Bloodline is Everything - Chapter 70

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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【Bloodline is a Thug Chapter 70】

Chapter 70: Succession Ceremony (3)

I descended into the small Park outside the Mansion.
“You came?”
A woman was waiting for me in the Park.
There was no need for her to reveal her identity from a distance. From the moment I sensed her presence, I already knew who she was.
“Maria Sanchez. So it was you after all.”
At my words, Maria Sanchez smiled with satisfaction.
“It’s been a while. Have you been well?”
“What brings a member of Pandemonium’s council to this place?”
“Come on, we haven’t seen each other in ages. Can’t you at least pretend to be happy?”
“Just answer the question. Why are you here, a council member of Pandemonium?”
The World Rank and Pandemonium were structurally similar in more ways than just their positions in the industry.
Just as the World Rank assigned numbers to those with true skill, Pandemonium granted council seats to the most powerful villains.
“Why did I come here? Nothing special. Ferdrans found someone to hold you back.”
“I didn’t realize a council member of Pandemonium would have such free time.”
“I’m not free, but Ferdrans and I aren’t ordinary acquaintances. Besides, how could I hand over matters concerning you to someone else?”
Maria Sanchez’s smile changed. Her lips were smiling, but her eyes were not.
“We fought with the resolve to kill. You’re the only one I couldn’t finish with. I haven’t closed that chapter yet. I can’t hand you over to anyone else.”
At those words, my brow furrowed deeper.
“Ah, that’s right. Did you know Pandemonium is full of talk about you?”
“I have no interest in the gossip of such a garbage den.”
“Rumors are spreading everywhere that the Witch of Heukcheon is chasing after some man’s heels.”
My eyebrows twitched.
“Do you know how many people cried when they heard that rumor? Especially Odin—he was shedding tears from his one eye. Said his woman was stolen from him?”
“I don’t care to hear about that repulsive human.”
“Ah, I’ll have to tell Odin you said that.”
Maria Sanchez gazed toward the Mansion and asked.
“Is that man over there the one from the rumors?”
As Maria Sanchez looked at the Mansion, a different presence flickered in her eyes.
“Not bad. Good judgment, audacity, excellent skill. He’s weak now, but that won’t last long.”
Maria Sanchez traced her lips as she spoke.
“A new dragon being born in the Heukcheon Group isn’t particularly welcome.”
Suddenly, Maria Sanchez uttered a single phrase.
“Should I kill him while I’m here?”
In that instant, my atmosphere underwent a dramatic transformation.
Dark mana surged forth. The rooftop’s surface cracked and splintered.
“Iron Fortress Maria Sanchez. Do you wish to die?”
The corners of Maria Sanchez’s mouth lifted. As if the situation had finally become entertaining.
“You can kill me?”
“You don’t think I can?”
“Oh my, how terrifying. I suppose I can’t just sit idle either.”
Maria Sanchez’s muscles began to writhe and contort. Her body started to expand rapidly.
The frame that had been barely 160 centimeters tall grew to nearly three meters. It wasn’t merely a matter of size. Thick, solid muscle like protective armor settled across her entire form.
Though her body had transformed into something monstrous and grotesque, her face remained that of a delicate woman—the contrast was jarring.
“Then shall we finish the battle we couldn’t conclude back then?

* * *

Kwon Han-ul had the remaining team members search the Mansion.
But nowhere did the missing people appear.
“Where on earth did they go?”
Kwon Han-ul muttered a single phrase. At that, his team members’ faces went pale.
“S-s-sorry! If you give us more time, we’ll definitely find them!”
“Y-yes! Just a bit more time and this time we’ll surely——”
The team members were trembling with fear to an almost excessive degree. They had directly witnessed what Kwon Han-ul had done moments ago when his anger had reached its peak.
“Ah… don’t be so frightened, would you?”
Kwon Han-ul himself had already cooled down by then.
He’d vented his fury in that outburst, but upon reflection, there was nothing to gain from further anger.
“Surely you don’t think I’d harm fellow Hunters from the same group?”
His team members’ faces turned ashen.
Kwon Han-ul had meant it as reassurance, but it came across to them as the exact opposite.
“There’s no need to be afraid… Sigh, never mind. Never mind. More importantly, does anyone know where they actually went?”
The team members shook their heads vigorously.
It was a scene that appeared utterly incompetent, but Kwon Han-ul saw it differently.
‘They couldn’t have gone far. They must be nearby.’
Kwon Han-ul’s sensing ability was quite formidable. Though it had dulled somewhat while he focused on combat, it wasn’t so weak that he’d miss people leaving the Mansion.
‘But I don’t sense them anywhere. Which means they disappeared within the Mansion itself…’
One mystery gave rise to another.
‘Why did Mark Griffin move so recklessly in the first place?’
Blinded by desire for glory? But that seemed odd. How could he think of taking credit when he didn’t even know Ferdrans’s location?
It would have been far more advantageous to remain in the Banquet Hall, slaying enemies and rescuing guests.
‘Did he pull this stunt merely to make a fool of me?’
It wasn’t an entirely impossible hypothesis. But Kwon Han-ul shook his head.
‘He’s a man I can’t trust, but he’s not a fool. He’d surely know that if the guests died because of such recklessness, he wouldn’t escape unscathed either.’
Then why had Mark Griffin moved so carelessly?
It was while Kwon Han-ul was lost in thought.
“Um, excuse me…”
A middle-aged woman raised her hand hesitantly. She was one of the guests.
“What is it?”
When Kwon Han-ul asked, the woman’s face stiffened visibly. She feared him just as his team members did.
Kwon Han-ul exhaled silently and asked again in the gentlest tone he could muster.
“Ma’am, is there something you wish to tell me?”
“Well, you see… I happened to overhear a conversation between Ryoko and Goriki Nana earlier.”
At those words, Kwon Han-ul’s eyes widened.
“Is that so? What was the conversation about?”
“Yes… Goriki Nana said they needed to go to the Secret Shelter. She also mentioned they should watch for an opportunity to move, since it would be problematic if others found out.”
The middle-aged woman explained the conversation in as much detail as she could recall.
“Then the person who was guarding this place overheard that conversation… and suggested going to the Secret Shelter together.”
“To the Secret Shelter?”
“Yes, saying it would be safer that way.”
Kwon Han-ul stroked his chin thoughtfully.
Goriki Nana’s behavior was suspicious in many ways. It was natural for fear to take precedence when enemies had invaded.
But to suggest going to the Secret Shelter when hunters were standing guard? And to do so in secret from everyone else?
“Ah… and she also asked him to bring Nomura along.”
The middle-aged woman added, as if just remembering. Kwon Han-ul muttered with a troubled expression.
“Something’s off.”
Even hearing about it secondhand felt suspicious. He could only imagine how suspicious it must have seemed in person.
“…Ah, now I understand.”
Now he finally grasped why Mark Griffin had acted so recklessly.
He must have caught a suspicious scent from Goriki Nana. Following that scent, he likely believed he could track down Ferdrans.
“Now it makes sense.”
Mark Griffin’s action of abandoning the guests could not be condoned.
But if he captured Ferdrans, that would change everything. A mistake could be buried under a great achievement, after all.
“Does he think he can kill him alone?”
It was not unfounded confidence.
If Ferdrans was a villain from Pandemonium, Mark Griffin was a World Ranker.
Though he had shown poor sensing ability on several occasions, that alone could not diminish Mark Griffin’s worth. His true strength would be revealed in combat.
“This is troublesome.”
His mind had cooled, but the anger still churned within his chest.
It seemed this fury would not dissipate without a final confrontation with Mark Griffin.
But if he captured Ferdrans, all the credit for this mission would become his. Then it would be difficult to hold him accountable.
“Does anyone know where the Secret Shelter is located?”
Kwon Han-ul turned to the guests and asked. They all merely exchanged glances, but no one answered.
“What about those who work in the Mansion?”
The servants gave the same response.
Kwon Han-ul exhaled a heavy sigh. It was disappointing, but hardly surprising.
Why would it be called a Secret Shelter otherwise? It was a Secret Shelter precisely because no one knew about it.
“Is there anyone who might know about it?”
It was just as Kwon Han-ul murmured this to himself.
Suddenly, his phone rang. Kwon Han-ul pulled his smartphone from his pocket.
“…Kwon Mi?”
The call was from an unexpected person. Kwon Han-ul answered it anyway.
-H-hello!
Soon, an urgent voice came through.
Kwon Han-ul was taken aback. Until now, the only tones he’d ever heard from Kwon Mi were anger or coldness.
He had never heard her voice sound so desperate and pleading before.
“Auntie, I think you’ve dialed the wrong number.”
Kwon Han-ul concluded that Kwon Mi must have misdialed.
“Let’s just pretend this call never happened.”
Even if their relationship was strained, he felt he should preserve her dignity.
It was the appropriate response, he thought to himself as he moved to hang up.
-D-don’t hang up! I didn’t dial wrong! I called you on purpose!
Confusion crossed Kwon Han-ul’s face.
“You didn’t dial wrong?”
-There’s no time for this! Hu-don! Hu-don is in danger!
“What do you mean by that….”
-Mark Griffin, that bastard… he’s after Hu-don….
Kwon Mi’s voice cracked as though she might burst into tears at any moment.
-If things continue like this, our Hu-don will die!

* * *

Dark High-Ceilinged Chamber.
“Cough.”
Kwon Hu-don lay sprawled across the floor, spitting up blood.
“Cough, cough….”
Kwon Hu-don’s condition was dire.
His entire body was charred black as if scorched by flames, while his abdomen hung in tattered strips like a tomato crushed in a mortar.
“Looks like I got a bit too rough with him.”
Someone loomed over Kwon Hu-don, sneering down at him.
“But I’m disappointed, you know. A member of the Heukcheon Bloodline going down in a single blow? Either the boss is garbage, or the rumors were exaggerated.”
Kwon Hu-don looked up, his voice strained.
“Why… why….”
In that instant, Kwon Hu-don was kicked in the abdomen. He crashed into the wall behind him.
“Why? You’re asking why?”
Mark Griffin shook off his foot in the air as if brushing away garbage.
“That’s a pathetic question to ask.”
Mark Griffin approached Kwon Hu-don, who clawed at the floor with his hands, groaning from the impact of the kick.
“Boss, stop spouting useless words and choose quickly. Will you die beaten to death by me here? Or….”
Mark Griffin spread both arms wide. Behind him stood his team members and Homunculi in a line.
“Will you swallow poison like those bastards and obey my commands.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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