Chapter 5. Another SS-rank??

"Boss!" Several high grade hunters immediately surrounded Les after they were spat out of the dungeon portal. Healers rushed to Les's side inspecting and treating his wounds right away. There were two A-rank healers on standby who immediately applied their abilities. Rin observed the sight from afar, comparing it to a celebrity fan meet before he glanced away, re-organizing his gear and checking on Puffy's injuries. Her fur was slightly singed but other than that she was fine except for being overheated. On the other hand, Rin had burns and cuts up his arms and legs, his hands were bleeding and rubbed raw from climbing while the punch he'd received from Les had swelled up and blackened. He looked down at his injuries and then to the healers fawning over the SS-grade. He sighed and just applied his own skills while sitting on the ground and bandaging up some of the more severe wounds while feeding Puffy a few melting ice cubes from a special pocket to cool her off. 

His job was done so he turned to leave figuring that he'd get his pay latter, not that it actually mattered to him. He adjusts his bag on his back and dusts off his clothes, pulling out his phone and starting to walk away muttering to himself about where his next job would be. 

"Hey. Where are you going?" A sudden voice called out to Rin causing him to spin around. He glanced back back to see Les standing in front of him after having broken away from the guild members who were surrounding him. 

"To my next job." Rin responded plainly. "If you are chasing me up for a report, I'll give you a written report by tomorrow." 

Rin spun away to leave again but Les grabbed him by the wrist. "I'd like you to come in and give your report." 

"I don't give reports in person, that is one of the details that is in my contracts. Besides, I already have another job to head to right away." He states while checking his phone again and putting his mask in place. He goes to turn away from Les but someone stands behind him, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder to keep him in place.

"Is that you Les. You haven't looked this bad since out last encounter." A soft voice came from over Rin's shoulder, there was a snideness and amusement in the persons voice but it was buried underneath a professional tone. Les immediately got a sour look on his face while Rin turned to see who was speaking to him. The man behind him had sandy brown hair and sharp features that sported a sly grin. Rin actually recognized this one. He was an SS-grade as well, Cyrus Blackwell, the only reason why Rin knew him is because he had an expansive international empire separate from his work as a Guild Master. He was tall enough to the point that Rin had to move his head to look up at him ad he was dressed rather nicely in a black dress shirt and pants. Rin glanced up to see Cyrus's icy black eyes that contradicted his amused expression, Cyrus glanced down at him now meeting his eyes. Cyrus's eyes crinkled slightly as he offered Rin a polite smile different from the stare he gave Les. Rin instinctively stepped back, becoming tense. There was something about Cyrus that made Rin feel like prey in front of a predator even if Cyrus was smiling at him. 

Usually, his skills would help him withstand the aura of high graders but there was something different about this one that made him feel as powerless as he use to feel. "Why are you here Cyrus?" 

Cyrus broke his gaze away from Rin to stare coldly at Les, "Well I just had to come see you after hearing that you were trapped in the gate. Can't you tell I was worried?" He pressed a hand against his chest, his eyes turning downwards slightly as he pretended to be wounded. 

Les rolls his eyes, his jaw tightening with irritation. At that moment both SS-graders glanced at the C-grade stuck between them. "I know you." Cyrus starts, leaning down to get a closer look at Rin's masked face. "Aren't you that C-grade hunter, the only tracker class in the world? Rin Haze isn't it?" 

"Yes Mr. Blackwell." Rin responded, keeping his voice steady despite the intimidating aura of the person in front of him. 

Cyrus's eyes shine slightly and his smile becomes more broad. "I see you know me as well. I've been hoping to introduce myself to someone as talented as you." He stretched out a hand to Rin for him to shake.

Rin averts his gaze, his tense expression hidden by his mask, while he took Cyrus's hand. "I'm just a C-ranker, sir. Nothing special."

Cyrus chuckled, "You are rather modest. I doubt the worlds best tracker is nothing special. I've looked you up on the Hunterdex but I have to say, the information on there is rather lacking and I don't think there is a photo of you with your face uncovered as well. You are mystery." He reached out and tried to touch Rin's mask.

Rin instinctively swatted Cyrus's hand away and moved his head out of reach. "I'm a rather boring mystery. I wouldn't waste your time on me." Rin states plainly.

Cyrus hummed in thought tapping a finger to his lips. "Alright then. Now, about this gate. What happened in there?"

Les frowned and before he could tell him to piss off, Rin answered. "A triple S grade monster appeared."

"An SSS-grade in an S-grade gate?" 

"Rin, what are you doing?" Les said, pulling his arm lightly to get him away from Cyrus.

Rin rolls his eyes, "A SSS-grade monster appeared out of an S-grade gate. Is that something you intend to keep to yourself? Are you going to risk endangering people's lives because you don't want to share information?" 

"Rin is right and incredibly smart as expected." Cyrus said with a small chuckle. Rin turned to him and raised an eyebrow at him thinking that he was trying to suck up to him. "Do you mind telling me more details about the dungeon?"

"Sure-" Rin went to respond but Les stopped him.

"Hang on, he can wait for the report just like everyone else." Les stated, frowning at Rin and eyeing Cyrus who was still standing prim and proper with a business smile etched into his face. 

Rin sighed, putting a hand on Les's shoulder and spinning him away. "Why are you being so petty? Go over and get healed up properly, I didn't drag you through the dungeon just for you to bleed out." Les went to argue back but Rin shooed him off. Puffy came up from under his shirt and stuck her tongue out at him. Cyrus tilted his head slightly when he saw her, his eyes curving in curiosity in contradiction to the rest of his expression. Les shot a warning glare at Cyrus but did as he said, going back over to the healers. 

"You seem adept at handling him." Cyrus commented, leaning down to speak to him properly. 

Rin sighed and rolled his eyes, "Like dealing with a attention seeking child. He gave me a bit of trouble in the dungeon but he eventually fell in line. In the dungeon what I think was an SSS-grade monster came out based on my analysis. There weren't any other monsters apart from the SSS-grade they were either consumed by the SSS-rank stony giant or they didn't spawn."

Cyrus folded his arms and tapped his forearm with his finger, "So, instead of several S-grades one SSS-grade appeared. Could it be a glitch of some kind?"

"It's not like the whole dungeon became SS-grade, it still was S-grade given that I was able to apply my skills otherwise I wouldn't have be able to make a map of the dungeon."

Cyrus nodded in understanding, "What was the boss like?"

"Some form of stone giant. It was so large that it made up the surface of the dungeon." Puffy shifted around on Rin's shoulder, seemingly a little uncomfortable with having Cyrus right in front of her. Rin glanced down at her before picking her up and placing her in his hands. 

"Les wouldn't be able to take on a stone giant by himself, his skills aren't compatible. Did you take it down?"

Rin and Cyrus stared at each other for a moment, both their gazes becoming cold now that the conversation topic changed. "How could I have? I'm only a C-grade. Now, I need to get to my next job, I'll be sending a more detailed report that you can view soon." 

"Hmm, aren't you going to say goodbye?" Cyrus asked, lifting his head to look at someone in the distance.

Rin's eyes flicked over to Les for a moment before turning away. "Me and him aren't close."

Cyrus smiled at him as he watched his retreating figure. "How interesting. I think you and I are going to see a lot of each other from here on out."

A shiver went up Rin's spine and he glanced back at Cyrus, glaring at him. "I'd rather we didn't. We're far too similar for my liking." Rin then continued walking, listening to Cyrus's quieting laughter from behind him. Rin rolled his eyes, glancing down at the small monster in his hands that seemed to be trembling in fear from just being in his presence. "...Don't worry I'm a little scared of that guy too."