Chapter 521: The Tower of Souls Collapses, The Hunter’s True Strength

Leon sent the unconscious Alphox inside his [Pet Space].

Since the dragon had evolved, the space might have expanded to accommodate his larger body.

He also wanted to examine the items dropped by Nier.

Unfortunately, before he could check the drops, a notification appeared.

Beep!

[The Tower of Souls has lost its Lord.]

[It will now collapse.]

"Damn!"

Leon immediately realized that they had to leave before the entire tower came down around them.

Fortunately, a portal appeared in the middle of the throne chamber, providing them with an exit.

"Let’s go!" he called to the others.

Emilia, Celeste, and Violet quickly followed him toward the portal, wasting no time as cracks began spreading across the walls and floor.

The chamber trembled beneath their feet, and pieces of stone fell from the ceiling as the tower began to collapse.

Before stepping through the portal, Leon quickly checked whether [Celestial’s Hand] had activated.

Unfortunately, there was no notification.

’Not this time, huh?’

With no time to investigate further, Leon stepped through the portal alongside the girls, escaping the throne chamber just as the destruction intensified.

The next moment, they emerged outside the Tower of Souls.

The mist that had surrounded the enormous structure began to dissipate, allowing to exit freely.

However, the tower was already falling apart, with cracks spreading across its surface.

At its summit, the enormous heart that had been pulsing with power began to fracture.

Cracks ran across its surface before the giant heart finally shattered in half, sending its fragments tumbling toward the ground.

The moment the heart broke apart, the entire tower began to collapse, having lost the power that had sustained it.

Leon watched the destruction in silence, knowing that the Lord of Souls had truly been defeated and that the Tower of Souls would never be back.

"Well..."

Ding!

[You have killed "Lord of Souls, Nier"]

[SSS-Rank Special Quest: Ultimate Hunter (1/3)]

Leon looked at the notification and smiled faintly.

"One down, two more to go."

Leon was about to open his [Storage Space] to inspect the items dropped by the Lord of Souls and see whether he had obtained the second item required for his quest, but before he could do so, a familiar voice interrupted him.

"Very nice work!"

Leon turned around and found the Hunter standing behind him with a wide smile on his face.

The man looked as cheerful as ever, seemingly delighted by the destruction of the Tower of Souls and Leon’s victory over its ruler.

"What do you want?" Leon asked skeptically. "I’ve still got two more hunts to complete."

"Sure you do." The Hunter nodded, "But... I want what you obtained from him."

Leon stared at him for a moment.

His first thought was that the Hunter wanted one of the items he had obtained from Nier, and there was no way he would simply hand over his rewards without a good reason.

However, he quickly realized that the man was probably referring to something more specific.

Leon opened his [Storage Space] and examined the items dropped by the Lord of Souls.

Among them, he found what the Hunter wanted.

[Lord of Souls Head (Trophy): Proof that someone has defeated the "Lord of Souls, Nier" and collapsed the Tower of Souls.]

"Beautiful!" The Hunter exclaimed, his eyes sparkling as soon as Leon revealed the trophy. "Probably one of the best trophies I’ve seen in the Higher Domains!"

He looked genuinely excited, almost as though Leon had presented him with an incredibly rare treasure.

Considering how long the Hunter had been roaming the Higher Domains, his reaction suggested that the trophy was far more valuable to him than any ordinary reward.

Leon, however, was more interested in understanding the man’s intentions.

"By the way," he asked, "if you wanted it so much, why didn’t you just kill the Lord of Souls yourself?"

The Hunter’s smile remained in place, but his expression grew slightly colder as he considered the question.

"Because it wouldn’t be fun now, would it?"

"Huh?"

Leon stared at him, unsure how to interpret that answer.

If he remembered correctly, the Hunter’s Combat Power had previously been around 30,000,000.

That was an impressive amount, but Nier had possessed 38,500,000 Combat Power, and the Lord of Souls had been difficult enough to defeat even with Leon’s abilities.

Perhaps the Hunter had decided that fighting Nier himself would be too risky, which would explain why he had allowed Leon to complete the quest instead.

Still, Leon was curious about whether the man’s strength had changed since their last encounter.

Eye of Truth!

He inspected the Hunter’s status panel once again.

---

[The Hunter (Ultimate)]

[Level: 100]

[Talent: Hunter (SS-Level)]

[Combat Power: Around 40,000,000.]

---

"What the fuck?" Leon exclaimed, staring at the displayed Combat Power. "How did your Combat Power go from 30 million to 40 million in such a short time?!"

"40 million?" The Hunter looked confused for a moment before he suddenly understood. "Oh, so you inspected my panel!"

Leon narrowed his eyes.

"My talent allows me to mask what I show," the Hunter explained with a grin. "I simply decided to hide that part of my strength from you."

"...?"

"Basically, I have way more than 40 million."

Leon immediately inspected him again.

[Combat Power: Around 50,000,000.]

"What the..."

The Hunter chuckled at Leon’s reaction.

"I could keep going, but it wouldn’t be fun if I did," he said with a shrug. "So, can I have it?"

Leon did not answer immediately, ’More than 50 million Combat Power...’

That was an absurd amount of strength, especially for someone who was simply wandering around the Higher Domains and offering quests to worthy people.

With that much power, the Hunter could probably defeat almost anything he encountered in the Higher Domains, and even most powerful beings in the [Eternal Battlefield] would have trouble dealing with him.

Of course, there were limits to what Combat Power alone could accomplish.

The gods and other beings in the Eternal Domain possessed abilities and authority that could make fighting them considerably more complicated than the numbers suggested.

Nevertheless, someone with over 50,000,000 Combat Power would have a reasonable chance of surviving in such a dangerous place.

And the Hunter had just said that he could keep increasing the number displayed by his panel.

’Just what the hell is he, and why is he here?’

Leon had already suspected that the Hunter was far more mysterious than an ordinary quest-giver, but this only made that suspicion stronger.

If he was hiding even more of his true power, then trying to estimate his limits would be pointless.

For now, Leon decided not to dwell on the matter.

That did not mean he wanted to hand over his trophy without receiving something in return.

"Huh..." The Hunter appeared to think for a few seconds before an idea seemed to occur to him. "Do you want more information about the other hunts? I can tell you which domains they’re in."

"I already know that," Leon replied, looking the man directly in the eyes.

The Hunter paused, and seemed to recognize that his offer was insufficient.

With a heavy motion, he removed his backpack and dropped it onto the ground between them.

"We can trade," he announced with a grin. "I’ll give you one of the items in my backpack for that trophy, and I’ll do the same for the other two hunts as well."

"Oh?"

Leon immediately became more interested.

If the Hunter was willing to offer an item for each of the three trophies, that meant Leon could potentially obtain three additional rewards on top of whatever he received from completing the quest itself.

Considering the man’s strength and the mysterious nature of his talent, there was a good chance that the items in his possession were considerably more valuable than ordinary equipment.

"Show me the items," Leon said.

The Hunter raised one finger, interrupting him before he could continue.

"First, I’ll explain the rules of this ’trade’."

His smile widened as he gestured toward the backpack.

"I have exactly nine items in here, and every one of them is relatively powerful. I’ll place them on the ground, fairly far away from you, and you’ll have to select one without checking its description."

Leon raised an eyebrow, "So that means..."

"Simply look at the items and choose one," the Hunter explained. "You won’t be allowed to inspect their descriptions before making your decision."

"Damn."