Helena and I were now moving toward an unknown mystery. The door slowly opened, and behind it stood a man who looked to be between 25 and 27 years old. Looking at his face, no one could guess that he was such a major informant of Patalpur. As soon as the door opened, he gestured for us to come inside. The moment Helena and I entered the room, he swiftly closed the door and locked it again.
Light was spread throughout the office. In the center of the room stood a solid table. Helena and I went and sat on the chairs placed in front without any hesitation. Marlo went to the other side of the table, settled into his chair calmly, and introduced himself.
"Hello guys, my name is Marlo," he said while carefully observing us. "Now you two introduce yourselves as well."
Helena replied directly, "Hello, my name is Helena, and this is Jona."
A faint smile appeared on Marlo's face. He said, "Nice to meet you both. Though honestly speaking, there's no need for you to tell me anything. I already got all your information from Kaizen's letter."
Leaning forward in his chair, Marlo spoke in a serious voice,
"So you're looking for information related to the kidnappings? Look, before any doubts arise in your mind, let me clear this up. I don't think the kidnappings that have been happening over the past few days are the work of any gang."
Placing his hand on the table, Marlo continued,
"In the last 15 days, 13 men have gone missing. All of them were ordinary people, not gang members. On the other hand, during these same 15 days, more than 8 gang members have been killed. According to my information, none of this is the work of a gang, but of a single 'mysterious individual.' What you're looking into is something very big, and we're after it as well. Some gangs have even placed a bounty on that person. If you catch him, you can claim that huge reward."
Hearing about the reward, a spark of greed and hope awakened inside me—
"Well, that's good. If we catch him, the work will be done and we'll get money too."
I was just starting to feel happy thinking this when suddenly there were three knocks on the door again.
Marlo immediately went to the door and opened the same small window. But the person standing outside used the same clever trick—he slid the letter inside through the gap beneath the door instead of putting it through the window. The moment Marlo read the letter, he understood that the person outside had come for the same reason we had.
Marlo opened the door and gestured for the stranger to come inside.
The moment the man entered the room, his appearance grabbed everyone's attention. He was dressed entirely in black from head to toe—a black shirt, black tuxedo, black pants, heavy boots, and gloves on his hands. On his head was a black straw hat, and his face was covered with a black cloth mask. Just by his looks alone, he appeared to be a massive and dangerous hunter.
As soon as Marlo closed the door and stood in front of the stranger, I noticed that the man was holding a hunter weapon. He gripped it firmly with both hands and, with a sharp pull of his left hand, straightened it.
The moment the hunter straightened, it suddenly burst into violent flames!
Without wasting a single second, the stranger swung the hunter through the air and struck directly at Marlo. The attack was so sudden that Marlo's death seemed certain—but at that exact moment, the trajectory of the hunter changed midair. The attack was no longer aimed at Marlo, but directly toward us!
"Get out of the way!" I shouted.
Helena and I instantly leaped from our chairs and jumped to the side. The next moment, the blazing hunter struck the spot where we had just been sitting. The blow was so powerful that the solid wooden table shattered into two pieces from the middle.
As the burning hunter tore through the table, the atmosphere in the room completely changed. Helena didn't waste even a second—she swiftly drew her gun from her waist and started firing relentlessly at the black-tuxedoed stranger. But he was no ordinary man; he moved sideways so fast that the bullets couldn't even touch him.
It was clear that an all-out battle had begun. I drew my revolver as well and aimed at the man in the straw hat. Just then, Marlo's voice echoed—he was chanting a spell. In an instant, a glowing object like a net of electricity formed in Marlo's hands, which he hurled with force toward the stranger. But the straw-hat man swung his flaming hunter through the air and disrupted the electric attack midair.
I had already realized that this man was far stronger than all three of us combined, and that his hunter was not an ordinary weapon, but a magical weapon. But there was no time to think. I pulled the trigger, yet he narrowly dodged my attack as well.
His hunter was wreaking havoc throughout the room. He was attacking so fast that if I were an ordinary human, I would already be dead. But as a Thunder Nature Paragon, my senses had become extremely sharp, allowing me to react to his attacks at lightning speed.
That's when my eyes fell on Marlo, who was dodging attacks while moving toward his broken table to retrieve the gun kept inside its drawer. Then I looked at Helena—and I was stunned. There was no fear on her face, only a dangerous smile. She was enjoying this deadly battle.
Dodging his attacks at full speed, Helena closed the distance and got extremely close to the straw-hat man. I saw flames engulf her right fist completely. She leapt into the air and landed a clean hit on his chest, breaking through his guard.
That fire punch was so powerful that the straw-hat man was sent flying straight into the wall. Cracks spread across the wall. Taking advantage of this golden opportunity, Helena and I fired our guns at him without wasting a second.
Shockingly, the bullets hit him directly, but the moment they passed through his body, his form turned completely black and vanished like smoke!
"What? That was a clone!" I thought.
We realized that the one we attacked was merely a shadow. The real man was standing in the other corner of the room. However, Helena's punch had been real—the stranger's chest still bore a deep burn mark with smoke clearly rising from it.
Then the stranger swung his burning hunter through the air and launched a lethal strike straight at Helena. The attack was so fast that Helena had no chance to evade.
In panic, I felt the uncontrollable lightning energy raging within me. Using all my willpower, I converted it into static energy and created an invisible pressure in the air. Just like Marlo had done earlier, my energy altered the hunter's trajectory midair.
Instead of hitting Helena, the flaming hunter smashed into the ground near her feet. The impact was so terrifying that the solid stone floor shattered, leaving behind a deep crater.
A cloud of dust filled the room. My thunder-nature intuition told me that I was next—the stranger was about to attack me. Understanding the gravity of the situation, I immediately began chanting Heater's summoning spell without wasting a second:
"From the depths of the void, I call the Azure Shade."
"Become the unseen wall; stand guard for your Master."
As my words echoed through the air, the straw-hat man appeared before me at lightning speed. I saw dark and murky blue energy swirling around his fist as it rushed toward me. Seeing death approach, I completed the chant:
"Manifest… HEATER!"
At that very moment, Heater emerged from the underworld and took the form of a solid shield. I brought the shield in front of me.
BOOM!
His punch struck the shield directly. The blow was so devastating that despite the shield, I was sent flying straight into the wall. After that powerful impact, Heater vanished back into the underworld. I was lucky I had summoned him at the right moment—otherwise, I wouldn't have survived.
The stranger then turned toward Helena and Marlo. He assumed I had died from that punch, so he stopped paying attention to me. That was my chance. While lying on the ground, I raised my gun, aimed at his chest, and fired. But I was shocked to see that although the bullet hit him directly, it had no effect.
He was still engaged in combat with Helena and Marlo, which meant I had time to recover and fight properly.
Just then, Marlo managed to get his gun—it was a one-handed double-barrel shotgun. He used his signature lightning technique again, chanting a spell that formed an electric net in his hands. This time he seized the moment and struck the stranger, hitting his leg directly. Due to the nature of thunder, the straw-hat man was paralyzed for a few seconds.
The moment he froze, Marlo aimed his shotgun and fired. The bullet struck the man's hand, and blood sprayed out. From the pain and impact, the magical hunter slipped from his grip and fell to the ground. It was now clear that we were winning. Marlo fired a second shot, but the stranger somehow dodged it.
While Marlo began reloading his gun, I had already stood back up. Since bullets weren't working on him, Helena charged in for direct hand-to-hand combat. She began raining punches on him. He tried to fight back with his hands as well. I also displayed my lightning-fast agility and started attacking him with kicks and punches, using the martial arts I had learned in my world.
Just then, Marlo finished reloading his gun. As he aimed at the stranger, the straw-hat man suddenly pulled out a card from his pocket. I recognized it instantly—it was the same kind of card I had seen Rowan Blackwood use. He threw the card forcefully onto the ground.
My eyes caught the symbol on it—a sun was drawn on the card. The very next moment, an overwhelmingly intense and blinding light erupted from it. Helena, Marlo, and I were completely blinded. We couldn't see anything.
A few seconds later, when the light faded, we rubbed our eyes and looked around. The straw-hat man was gone. When we looked up at the ventilation window, its grille was broken. He had escaped through that route, taking his weapon with him.
At that moment, loud knocking began on the door. Hearing the gunshots and noise, the entire bar staff had gathered outside. Even though the stranger had escaped, one thing was clear—today's bloody battle was finally over.