"I'll take that as a yes."
Leonel's icy voice woke Jian from his thoughts. He could only shut his mouth, keeping his mumbling to himself. He didn't know what his Young Lord had done to piss this young man off so much, but he could tell that he should refrain from asking.
"What did you come here for?"
Jian gulped. "Our Young Lord didn't tell us much. All we know is that there's a Force Crystal Mine and that the Young Lord needs it for some reason."
"How did you get in here through the beasts? Is there another entrance to the hive?"
Jian's gaze flashed with a peculiar light. But, remembering that Leonel would ask this same question to his partner, he could only throw all thoughts of lying to the back of his mind.
"… Those beasts are under the control of Young Lord."
Leonel couldn't hide his shock. At the same time, a cold sweat permeated his back. That monocle wearing bastard actually had such an ability? That's impossible. Leonel remembered very clearly that he had already asked the dictionary to read out his ability.
From what Leonel remembered, their Young Lord's ability was of the SS-grade. He had the ability to change the genetic information of a target. Judging by the fact his subordinates were weremen, Leonel assumed that in order to change this genetic information, he needed to take it from another source.
But, none of this had anything to do with controlling beasts. Could it be that his ability evolved? Or could it be part of his original ability? Or maybe it was someone under his command who had such an ability?
Leonel's mind was spinning.
The level of danger such a fact brought was unimaginable. With the control of six, now five, Elite S-grade threats, Simeon was practically invincible. And, there was no telling if he had other beasts following along with him now. Leonel didn't believe that he would really enter without the slightest hint of protection.
While Leonel was thinking, Jian didn't dare to even breathe too loudly. The aura coming off the boy in front of him made him shiver to his core.
"He has the ability to control beasts? How long has he had this ability for?"
Leonel's question didn't make sense on the surface, but while his mind was wandering, he caught onto the faint inkling of something. If his thoughts were correct, a lot of things would suddenly make sense.
"This… It should be recent. The Young Lord has been running a lot of experiments lately, trying to iron out the kinks in this ability. He only perfected it a few weeks ago…"
Leonel's eyes narrowed. "The gorilla man who attacked the Slayer Legion at the shore that day… That was him, right?"
Jian was shocked. Seeing this, Leonel didn't need him to answer, he knew it was the truth.
The matters of that day hadn't made any sense to him before. Why would a man with an A-grade threat level throw his life away so randomly? He attacked Damian's unit seemingly without cause or purpose, leading to his eventual death.
But, after that, they couldn't find any clues about him. Not only was there not a shred of anything on his person, he wasn't recognized as having a grudge with anyone in the Slayer Legion either.
None of it made any sense…
But… What if one looked at it from a different angle? What if that man was just a guinea pig? What if he was Simeon's way of testing whether or not he could force others to throw their lives away at his command?
The more Leonel thought, the colder the chill in his heart became. This Simeon… Really deserved death.
At the same time, there was a hint of fear that blossomed in Leonel. Such an ability, it was too treacherous. If Simeon could really manipulate one's genes such that they had to obey his every command… just what kind of power could he wield if he was allowed to run amock? What would happen if Aina had really landed in his hands?
A frigid aura permeated the bathhouse. Leonel had already sentenced Simeon to death. He wouldn't allow that bastard to leave this hive alive.
"How close are you all to finding the path to the Force Eruption?"
Jian coughed, clearing his throat.
"We've only explored about 30% of the entrances, but the deepest one only goes about 50 meters below the surface. The Young Lord told us to mark down any unique caverns we found and report to him in a week…"
Leonel's sneer deepened. "What kind of protection does that bastard have?"
"The Young Lord has his elite guards with him, they've all been genetically enhanced. Not a single one is weaker than an S-grade threat. There are nine of them and they follow him around everywhere. Even when we split up, it was only us ordinary guards that left the group. The rest remained with him."
Leonel's eyes narrowed. So many S-grade threats was definitely beyond his means. And, from what Jian said, that was their floor. Who was to say there weren't a few beyond that?
For the first time, Leonel felt frustrated with his ability. He was maybe the only person on Earth with an ability that surpassed the SSS-grade, but because it was only auxiliary, the amount of strength it provided him was limited. If his ability was of the same grade but of the offensive nature instead, just how much power would he have?
Leonel really didn't want to let that bastard go, but the more he grilled Jian about the protection his Young Lord had, the more he realized that he couldn't take Simeon lightly.
The most ironic part was that this was likely his fault. A couple months ago, when he first met Simeon, he hadn't had this kind of protection around him. That bullet Leonel almost put through his skull is probably precisely the reason he was so cautious now.