__________ POV Narration__________
Ashton hovered underneath the clouds, moving slowly as his eyes tracked his target perfectly. But he decided to take a different approach after a few minutes of flying about.
He slowly landed on one of the nearby buildings, he observed the man with the strange aura as he leapt from roof to roof.
Eventually, the target left the city premises and Ashton started following him from the top of the trees.
The branches he stepped on didn't even move slightly, the leaves he passed by remained motionless as well. The wind itself seemed to not want to touch Ashton.
A perfectly executed stealth technique. It had been a long time since the old hunter had used said technique, but Zigg had made sure to beat it into him. It was more of an instinct now.
It was a bit dulled, but coupled with 'The Ring of the Wolf' and his perfect Zetsu, it was almost as if he didn't even exist. Almost being the keyword there.
Still, there was no way for the soldier that was being tracked to even begin to notice his presence.
Each step he took he made to match the target's pacing and directions, staying only a few steps behind him at all times.
Ashton followed that man for at least two hours, the target took many turns and seemed to be walking around the forest in strange patterns, but also not circling in place.
It was a way to get rid of any prospective followers. After all, by now Zhang Lei definitely knew that he was a wanted man. As long as his half-siblings were alive, he would keep being one too.
Currently, Zhang Lei was planning on a way to use his assets properly, he wasn't scared of the hunter association at all. He, after all, had a few aces up his sleeve.
Even if all else failed, he could bank on the fact that he was still a prince of the Kakin Empire. The Association wouldn't kill him, and he was sure that his siblings also wouldn't have the guts to kill him.
Much like the way they were only keeping Camilla as a captive. Zhang Lei was extremely confident in himself and the people he handpicked.
He had no way of expecting that the carelessness and lack of perception of one of his trusted subordinates would be bringing a swift end to their entire operations...
__________ POV Ashton__________
This person is certainly skilled in getting rid of any tails. But it's certainly not enough to confuse an assassin of the same calibre as the Zoldyck family ones.
Now, I may not be the best at tracking, but I am still quite skilled, and tracking the movements of beasts is actually something I am extremely good at.
Humans are a bit trickier because of tactics like the ones this person is using, but as long as I keep a constant eye on him, nothing can go wrong.
He's been moving at an extremely quick pace, I can say with certainty that this person is faster than most of the member of the Phantom Troupe, just from his movements in these forests.
Eventually, though, this man reached a mountain-side, he looked at it for a second, before slowly walking to a side and pressing some type of switch.
A stone seemed to be lifted by some sort of inner mechanism, revealing the entrance to some type of cave.
I couldn't help my smile when seeing it, but I still need to proceed with caution. I can't have them noticing me too early, what if they escaped or something(that's unlikely, but still)?
They certainly have more than one exit to their secret hide-out. It would be foolish to assume otherwise.
I could see the man that I had followed about to enter a cave, when someone shouted.
"You've been followed, you idiot!" The stone door quickly started closing, and I was forced to dash into the hideout at the same time as my target did.
I don't really want to run the risk of ruining the entire cave by blowing open the entrance(assuming it won't open again).
As I entered, I sharpened my nails and plunged my hand into the man's side, I completely avoided touching any ribs, but my sharp nails scraped by the underside of his lungs as I pulled his heart out.
The man looked at me with wide eyes, I could easily see his fear. His mouth wide as he struggled to gasp for air, he clutched his chest in fear too.
I simply patted his shoulder and placed his heart in his mouth, after which I continued walking forwards.
I used my superior speed to reach the person that had shouted before, he quickly panicked and tried to punch me, his arm expanding to be the size of my entire body.
There was another man beside him, whose aura seemed to be gathered around the eye region.
The man with the eyes seems even more afraid than the other guys. I could see him sweating and shaking in fear.
The aura in the guy with the large fist is acting strangely, I could see that it was manipulating his vitality and mutating his body in different ways.
I easily sidestepped that person's fist and stuck my nails into his jaw, going right through it and stabbing his brain out.
After which, I picked up a piece of his skull and threw it through the head of the Eye Ability user.
I certainly wasn't expecting anyone to be able to spot me, but I guess the one with the Eye Ability was able to see through the only weakness my stealth has...
That being the fact that I can't really hide my vitality all that well.
Some beasts in the dark continent can also sense vitality, I didn't run into any of them during my stay there(that place is massive, running into everything is impossible).
But I didn't a human would ever have that ability. Well, that aura seemed to have given him the ability to do so (obviously).
I must've looked like a monster that came straight out of his nightmares with the amount of 'life force' I had.
The other one seemed to be able to manipulate his own vitality and transform his body momentarily.
I could see his arm slowly return to its normal size after his death...
These abilities are looking more and more interesting...
Also, I can now assume that they know of my arrival.
And these people should be decently strong. I'm pretty sure the Vitality Manipulating guy I just killed was stronger than most of the Zodiacs.
Still, I wonder how Zhang Lei is going to respond to our happy reunion~
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