Skye quickly sent out a mass announcement:
the platform was undergoing maintenance and temporarily unavailable.
And just like that, the whole platform went dark.
Within ten minutes, Elsa received several calls—hunters asking what was going on.
They didn't actually think she knew anything; they were just checking around with familiar contacts.
But Elsa did know, so she explained to each of them that the platform was simply upgrading and would be back soon.
Skye, meanwhile, tapped on her keyboard a few times and went right back to eating.
"Wait… that's it?"
Elsa stared in disbelief. She expected some massive technical overhaul, not a handful of keystrokes.
"No, that was just putting the platform into maintenance mode and scanning its vulnerabilities. The actual work will take three or four hours."
Skye casually said this while taking a huge bite of steak.
Elsa nearly choked.
She risked her life hunting monsters and barely earned anything…
Meanwhile, Skye tapped a keyboard and pocketed five grand.
This world was truly unfair.
After lunch, Elsa and Lucas prepared to leave.
Before setting out, Elsa checked her gear: silver bullets, her tuned-up revolver, a shortened double-barrel shotgun, a long hunting rifle, and a pair of sharp short swords.
Lucas?
Empty-handed.
"Where's your gear? Don't you have that really powerful handgun?"
"Oh, you mean the Punisher? I stored it."
Lucas reached into his system inventory and pulled out the weapon.
From Elsa's perspective, it simply materialized out of thin air.
Her eyes widened—not because of the sudden appearance, she'd seen enchanted storage before—but because of the weapon itself.
The Punisher radiated a holy power that made every monster hunter's heart tremble.
It was the kind of weapon hunters dreamed of.
"Can I… look at it?"
Elsa's voice was full of anticipation.
"Sure."
He handed it over.
The instant she touched it, a surge of sacred power rushed through her.
Her Bloodstone pendant flashed red, its energy instinctively clashing with the holy force.
White and red light wrestled—
but the Bloodstone's power slowly shrank back, withdrawing to her chest to protect her heart.
Yet the holy force did not harm Elsa.
It simply rejected her—she was not a "synchronizer," so the Punisher refused her.
If she pulled the trigger, she sensed she would be the first one injured.
Reluctantly, she returned the weapon.
"Who made this gun? Could you introduce me to the craftsman?"
Lucas froze.
Craftsman?
It was a system reward.
The only "origin" was the Black Order, and there was no way to introduce her to that.
"It's… a family heirloom. I honestly don't know."
Elsa sighed regretfully.
She had hoped to find its maker—she would've bankrupted herself to get one.
But a family treasure was untouchable.
---
Preparations complete, they left the office.
Elsa drove for hours—day into night, winding through mountain paths—until they reached a twisted, eerie stretch of forest.
Lucas stepped out of the car.
Strange, distorted trees surrounded them; some were dead and brittle.
There was no road ahead.
"From here, we walk."
Elsa slung on her backpack and motioned for Lucas to follow.
He didn't complain, but he looked around curiously.
The night was deep, and ghostly flames flickered between the trees.
If he hadn't trusted Elsa, he would've thought she brought him to a haunted graveyard.
After half an hour, a vine-covered, ancient manor appeared.
Bats and crows crowded the rooftops—somehow coexisting.
Creeeak—
Elsa pushed open the iron gate.
The groan it made sounded like a dying man's final breath.
"If you told me this was a haunted house, I wouldn't doubt it for a second," Lucas muttered.
This was straight out of a horror film.
"Miss, you have finally returned. Madam has been waiting."
A cold, sudden voice whispered right beside Lucas.
"Holy—! You trying to kill me?!"
Lucas nearly fired his gun at the source.
The speaker was the Bloodstone family's ancient butler—pale-faced, stooped, dressed in a perfect tailcoat, leaning on a cane with a crystal embedded in its handle.
"Oh, that old woman is definitely waiting for me to die," Elsa replied coldly.
She and her stepmother were notoriously incompatible.
She hadn't returned home once since discovering her deranged father had remarried.
"You wound her with such words, Miss. The Madam truly worries about you,"
the butler said in his usual lifeless tone.
Elsa ignored him and headed toward the manor.
Lucas followed closely.
"Young sir, please wait."
The butler raised his cane to block Lucas.
"He's with me. You dare stop him?" Elsa snapped.
"Miss, this is the Bloodstone family tradition. Ordinary humans cannot enter the manor."
The butler bowed slightly—but did not move aside.
"Then hurry up."
Elsa was losing patience.
The old butler pointed the cane at Lucas.
A blinding light shot from the crystal, illuminating the entire courtyard.
When it faded, the butler looked stunned.
"T-This gentleman may enter. Please, this way."
The crystal could distinguish ordinary humans from those touched by the supernatural.
For regular people, it remained dim.
For Lucas… it nearly exploded with light.
And the butler had no idea that what it sensed was only the surface of Lucas's power.
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