Star Rank Hunter

Original and most up to date translations are posted at volaretranslations.

Translator: Craxuan

Editor: darklord5555

Chapter 65: Eerie

Beneath the dark sky, within a lush forest, resides murder.

Yet another two hours passed by, and on the surface, the dense forest appeared to be as normal as ever. However, if someone were to walk in, then they would discover that the reality was something else.

There were more and more excited flying ants, and Cillin no longer had to seek out their nests. They would naturally transmit this excitement to the others and trigger more of their kind to become active.

Tiger Thorn sat beside Theresa and said nothing with his eyes glued onto the biomonitor in his hand. Brown Thorn grew a little worried now and came closer to check out the light spots on the biomonitor.

A total of 13 people had come to Seven Lights for this operation, and including Brown Thorn and Tiger Thorn, there were originally 13 light spots on the biomonitor. However, six, no, seven of them had already been eliminated. Another light spot had disappeared while Brown Thorn was looking at the biomonitor.

“It definitely looks like we’re missing some critical info on our target.” Tiger Thorn said while staring at the biomonitor, “Why does a young master of Douance Family have such skills?”

Tiger Thorn pressed a sonic gun against Theresa’s head, “You know, if I pull the trigger, then those intricate nerves inside your head would become chaotic, and you yourself will die a most horrible death.”

Theresa lifted her head and stared straight at Tiger Thorn, “I am just a middle woman who communicates Aiflon’s will. I know nothing else. I know nothing about Cillin Douance’s past!”

Tiger Thorn knew that everything Theresa said was true, but this sense of unknown towards his target made him very uncomfortable. Usually, they would analyse their target before carrying out a mission to guarantee complete success, but everything was different ever since they accepted the mission to assassinate Cillin Douance. The losses caused by all sorts of unexpected or expected variables, the pressure that followed from all sides, and the vultures harboring dark designs watching them from the back had ultimately caused the Black Thorn’s current predicament.

It’s fake. Every intelligence they got on Cillin Douance at the time were fake. Aiflon had been preparing for this since decades ago, and all of the information provided by their employer were untrue! Right now, they even felt as if they had never understood this Douance Family young master at all!

Black Thorn was about to disappear into the canals of history, and even if they were to rise once more, it wasn’t something that could be done within a short amount of time. Those people in the Douance Family had promised them enough money to hide themselves safely from the many enemies chasing after them, and their condition was the killing of Cillin Douance.

While Tiger Thorn was pondering, two more light spots vanished from the biomonitor.

Brown Thorn seriously could not hold back any longer and looked towards Tiger Thorn, “I’m contacting Golden Thorn for a bit.”

Golden Thorn was the guy who stopped Brown Thorn earlier, and entered the forest together with Snake Thorn. Normally speaking, the commander would not easily contact their operation personnel unless it was an unusually urgent situation. This was because the receiving device’s electromagnetic wave might expose their location, unless the operatives themselves felt that they were safe enough to contact the commander on their own accord. But Brown Thorn could no longer sit by when he saw the light spots vanishing one after another.

Tiger Thorn did not say anything, meaning that he acquiesced in his decision.

Brown Thorn took out his communicator. It was a communicator exclusive to their internal personnel. Its signal was set so that it covered only a specific range and hence would not be detected by the satellites or affect any signal receiving equipment in Seven Lights.

However, they couldn’t get a response from Golden Thorn.

“Contact Snake Thorn!” Right now, Tiger Thorn was experiencing a terrible premonition. The enemy’s actions might be a lot faster than they thought. Their bio signature hadn’t disappeared, but why…?

Unlike Golden Thorn, Snake Thorn’s communicator was connected very quickly.

“What’s going on?” Brown Thorn asked urgently.

“Beware…”

Snake Thorn only managed to say a word before his voice was gone completely. Tiger Thorn looked at the biomonitor on his hand. The light spot representing Snake Thorn was still there, and this proved that Snake Thorn hadn’t died yet. But for some reason, he wasn’t able to utter any sound at all. Just what was going on here?!

“Snake Thorn? Shake Thorn!”

Brown Thorn yelled twice, but he still didn’t get a response from Snake Thorn. However, there was a faint blurb blurb sound that sounded like flowing liquid resounding from the communicator.

Snake Thorn wanted very much to tell Tiger Thorn and Brown Thrown to beware of flying ants. His assassination skills might not compare to Golden Thorn, but his ability to analyse clues were better than either Golden Thorn, Eagle Thorn or anyone else in the team. He already noticed that something was wrong with the flying ants when he went into the woods, but in the end, he was too late.

The three needles behind his neck prevented Snake Thorn from uttering any sound whatsoever. It was as if his nerves were completely cut off, and he could not move at all. The needle slowly melted into Snake Thorn’s body, and he felt as if every blood in his body was flowing the opposite direction out of his nostrils and mouth. Sensing the excitatory factor in his blood, the flying ants sprang towards him in droves. Snake Thorn’s face, twisted by pain could no longer be seen as the flying ants covered it completely.

Brown Thorn’s end was eerily silent. Even Theresa on the ground felt a little frightened.

A gust of wind passed by, accompanied by the rustling of tree leaves. It caused everyone to feel unusually chilly.

The silence lasted for a little while longer before the clear, steady sounds of footsteps resounded from the communicator.

Tiger Thorn snatched the communicator from Brown Thorn’s hand and said in a low voice, “Cillin Douance, I know that you’re there -”

“Beep ——”

The communicator lost connection before Tiger Thorn could finish his sentence.

Although she could not see the person on the other side of the communicator, Theresa felt that the Cillin now was so calm that he was almost detached completely from emotion. If Theresa was confident that she weighed at the very least something in Cillin’s heart before, then now she suspected that Cillin would actually shoot without hesitation if Tiger Thorn used her as a hostage.

This was bad. They’re being pushed around completely!

Both Tiger Thorn and Brown Thorn thought at the same time that perhaps Cillin Douance wasn’t here for Theresa at all. Perhaps Cillin Douance’s objective was the same as theirs, and that was to eliminate his enemies. Perhaps…

They were the only two people left out of the original thirteen now.

Tiger Thorn grabbed Theresa’s long hair and dragged her to his side. Brown Thorn understood his meaning, got up and put his back against Tiger Thorn’s, watching the surroundings warily. The reason they kept Theresa alive was to use her as their final shield. From the information provided by those people from the Douance Family, Tiger Thorn knew that Aiflon valued Theresa greatly, so Cillin would probably take her consideration no matter what the circumstances. Probably.

By now they already realized that this forest did them more harm than good. The tens of people before them had already been eliminated, and the chances that they might assassinate Cillin from concealment weren’t too high either. In this case, they might as well put their cards on the table.

An hour later, under Tiger Thorn and Brown Thorn’s vigilance, the sound of footsteps gradually came closer to their position.

Brown Thorn did not dare to act carelessly. This person had given him an all-too eerie impression, and he did not know if this clear footstep was a trap of some kind. After all, no one would dare expose themselves so openly when they knew that they might be sniped by the enemy.