PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

The werelion, Rekna, also thought Desmond’s words were ridiculous; he seemed like one of those cheap heroes in a children’s story. Still, the mangled corpses on the floor and the blood that stained the face of this supposed hero did not let Rekna would take it lightly.

For her part, Aisha found such words to her liking, quite fitting with the beliefs of her kind. So even though she didn’t know Desmond, or if he was anyone to trust, at the very least, she now had a good impression of him and was grateful for his help.

Rekna now knew that the confrontation was inevitable and that he couldn’t allow Desmond to continue accumulating mana, so without feeling a shred of remorse, he ordered his minions to attack, trying to use them as cannon fodder to weaken Rekna. Desmond.

Both werehyenas were reluctant to follow Rekna’s orders, but they knew their leader well. Even their families back home might suffer if they didn’t obey him. A suicidal air filled the air around the werehyenas; they wanted to drag someone to hell with them since they couldn’t get out of this alive.

If the power gap were a bit wider, the suicide attacks from both werehyenas might have put Desmond in danger, but that wasn’t the case. Facing this pair of stupid beasts attacking with reckless abandon, he just needs some skill and a mind capable of taking advantage of the situation.

For the pair of werehyenas, Desmond had just the right trick, though looking at the berserk state they were in, Desmond knew he couldn’t be complacent either. “Looks like I’ll have to take that little trick a bit further.”

When Desmond talked about a little trick, he was referring to the one skill in his arsenal that didn’t focus on direct confrontation, his stealthy and deceptive . Truth be told, Desmond was having more and more trouble using that ability effectively against high-level enemies. The reason was very simple, the notions and foundations of that ability made it too dependent on the user’s physical attributes.

As a Mana user, his physical strength would always be at a huge disadvantage against an Aura user, no matter how much effort Desmond put in. Although a nifty move, , was undoubtedly a more appropriate skill for an Aura user, Desmond had already reached the limit of that skill.

.....

However, Desmond had precisely one Ace up his sleeve, allowing him to push things beyond the limit. Although the physical cost was going to be high, Desmond didn’t hesitate before activating his innate skill, , using it to force his to another level.

Desmond’s silhouette reached the werehyenas in what seemed like only a breath. The werehyenas attacked Desmond’s figure with claws and teeth with bloodshot eyes, tearing it apart instantly. In their frenzy, the werehyenas had a belated reaction, and it wasn’t until a water drill protruded from the chest of one of them that they realized they had been tricked.

The grotesque sound of meat being shredded snapped the remaining hyena out of its frenzy. The fear of death got the best of the remaining werehyena, who launched a claw strike at Desmond only to find the air empty. An ominous premonition filled the werehyena’s heart, a cunning gleam in his eyes as he thought of how his mate had just died.

The Aura flooded every last muscle fiber of the hyena man, allowing him to make a sharp turn as he swept the space behind him with his claws. A look of glee filled the werehyena’s eyes as he saw that, indeed, Desmond’s blurred silhouette was behind him, attempting to kill him with a sneak attack as well as his mate. But the joy was short-lived, as a mocking voice sounded from just behind him, a little above his head.

The blurred silhouette was nothing more than a trick of the mind. Desmond instilled a misperception in the werehyena through a complicated method that combined physical prowess with sensory misdirection. Something too complex for the simplistic mind of the werehyena. Not that any of the above will matter greatly since the werehyena would die in his ignorance.

In the air behind the werehyena, Desmond stood with his right leg raised above his head, ready to swoop down like a guillotine. At that moment, what was in Desmond’s eyes couldn’t even be considered aggression; it was more like the kind of contempt he felt a predator for prey.

“”

Desmond didn’t even have his gaze on the werehyena anymore, and, instead, his blue eyes, cold as frost, now watched the werelion’s reaction with interest. Meanwhile, the huge golden scythe under his leg sliced ??his prey in two vertically.

As expected, the werelion was different from his subordinates. He understood combat more deeply and how to exploit the weaknesses of his opponents. Desmond’s golden scythe was still halfway through the werehyena’s intestines when the werelion made a move on him.

Rekna knew that the greatest moment of carelessness for any warrior was that fraction of a second after a victory. Even the most experienced fighter would drop their guard during that moment of satisfaction.

As a proud member of the wild lion ogre race, Rekna boasted a superior physique and an innate talent for Aura cultivation. His battle instincts were sharp as a blade, and that allowed him to detect the window of opportunity that he had. I was looking for

Desmond, who was always paying attention to Rekna, watched as the latter’s figure practically blurred. Contrary to what Rekna believed, Desmond was always on his guard against him, and the long-awaited window of opportunity never existed.

Desmond never saw the werehyenas as opponents; their presence in his mind was so low that there was not the slightest disturbance in his mood upon defeating them. Thus Desmond never got a sense of victory in the match in which to lose himself.

However, Rekna had still picked the perfect time to attack, as Desmond had yet to hit the ground after killing the last werehyena. In a high-level battle, a fraction of a second could be fatal, and Rekna was targeting precisely that fraction of a second. Unfortunately for Rekna, he was bound to be disappointed.

Although Desmond didn’t have time to dodge or get out of the way without proper support, he was far from defenseless. The oceanic patterns that covered both of Desmond’s arms filled with tempestuous momentum, and blue ripples began to pile up on his arms like rings.

Rekna, who was running like an enraged lion, saw how Desmond was trying to accumulate power and decided to end all this before that happened. A heavy and vast Aura like sand in a desert burst from Rekna’s body and his momentum grew by leaps and bounds. His bloodshot eyes locked on Desmond’s throat as his claws shot out.

Desmond cursed to himself as he watched how Rekna seemed to almost teleport due to his increased speed, but he still kept his cool. “This is going to hurt.” Desmond said quietly before being plunged into a world of pain, the way he was using creating too much tension in his body, but Desmond didn’t care. One needed to be cruel to his enemies but even crueler to himself; only then could victory be achieved.

Under the impulse of , Desmond managed to boost his mana accumulation to an absurd level, leaving the blue elemental seed within his heart almost dry. Meanwhile, the patterns on his arms had already turned into a tumultuous sea.

Fearlessly facing Rekna’s pair of claws, Desmond screamed from the bottom of his lungs as he slammed both fists in front of him. “.”

Combining the same principles that Mei Fei Long used, for his series skills, with the original skill, , Desmond obtained a skill with superior destructive power, sacrificing only the original skill’s range and area of ??effect.

Such a sacrifice was shown not to be in vain when Desmond’s fists collided with Rekna’s claws. Blue shockwaves, now condensed into small crystalline rings, converged at the moment and point of impact, exploding with devastating power the mighty Rekna had not expected.

Both Desmond and Rekna felt immense pain, followed by the eerie cracking sound of bone fractures before they both went flying like rag dolls in opposite directions.

Just the explosion resulting from the two of them colliding was enough to leave a huge crater in the ground and make the huge cavern tremble, but neither of them had time to pay attention to those details. Both of them now had stern expressions as they looked at each other.