Chapter 149 - Ruptured Artery

Near the center of the 'Project Hunt' island, there was a gathering of not so inconspicuous youths taking place. Some were looking toward one another with vigilance and hostility that could hardly be concealed.

If one could set aside the peculiarity of the atmosphere, the surroundings itself was quite? beautiful. Many lakes, rivers and rolling hills could be seen. The only issue was that it all seemed quite unnatural.

??

It felt impossible that such a scenery could be formed organically. It was almost like a painter laid down a fantasy world on their canvas, only for it to somehow pop up and become a reality.

The rivers wound in and out of the lakes like ribbons of water flowing as they pleased. Some of them didn't even take the green hills as obstruction, crawling up their sides and falling down the other in small waterfalls.

It really was a beautiful sight. But, it seemed that none of the youths had the mind to care about such things as they looked toward each other with vigilance.

Roaring Black Lion stood to one side, his gaze practically spitting fire as he looked toward a group of three youths. There were numerous wounds across his body, making it obvious that Leonel wasn't the only one having a hard time during this Hunt. But, judging by the hostility in his gaze, it was obvious that while Leonel was suffering at the hands of a beast, it seemed that he had suffered at the hands of his fellow man.

It wasn't just him who had such wounds and carried such animosity. Aside from Chasing Wind — whose indifference was maybe somewhat obvious considering the speed at which she could escape — they all had such gazes, even Thunderous Clap.

Toward such eyes, Pisces, Flowing Wind, King of Seas and the rest of the Eastern Lookout youths could only chuckle. Who asked the Southern Lookout Promising Youths to be stupid enough to travel alone? If it wasn't for this, would they have suffered such obvious losses?

Of course, there was one group amongst the Eastern Lookout fellows that didn't seem to be having such a great time. However, rather than having their eyes trained on a particular person, they were constantly scanning the surroundings as though trying their best to find their prey.

"I know I'm beautiful, but is there a need to stare at me so intently?" Flowing Wind blinked her eyes and brought her elbows together, winking flirtatiously at Roaring Black Lion and Thunderous Clap, both of whom had suffered due to her.

The action was really too provocative. She was hardly wearing much to begin with. Now with this, it felt as though all her assets might pop out at any time.

Pisces who was used to being the only one of her group of three who thought about the overall situation noticed this distinct change.

Through gritted teeth, a young man who had red veins painted across his mask and went by the name 'Ruptured Artery', spoke.

"We were tied up in a tree and couldn't get down for three days because of him. We nearly starved to death."

Pisces frowned upon hearing this information.

"He was alone?"

"... Yes."

"And he still subdued you all without killing you?"

"Yes..."

"Or injuring you?"

At this point, Ruptured Artery stopped speaking. He was already enraged enough without having to deal with the odd gazes he and his group was now receiving.

However, the others of the Eastern Lookout could only look toward Leonel with vigilance. Ruptured Artery wasn't the best among them, but he wasn't the worst either. If he participated in the Southern Lookout gathering, he would have been the fourth or fifth seed. On top of that, he had been alone, yet he had been tied up in a tree without the ability to resist...?

Even with all this being said, the reason they were so apprehensive was because Leonel was a complete unknown... They had never even heard of him until this very moment.