Rise of the Eromancer

Chapter 245 Target

"...No visible marks, not even a serial number — not even any seams. This wasn't manufactured in a factory…

…this is a direct attack from someone who has the blood of Hephaestus, Rhys Wilder.

"How much does that narrow down our list?"

Rhys held his headset, pinning it even closer to his ear so as to not miss Maria's words from the drowning noise of the helicopter… as well as the screams and hisses of the cenleons who were panicking from the height, and yet they were still peeking out from the windows and creating more noise.

"Fuck me, I hate cats," Hannah let out a small groan as she seriously felt that a fur got in her mouth.

"Does that mean you hate pussy too? Or are you willing to try?"

"Nikki!" And as Dominique brazenly flirted with Hannah again, her girlfriend pinched her thigh and glared at her.

"What the—I thought this was a secured line," Dominique quickly adjusted the channel on her headset, but it was too late as everyone heard what she said. Fortunately for her, the others were too busy either observing the cenleons, or trying to figure out what Maria and Rhys discovered.

"There are not many who are capable of creating missiles of that strength," Maria showed a list to Rhys, and true enough, their suspects were cut to less than 12, "And one you already killed back in Typhon's Island."

"Mike…" Rhys remembered how Mike created a rifle that shot a beam capable of erasing half of the prison in less than a second. If Mike was any more capable, then Rhys might not even be alive today. If… only she could find a woman with the ability to create weapons too, then maybe he could—

"Are you trying to find a woman on the list you could seduce, Master Rhys?" Maria licked her tongue as she looked Rhys in the eyes.

"I don't seduce people… and I told you not to call me Master in public," Rhys sighed.

"But you are allowing that old witch to call you Fuhrer?" Maria smirked, "You should know by now that you can't control how we act toward you… that is, if you want to control me and treat me like a puppet, freely using me whenever you want even in front of all these people."

"Can we just focus?" Rhys strayed his eyes away from Maria and back to her tablet, "Which one do you think it is?"

"We will just be pointing fingers at this point." Maria shook her head, "3 in Amerka, 5 in Russea, 1 in Goryeo, 1 in Nippon, and 1 in Luzviminda."

"Luzviminda?" Rhys squinted his eyes, "Where's that?"

"A small country in South East Asia with a large population," Maria then opened the map to show Rhys a country that was oddly almost shaped like a dog sideways, "It was previously named Philippines, from the current king Philip II, back when they were colonized, but a Noble who was born from a slave liberated them in the late 1800s."

"You seem to know a lot about this country."

"My mother's from there. Maria isn't even my true name, it's just some sort of suffix. Maria Regina Bautista Mercado," Maria leaned closer to Rhys and whispered to him, "I spent half of my childhood there before being brought here by my father."

"...I thought you and Katarina were from the same place," Rhys could not help but blink a couple of times as he heard Maria's full name, "Your name is even longer than her."

"You do not have to worry — Half Amerkan and Half Luzviminda practically make me Hispanic. That was a joke, by the way."

"Right…" It truly made it hard for Rhys to discern whenever Maria was joking because of her stoic and monotonous voice, "...So, who do you think amongst these fine gentleman have something against me?"

"All of them at different levels. I believe we should just wait until I talk to the people in the Air Force," Maria answered bluntly,

"But if we really must deliberate, then there is a possibility that one of the three in our country was hired to get rid of you. They get rid of you and the cenleons, and they get rid of Former Mayor Joseph Hayden's advantage. For Russea, I do not think I need to say anything more."

"Hm."

"As for Goryeo and Nippon, I do not really think they would do it since they are our allies," Maria shook her head, "To jeopardize that means they would risk being exposed to the Empire of Qing."

"...And Luzviminda?" Rhys squinted his eyes.

"The country is relatively peaceful, too peaceful to the point that they are extremely lax," Maria explained, "But I do believe that out of all the Weapon Makers, the one from this country is the only one that could possibly have a personal vendetta against you."

"...Why would someone from the other side of the world have something against me?" Rhys seemed visibly confused.

"T—"

"Because you just removed him from the list of 15 Strongest Explorers in the world, Blackie." And before Maria could even answer, Hannah moved to the seat right in front of them and answered Rhys's question, "The guy's probably fucking infuriated."

"...I'm in the top 15?" Rhys blinked a couple of times, "Wait, I'm not saying I deserve to be there — but wasn't my license revoked as soon as I was thrown in prison? Wilder's Harem was even forced to disband."

"Wilder's Harem, see how good that rolls in the tongue?" Hannah smirked and scoffed at the same time, "Have you thanked me yet for choosing that name? And also, who the fuck are you kidding, Blackie? You have so many great connections within the country, and by great connections, I meant me."

Hannah then approached Rhys and leaned closer to him before placing something on his lap. Both Maria and Talia lowered their eyebrows at this unnecessary action, but Hannah did not even heed them any mind as she just gestured to Rhys to get it.

"This… is my license?" Rhys checked the card that Hannah gave him, "Why does it say Level 0? I was already at Level 3, 4 something before I was arrested."

"Stupid," Hannah groaned in frustration, "Level 0 is the access given to the strongest Explorers, which means you have complete access to any Holes you want to enter. Well…"

Hannah stared back and forth between Talia and Edissa several times; the smirk on her face, growing by the second, "...It's not like you have a problem with that department. Even in prison, you manage to enter holes. Must be quite small if it can fit everywhere."

"On the contrary," Talia scoffed as she suddenly joined in on the conversation, "It's large enough to the point I could actually see my belly going up."

"You have no idea," Maria also did not mind that people seemed to be intruding on their channel as she just also smirked at Hannah; the tone of her voice, however, was still quite monotonous, "It is honestly too much, H."

"...Tch," Hannah just rolled her eyes and finally looked away. As for Rhys, he just stared at the 5 Gray Hearts now floating above her head — was there some sort of prerequisite he needed to do to actually unlock the Hearts in some select individuals?

The number 1 strongest Explorer in the world also did not have Hearts floating above her head, does that mean Rhys could also do something to unlock them?

If so, then what exactly did Rhys do to unlock the Hearts for Hannah?

"What are you looking at, bitch?" Hannah snarled as she noticed Rhys looking at her, "Just so we're clear, I'm not gonna have sex with you. I have standards — I want someone tall, extremely handsome and with the body of Adonis."

"You just described Rhys Wilder," Maria looked blankly at Hannah.

"That—It's not him!" Hannah crossed her arms as she once again looked away, "Stop annoying me and wasting my time!"

"How would I waste your time, H? We are stuck in the air."

"Shut up!"

"Hm…" And while Maria and Hannah were bickering with each other, Rhys took the tablet from Maria and started reviewing the person from Luzviminda.

Lance Aquino. He is in his early 30s, and Luzviminda's only Noble explorer — and Hannah wasn't lying. His profile says that he was previously the ranked No. 15 Strongest explorer in the world.

Is it really possible he was holding a grudge against Rhys for taking his spot…? Or is this some sort of welcome from the strongest people in the world?

Rhys doesn't really feel like it — even now, whenever he thinks of how it would be like to fight Esme when she wasn't actually holding back, Rhys could not think of a way to actually defeat her.

How can he even defeat someone who can turn into a mist, and then proceed to use that mist to just instantly freeze him to death?

Well, whatever the case was…

"Maria, I'll wait for the information about the missiles."

"...What do you intend to do after you find out who shot it, Rhys Wilder?" Maria tilted her head to the side as she immediately stopped bickering with Hannah, "You have to be very careful, your actions now will reflect the country. It is best not to be seen as aggressive and reckless."

"...I won't do anything," Rhys sighed as Maria quickly warned him, "When have I ever done something that would be perceived as aggressive and reckless?"

"Do you truly want me to answer that?"

"...No," Rhys lowered his head, "Anyway, I'm not going to do anything. I'll just pay them a visit and talk. After all…"

The tone of Rhys's voice turned cold as his expression almost became sinister — and everyone felt it, especially the cenleons who relied more on their instincts; their fur, now standing up on their ends,

"...It would have been alright if it was just me," Rhys whispered as he looked Maria in the eyes, "But you and the others were also here, if that missile would have killed even one of you…

…killing only one of them wouldn't be enough."