Chapter 299: The Joker meets the Gremlin

"This is Henry! I have an urgent report! I repeat, I have an urgent report!" Henry’s voice drew the attention of Aria and Lorenzo, their eyes shifting to the handset in Lorenzo’s hand.

"Team Leo, Team Amelie and Team Dante were captured by the hunter with a joker face mask!" Henry revealed, a hint of panic in his tone. "The Joker forced the survivors to reveal Operation Hunt! I repeat, the information about Operation Hunt has been leaked."

The moment Aria and Lorenzo heard the revelation, their eyes widened in shock.

Aria snatched the handset from Lorenzo’s hands. She was about to order all the teams involved in Operation Hunt to quickly return to the location where they had hidden the tokens when another voice cut through Henry’s, sounding even more panicked.

"This is Team George! Our tokens have been stolen!"

Another voice cut George’s off.

"This is Team Anna! Our tokens are gone from where we hid them!"

"This is Team Nadia! Our tokens have also been stolen!"

"This is Team..."

Panicked voices poured through the handset one after another, overlapping in a chaotic jumble that made it impossible to make out a single word.

"Dammit!" Aria muttered, her grip tightening on the handset.

---

Within ten minutes, Aria and Lorenzo reached the nearest location where the tokens had been robbed.

Below a tree, five survivors were sitting with panicked expressions on their faces, one of them even pacing back and forth in anxiety. Upon seeing Aria and Lorenzo, a glimmer of hope appeared in their eyes. They immediately surrounded the duo.

"Please help us, Lady Aria," George, their team leader, requested, his team members repeating the plea behind him.

"You said the Masked Maniac has also left a message," Aria said, keeping her calm. Apparently, "Masked Maniac" was what everyone called that mysterious joker-faced hunter because of his behaviour.

"Th-that..." George’s eyes lowered, awkwardness clear on his face. "Please look at it yourself."

He pointed at a high branch of the tree. Aria’s black eyes followed the direction of his finger. With a single jump, her body shot into the air, landing gracefully on the branch. The branch barely shifted beneath her weight, as if she were made of feathers.

She moved forward, reaching the hollow of the tree. Above the hollow, a clown face had been drawn with an ear-to-ear smile. Beneath it, a message was written that produced an instant reaction from Aria. Her fists tightened at her sides, her knuckles turning white. After all, the message had struck her biggest vulnerability.

It read:

Thank you for the gift, Raphael’s cute little sister.

Since childhood, Aria had been compared to her genius elder brother, Raphael. That was the very reason she had distanced herself from him. When she enrolled in the academy, everyone called her Raphael’s younger sister instead of Aria. She felt as if she were living in her brother’s shadow.

She was already annoyed enough that Raphael had sent her the information on the hunters when she hadn’t even asked for it, and now this message infuriated her even further.

What made her even angrier was the fact that the message had been left by the very same hunter whose identity wasn’t included in the information Raphael had given. Couldn’t he have given the full information if he really wanted to help?

The strands of her raven hair, with inner shades of white, rose at her back, her silhouette shrouded in a dark veil of mana. She looked back at Lorenzo over her shoulder and muttered, "Find this Masked Maniac at all costs."

---

"Achhoo!" The Joker sneezed. "Who is missing me?" he wondered, pushing the bushes away from his face.

The entire land around him was covered in tall bushes and wild vines thick with thorns. There wasn’t a single tree around, or he would have simply passed over the branches. There were only tall bushes.

He wouldn’t even have bothered to come here. The only reason he was taking this annoying route was that he had seen a red dot nearby on the map. A survivor was wandering this area alone, and the Joker already had a vague idea who it might be.

What confused him was what on earth this person was doing in such wild terrain.

As he stepped past the last bush, his body momentarily froze.

The entire slope stretched before him, blanketed in a sea of colourful wildflowers that reached up to his ankles. Hues of yellow, purple, pink, and white mingled amidst the lush green grass, swaying gently with the caress of the cool breeze. The flowers danced in unison, their delicate petals fluttering beneath the warm sunlight, while the fresh, earthy fragrance of the grass filled the air.

The weather of this forest mountain was in complete contrast to the actual bone-chilling weather of the continent. It wasn’t the only unique mountain. All the other peaks attached to it had their own distinct seasons.

But what truly left the Joker stunned wasn’t the vast field of wildflowers or the brilliant blue sky stretching above it. It was the sight of a girl sitting amidst the blossoms, her delicate fingers weaving colourful flowers into a crown.

To the Joker, her serene face possessed a beauty that made the breathtaking scenery around her seem insignificant. The lush lavender hair cascading down her back was more captivating than any flower in the field, its soft hues blending perfectly with the colours surrounding her. Then, those pale, pupilless eyes slowly lifted towards the intruder.

A shiver ran down the Joker’s spine.

The flower crown fell from her hands, a faint smile forming on her face, which just a moment ago had seemed expressionless and unapproachable.

"Vlad..." Chloe murmured, rising to her feet. She covered the distance between them in quick steps, stopping only when she stood before him.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, tilting her head.

The Joker raised his hand to his face and removed the mask. Beneath it, Vlad’s face was revealed, carrying a soft smile, his crimson eyes narrowed in warmth at Chloe.

"So beautiful..." Vlad murmured, as if he had once again fallen in love with her.