Hunter Academy: Revenge of the Weakest

Chapter 727 165.3 - Fine

Astron's calm gaze met Irina's as he leaned slightly forward, resting his forearms on his knees. "Indeed," he said evenly, his tone carrying that quiet weight that always made her listen. "The assailants were clear in their objective-they were after you. But this wasn't just about you personally. They were the first link in a much larger chain." Irina's amber eyes narrowed slightly as she straightened in her seat. The exhaustion still tugged at her, but her curiosity and determination quickly overshadowed it. "You mean the ones who hired them."

Astron nodded. "Exactly. Operatives like these are pawns-useful, but expendable. They were given just enough information to complete their task, but most of them wouldn't know who's pulling the strings."

Irina leaned back again, crossing her arms as her mind began working through the implications. "But their leader... the one giving the orders. He'd know. Or at least have a better idea."

"That's what we need," Astron said, his sharp purple eyes glinting faintly in the soft mana light of the suite. "If we don't move quickly, they'll clean up loose ends. The leader, whoever they are, will likely be eliminated once they've served their purpose!"

Irina frowned, as she also knew that.

"So....Do you know where they are?"

Therefore she decided to go directly into the topic. She has some suspicions about the one behind this attack, but she still needs to make sure.

Astron's sharp purple eyes held Irina's gaze for a moment before he leaned back in the chair. "I do," he said simply, his tone even, betraying nothing more than quiet confidence.

Irina's amber eyes narrowed further as she straightened in her seat. "You know who they are?" she pressed, her voice sharpening with curiosity and a hint of disbelief. "I didn't say that."

Astron stated, his expression calm but unreadable.

Still, it was really surprising that he knew where they were.

"How?" she asked, leaning forward slightly, her brows furrowed. "How do you know?" "Secret," he replied smoothly, his voice steady, offering no elaboration.

Irina's mouth opened, her words catching in her throat as irritation flared in her chest. She puffed her checks slightly in frustration before letting out a soft huff and leaning back in her seat. "Fine, keep your secrets," she muttered, crossing her arms as she glanced away.

Astron stood, his movements unhurried as he walked toward the floor-to-ceiling window that dominated one wall of the suite. The glass offered a breathtaking view of the city, its lights glittering like a sea of stars against the deepening night. Irina had made sure to book the most expensive room, one that offered a perfect vantage point from one of the highest floors.

He stopped just in front of the window, his sharp eyes scanning the cityscape below. The faint glow of mana-powered streetlights illuminated the streets, and the distant hum of the city drifted through the silence.

Irina's gaze followed him, her irritation simmering beneath the surface as she watched him stand there, as calm and composed as ever. "This guy,' she thought bitterly, he doesn't even care how I feel. It's always about the mission, the objective, the next step. Does he ever stop to think about anything else?'

Before she could second-guess herself, Irina pushed herself up from the sofa, her steps quiet as she crossed the room. She hesitated for only a moment before wrapping her arms around Astron from behind, her chin resting lightly against his shoulder. The sudden contact made him stiffen slightly, though his posture quickly relaxed.

"What now?" he asked, his voice calm but tinged with faint curiosity.

"Nothing," she replied softly, her voice muffled against the fabric of his coat.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Astron tilted his head slightly, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. "What do you mean, nothing?"

"Do I need a reason?" she countered, her tone carrying a subtle edge of defiance. He was silent for a moment, his sharp eyes studying the city beyond the glass. "...." "Exactly," she murmured, tightening her arms around him slightly.

The two stood there in silence, the faint hum of the city below the only sound that filled the room. Irina closed her eyes, letting out a soft breath as she leaned against him.

She wasn't the type to look for knights in shining armor, nor did she ever want to feel dependent on someone else. Too many times, that trust had been broken. But in this moment, with Astron's steady presence anchoring her, she allowed herself to feel something she rarely let in-protected.

'I don't need this,' she thought, her lips pressing into a thin line. I'm fine on my own. I've always been fine on my own.'

But as the warmth of his presence steadied her, she couldn't deny the small voice whispering in the back of her mind. 'It's also good to feel like someone has your back.' Astron shifted slightly, breaking the silence. "You're unusually quiet," he said, his voice soft but steady.

"Don't ruin it," she muttered, her tone half-joking, half-serious.

His lips twitched faintly, though he didn't say anything more. Irina stayed where she was, letting the moment stretch on, her grip on him firm but not overwhelming. For once, she allowed herself to take comfort in his presence.

*********

The small warehouse in the slight edge of the city was dimly lit, its corners cloaked in shadows that seemed to press in on the room's occupants. The air was thick with tension, the silence broken only by the occasional creak of the wooden beams above. Rovan Kael sat on a rickety chair, his head in his hands, his usually sharp eyes staring blankly at the floor.

Around him, the four executives of his team paced or leaned against the walls, their expressions varying between frustration and barely concealed fear. The mission had failed-a catastrophic failure that none of them had anticipated. They had been so sure of their plan, so certain of their superiority. But Irina Emberheart had turned the tide with devastating precision, and they had been forced to retreat in disarray. One of the executives, a lean man with a scar running down his cheek, broke the silence. "We should've pulled back the moment the suppression formation started to collapse," he muttered, his voice low but filled with frustration. "We underestimated her. That was our mistake."

"Our mistake?" snapped another, a stocky woman with short-cropped hair. "No, you underestimated her. I told you all-our intel wasn't enough! We had no idea what kind of countermeasures she had prepared."

"Enough!" Rovan's voice cut through the bickering like a blade. He lifted his head, his face a mask of exhaustion and grim resolve. His sharp eyes, now tinged with desperation, locked onto the others. "Arguing about what went wrong changes nothing. The mission failed. We failed."

The executives fell silent, the weight of his words settling over them like a shroud. The realization of their situation was undeniable-failure in a mission of this magnitude was not just a setback. For operatives like them, it was a death sentence.

One of the younger executives, a man with a nervous twitch, shifted uneasily. "Rovan," he began, his voice hesitant, "what... what are we going to do? We can't go back to the higher-ups. They'll-"

"Kill us," Rovan finished flatly. His tone carried no fear, only the cold acceptance of reality. "Returning to them with this failure is signing our death warrants. You all

know that."

The warehouse fell into silence once more, the gravity of their predicament hanging

heavily in the air. The stocky woman broke the silence, her voice laced with anger. "So what's the plan, then? Are we just supposed to sit here and wait for them to find us?"

"No," Rovan said sharply, his mind already racing. He leaned forward, resting his

albaum on his Imaan gebe emotio

elbows on his knees as he spoke.

Rovan Kael leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees, the flickering light of the

single lantern casting sharp shadows across his face. His jaw tightened as he replayed the events of the disastrous mission in his mind, his thoughts narrowing in on one

glaring, undeniable truth.

"It wasn't just Irina Emberheart," he muttered, his voice low but laced with bitterness. "That bastard... Astron, or whatever his name is. He was the real problem." The four executives exchanged uneasy glances. They had all seen it-the way Astron had moved through the chaos of the fight, his precision, his speed. He wasn't supposed to be a threat. The intel had described him as a skilled but ultimately unremarkable combatant compared to the overwhelming force of Irina Emberheart.

But that intel had been dead wrong.

"That guy," Rovan continued, his voice growing harder, "wasn't just good. He was too good. Faster than any high-ranked hunter I've ever seen. He didn't even make mistakes-none. Every move he made was calculated, efficient, like he'd been trained

for this his whole life."

"He fought like a ghost," the scarred man muttered, shaking his head. "One moment he was there, and the next, he was in the shadows, slipping past every formation we set up. It was like trying to catch smoke with your bare hands."

"Fighting against him was a nightmare," Rovan admitted, his tone heavy with frustration. "Even the masters couldn't keep up with him. He turned our entire plan

into a joke."

The stocky woman folded her arms tightly across her chest, her expression grim. "And Irina? She was bad enough on her own. The second the suppression formation collapsed and her flames came back..." She trailed off, her voice tinged with fear. "But you're saying Astron was worse?"

Rovan met her gaze, his eyes hard. "Worse. Much worse. Irina Emberheart is dangerous, no doubt about it. But Astron... That guy's a monster. A bigger monster than she is, in my opinion."

The room fell silent again as the weight of his words settled over them. None of them

wanted to admit it, but they had all seen the same thing. Astron wasn't just strong-he was something else entirely, something beyond what they had prepared for.

"It was like he didn't have any weaknesses at all," Rovan said, his voice low. "Every

attack we threw at him, he countered. Every move we made, he predicted. It wasn't just skill-it was like he was toying with us."

The younger executive, still visibly shaken, finally spoke up. "Then what do we do? If Astron is really that strong, and he's by Irina Emberheart's side... there's no way we can take them down."

Rovan straightened, his gaze hard and unyielding as he looked at each of his subordinates in turn. "We don't," he said firmly. "We leave. We disappear. And we never cross Irina Emberheart or Astron again."

The scarred man frowned, his voice tinged with disbelief. "You're saying we give up?

Just like that?"

"Yes," Rovan snapped, his tone brooking no argument. "Because now we know the

truth. Irina alone was bad enough but with Astron at her side? It's suicide. No amount

of preparation, no reinforcements, no tactics will work. They're untouchable." The stocky woman sighed heavily, her shoulders slumping. "So, we run?" "We run," Rovan confirmed, his voice resolute. "And we make sure no one knows where

we've gone. We've already lost too much, and if we stay here, we're dead-whether it's

by their hands or the higher-ups."

BOOM!

Suddenly an explosion occurred, covering their senses.

"Indeed.....You are dead."