Chapter 127: Castlevania Receives Two of Its Most Formidable Visitors
Whether this situation proved the theory that humans could sometimes outdo actual monsters was not something Ross could say. What he could confirm was that certain Nen ability users had already pushed through to one area away from Castlevania's main castle zone.
Castlevania: Dracula's Curse had multiple branch routes running through it, with each branching area corresponding to different map difficulty and monster strength.
The fastest-advancing two-person Nen team had already cleared the Grand Cemetery, the Clock Tower, the Dark Forest, the Ghost Ship of Fools, and the Tower of Curses in sequence, and had officially stepped into the sixth major area of the A route: the Moat Bridge.
Meanwhile, a separate Nen team that had taken the B route, branching off from the Dark Forest and cutting through the Gloomy Swamp, was currently getting thoroughly beaten by the area BOSS of the fifth major area, the Alucard's Cave, that being Dracula's rebellious son and player favorite, Alucard.
Ross's primary attention, though, was on the Moat Bridge group with the fastest advancement, because someone familiar was among them.
A man gripping a chain whip written as "Holy Whip" in name, which was in practice a proper chain whip with a spiked iron ball at the end, carrying an extraordinarily satisfying impact with every strike.
Trevor C. Belmont.
That explained everything.
Ross felt nothing but relief.
With this man here, the castle falling was only a matter of time regardless of anything Ross did as sub-landlord.
Ross was actually quite curious what expression this man would wear when he realized the castle that his family's entire history was bound up with had become, in a certain sense, the economic backbone of a small local ecosystem.
One man, one whip, moving through Castlevania as though no one else was there.
But wait. Something was slightly off.
He had been so focused on Trevor that he hadn't paid attention to the person traveling with him. Then, from the corner of his view, he caught the companion also throwing out a chain. Using Nen-controlled manipulation, they cleanly deflected a throwing axe launched by a patrol armor unit. Ross redirected his full attention.
That golden short hair. That traditional ethnic clothing. And that chain wrapped around the hand.
That was Kurapika.
How did he end up traveling with a vampire hunter? What happened to Izunavi?
Ross's face was full of disbelief. But the fact was right there: Kurapika was following closely behind Trevor, absorbing everything he could with an almost feverish intensity. Movement techniques, combat instincts, sub-weapon handling experience, monster knowledge, chain whip technique. All of it, taken in hungrily.
From where Ross was watching, though, Kurapika's training progress was just a little bit insane.
For one thing, the Nen on Kurapika's body had already reached a meaningful level. He was past pure beginner stage. The bracelet chain on his right hand was in quite stable condition, maintaining its form even while attacking or taking hits, without scattering apart.
If memory served, Kurapika's Nen training should have started on roughly the same timeline as Gon and Killua's, within half a month of them at most. Which meant, by any reasonable count, Kurapika's total training time to date was around two months.
Yet while those two kids were still diligently laying foundations under Wing's instruction, Kurapika had not only developed his Hatsu, he had stably manifested a physical chain that matched his inner drive to capture the spiders, and had already entered live combat.
Kurapika was genuinely talented, but not at the level where the universe simply handed everything to him. In Nen training he still had to follow the standard progression steps.
In the original story, facing Uvogin head-on required at least six months of accumulated training on top of that, plus the weight of vows and restrictions binding the chains to conditions like "only usable against the Troupe, at the cost of my own life", essentially burning future talent and lifespan as the price, catching an unprepared opponent with full preparation to barely take down Uvogin.
But the fact that Kurapika was here inside Castlevania at all, traveling with Trevor in what might be a master-disciple relationship, was something Ross genuinely had not seen coming.
Was Kurapika on a path toward becoming a vampire hunter?
If that was actually where things were heading, Ross thought he would feel considerably more at ease. At minimum, a Kurapika with that kind of grounding would probably carry less of the self-destructive weight.
Without any real direct interaction between them, Kurapika was nonetheless the character Ross most hoped would get to live happily.
But wait. Right now, wasn't Kurapika closer to a full assembly of Phantom Troupe members than he had ever been in his life?
The thought hit Ross and he immediately pulled the view wide, scanning through every current invader in Castlevania one by one.
And sure enough.
In the Gloomy Swamp, the B route's fourth major area, Troupe members in deliberate disguise were mixed in with the other explorers.
Nobunaga: hair pulled free from his topknot, loose and disheveled, carrying what appeared to be a practice wooden sword to pass off his actual blade.
Phinks: without his pharaoh hat, he had almost no distinguishing features at all. Just a man in ordinary clothes.
Shizuku: joined the Troupe roughly two and a half years ago, no notable operations on her record yet, large glasses, blank expression, the kind of person nobody would look twice at and peg as a Troupe member even without any disguise at all.
And Machi: high ponytail gone, short jacket gone, wearing a jacket and jeans. Did this woman genuinely not realize that outfit was more conspicuous than what she usually wore?
The group's composition made their strategy obvious. They had no intention of triggering any BOSS fights. They were hanging back, following the advance groups at a comfortable distance. If anything valuable turned up, Shizuku's ability would store it temporarily.
Constrained-looking, but entirely in keeping with how thieves operate.
Unfortunately for Ross, this also meant there wasn't much he could do about them directly. The area BOSSes were being triggered by the faster groups ahead, and he had no way to reach across areas. They had genuinely found the right approach.
This was going to be difficult to deal with.
Ross's eyes moved and he felt a mild urge to just let things run on their own.
With Trevor here, Castlevania falling was already the foreseeable outcome. Ross had sub-landlord authority to intervene and slow Trevor's advance, but he clearly had no interest in doing that.
Operating Castlevania against the Phantom Troupe had always been a case of fighting fire with fire from his perspective. Whether True Castlevania got demolished had nothing to do with Ross. The one who should be worrying was Old Drac, for walking out on his own castle.
If anything, Ross was genuinely curious: when Trevor broke down Dracula's bedroom door, would the whole castle actually collapse entirely, and if it did, whether his Reset permission would still work on a demolished True Castlevania.
Then Ross had a sudden start, instinctively pulling his view to the loudest, most crowded spot outside the Grand Cemetery.
Right at the border where one step forward would put a person inside Castlevania's territory, a travel-worn, stubble-faced, middle-aged man dressed almost entirely in shades of grey, white, and black, who gave off almost no distinctive presence at all, was standing with his feet planted in a wide, grounded stance. His features bore a passing resemblance to Yusuke's. He was looking toward the distant main castle structure with an expression that was difficult to read.
Nobody else there would have recognized him.
Ross zeroed in immediately.
Ging Freecss.
In the span of a single day, Castlevania had received two of its most professionally relevant and entirely formidable visitors.