Wizard: I Add Points and Hunt Monsters

And the streak of light that was Director Ales rushing toward Laos District happened *before* he encountered that Abyssal Creature!

That means Bolsen... isn’t dead!

”Is something wrong?” Lisi noticed the look on his face.

”I... I’m not sure,” Wei’en hesitated before voicing his suspicion. ”I suspect Bolsen of the Abyssal Sect isn’t dead.”

”Not dead?!”

His words captured the attention of everyone else in the office, and they all realized the gravity of this potential discovery.

If Bolsen wasn’t dead, it meant the person Director Ales killed last night was someone else.

More importantly, the Abyssal Sect still had people in the Caster City State, and there was no guarantee their parasite project wouldn’t make a comeback.

”Why would you suspect that? If it was Bolsen, he should have been with the Bone-Eating Mother Worm last night. With his power, there’s no way he could have escaped an attack from Director Ales.”

”I... It’s just a guess.”

Wei’en glanced at Tina and the Demon Clown in her hands. He wasn’t sure if Lisi knew the clown could move freely using Tina’s body.

He was even less sure of the consequences he would face for revealing the truth about the Demon Clown.

After a moment of thought, he offered a strained explanation, ”Actually, I seriously injured Bolsen yesterday. If his recovery abilities aren’t that great, he should have been recuperating at that time.”

Between exposing the truth about the Demon Clown and revealing his sniper rifle, Wei’en chose the lesser of two evils, opting to expose a fraction of his true strength.

Besides, he had already revealed the power of his sniper rifle to Santiago and the others in Basil District yesterday.

’I can only hope this explanation is enough to get by...’

”Seriously injured him? You?”

Lisi sized him up. Based on her understanding of the Abyssal Sect’s Favored Ones, they were at least as powerful as a department head-level Extraordinary. ’There’s no way he could beat someone like that, right?’

’Forget beating one, he’d be lucky just to escape.’

”Actually, I built a gun. It’s pretty powerful.”

Wei’en knew she didn’t believe him, so he had to bite the bullet. ”Captain Lisi, you can ask the people from the Combat Department. I used that gun to kill Collins and his men in Basil District yesterday.”

”A gun... Collins? You mean the one from the Ceres Clan?”

”That’s him.”

”I see,” Lisi said, her doubts assuaged. ”If Bolsen isn’t dead, that means Director Ales didn’t manage to wipe out all the Abyssal Sect members...”

”Is it possible the Director isn’t dead?” Hope flickered in Marco’s eyes once more.

”Well...” Lisi wanted to say it was possible—she hoped Ales was alive as much as he did—but...

”There’s no chance. At the end of the recording, Director Ales’s body dissolved, leaving only an arm. And after an appraisal by the department’s top brass, it was confirmed to be the Director’s arm. Traces of his Extraordinary Power still lingered on it.”

Hearing this, the light in Marco’s eyes vanished once more. ’So that’s how it is after all.’

”Then, Captain, why did the Director go there alone? Shouldn’t he have been...”

Lisi sighed. ”We got the answer to that question from some of the higher-ups this morning.”

”Oh?”

Wei’en waited for her to continue. ’If I can figure this part out,’ he thought, ’I should be able to understand the cause of this whole incident.’

”Ever since the incident with the out-of-control forbidden artifact more than ten years ago, Director Ales has had problems with his body. His Extraordinary Bloodline was in constant danger of collapsing.”

”Collapsing?”

”You can think of it as losing control or becoming corrupted,” Lisi rephrased. ”Up until now, his body was no longer strong enough to support him in high-intensity combat.”

”That’s also why the Director has remained at the Secret Investigation Department all these years.”

’So his body was failing?’

’And it was all because of that incident when the clown—the forbidden artifact—went out of control...’

Wei’en glanced at the clown doll. ’Damn, this thing really has ruined a lot of lives.’

”If he only had one fight left in him, why would he choose to move against the Abyssal Sect?”

”Like I just said, we don’t know that either!”

Lisi said with exasperation, ”This morning, the executives and department heads were all grilling Director Nifa and Deputy Director Balats. Everyone wanted to know why the Director did it, but...”

”...but even now, there’s no rational explanation. They just prattled on about some prophecy, saying the Director chose to sacrifice himself to avert a greater calamity.”

”A greater calamity? Bullshit! With the strength of our Secret Investigation Department, what calamity could possibly scare us?”

”Wait, did you say Director Nifa?” Lydia, who had been listening quietly from the side, asked in surprise. ”Isn’t Nifa a Deputy Director?”

Marco, shaken slightly from his grief, also chimed in. ”Yeah, Lisi, has the position of Director already been decided?”

Lisi snorted. ”This morning, people from the Council and the Noble Committee came to announce a new appointment. Director Nifa had no choice but to produce the letter of appointment that Director Ales had drafted ahead of time.”

”Those bastards really know how to pick their moment for a power grab. If the higher-ups hadn’t been prepared, the Council would’ve successfully taken advantage of the situation.”

She was furious about what had happened that morning. The news that the Council had tried to appoint Governor Samir’s son to the position of Director especially filled her with rage.

’What right does that good-for-nothing have to be the Director of the Secret Investigation Department? He’s just like Marco, only knows how to fool around in Nocturnal City!’

”Damn it, how dare they do that?” Marco said, filled with resentment.

Lydia was just as aware of what those people were like. But unlike Marco, who was distant from the core of the Nascimento Clan, she was the jewel of the Ernst Clan. It wasn’t her place to openly criticize the Noble Committee.