REINCARNATION OF THE STRONGEST WAR HERO-Chapter 285: BREAKTHROUGH

Charles and Robert found a vacant table and sat down.

"I don’t know whether I should feel happy or sad," Charles muttered. "Now that the king has forbidden dungeon raids, we’re completely out of work."

"Yeah," Robert replied, leaning back in his chair. "But at least we can focus on cultivation while we have the time. It’s not like the ban will last forever."

Charles sighed. "But what if what Logan said is actually true? If most of the dungeon monsters were once humans... could you really bring yourself to keep hunting them, knowing that you might be killing people who were once just like us?"

Robert fell silent at that. Charles didn’t say anything more either. The weight of the question lingered in the air between them.

A few moments later, a waitress approached to take their order. After they ordered their food, the two remained quiet, each lost in thought.

Unbeknownst to them, a pair of eyes were watching from a nearby table — the young girl and the man from the Spirit Mountain.

They hadn’t been paying much attention to the earlier conversation, but one particular word had caught their ears.

"You heard it too, right?" the girl whispered.

"Yes," the man replied in a low voice. "They definitely said cultivation."

"What should we do then? Isn’t cultivation supposed to be extinct? But they were talking about it as if it’s something completely normal..."

"I don’t know," the man replied quietly. "Father told us to find the one with knowledge about cultivation. But from the looks of it, there’s more than one here. Should we go back and report this to him?"

The girl didn’t respond right away. She fell into deep thought for a moment before speaking again. "No. Let’s wait and observe them for a while first. Before reporting anything to Father, we should gather as much information as we can. Otherwise, we’ll just end up being sent back here again."

"Alright," the man nodded. They stayed where they were, pretending to mind their own business. But their ears were sharp and alert, tuned to every word coming from the nearby table.

Soon, the waitress returned with their meals, placing the dishes on both tables.

As they began eating, Charles finally broke the silence at his table. "By the way... how’s your progress as a cultivator? Any idea how long it’ll take you to form your dantian?" he asked.

Robert sighed. "I honestly don’t know, man. It feels like it’s going to take forever. I can sense the spiritual energy, but gathering it in my abdomen is a completely different challenge," he said with a tired smile.

At the nearby table, both the young man and woman turned sharply toward them, exchanging quick glances.

"They’re both cultivators," the man whispered.

"But they don’t feel like cultivators," the girl said doubtfully. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"That’s because they haven’t even formed their dantian yet," the man explained. "They probably discovered the concept only recently."

"Should we go and ask them directly?" she asked.

"What if they get suspicious?" he countered.

"So what if they do get suspicious? It’s not like they can stand against us. If they don’t give us answers willingly, then we’ll just have to force them," she said coolly.

The man stayed silent for a moment before replying, "Alright. But let’s not make a scene. We don’t know the full situation yet. We’ll follow them for now, and when they’re alone, that’s when we’ll ask our questions."

"Okay," she agreed.

The girl and the man waited patiently for Charles and Robert to finish their meal and leave. In the meantime, they ate as well.

"It’s really tasty," the girl remarked between bites. "I just wish my mind wasn’t so preoccupied so I could actually savor it."

"True," the man said with a brief nod.

Before long, Charles and Robert were done eating. After paying their bill, they left the tavern.

The girl and the man weren’t finished yet, but they also got up and followed — without paying for their food. The waitress hadn’t noticed, or else a commotion would’ve erupted instantly.

Outside, Charles and Robert untied their two horses from the post, mounted them, and began riding away down the dirt road.

By the time the girl and the man stepped out, the two riders were already disappearing into the distance. The pair exchanged a glance, then broke into a sprint.

The pedestrians nearby froze, startled by the sudden blur of motion.

"What the hell was that?" someone exclaimed.

"Maybe it was a spell being cast!" another suggested.

"Really?! But it looked like two people just dashed past!" a third added, wide-eyed.

The others stared at him in disbelief for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"Have you lost your mind? No one can run that fast. Go get your eyes checked by a healer!" one of them mocked.

Meanwhile, Charles and Robert’s horses galloped at full speed. They soon left the city behind, following a road that wound past the edge of a dense forest.

Suddenly, Charles felt a strange chill and pulled on the reins. His horse came to a halt.

Robert, who had gone a little ahead, stopped too and turned around. "What happ—" he began, but his words froze midway.

Two figures were standing behind them.

As soon as both men had stopped, the strangers began walking toward them.

Charles’s instincts kicked in instantly. He spun his horse around to face them, his hand gripping the reins tightly. "Who are you people?" he demanded, eyes narrowing in alert suspicion.

"Who we are isn’t important," the man said coldly. "What matters is this — if you don’t want to get hurt, you’ll tell us what we want to know."

Robert chuckled. "Is that so? I’d like to see you try."

As a top A-Class fighter, he was brimming with confidence. After all, aside from S-Class hunters and Logan himself, who else could possibly stand against him?

Charles stayed silent but his sharp eyes gleamed with the same confidence.

"Listen carefully," the girl spoke next, her tone calm but firm. "We don’t want to hurt anyone without reason. But you will tell us what you know about cultivation — unless you want to force us to use violence."

Hearing that, both Charles and Robert frowned deeply.

"They want to know about cultivation?" Charles whispered. "Could they be people who haven’t received the cultivation technique yet? But that can’t be... it was publicly announced that anyone interested could visit the Hunter Guild to learn it. Unless..." His expression darkened. "Unless they’re monsters — the ones from another planet that Logan warned us about."

Robert’s eyes narrowed dangerously. "Yes. They’re most likely monsters disguised as humans, just like Raphael, trying to steal our cultivation techniques."

The two immediately took battle stances.

"You damned monsters!" Robert roared. "How dare you turn humans into your experiments! You’ll pay for that with your lives today!"

"What the—" Both the girl and the man froze in shock.

"What nonsense is he talking about?" the man muttered in disbelief.

"And who’s he calling a monster?!" the girl snapped, her face flushing with anger.

But before they could say another word, Charles and Robert charged forward, their killing intent bursting out like a storm.

Meanwhile, Gazel and Sirus were making their way through a dense forest when the faint sounds of commotion reached their ears.

"A fight’s broken out," Gazel said, glancing at Sirus as they kept walking.

Sirus smirked. "Let’s go take a look. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find another S-Class fighter — the kind we’ve been searching for."

With that, the two quickened their pace, darting through the trees toward the direction of the noise.

Back at the Smith Villa...

While everyone else was deeply immersed in their training, a sudden change occurred around Daliah. The glow of energy surrounding her body began to intensify, growing brighter and brighter until she suddenly opened her eyes with a scream of agony.

"Urrghhhhhh!"

It felt as though every bone in her body was cracking apart, shattering into dust.

Startled, the others snapped out of their cultivation instantly.

"Daliah! What’s wrong?" Rowan exclaimed, panic flashing across his face.

He was about to rush to her side when Logan caught his arm, stopping him firmly. Logan’s eyes remained calm, focused on Daliah as he spoke in a composed tone. "Daliah, your skeletal structure is evolving. You must endure the pain. Once it’s over, your energy will rise tremendously."

Hearing that, Daliah clenched her jaw and forced herself to stay still. Every nerve in her body screamed, yet she tried to steady her breathing, refusing to give in.

Seconds turned into minutes. Each one felt like an eternity. The pain grew sharper, then duller, then surged again — but she held on, sweat dripping down her temples as she fought to stay conscious.

The others — Rowan, Lilith, and Logan watched anxiously, their expressions filled with concern.

Finally, after nearly an hour, the pain subsided.

A soothing warmth spread through her veins, washing away the exhaustion. She slowly opened her eyes again — this time, a spark of elation glimmered within them.

"I... I did it," she said breathlessly, her voice trembling between disbelief and joy. "I’ve achieved a breakthrough!"