Chapter 360: Enter the Hood

Ned adopted the stance to fight a brute beast. He opened his arms, letting them hung freely but focuses to find the enemy's weak spots.

Under his display, Ned found out that between the gaps of its shells were its weakest spots.

But Ned only prepared, seeing how it went into a rampage, killing the scattered magical beasts and the shocked candidates, he only went to stand on the side. Goblins and wargs ran past him, not daring to not even looked behind them, or even to Ned.

But as candidates, they remained in the middle. Although fearful, the remaining candidates wore their stances with trembling hands.

As for the worm-like beast, it chose to face whoever was nearest to him.

The candidates gathered together: the pair of warriors where Ned grabbed their orbs, from time to time they were throwing a deathly gaze at Ned. Three archers, and one mage (the rest of his team were wiped out after the beast devoured them).

They weren't in coordination at all. Two of the three archers gave up and left the team, only to be stabbed by a sharp skeleton-like dagger. It was the tail of the beast, now fully shown. Ned estimated it was about 20 to 30 meters long.

It then started to coil the remaining candidates. At the end of its tail were the dead candidates. The pair was impaled at the skeleton-like spears.

Ned could hardly make out what the candidates were shouting, but he guessed they were concerned about their dead teammate.

He then took a step forward. And after a couple more steps, chiming resonated inside his head.

[You do not need to do it, Ned.]

"What am I supposed to do?" Ned spoke to ICE. He made a fist of his hands.

[Leve them.]

"I can't," Ned replied.

[You can and you will.]

[Remember you need to have the license. If you cannot make it to the center there will be no Hunter license for you.]

[And if you cannot have a license. It will be very difficult for you to venture into the Dark Continent.]

[Remember what Tiathe said. You are halfway to your goal. If by chance you die here. What would happen to your Master?]

Ned gave his answer, he was absolute this time. He took a step forward, leaving his doubts behind. Ned walked forward, leaving all the crimes he did in his past life. He was sure this time, he would help the one in need. Just like what his Master thought of him. Ned moved onward.

He played with Krisalix as he dashed forward the abnormally evolved magical beast.

After he fought the guulvorg, Ned was now certain that anyone with the lump of throbbing meat, wasn't just evolved for it to look scary, but it was forcefully evolved, giving them immense power and speed to which their former self couldn't achieve.

Before Ned could reach the fray, the mage conjured a wall of mud to block an acid the abnormal worm-like beast spew. The wall held itself, but the mage wasn't fast enough to conjure another one as the worm ram its head full of razor-sharp teeth and broke the wall, crushing it. The residue of mud scattered along with the mage caught between its teeth. Without him conjuring Terra magic and coating his body with it, he would have died already.

Aside from the bodies of beasts scattering on the ground with human limbs everywhere, there was blood as well.

While Ned was already immune to the sight of blood, it doesn't seem so to the other candidates. Losing the will to both fight and escape was the worst thing to happen to a hunter. They will also lose the ability to think properly in any situation.

Looking at their frightened faces, Ned made the decision: to intervene. If not, the remaining candidates were sure to die.

And so Ned conjured a Fireball, trying to distract the beast.

As the Fireball traveled, Ned prepared to leap for a follow-up attack.

The beast was about to land a hit of its head to the remaining candidates but was stopped midway after the Fireball exploded right into its mouth. Leaving a massive shroom of dust, and smoke.

After the smoke settled down, a sword was struck at the mouth of the worm. Ned then conjured another Fireball much closer to its mouth. If the first Fireball wasn't effective as how Ned wanted it to be due to the beast's shell covering, the second one was devastating enough that it took off the worm's entire head.

Ned made sure to do it in a matter of seconds. Seeing the opportunity between the gaps of its shells, Ned had struck it with the Krisalix and followed it up with a Fireball. Gaining a wide-open mouth from the candidates.

"Who are you?" one of the candidates, the mage, asked. Blood was leaking on his forehead that was sticking with his brown hair. He waved his hands before his face, clearing it with dust and smoke.

"I saw it," one of the warriors said, just in time for the worm-like beast to drop dead. "You stole our orbs."

"A necessary step," Ned answered the warrior with a scowl. But Ned guessed they have all the rights to be angry with him. But he would never give the orb back. "And at least you are alive."

Instead of thanking Ned, one of the warriors, the female one, swung his sword to Ned that almost hit the mage before him. Ned hurriedly pulled the Krisalix off the remaining head of the worm-like beast and blocked the sword with it. Giving off a strong vibration from both swords.

The female was taller and larger than Ned, but she was surprised enough after Ned blocked her sword.

Ned twisted his wrists to redirect the sword top-down, he then took a step to close the gap between him and the female warrior then struck her at her gut.

The female warrior fell, both knees, vomiting white slurpy liquid.

The male warrior reacted but not in retaliation to Ned but to the female warrior, comforting her on her back.

The remaining archer looked over Ned with both his eyes and mouth in wide shock. But it was late for Ned to realize why and what was it about after he was swept by a kick on his side.

Ned's body almost whistled mid-air after he was thrown by the kick. But after he gained momentum and complete control of his body, Ned flipped midair, just in time for him to hit a tree.

Ned's boots made a trace on the ground after he stopped, he then felt a rush of warm liquid on his mouth. He wiped his blood then tried to search for the person that kicked him.

But what he saw surprised him, a team of black-hooded men was surrounding the candidates. There were six on his sight encircling the candidates. A couple of them pushed the pair of warriors to kneel, but hotheaded she was, she refused to do so and swung her sword behind her. Yet hit nothing but air.

She turned around only to realize that a dagger was stabbed between her neck, killing her.

The candidates gasped in terror. They did nothing but kneel after seeing that the other candidate was killed. Her male teammate, the warrior, stood in utter shock.

Behind the black-hooded men was another pair of mysterious hooded men, examining the worm-like beast, or the remains of it.

"Who did this?" the black-hooded man said after he was done squatting before the beast.

Ned couldn't see who was behind the hood as the added darkness was also covering his face. Ned assumed his eyes were scanning the kneeling candidates. He raised his hand, black gloves visible under the bars of moonlight.

Ned wiped the blood off his mouth then stood.

Suddenly he felt a strong chill behind him. He then tried to turn around to check who was behind him but a cold dagger was already on his neck.

"This one did," the black-hooded man said.