"Die, [Mana Explosion]" the giant roared, and two steps away prepared to bring his massive axe down on the fallen Arthur.

"Craster, stop. Don't kill him," Rin's voice echoed in his ears, and he redirected the blow into the ground at the last moment, just inches from his cornered target. The shockwave flew forward and smashed the lone ancient column to pieces.

"Why did you stop me?"

"I need him... I want information from him. Pick him up."

He snorted angrily but obediently complied. Craster jerked the boy sharply, not caring at all about the arrows still in Arthur's hands, and lifted him to his feet.

Rin approached Arthur with a confident gait. Her gaze was cold and exuded a hatred that could even burn entire cities. She stared directly at him. But the boy didn't give up either, he didn't take his eyes off to the side. Even if he was trapped, even if he lost, he wouldn't lose his dignity.

"Derek, you brought those handcuffs with you, didn't you?"

"No... you told me not to take them again, and that I shouldn't carry such a thing around with me... that it wasn't a toy at all..."

"Yeah, you shut up. Stop lying... get them over here."

Derek stood there indecisively, not understanding the situation. Mana handcuffs were only used to restrain those who had a mana core and prevent them from using magical attacks. But after all, the weak guy who was already wounded didn't exactly have it.

"Mmm... But Rin..."

"I'll spell it out slowly since you can't understand what I'm saying... Bring it over here," Rin turned around, and her expression told Derek that it was better not to anger their leader right now.  

The young hunter pulled out the handcuffs, hidden in his bag, that he always carried with him out of pure fun. He returned with them to the two people, still not taking their eyes off each other. Rin nodded to him and he clasped them on Arthur's hands.

"I don't understand why... he doesn't have the strength anyway."

"That little bastard already gave me a great surprise today, I don't want a repeat ... don't you, Arnaud? Let's have a nice chat, I have a couple of little questions."

"What makes you think I'm going to answer them?" - Arthur asked with a snide smile. Immediately he received a hard blow to the stomach from the short-haired girl. The blow was amplified by mana and made the boy cough up blood. His knees buckled and he was about to fall to the ground, but Craster grabbed him roughly, squeezing his shoulder with such force that you could hear the bones crunch.

Rin leaned over to the guy crouched in pain in half and whispered right into his ear:

"All I'm asking you to do is talk... don't deny a pretty girl a request, okay?"

Arthur didn't answer anything. He silently fantasized about the places he would put bullets in this vile creature who wore a human mask.

Rin, seeing the rage he was holding back, giggled and licked her bright red lips. A defeated enemy was an incomparable pleasure.

She turned and looked around. And then she clapped her hands together, drawing the attention of everyone around her to herself.

"Demon! Arno, it's a demon, isn't it? I'm very curious, will you share with us... how you got here? Derek, check this thing, is it still alive or not?"

Derek took slow steps toward the carcass of the huge red beast. The body didn't move, it lay breathless on the ground. Though no wounds or injuries were visible, it was obvious that it was already dead.

The hunter, unconsciously catching his breath, crept up quietly, as if afraid that the monster might abruptly wake up and rise from the dead, and put his hand on it. There was one sure way to tell if a mana beast was alive or not, and that was to let mana into it. If its own energy began to collide with external energy and resistance was felt, it meant that life was still lingering within.

"It's still alive, but the demon core is frozen... it seems to have almost exhausted the chaos energy," Derek concluded.

"Did you say still alive?" - Mia, the young hunter, asked frightened. She took a couple of steps back and stood next to the man who, by the mere sight of him, inspired a sense of security, with Craster.

"Don't worry, little one. I'll protect you," he pounded his chest to show his firm resolve.

" I ... I ... wouldn't be so sure... it's not just a demon," - Derek swallowed his saliva.

"What?"

"It's a demon... a level 3 demon."

"Huh?"

Mia stepped back abruptly, stumbled, and flopped on her ass. She groaned tearfully. The girl was a healer and usually stayed away from monster battles, so she wasn't used to the pain.

"Mia, are you okay?" - Derek, as if oblivious to a very minor problem in the form of a demon, immediately rushed to the fallen girl. The worried and frightened face betrayed the guy's true feelings.

"I ... It's okay. I just fell," she replied, but her voice trembled. The words "Level 3 Demon" inspired awe and terror in anyone who knew anything about these bloodthirsty creatures.

The Temple usually sent a whole squad of paladins, consisting of at least C-rank soldiers, to kill such a creature. That was why everyone here compared to this enormous creature felt like ants in front of a human boot.

"Guys, watch your surroundings. Arno probably wasn't here alone...there's no way he could have killed this thing by himself" said Derek, straining to see into the surrounding space. The ruins of the ancient structures made it difficult to see, somewhere out there could be hiding the "weak" hunter's allies.

"Don't talk, nonsense. If his friends were still here, do you think they would have just abandoned him, letting us almost kill him?...then why didn't we see anyone, even though we followed Arno right behind? No, my intuition tells me that this cunning little hunter here was alone the whole time." said Rin, and the more she pondered the situation, the more the flames of interest flared up in her chest.

Then seeing that Arthur wasn't going to answer her questions, she ordered her men to search him.

Rin confiscated it [the Void Blade] from him and twirled it in her hands, studying it meticulously. Her eyes brightened at the sight of her new toy.

"This thing... it's amazing.  You mean I don't even have to waste my mana?  It just runs on cheap mana batteries... God, where did you find that? "

The big guy Craster was trying like a jerk at this point to catch Selina running away from him. Every time he caught up to her and was close to grabbing her, the spider let the mana loose on his hind legs and sped past.

This game could have gone on forever if Derek hadn't used [Mana Shield], creating a wall in front of Selina.

"Ahahahah... I got you." he laughed out loud as the spider found itself squeezed in his huge palm.  But Selina Two was not about to give up without a fight, she fired [Energy Blow] and slashed his arm. The first blood of Arthur's opponents sprinkled these ancient ruins.

The bald giant screamed in pain, but his thick skin and the fact that his body was covered in a layer of mana at that moment prevented the spider from breaking free after its lightning attack. Craster exerted even more force, squeezing her mechanical body.  A dangerous rattle of metal was heard.

"Let her go, you bastard," shouted Arthur angrily, who until that moment had been sitting quietly on the bare ground, silently watching what was happening.

"А?  What? You didn't say a word when I was hitting you... But you're so worried about some mechanical thing?  No, I was sure someone like you had no friends, you're not your brother Eric... But to stoop so low as to get upset over something like that?  You are such a pathetic loser. " Rin smirked, and Craster, sensing the leader's approval, began clutching the poor robot with even more force.

"I gave you a warning once before in the guild, but you didn't listen to me then... so I'm giving it to you again.  You break the spider, I'll break you next," uttered Arthur through teeth clenched to the point of pain.

" ahahahaha... I want to see it, you little bastard.  You were lucky you caught me by surprise last time," Craster said as he unleashed his maximum mana level and Selina's metal shell began to gradually crumble until something crunched loudly.  And after a few seconds, the spider's red eyes finally went out. 

He opened his palm and the broken spider fell to the ground. And then he stomped on it with his foot a few more times, enjoying Arthur's reaction. 

"Hey, Derek. Come here, check this one out."

Derek, who at this moment was whispering something to Mia, apparently giving her unequivocal signs of attention. Even Arthur could see that the young hunter had a soft spot for the girl. He didn't want to stop cooing with her, and with a grimace on his face, he moved sullenly toward his leader. 

Rin handed him a half-empty bottle with a strange liquid inside.  He uncorked the cap, held it close to his nose, and sniffed, then even licked a single drop with the tip of his finger. His eyes immediately widened in surprise, and a devilish smile played on his lips.

"The Drink of Living Death."

"What? Are you sure? "

"Of course, its smell and taste are unmistakable.  I stumbled across it by accident a couple of years ago while tracking down a group of smugglers by order of the Temple."

"The liquid your grenades were watered with was a drink of Living Death? ahahaha...You used it against a demon? So that's the explosion we heard on the way here...That might partially explain how that red creature ended up like that. It's true, one grenade isn't enough to defeat it anyway. Was this monster weakened beforehand, or did someone help you?"

Arthur didn't answer; there was no point in talking to soon-to-be-dead people. His cold, frightening stare sent chills down Rin's spine. She frowned, irritated that she was being frightened by some cornered, wretched hunter.

"What are we going to do, Rin? Do you think he's connected to smugglers? Only they usually use that poison."

"Maybe...but it doesn't matter. The paladins will figure out for themselves whether he's a smuggler or not. Under torture, he'll tell them everything."

"You want to report to the Temple? There's a level 3 demon here... his core is worth millions of credits. If we split it between the four of us..."

"Don't be silly, Derek. If we report to the paladins, we'll get a portion of the reward for the smugglers we had found, too. Including a percentage of the core's price. We'll get less, but it's a lot safer than looking for a buyer on the black market."

"But Rin..."

"That's enough. It's out of the question. It's not just about the core. Look at this gun...it's something amazing. Temple will definitely be interested in communicating with our little friend. Right, Arno? And going forward, I'm sure we'll reap enormous benefits from our friendship with the paladins. For example, exclusive missions...what's more important the immediate benefits or the chance for us to become a top group of hunters?"

The four hunters then took a quick vote and still decided to report to the Temple. And that meant...

"Are you going to hand me over to the paladins?" - Finally, after a long silence, Arthur asked the question.

"Your idiot teammates may not realize it, but you're not like them. You already know that I have nothing to do with smugglers..."

Rin, who was still playing with [Blade of the Void], met his gaze and, while no one heard, giggled and said:

"Of course, I know."

"Then you must know what the Temple does to those it suspects of such a crime..."

"Yeah, know that, too"

"And you're still willing to hand me over to them?"

She didn't answer right away. Tilting her head back and grabbing her chin with her hand, she pretended for a while to think hard about her answer. And then, drawing so close to Arthur that their faces were separated by only a few centimeters, she whispered:

"You think I care what happens to you? You're just a pathetic shadow of Eric Mann. Do you think anyone in this world would care if you disappeared once and for all? Just do something good with your life for once... give me some use."