Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 319: Monster Hunter

The shadow elongated across the floor as Dasha Pang stepped inside. His mask was crumbling, chips falling away to reveal a bloodied lip underneath. His left eye was a dark void, and blood trickled from cuts on his forehead and cheeks. The Ruh al-Qital gi was ripped in places, exposing deep gashes and burns on his chest and arms.

Daughter’s eyes opened fully as she turned her head to look at him, a slow, amused smile spreading across her lips. "Raoul gave you more trouble than expected?"

Dasha didn’t respond to her question. Instead, he spoke in a measured tone as if he was drinking tea, "There are monsters caged on the second and basement floor. The basement can be accessed in specific rooms via keys from Raoul and his right-hand man, Arrow Zhou."

Daughter stretched, arching her back and twisting in the hammock before settling into a new, equally relaxed position. "I’m already having the Whispers take care of it. Even the bodies you left lying on the street were swiftly swept up by my Hieracosphinx," she replied. "Are the rumours true that Raoul kept a baby phoenix in his office?"

Dasha flattened the burnt part of his white cloak on his shoulder. "Yes."

"Lucky us then. We don’t keep monsters but maybe it’s time we changed that. I’ve been thinking of creating a sub-section for living beasts. We already have so many for the dead after all." Without looking at him, Daughter extended an arm. "The journal?"

From his inventory, Dasha pulled out a badgered journal full of improperly stabled parchments.

Daughter’s fingers lightly pinched together to telepathically grab ahold of it. "It’s in terrible condition." Pulling it to her side, her smile became flat. "Really terrible condition."

She took the journal with her and laid on her back, the journal held to the ceiling. A couple pages fell on her chest. The light of her room wasn’t immense yet she could see through the parchments as if it was semi-transparent. Not good.

"There was no damage along the way," Dasha stated.

"So Raoul kept it this terrible?" Daughter sat up and flipped through the pages, eyes narrowed. "This...he wrote this in the Yngling language."

’Oh?’

"So unless we get someone from the Yngling family, we can’t read this." Daughter sighed, the fallen parchments scattered on her chest flying up and returning to the collection of loose papers. "Damn nobles. All of them have these stupid secret languages so that they can pass on secret techniques without their enemies knowing. I was hoping Raoul hadn’t done it with his journal."

Raoul was banished. Her assumption that he wouldn’t use the noble language was based on his anticipated hate for the family.

Raoul was a smiley man. A stupid man he was not.

"What will you do then?" Dasha questioned.

Daughter tossed the journal away. It disappeared before touching the floor. "Making several copies and selling them simultaneously as exclusives would be ideal, buuuut that’s risky. Lots of people might want it but at the end of the day they’re gonna need a member of the Yngling for a translation."

"No one in the White Abyss can decipher it," Dasha said as if it were a concrete statement.

"That’s right." Daughter dug a finger into her temple and summoned a scroll in front of her. "Hmmm...yep, none of these guys are going to help us. Lady Frey might have been banished but she won’t act without telling her husband and if the Caliph catches wind of what we’re doing...it’s too early." She sighed and with a finger she went down the scroll. "Astrid Yngling... a modern descendant of the family. That might be a weak point."

"I decimated the Monster Hunters and killed their precious uncle. Approaching the Yingling family descendent in any capacity is pushing it."

"True, true, everyone will be on high alert, not to mention it will takes months for Astrid to actually learn the language. If I’m going to try to sell this, I’ll have to put the plan into motion now. Send a Whisper to act as her friend."

"I sincerely doubt anyone will be able to get close to her after what I did. She will be kept sealed in their Territory except for when they think she’s ready for a gate."

"Good point. Kidnapping her will be impossible too. Their Territory is going to be airtight. It’s why the Monster Hunters were first on my list—they didn’t have a group of Sorcerers to establish a Territory. They were a ragtag group of mercenaries that sometimes worked with the big dogs, that’s all. The Yngling will make a stink about it but it won’t be as big a deal as, say, when the Heavenly Demon Sect was wiped."

To anyone but Dasha, her words shouldn’t have meant much. ’You considered my suggestion. Put simply, you genuinely cannot read the languages of the nobles. At last, a flaw in you, Daughter.’

Daughter eyed him and bit her thumb. With said bleeding thumb, she drew a demonic red magic circle. "Ibong Adarna."

A light encompassed the room and in the blink of an eye, the wounds that had bogged Dasha down faded away. The light faded and inside was a giant rainbow-feathered bird—the Ibong Adarna. The female bird sang and the hole in Dasha’s eye began to swell.

’So that’s how it is...’

Dasha could feel his strength returning. The more it did, the more the bottom curve of his mask chipped away. Currently, he was left with an arc that resembled a smile. If only he could. This was the closest to him ever smiling.

"The mask is crumbling," Daughter said. "That’s good."

"..."

"I told you from the start, didn’t I? I had someone make adjustments to the mask. Consider it a surprise that will make you stronger than you were at your prime." Her smile grew. "And I’m sure the Grand Master of the Templar Order would be quite irritated to see his mask in that condition. Better it be destroyed than damaged, wouldn’t you agree?"

Dasha didn’t respond. He long suspected what Daughter had done and his battle against the Monster Hunters confirmed it. Although the mask was almost entirely gone, his stats were the exact same. Nothing had changed. He wasn’t any weaker than he was with the full mask.

"Ah, but those ugly scars..." Daughter trailed off and signalled a hand at the Ibong Adarna to stop singing. "Would you like me to get rid of them?"

Marks of the blades that had dug into his flesh. Because of Internal Healing, the wounds had become scars. Lines of red and black that etched into his soul. The once pristine, symmetrical face of Dasha Pang was ruined.

Daughter could fix it.

"I told you, I have to perform something," Dasha said. "There is still a small part of the mask that remains as well."

"I think I understand. Once you achieve the Peak Stage of Core Formation, you will be able to heal the scars to your soul."

"Peak Stage? No, it will be the Late Stage."

The symbols on the door appeared and in walked Xavier. He was the same as ever, face hidden by the brim of his hat and steps without sound.

"Dasha Pang," Xavier greeted. "You have returned. All your contingencies went off without an issue."

Dasha was no fool. As confident as he was, he anticipated that his stay at Gate 13 could take longer than normal, leading him to plan for two months in advance.

"Our daily income averages at five thousand points. The necessary expansions have also been completed." Xavier glanced at Ibong Adarna and raised a metaphorical brow. "I presume something happened."

"I killed the Monster Hunters."

"Pardon me...what?" Xavier looked to Daughter for help but she was already napping. "Killed...who did you kill?"

"Everyone at their headquarters," Dasha said, "including the Guild Master Raoul."

Xavier fell quiet. Dasha, lax, slipped off his white cloak.

"Tarnkappe no longer functions. Please see to its condition."

Xavier took the cloak and inspected it closely. "What did you do? This is the real Sigurd’s cloak, not a replica. It shouldn’t be..."

"It’s fine," said Daughter, yawning and curling up. "This is an expected casualty."

Xavier was quiet until he asked Daughter, "You ordered this attack?"

"I needed Raoul’s journal and he got it. That’s all that matters."

"And the aftermath? The Monster Hunters might live in the Dark Sector but their work intersects with many."

"My beasts are already tending to it. It won’t look like anyone died; everyone will have just...gone missing. Everything they’ve collected is also being confiscated as we speak."

"And if a Special Class Investigator is sent out? Raoul was a Yngling by blood. The family will call for one. I guarantee it."

"Don’t you worry your pretty little hat, Xavier. Investigators are nothing and will find nothing. I guarantee it." Daughter conjured a white Venetian mask and threw it at Dasha to catch. Turning it over, he noted that the lines were interwoven and connected like a magic circle. "Take it. This will hide that ugly bottom part."

The mask was placed onto the upper half of his face and caused the remaining piece stuck to his cheek and chin to disappear. The scars on his face remained and the Venetian mask itself remained visible.