章 50: Chapter 49: Inheritance.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hondo closed his eyes and tried to hide his reaction.

"Who do you think that let this village be free from the Association's eyes? I'm a Headhunter, I always find my target. Some of them lived here, and I have been letting them live," Madam pointed out. "I did it to respect you as my mentor and teacher. I'll keep them alive for as long as you're still alive," she added.

Hondo remembered how smart and amazing Madam was even when she was still a teenager. She could track monsters without any information, and she would come back with the head of the monster she was aiming for. Her skill was one-of-a-kind, and it was called Tracking where she could see not only traces, she could also random moments of the past in her surroundings for a second.

"What do you want?" Hondo looked Madam in the eyes.

"Was he here? The Non-Player that recently made a mess on the 1st floor," Madam responded.

"He was, and he was different, just like you," Hondo answered with a serious expression.

Madam scoffed and she found Hondo's answer a bit insulting because she hated to be compared to anyone. She didn't care if it was a compliment or not, and she would kill those who tried to compare her with someone else. Unfortunately, it was Hondo who said it, so she wouldn't dare to even lay her finger on him.

It became silent because there were so many questions they both had in mind, but they didn't want to say it. Madam was afraid her questions would anger Hondo while Hondo already knew that his questions wouldn't be answered by her.

"Those tattoos, you're still dreaming of finding one?" Hondo looked at the dragon's scales and tattoos on Madam's arms.

"I do, but I don't want to climb the tower to find one. I remember when you climbed that floor, you came back and it changed you completely," Madam looked at Hondo and was curious about what happened back there. "You used to be fearless, someone that would challenge anything even if it would kill you in the process. But then you threw everything behind you and became a total stranger," she continued.

"Is that the reason why you don't climb the tower anymore? Because of what happened to me?" Hondo looked Madam in the eyes. "He's still climbing, and you're already far behind him. You said you hate losing, so why are you hesitating?"

"Yes, for both. I have a hunch that something bad will happen to me if I decide to climb the tower. It's fear of the unknown," Madam answered as she crossed her legs. "I have seen things that I shouldn't have the higher I went with my skill, and it has been bothering me ever since," she explained and stared Hondo in the eyes.

Hondo didn't know what Madam saw from her Tracking skill, but if she was afraid of it, that meant it had something to do with the people above. He looked at Madam and he felt pity for her. Not because of what she experienced, but for living her life like this.

"There's something I want you to know," Hondo tried to sit but his body had given up on him. Madam helped him sit and put his body against the wall. "I favor you more than him, and I know that you both knew about this. So, I'll give you something that I have been wanting to give to you," he said.

Madam sat on the bed and looked at Hondo with a confused look on her face.

"I want to pass down my achievements to you, Esra. Everything that I have, I want you to inherit them," Hondo said and looked determined with his decision.

Madam was surprised because she never thought Hondo would give them to her. She was one of the few people who knew all the achievements that he had achieved, and some of those achievements were only a handful of Players that had them.

"What's the catch," Madam believed there was a hidden motive behind Hondo's decision.

"There's no catch. I just want to let someone inherit what I have built from my own blood and sweat," Hondo answered as he reached out his hands at Madam. "Give me your hands," he said.

Madam looked at Hondo's wrinkled and trembling hands in front of her, so she held them because Hondo was too weak to keep his hands up like that. She looked at the notification in front of her that Hondo was about to give all his achievements to her. She watched dozens of achievements on the screen in front of her, and she didn't know most of them.

Skills were popping up on the screen and she inherited dozens of them which overwhelmed her. She didn't know where to look because all of them were new to her. As soon as she inherited all of them, she could feel Hondo's hands lose their strength. She then looked at Hondo, and his condition became a lot worse compared to earlier.

"You can use them for whatever you want, but I want you to know that those skills were mine, and you can interpret it that I live inside you now," Hondo said as he closed his eyes. "I only have one wish, and that's for you to not regret what you do from here on out," he added as his head slowly tilted to the wall.

Madam looked at Hondo and she knew that he died as soon as he gave all his achievements to her. She carried his body and left the house because she wanted to give him a proper burial.

The Fingers looked at Madam and Hondo in her arms. They all went to their knees and lowered their heads to pay respect to Hondo.

"Madam, what are you planning to do?" The 1st Finger asked.

"I'm going to give my master a proper burial," Madam answered as she looked at Hondo's lifeless body. "I'll go back on my own. You guys go hunt those Non-Players. They won't dare to go to the tower, so they must be somewhere here on the 2nd floor," she ordered.

All the Fingers nodded with understanding and left with the Players from the Association.

Madam walked to the front gate of the village, but then she noticed there was a man in shiny black armor riding a horse. Her expression changed from sadness to annoyance when she looked at the man.

The man jumped down from his horse and removed his helmet, showing off his bright yellow hair and his yellow eyes. He looked at Hondo's dead body in Madam's arms, and then he looked at Madam without showing any expression.

"What are you doing here?" Madam coldly asked the man.

"I came to pay our master a visit, but looks like I was too late," The man answered. "Where are you going to take his body?" he asked.

"That's none of your business, Leid. Honestly, you're the last person I want to see, so can you fuck off?" Madam asked and showed her hatred at the man.

"Make me," Leid smirked.

The ground froze in an instant and the cold spread quickly, making the buildings in her surroundings frozen. Leid who noticed it immediately took a few steps back because he knew that power belonged to Hondo, the Chilling Touch skill from his achievement in killing the Frost Dragon.

"Of course, you inherited his achievements. After all the hardship I did to climb the tower, hoping that I could get some recognition from him and become stronger, you got the easy way out," Leid was a bit pissed as he clenched his teeth. "You're his favorite student after all," he stared coldly at Madam.

"Is there anything else you want to say?" Madam asked.

Leid moved to the side and let Madam leave, but before she could leave, he said, "I'm here because she sent me here. I heard there's an interesting person that just came into the tower and killed thousands of Players." "I'm here to get rid of him, and to replace your dogs that died," he added.

Madam looked over her shoulder and looked at Leid, "Do whatever you want. Right now I'm not in the mood to talk about that. I'm giving you a warning that the one you're looking for, he has strong people who protect him. Don't make the same mistake or you will die like a fool."

Madam rode her horse as she kept carrying Hondo in her arms.

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