Chapter 94: Porter At Work

The porter didn’t panic.

Instead of reaching for the utility knife at his belt, Mikhail immediately abandoned his position behind the barrier and moved farther to the side, forcing the monster to change direction if it wanted to pursue him.

That brief adjustment gave Frey enough time.

A second Vritra Coil materialized around the Ruin Hound’s hindquarters and violently dragged it sideways. The creature crashed onto the asphalt, claws tearing uselessly acrossthe road as it attempted to regain its footing. Frey closed the distance and drove one curved blade down through the back of its skull.

Silence returned.

Six Ruin Hounds lay dead across the road.

Frey pulled his sword free and flicked the blood from its edge before looking toward Mikhail. "At least you didn’t scream."

Mikhail stepped out from behind the concrete barrier and gave Frey an unimpressed look. "I specifically advertised that feature before you hired me. It would be unprofessional to start screaming during the first fight."

Jet wiped the Vorpal Blade against the hide of the nearest corpse before glancing around the surrounding ruins. Nothing else appeared to be approaching.

"Clear for now," Jet said as he lowered his weapon. He then looked toward Mikhail and gestured at the corpses. "They’re yours."

Mikhail’s expression changed almost immediately.

"Finally," the porter replied, slipping the enormous backpack from his shoulders. "Now you two get to see why hiring me was an excellent financial decision."

Frey snorted but stepped aside.

Mikhail placed his backpack on a relatively clear patch of asphalt and immediately began unpacking his equipment. A thick processing sheet came out first, followed by reinforced gloves, a compact scanner, several extraction tools, sealing clamps and multiple collection containers.

Jet watched with growing interest.

The joking Mikhail disappeared the moment he started working.

He approached the first Ruin Hound and examined the corpse before touching it, checking the location of Jet’s killing strike and the damage surrounding the neck. The scanner passed over several areas of the body, and Mikhail quickly selected which materials were worth extracting.

His hands moved with practiced precision.

Mikhail made a narrow incision beneath the creature’s jaw and worked around the damaged tissue instead of simply cutting through everything. Within moments, he extracted two dark glands from either side of the throat, inspected them and sealed them inside separate preservation bags.

He moved to the mouth next, checking the teeth individually before using a small extraction tool to remove several intact fangs.

He didn’t waste time on the damaged ones.The claws were checked next.

Several went into another container. Others were ignored.

Then Mikhail moved to the second corpse.

Jet folded his arms and watched him work.

There was no hesitation in Mikhail’s movements. Every tool returned to the same position after use. Every extracted material was inspected before being packed. Anything too damaged or too low in value to justify the weight was left behind without a second thought.

Frey watched for another minute before his eyebrows rose slightly. "You’re actually pretty good at this."

Mikhail continued working without looking up. "I’m going to pretend the surprise in your voice doesn’t offend me."Frey rested one curved sword across his shoulder and smiled. "You spent most of the morning advertising yourself. I assumed at least half of it was bullshit."

"That hurts," Mikhail replied, pressing two fingers against the abdomen of another Ruin Hound before carefully opening it with his extraction knife. "I only exaggerate things that are difficult for clients to verify. Lying about harvesting ability would be terrible business."

Jet couldn’t help smiling slightly at that answer.

Mikhail worked through all six corpses surprisingly quickly. He removed useful glands, claws, teeth and sections of hide while discarding damaged materials that weren’t worth carrying.

The collected parts were divided by type, sealed and arranged inside the enormous backpack so efficiently that Jet could tell Mikhail had done this countless times.

It was impressive.Jet had known what Mikhail eventually became, but he’d never seen this part of his life.

In the previous timeline, Jet had only known the older Mikhail Dragunov who owned one of the largest Porter Guilds in the region. By then, Mikhail had employees doing work like this for him. Jet had never considered what kind of porter Mikhail himself had been before becoming a Guild owner.

Now he had his answer.

The man was good. Really good.

Jet watched Mikhail clean his extraction knife, return it to its compartment and secure the final collection bag. It suddenly seemed obvious that Mikhail hadn’t built one of the largest Porter Guilds in the region with little ability.

Before he became the man managing hundreds of porters and negotiating contracts with major AwakenerGuilds, he had apparently learned the profession from the ground up.

Mikhail eventually stood and hoisted the backpack onto his shoulders again. Sweat had gathered across his forehead, but he looked pleased with himself. "Six Ruin Hounds processed. Most of the hides aren’t worth the space after what you two did to them, but the glands are decent, several claws are intact, and I got enough usable fangs to make the stop worthwhile."

Frey glanced at the partially harvested corpses before looking back at Mikhail. "How much did we leave behind?"

"Plenty," Mikhail answered, tightening one of his shoulder straps. "But carrying everything isn’t the same as making more money. Space has value too. If I fill my pack with cheap materials now and we find something better later, then I’ve done my job badly."

That answer impressed Jet more than the speed.

Mikhail wasn’t simply a man who knew how to cut useful parts from monsters. He understood the logistics behind the work.

Frey gave him a thoughtful look before sheathing one of his swords. "All right, Fatty. Maybe hiring you wasn’t completely stupid."

Mikhail’s round face immediately brightened. "Careful. Keep complimenting me like that and I’ll increase my rate before the second Dungeon."

Frey’s expression flattened. "I take it back."

Mikhail laughed as he adjusted his glasses. "Too late. I already heard it."

Jet shook his head at the two of them before turning toward the road ahead. The ruined city stretched deeper beneath the grey sky, skyscrapers rising on either side of the broken streets while heaps of rubble narrowed several paths farther ahead.

Somewhere in the distance, a monster howled.

Another answered from much farther away.

Jet tightened his grip around the Vorpal Blade and started walking. "We’re done here. Let’s keep moving."

Frey drew his second sword again and moved up beside Jet, his earlier amusement giving way to alertness. "Lead the way."

Mikhail settled into position several meters behind them, the newly collected materials secured inside his enormous backpack.

"You two keep killing them like that," he said with a grin as he followed, "and I’ll make sure none of the profitable pieces get left behind."

With Jet and Frey taking the front and Mikhail following behind, the small Raid Team continued deeper into the ruined city.