X-Rank Hunter

Chapter 122: Jim Learned The Truth

Cough!

Laude coughed out a mouthful of blood as he covered his mouth with his hand. Upon retracting, he immediately saw his blood on his palm. Only then Laude had noticed that he had a hole in his stomach.

What's going on? Laude was perplexed. He was just thrown away by the strong shockwaves coming from Joe, why did he suddenly receive a hole in his stomach? Just who attacked him?

Laude even thought that it was caused by his son Joe. But that was impossible. Because he knew well that his son didn't make any move against him except the strong shockwaves.

Besides, this was not what really happened in his deja vu...

Wait...

Laude suddenly realized something as he looked around only to see his two sons, Joe and Johnny, going back to the village leaving him all alone.

Laude's head suddenly started to hurt once again as he held it with his hand to ease the pain. That was not what really happened in his deja vu! They should be together leaving the area. He was supposed to not be left alone there...

But now that he thought about it, why was he thinking that his deja vu was real? As if it really happened and should have happened...

Crying.

Amidst Laude's confusion, he heard a cry of a boy just around him. And it was a voice he recognized!

Jim? Laude knew that it was Jim. However, at that moment, Laude felt goosebumps all over his body. Because what he was hearing right now was not a voice of baby Jim, but the voice of 10 years old Jim! How come did he think about ten years old Jim?!

Laude frantically turned around to see where the cries came from. And not too far away from him, he saw a little kid standing alone with his back against him.

"Little Jim?" Laude recognized the other party. But that was impossible! Jim was still a baby right now, how could he appear here in that appearance. Was he hallucinating? Laude rubbed his eyes but even after doing that many times, nothing was changed. Jim was still there standing and crying.

Just what on Earth was going on here? If he was not hallucinating, then perhaps... Laude suddenly realized something as he shuddered from that realization. Was he trapped into an illusion? Only then Laude did realize that what he felt before was not just a deja vu, but it was actually his memory!

All along, he thought that what he was experiencing now was the real world, but who would have thought that he was trapped in the illusion of his own memories! Did Jim do it to him? How come and when? That illusion was way too terrifying. Even he himself was fooled and was refusing to believe that it was only an illusion. If he didn't see Jim, he might really still believing that the illusion world he was trapped in, was the real world!

But why was Jim crying? Laude frowned. It's rare for a Hunter to cry even if it was a child or adult. But Jim was actually crying? Even if he beat up his grandson many times, he never cried before, but now... Just what happened to the other party?

But amidst his confusion, he heard Jim speaking, "Tell me Lolo, is all I've seen is all real?"

"..." Laude couldn't respond to his question. His eyes got widened as he realized what the other party meant by his words. Laude suddenly turned sad as he didn't know what to say.

He then fixed his gaze to Jim trying to learn what the other party would feel like if he told him the truth. He knew what the other party was asking him. It must be about his memories. Laude guessed that Jim had seen all of his memories that became his illusion a while ago.

With a sigh very deep, Laude finally responded, "Yes."

Jim's cry was suddenly halted, but Laude knew that it was only the sound of his cries that stopped. And at that moment, Laude suddenly felt a bad premonition.

Jim was now exuding a terrifying aura as if he was about to go rampant at any moment. Something like blood-red steam came out from his body. Laude was really startled this time.

What now?! Why did something like this happen!?

****

Meanwhile...

A few minutes ago in the real world. Or perhaps, illusion world...

Tokayo was now standing beside the body of Laude that was now lying on the sea of blood and was motionless. The hole on his stomach was slowly recovering on its own, but Laude seemed to not be bothered by it. His eyes were wide open but it was not moving nor blinking. Laude was just as if staring at the space, not knowing what was happening around him.

Tokayo on the other hand was now ready to make a move once again. Although he was astonished by the healing capabilities of his opponent, he couldn't be bothered by it as well. There was only one command that his master had told him, and that was to beat up this old man!

Although it was a pity and a bit unfair that the other party wasn't able to retaliate at all, knowing that the other party was incomparably strong, he decided to take this chance to beat up the other party. Shamelessness? Tokayo didn't have that word in his vocabulary.

That being said, Tokayo decided to make a move and give the other party a good kick! However, he was just about to do so when suddenly, his heart palpitated in restlessness. It pounded his eardrums as he couldn't help but have a couple of step backs.

"What happened to master?" Tokayo asked himself. He could feel that his master was suffering from something unknown to him. The sorrows and pain, and the feeling of refusing to let go, Tokayo could feel something like that.

His surroundings then started to tremble. The seemingly endless sea of blood formed small waves from all around until finally, mountainous waves appeared from all directions and were rushing at them from afar.

The red hue given by the eye in the sky became much dimmer as some kind of force was now pinning down the surroundings.

Tokayo was alarmed. Was his master in great anguish? But how could it be?! His master must be safe under the sea of blood! Just what was going on now?!

After some time, the huge waves of blood coming from all directions finally arrived and swallowed him right away without fail. The same went for Laude, he was also swallowed by that huge waves.

On the other hand, Charley and the bunch were immediately alarmed seeing the current situation. They were now floating in the midair as they were inside of something like a transparent spherical glass. Everyone inside watched the huge waves of blood forming here and there as the waves kept colliding against each other.

The bunch was just grateful that Charley was with them because if not, they didn't know what would happen to them if those huge waves of blood swallowed them.

The only problem was that Laude was already swallowed by the huge waves together with Tokayo. And they couldn't do anything about it now. They were just hoping that Laude was fine. But since they knew that that old man was a tough nut, they didn't worry that much.

It was just that, they were all wondering what happened to Jim. He should be the only one who could cause such an occurrence in the world he had created.

Charley was worried, she felt anxious. She frowned while looking around her as the instinct of a mother was telling her that her son was suffering. But Charley couldn't make sense about how Jim would suffer. The other party's grandfather was currently trapped into an illusion, and was motionless, and was not doing anything to Jim. So how could Jim suffer from anything?

Could it be...

However, at that moment, Charley seemed to realize something. Her father was currently trapped in an illusion and it was obvious that Jim caused it. But what if Laude was trapped in his memories as Jim saw everything about it? If it really was the case, then surely, her son would definitely be affected by that!

Although that was only a guess, as an illusion master, Charley didn't neglect that possibility. She even felt that that was very likely the reason why Jim was being like this now.

At that time, Charley's worries seemed to grow stronger. She would never imagine that Jim would learn about his fate ahead of time!

What should she do now? Should she make an action and forcefully cancel out the illusion world created by her son? But it might cause a considerable amount of damage to her son...

Charley kept fidgeting not knowing what to do. Just why on Earth did something like this happen?!

On the other hand, seeing her good friend becoming even more anxious, Elissa tried to calm down the other party, "Relax Charley, your father is still there! Leave this to your father, he should know what to do."

Just like Charley, Elissa had guessed as well what had likely happened to Charley's son. And if the other party had really learned about his fate, the other party would likely feel sorrows and his emotional state might go wild.

But Laude was still there, he should know what to do to his grandson. Both Elissa and Charley were now just hoping that Laude could solve the situation.