path. He held a tablet that lit up his harried face.

"Badges," he said drily while opening something on his tablet.

"We don't have badges," Alex said calmly. "We all resigned and fed our badges to the Abyssal Slimes."

The officer raised a brow. "You're lucky I recognize you, Alex. After I let you through, you can go to headquarters and have a new badge made."

"We resigned—what about that do you not understand?" Hina said, putting her hands on her hips. "We are done. Finished."

"May I ask why?" the man frowned.

"We were facing certain death," Alex replied with a shrug. "It seemed like the right time to give up this Hunter lifestyle."

"I understand," the man said as golden mana clouded his eyes.

[An identification-type skill is being used on you]

[Nameless Existence] passive triggered. You may choose what is perceived or block the attempt entirely.

I obviously need to switch my class to Radiant Healer, and I was level 8 when I signed up. So after surviving this Abyssal Rift, level 20 seems reasonable.

[Elf (Radiant Healer: Level 20)]

The officer's gaze flicked over each of them in turn and then landed on Xen for a second longer than the others with a look of concern rather than suspicion.

"I found Alex's file, and I assume you're this party's contracted healer," he said, and tapped something on his tablet. "Fine. Stairs are that way. There are medics on the tenth-floor platform. Don't touch anything, don't talk to the press, and expect a debrief." He was already looking past them at the next group of haggard survivors.

***

The stairs came out into water.

Xen had forgotten how green the tenth floor was. After days of black stone and amber light, the canopy and the shallow lake at the foot of the great root archway felt like another world. A floating platform had been deployed, and it was crawling with Hunters, medics, and men in suits who had never been in a dungeon in their lives. A woman with a Guild Association armband tried to take Alex aside.

"We no longer work for the Guild Association," Alex said politely and kept walking. The woman tried to press them to complete a debrief, but one look at Xen's starved appearance silenced her.

"This is crazy," Daisuke muttered. "I see someone from every department of every guild here."

"I know, right," Alex said, sounding irritated as he confidently led the group through the chaos. "It feels like the end of the world or something."

Considering the infiltrator plot and the abyssal cores at stake, I'm hardly surprised by this level of response, Xen thought as he glanced around. I bet every guild here is worried about who the Nameless Existence is that killed the Guardian and ended the Abyssal Rift early. He smiled behind his mask. If only they knew the most wanted person was walking among them.

Questions hollered at them were shrugged off by Alex, and after what felt like forever, they made it to the teleportation hub. After another round of intensive checks that Alex argued his way through by gesturing to his injured party members, they were finally allowed to return to the surface.

Somehow, the chamber they stepped off the teleporter into was even more chaotic, with many shouting voices echoing through the space. Alex pushed forward more aggressively this time, as those standing in their way were mere office workers for the guilds rather than Hunters.

The building's wards crawled over Xen the way they always did. Then before he knew it, they were pushing through a doorway and out into Tokyo.

It was morning. The sky was a cloudy gray, and the air smelled faintly of yakitori. Barriers lined the street, with police holding back a crowd. The air vibrated as news helicopters circled above the Guild Association Headquarters like vultures.

Xen stopped for a moment, letting the others walk before him as he glanced at the doorway.

I walked into the dungeon as a B-rank with four strangers and came out as an S-rank existence with four new friends who are about to double the size of my guild. It was hard, and I almost died. But I can now put the life of Ghostwire behind me and truly start anew as—

"YUKI!"

He knew the voice before he found the face. Randy was pressed against the barrier, with Valoria behind him. Vesper stood beside them, a white mask hanging from its strap around his neck, and he seemed busy arguing with a police officer. They looked like they hadn't slept well in days.

Noticing Randy, Alex called out to the police officer. "Officer, let those three through!"

The police officer frowned but did as he was told by the blood-stained Hunter. He carefully opened the barrier and let Xen's friends in.

Randy dashed over and seemed out of breath. "Yuki, you really survived. Oh, thank god."

"Barely," Xen said, grinning behind his mask. "You three look terrible too."

"Gee, thanks," Valoria said with a pout. "I'm never skipping makeup again."

Vesper leaned around him and grinned. "Your cat's alive, by the way. He's at my place, but he hates me."

"He's not my cat, and doesn't he hate everyone?" Xen pointed out.

Randy nodded. "That's what I said."

"But thank you for taking care of him," Xen said, and was surprised at how tired he sounded. Somehow, eating his way out of that abyssal tomb had been more draining than killing the Guardian.

"We should go and celebrate," Randy said, and it was almost amusing how relieved he looked. Not that Xen could blame him, as he had bet a lot on the success of the Radiant Accord.

"Right! With Yuki back, we can finally relax," Vesper chuckled, holding Xen's shoulder as if he were worried he would run back into the dungeon's depths. "I'm in a good mood. Drinks are on me!"

Alex and his party stood around Xen awkwardly, clearly unsure how to broach the topic of them joining the Radiant Accord. Thankfully, Randy seemed to pick up on it.

"You four should join us too," Randy said with a smile. "I'm sure you all have many interesting stories to share, as no dungeon dive with Yuki is ever normal." He stepped forward and offered his hand. "Thank you for looking out for him."

"It's us who are grateful for Yuki's help," Alex said, stepping forward, and the two clasped hands. "Now let's get out of here before the men in suits harass us for a debrief again."