Bloodhound’s Regression Instinct

Chapter 97

In the midst of sudden chaos, Jin, an officer of the Special Task Force, was not greatly perturbed. He had known there was a mastermind behind this mine incident.

‘Was this situation deliberately induced?’

Jin surveyed his surroundings. The darkness hindered the sight of others, but his vision was as clear as day.

The lower-ranked mercenaries struggled to protect the map, while the pursuing Silvers Mercenary Group and Earl Eir’s knights aimed to snatch it away.

The sound of flesh being sliced could be heard everywhere.

It was a complete pandemonium, a term that fit the situation perfectly.

“Ah, no! That’s mine…!”

Thwack!

“Ugh!”

“You should have handed it over when asked nicely.”

Right beside Jin, a member of the Silvers plunged his knife into the throat of a lower-ranked mercenary holding the map.

Roughly extracting the map from the grasp of the fallen mercenary, the Silvers member was about to report this when suddenly…

Crack.

“Gah, gahhhk.”

A strong force constricted the throat, silencing any cries. The Silvers member’s face turned deathly pale.

He flailed desperately, trying to remove the person behind him.

“Gah-hah. Gahk!”

But soon, the mercenary’s struggles subsided, and his body went limp, lifeless.

“Mercenaries sure have long lifelines.”

Jin released the wire he had been clutching and extracted the map from the mercenary’s hand. His eyes gleamed as he memorized every mark on the map.

That’s when it happened.

“What are you doing here, you bastard─!”

From a distance, Baiken, who had been slaughtering other lower-ranked mercenaries, spotted Jin by chance.

His subordinate lay defeated, and in Jin’s hand was the map.

‘He’s no ordinary man.’

The lack of blood on the fallen subordinate suggested it wasn’t a simple stab wound.

Why would someone avoid using a knife in such a melee?

The only reason was to avoid drawing attention.

‘And I don’t recognize his face.’

Baiken knew the faces of all notable mercenaries, but this man’s face was not in his memory.

That meant…

‘He knows something. Or perhaps he’s the one who’s been meddling with the mine!’

Baiken charged his mana into his legs and leaped forward.

His body shot through the air like an arrow.

Thud!

Baiken closed the distance in an instant, causing Jin to frown.

Baiken, the captain of the Silvers’ Second Division.

Estimated combat level: just above Grade 4.

For Jin, who was at a mature Grade 5 level, a direct confrontation was to be avoided.

Jin retreated, flicking his fingers a couple of times—a signal to the other waiting Special Task Force members to seize the map and rendezvous.

“You think you can escape me!”

Baiken gripped his sword tightly and swung it in the direction Jin was fleeing.

A blue aura burst from the sword, rushing towards Jin threateningly.

Dark Sky Technique – Night Walk.

Swoosh.

Boom! Rumble.

Jin melted into the darkness, and Baiken’s aura struck only the innocent stone wall.

As the presence vanished, Baiken stomped the ground furiously.

“Damn bastard!”

It was certain the man knew something.

And the ease with which he dodged Baiken’s aura indicated he was no ordinary fighter.

Baiken’s nose twitched.

Amidst the smell of oil and foul drugs, he caught the scent of that man.

His head turned swiftly in another direction.

A slight smirk formed on his lips.

“He hasn’t gotten far.”

Baiken started sprinting towards the direction of the suspicious scent.

“Tch.”

Jin clicked his tongue, sensing Baiken’s pursuit.

He knew mercenaries relied heavily on their senses, but he hadn’t expected Baiken to pinpoint his location by scent alone.

Jin recalled the contents of the map.

Everything he had observed while disguised as a lower-ranked mercenary within the tunnels mostly matched.

The map seemed genuine enough.

‘But something feels off…’

Would the mastermind have let go of the map so easily?

It was more logical to assume the map was scattered with a purpose.

Considering the situation caused by the map:

The momentary truce between Earl Eir and the Silvers was broken as soon as the map was discovered, plunging them into battle.

The situation had escalated so quickly that Jin found it difficult to meet with the other Special Task Force members.

The tunnels had turned into a complete battlefield.

Jin’s eyes darkened.

‘From the Special Task Force to Earl Eir and the Silvers… It feels like we’re all being played by someone.’

Whoever designed this was dangerous.

* * *

As Yan slipped away from the map’s territorial skirmish, he made his way to the opposite direction.

The map showed nothing but an empty lot.

“A likely haunt for the revolutionaries,” he mused.

Thanks to Yan’s annotations, others steered clear of this area.

Yet, he remained vigilant, aware that low-ranking mercenaries fleeing the melee or their pursuers might still appear.

Yan arrived at the site supervisor’s office, a location he’d noted while toiling as a miner.

There, several bodies, likely miners, lay abandoned.

The door to the supervisor’s office, previously visible, was now replaced by a stone wall.

To the uninitiated, it was easily overlooked, but Yan, familiar with the scene, found it inconsequential.

“Artifacts or magic at work,” he deduced.

Drawing Ascalon from his subspace pocket, he traced a line where the door once was.

Ssshhh.

With a sound akin to slicing paper, the magical seal camouflaging the stone wall vanished, revealing a door.

A door well-known to Yan.

He opened it and stepped inside.

The supervisor, who had been menacing just days before, now sat head bowed, gnawing at his nails.

“What are you doing here?” Yan inquired.

Startled, the supervisor looked up, recognizing Yan and furrowing his brow.

He grabbed a hand axe from the small wooden desk and yelled, “You insignificant miner scum. Leave if you wish to live!”

Then, a realization dawned on him, his eyebrows arching.

The door Yan had entered through should have been disguised by an artifact.

‘How did he get in?’

The Yan he knew was just a common miner from the countryside.

Something was amiss, and he realized it.

Yan asked calmly, “Supervisor, are you with the revolutionaries?”

“What? How could you know that!” The supervisor recoiled in shock.

Yan approached him slowly.

“You… what are you?” the supervisor stammered, having thought Yan was just an ordinary country miner who shouldn’t know about the revolutionaries.

Yan pressed Ascalon to the supervisor’s throat.

Feeling the deadly blade’s edge, the supervisor broke into a cold sweat.

“Let’s make this easy,” Yan suggested, extending a pendant hanging around his neck towards the supervisor.

Seeing it, the supervisor’s eyes widened.

His sweaty, rolling eyes suggested, “You’re under a geas too?”

Yan chuckled.

“Filling the mine with symbols and then a geas? Whose idea was this? Quite the perverse taste.”

Yan shook his head in disapproval, then gestured towards the door.

“Are those bodies outside your doing?”

“I had no choice; they came begging for life.”

“Why did you have no choice?”

The supervisor clamped his mouth shut, unable to justify hiding such worthless miners.

“Please, save me. I had no choice either.”

“Thanks to you, my guilt is somewhat alleviated.”

“What?”

Before the supervisor could act, Yan seized his collarbone, forcing him to kneel.

The supervisor writhed in pain, feeling Yan’s grip tighten.

“Owen.”

At that name, the supervisor ceased struggling and slowly raised his head.

His trembling eyes revealed something.

Yan’s lips curled into a smile.

“How do you know his honorific name?”

“That man. He’s here, isn’t he?”

The supervisor’s eyes betrayed his emotions, wondering how Yan knew his name and location.

‘Bingo.’

Yan smirked.

The supervisor’s reaction suggested Owen was indeed here.

And Owen was a high-ranking officer in the revolutionary army, far surpassing the disciples of the Light Sword Yan had encountered during the train terror incident.

“If that’s the case, you should know enough about the symbols.”

Yan wasn’t worried about Owen’s superior skills; the chaos elsewhere would keep him occupied.

And with superhumans and their peers present, they could sufficiently weaken Owen’s power.

“Please, save me! I’ll do anything…”

But Yan swung his sword emotionlessly.

Thwack!

The supervisor’s headless body slumped to the ground, indistinguishable from the others outside.

Yan, seemingly unaffected, immediately began sifting through the papers in the supervisor’s office.

Where the magic stones were sold, the flow of funds, and if any led to revolutionary strongholds.

After confirming a few details, Yan burned the documents.

It was better to keep this knowledge to himself.

With all the information memorized, Yan exhaled sharply and his eyes gleamed.

“War Smith Owen Valdi.”

The great warrior of the dwarves, now enslaved by humanity.

Capturing him would unveil the Grand Master’s tattoos and pendant symbols that had remained elusive.

It was time to seek out Owen.