Red Cross. It was one of the most prominent guilds in Anchorage.

The guild master of that guild was a man named Oscar, a 6-Star+ Superhuman. Though it was a mid-sized guild with only about 50 members, its overall power level was high enough to include several 5-Star+ Superhumans. Their strength was recognized not only in the backwater area of Anchorage but also on the mainland of the United States.

However, the reason they had settled in Anchorage—was because they were Superhumans of bad character.

From the beginning, most of them were not originally from this area. They were people who had caused all sorts of trouble on the mainland and had been chased all the way here while fleeing.

They were treated as quasi-criminals—people in a grey area that wasn't quite criminal. They were granted impunity because they were Superhumans, but since they could no longer be active on the mainland, they had been pushed all the way to Alaska.

Old habits die hard. Even after arriving here, they became obsessed with drugs and women. There were a considerable number of women who suffered at their hands. Whether civilian or Superhuman, they didn't discriminate. What made that possible was that they only targeted powerless civilians or low-ranked Superhumans who were no different from regular people.

Furthermore, in this backward region, committing such atrocities didn’t result in major repercussions. The area’s lack of oversight was part of the reason, but their acts also evolved into even more covert methods here.

“But boss, isn’t Jenny a bit dangerous? She’s undoubtedly one of the top Superhumans in the world.”

“Koby, when have we ever lived by looking over our shoulders? And think about it. The more difficult the challenge, the more exhilarating it’ll be when we conquer it.”

“Hehe, that’s true. Got a plan in mind? Doing it the usual way seems a bit tough.”

At Koby's words, Oscar grinned and pulled something out of his inventory.

“This is?”

A contract imbued with a sinister aura. It was a 'Soul Subjugation Contract.'

A soul contract once used by Han Eunyoung. Since it was a strictly forbidden item by the World Association, unless one created it themselves like Han Eunyoung, it was nearly impossible to obtain.

“We spent a fortune to get this back then. Already forgot?”

“Ah, that one… Hehe… Of course I remember.”

It was an item they had prepared for a day like today.

It was originally meant to be used on high-ranking female Superhumans, though even they hadn’t expected Jenny to become the target. Kelsen had asked, “Will this contract work on Jenny too?” but this wasn’t the only thing they had prepared.

They also had drugs and aphrodisiacs that could work even on a top-tier Superhuman like Jenny, as well as means to restrict her power. Moreover, Jenny had recently left her previous guild. She was currently unaffiliated. That significantly reduced any risk of backlash.

“This is a god-given opportunity.”

Had Jenny not come to a remote place like Alaska, she would have been a being they could never even dream of approaching. But now they had a chance to dream that dream.

As the party was reaching its peak, Oscar and the others approached Jenny once the crowd around her began to thin.

“Hello, Miss Jenny.”

“Yes, hello.”

“We’re from the Red Cross guild based here in Anchorage. From left to right, I’m Oscar, and these are Kelsen, Koby, and Colin.”

“So you’re members of the Red Cross guild. Nice to meet you.”

“We’ve heard so much about your mighty reputation, Miss Jenny. It’s such an honor to finally meet you in person.”

“Hoho, not at all. There are many others more impressive than me. I’m a bit embarrassed.”

Saying that, Jenny glanced sideways at Sungshik, who was still buried in the crowd some distance away.

“Come on, don’t say that. Great Magician! Elemental Master! Just your titles alone make men’s hearts race.”

“Exactly. Not just anyone gets to have titles like those.”

They showered Jenny with praise and compliments.

Few people dislike compliments. Jenny, too, knew they were just empty flattery, but she felt slightly pleased nonetheless.

“Thank you.”

Jenny smiled gently. The atmosphere wasn’t bad. Though they were meeting for the first time, they quickly struck up a conversation using their sociability. Seeing Jenny's bright and beautiful smile made their eyes shimmer with barely restrained desire.

‘Should we start bringing it up now?’

They exchanged glances to share their thoughts.

“It feels like fate that we’ve met like this. Would it be possible to treat you to a lovely meal, Miss Jenny?”

Jenny considered it for a moment, then accepted. After exchanging contact information with her, they said they’d reach out and left. As they walked away, Fletcher came up to Jenny.

“Noona, those guys……”

“Hm?”

“They give me a bad feeling. Don’t get too close to them.”

Fletcher looked up at Jenny with a slightly uneasy expression.

“Oh my, are you worried about your Noona? Our little guy’s becoming quite the gentleman now.”

“Umm… well, it’s not really worry, just…”

Jenny smiled gently, lowered her body, and met Fletcher at eye level. Then she continued speaking.

"Don't worry. I know everything too."

That's right. Jenny read the sinister aura in their eyes. In fact, reaching 7-star required an excellent level of Insight as a basic trait. On top of that, Jenny, as a woman, also had outstanding 'intuition.' She instantly caught on to their intentions.

'If that's really their goal... they'll regret it.'

Jenny's eyes sparkled as she watched their backs.

"Ah, that was exhausting."

The welcome party ended without any issues afterward.

Sungshik felt a considerable mental fatigue as soon as it was over. It was his first time engaging with so many people and exchanging words in such a short time. It quietly consumed a surprising amount of mental energy.

'I didn’t even get to properly see Jenny or Fletcher.'

He had been swept up in the party and ended up not spending any time with Jenny or Fletcher. By the time he came to his senses, the party was over, and all he managed was a brief glimpse of them before everyone returned to their accommodations.

'I should take the three of us out to explore some good restaurants tomorrow.'

Thinking that, Sungshik looked up Anchorage's popular restaurants on his smartphone. But contrary to his thoughts, they didn’t end up eating together the next day either.

[You two eat together today. I have a prior engagement.]

Jenny left that text message and went out for an early lunch, saying she had a prior engagement. Perhaps she had made plans with someone she met at the party. He thought it was that simple.

"Anything you want to eat?"

"Hmm, maybe some reindeer dishes?"

"Okay. I actually found a place yesterday."

They decided to have a late lunch of reindeer meat. It was a must-visit restaurant considered one of Anchorage's best.

The two headed out into the city with excitement.

"By the way, about Jenny... You don’t know who her appointment is with, right?"

"I think I have an idea... It seemed like she had something scheduled with one of the guilds here."

"Yeah?"

It left a strange sense of unease.

'What is this uneasy feeling…….'

It was then—

Jiiiing―

Sungshik's artifact, the 'Eagle Brooch', began to vibrate.

"!"

When he took out the Eagle Brooch, its eye was glowing red. This was a symptom that occurred when an 'Egg' item resonating with the brooch was activated.

Sungshik immediately called Jenny, but the only response was a recorded message saying the area couldn’t be connected.

"Fletcher! Do you remember what the guild symbol looked like?"

"Huh? Uh? It looked like two red lines crossing each other, but why? What’s going on?"

"I think something’s happened to Jenny."

The situation was urgent. Sungshik looked around quickly and grabbed a passerby to ask.

"Ah, that symbol... I think it’s the ‘Red Cross’ guild. If you go straight this way, on the outskirts of the city, there’s a red mansion. I don’t know what it’s about, but I’d advise not getting involved with those people."

Thanks to the passerby's kind explanation, they learned the location of the Red Cross guild. The added warning only deepened their suspicion into certainty.

"Thank you."

With those words, Sungshik bolted off. Fletcher followed close behind.

"What do you mean something happened to Jenny?"

"You remember that Egg item I gave you before? The one I told you to use if you were ever in danger."

"Ah."

Upon hearing that, Fletcher immediately understood the situation.

Just a short while ago, Sungshik had given Jenny and Fletcher a finger-sized item called the Egg. When used, it would send an alert to the Eagle Brooch Sungshik possessed.

"Don’t tell me she got caught by those guys? Damn, they gave me a bad feeling from the start!"

"...We can only hope she’s okay for now."

The two dashed at full speed, as fast as lightning.

Before long, they reached the mansion said to be the Red Cross guild’s hideout, just outside the city. Fortunately, it wasn’t far.

The mansion was enormous—comparable to the Heavenly Sovereign’s grand estate.

"The door’s shut."

Just as Fletcher said. The high walls and the main gate in the center were firmly closed. There was no time to ring the bell and ask questions. No time to verify the truth.

If Jenny was in danger inside, there was no way these people would answer honestly. Conversely, if this wasn’t the place, there’d be no time to explain and verify anything either.

So Sungshik activated 'Hyper-Sense.' The ability that had risen to [SS Rank] after the battle with Boris. That sense enveloped the enormous mansion before him.

He closed his eyes and focused his mind. He could feel the presence of everyone within the mansion, one by one. And among those presences… Jenny’s was there.

'Got it.'

His eyes shot open. It was a much weaker and dimmer presence than usual, but it was unmistakably Jenny.

"This is the place."

With those words, Sungshik leapt over the fence.

"Huh? Hey, wait for me!"

Fletcher followed him over the wall. It was over five meters high, but for Sungshik and Fletcher, who had both surpassed 7-star, it wasn’t a problem.

Heo Sungshik vaulted over the wall and entered the garden, sprinting straight toward where he felt Jenny's presence. No one stood in his way. That was because the energy of everyone in the mansion had gathered in one place.

Slice.

He sliced through the locked front door of the mansion with the Heaven-Splitting Divine Sword and entered. He then ran straight to the far left side of the first floor. There was a room there with an especially large door compared to the others.

Crash!

He smashed through the door violently. The room, which looked like a training hall, was an incredibly wide space. It was filled with a strange scent, and dozens of people stood inside.

All their gazes focused on Sungshik.

He quickly scanned the room. It looked like a battle had taken place. Some were injured, others unconscious… and at the end of his gaze, he saw Jenny.

When Jenny first met the Red Cross guild members and began to converse with them, it didn’t take long before she sensed the sinister aura lingering in their eyes. It was partly because she was a woman and had sharp intuition, but more importantly, the lust reflected in their eyes was something that couldn’t be hidden. She had seen that kind of gaze too many times not to recognize it immediately.

Jenny hated those who viewed women solely as sexual beings. It wasn’t that her personality was overflowing with righteousness, but she couldn’t stand to see such people acting openly and shamelessly.

Before she became famous as an Elemental Master, back when she was still unknown, there had been others who tried to pull something similar—inviting her under pretense and then making a move. It had been a small guild mostly made up of criminal Superhumans.

Whoosh.

Their hideout was consumed by fierce flames that day, burned to the ground without even leaving ashes behind. Since then, the number of sex offenders who had been punished by her hands surpassed double digits.

“Remote places like this are even worse.”

Even though she had become one of the world’s top Superhumans with a fearsome reputation as an Elemental Master, there were still those who looked at her with such eyes. Especially something this blatant—it was the first time since she’d earned her name.

“Still… it’s not 100% certain.”

That was true. Even if she was 99% sure, the remaining 1% uncertainty meant it wasn’t completely confirmed. Aside from the ominous feeling she got from them, it was also possible they had invited her simply to build rapport with a high-ranking Superhuman like herself from the guild’s standpoint.

That’s why she had accepted the invitation—to discern their true intentions. If the discomfort she felt really was their goal, she was curious about what tricks they’d try to pull.

Resorting to brute force? That was absurd. A 7-star was on a whole other level than a 6-star.

Even if a truckload of 6-star Superhumans came at her, they wouldn’t even be opponents. Her strength, especially when facing those weaker than herself, was overwhelming and tyrannical. Unless they had a hidden 7-star Superhuman, the idea of subduing her by force was laughable.

Then poison? That was a petty trick. Although not immune to all poisons, her 7-star body that had undergone a metamorphosis was at least impervious to most toxins.

Most poisons didn’t work on her. And even if they did have one, among the artifacts she possessed was one that could detect toxins entering her body.

She was curious what kind of scheme they had in mind. Wasn’t it entertaining? What little performance would they put on?

If not that, then perhaps she was just mistaken due to the intoxication of wine and the heat of the party. In that case, she would simply apologize in her heart and take this as an opportunity to build a connection with them.

“This must be the place.”

The guild hideout was quite far from the city. In a place like this, if she were to disappear, it would be hard to trace her path here.

But she wasn’t worried. She was a 7-star, an ultra-class powerhouse. With that confidence, she stepped inside.

“Welcome, Lady Jenny.”

The Red Cross guild members greeted her with friendly smiles. The lunch served was lavish.

“Maybe I was mistaken.”

It seemed it really had been a misunderstanding. The food was delicious, and the guild members were kind. Her guard began to drop.

They later invited her to their training hall. Saying they wanted her guidance and advice.

Jenny gladly accepted. After such a fine meal, it was only right to return the favor.

The room they led her to, labeled as a training hall, was at the far end of the first floor. It was extremely spacious, with strange patterns engraved all around and unfamiliar incense burning in the corners.

“Do people burn incense in training halls these days? The scent’s quite sweet.”

If one could spread honey through the air, would it smell like this? The incense was incredibly sweet.

At that moment, she didn’t realize it. That this scent would be what would gnaw away at her.

In front of Jenny, they demonstrated their skills and traits, asking for advice. She explained her thoughts and pointed out what she noticed.

But it didn’t take long before she felt something wrong with her body.

“What… is this?”