Chapter 111: Aftermath

The Rozenstruik Empire's Hand-to-hand Combat Arts was a full-contact martial art that aimed to kill. Every move in this Combat Arts was devastating and almost impossible to defend against. But of course, just how a diamond needed a diamond before it could be scratched.

To shatter an enemy's bones, one's bones must be as strong as the bones of one's enemy or stronger. Doppelgangers were creatures whose hearts were innately kind and generous. They were pacifists and disliked fighting the most.

But despite the fact that they hated fighting and bloodshed.

They were still demi-humans...

And the bodies of demi-humans were just biologically resilient and stronger than the bodies of humans.

Calvin was just an average human.

He had the ancient notebook the Notebook of Secrets That Will Destroy Your Life, but he couldn't use it other than to confirm some facts or write some diary entry since Dandelion was still in hibernation after that grand escape eight months ago.

However, despite all of these, Calvin still used the Rozenstruik Empire's Hand-to-hand Combat Arts.

But why was he so confident?

It was because he knew what he was doing.

Calvin used Spiritualistic Magic to gather all the Mana that he had in his body to a single point which was his left fist.

Being reinforced by such a massive amount of Mana relative to the other body parts of Calvin's body made his fist far stronger than steel.

He may not be able to use the Rozenstruik Empire's Hand-to-hand Combat Arts in its full glory, but he was still capable enough to use the first style of the Combat Arts.

Asalraalaikum.

Asalraalaikum was a straightforward attack.

No fancy lights appeared around Calvin's fist as he executed this style, and he also didn't use any flashy moves preceding the execution of the attack. He merely clenched his fist and sent it directly towards the face of his pouncing enemy.

No tricks, no gimmicks, it was just a plain old punch.

But when that ordinary-looking punch connected.

It directly shattered the face of the doppelganger.

Puchi!

A squishy noise rang out followed by cracking sounds as Calvin's fist directly went straight through the man's face and pulverized his skull as well as his brain.

Splat!

Blood and brain matter instantly splattered onto the ground and the nearby walls. Calvin's clothes and his body weren't spared by the onslaught of the pungent blood and greyish brain matter.

A frown appeared on his face but he didn't clean up the mess.

Instead, he took another piece of crumpled paper and slapped it onto his forehead.

The piece of paper contained runes formed into dozens of logical threads. The primary function of the runecrafted piece of paper was to seal and manipulate. As soon as the piece of paper landed on Calvin's forehead, he fell onto the ground as his eyes rolled over into his head.

Before he lost consciousness, he dropped another piece of paper onto the ground.

The piece of paper had the words, "The trail ends, Red Cloud."

...

Bruce, Ashlynn, and James were assigned to Ouyang's Genuine Treasure House, Narcista Street, and Elmo's Woodworks. The Cavaliers paid close attention to Elmo's Woodworks for this was the only place where the mysterious leaver of clues or the rogue Predator visited twice.

At this moment, Bruce was casually chatting with some ladies.

Ashlynn was eating in a restaurant, while James casually perused the merchandise and furniture of Elmo's Woodworks. All three of them acted as if they weren't in a mission, especially Bruce who was trying his best to charm these ladies into his bed.

But in the very next moment.

All three of them suddenly froze.

They simultaneously reached out for their pocket and crushed a crystal before they rushed out of the area.

Bruce didn't even say his farewells to the ladies, Ashlynn directly slapped a few paper pounds notes onto her table shocking the waiter silly, while James almost tripped on the haphazardly arranged furniture as he rushed outside and headed for the direction of the Yang Bridge.

"I can feel it... It's close!"

The three deftly squeezed through the crowd and they soon reached the top of the Yang Bridge.

After taking a look, all three of them glanced at each other for a moment before James activated his Predator Senses. In an instant, the world became filled with colorful lights similar to that of a kaleidoscope.

After locking onto the unique and unknown mana signature that they had been looking for the last few days.

James slightly nodded.

It meant that the trace was trackable and the perpetrator was nearby!

In an instant, James dashed ahead of the three while Bruce sent a signal to the Captain back at the Captivating Fragrance Coffee Shop.

Ashlynn went ahead of Bruce, her eyes shining in a faint barely imperceptible light.

James took a sharp turn to the right and he soon reached the dark alleyway where the unique mana signature was coming from.

As soon as he stepped a foot inside the alleyway, James abruptly stopped.

He signaled to Ashlynn and Ashlynn faintly nodded her head and she then closed her eyes.

Ashlynn's Predator class was classified as Scout.

She could use her scouting abilities to gain a bird's eye view of the area in a hundred meters diameter around her. The moment she closed her eyes and scouted the place from above, Bruce finally arrived along with the Captain of the Cavaliers, Ron Samuel.

No words were exchanged.

Ashlynn opened her eyes once more and signaled that the coast was clear.

Ron Samuel nodded then everyone rushed in.

But the scene that they saw inside baffled them.

There were a corpse and a young man whose condition was unknown.

The corpse looked to be from a humanoid creature, while the young man was definitely human.

But the problem was that the unique mana signature came from the young man, astonishing the Cavaliers.

"Check him." Ron Samuel ordered.

James didn't say anything.

He kneeled beside Calvin and ignored the blood splattered on Calvin's filthy clothes as he checked Calvin's body for the source of that unique mana signature.

"There's nothing on him..."

"What? Did you check him properly...?"

"Captain! I found something..."

Bruce interjected. He gestured for them to look at the ground and the Cavaliers discovered a piece of paper.

There were words written in blood on the piece of paper.

"The trail ends, Red Cloud."