Chapter 763: Guest Elder
"I can join..." Max said slowly, the words falling from his lips like cautious drops of water into a deep, dark well. He hesitated for a heartbeat, the silence thick between him and President William. Then, he exhaled, his voice carrying a weight that spoke volumes. "But I have made some strong enemies you might not like facing."
President William didn’t even blink, his expression utterly calm, the serene poise of a mountain unshaken by a mere breeze. "Enemies?" he repeated, his voice steady as polished steel, neither dismissive nor alarmed. "What enemies could possibly cause the Hunter Association to hesitate?" His gaze drilled into Max, those pale eyes glimmering with a cold wisdom that had seen countless storms and emerged unbowed.
Max gave a small shrug, as though trying to pass it off as something trivial, though the tension in his shoulders betrayed the seriousness beneath his words. "Black Tortoise God Nation," he said quietly. The syllables hung in the air like the toll of a great bell, echoing through the stillness of the elegant chamber.
For a brief instant, silence descended between them, heavy and absolute. It felt as though the entire tower held its breath.
Then, to Max’s utter shock, President William sneered—a faint, dismissive twist of his lips that seemed almost out of place on his otherwise composed face. "Black Tortoise God Nation?" he repeated, his voice carrying a razor edge of disdain as he scoffed lightly. "Even if you had provoked the entire Four God Nation, I would still recruit you as a guest elder of the Hunter Association."
Max’s eyes widened, genuine astonishment flickering across his face as his mind reeled. The Four God Nation. The collective might of four of the most terrifying superpowers on planet Acaris.
An alliance of colossal forces whose dominion spanned continents, whose influence ran so deep into the veins of the Middle Domain that even overlord forces thought twice before challenging them. To Max, they had always been a distant behemoth—an untouchable mountain looming on the horizon of power and politics.
And yet here stood President William, brushing them aside as though they were mere thorns in his path.
Max felt the weight of the Hunter Association’s true power hit him like a wave crashing against rock. He had known the Association was strong—one of the few neutral entities standing shoulder to shoulder with the Seven Overlord Forces and the Four God Nation—but he had underestimated how deeply its roots ran, how fiercely its leaders could stand against the tides of the world.
For President William to say those words so casually...it was like hearing the ocean promise to swallow a mountain without even causing ripples.
A silent realization unfurled in Max’s chest, a mingling of awe and sudden wariness. ’Just what kind of existence is the Hunter Association...that even the Four God Nation wouldn’t make them flinch?’ He thought his expression full of astonishment.