PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

It was clear that Keneth had long since been completely blinded by rage, similar to Athena, Keneth did not seem to be truly free from the chains that bound his demeanor back when he was just a beast with no intellect or ego.

Instead of answering the enraged wolf’s question, Desmond stuck out his middle finger with his left hand while pouring a couple of potions down his throat with his right hand.

Slowly but steadily, the potions began to repair the damage to Desmond’s body while helping him regain some mana.

Keneth was ultimately a wolf so he didn’t really understand the gesture Desmond made with his left hand but with his almost-human intellect, Keneth still understood that it was some kind of insult.

Not caring how fast he was burning through his energy reserves, Keneth overcharged again before lunging at Desmond with lightning speed.

This time Desmond didn’t choose to face Keneth head-on like in the past as he didn’t have that kind of suicidal desire and instead chose to make a smart move now that Keneth seemed to have become extremely predictable.

Using mana to heighten his senses and to push his analytical abilities to the limit despite the extreme nerve pain, Desmond predicted Keneth’s movements with terrifying accuracy.

And as if trying to hold Keneth in his right fist, Desmond made a gesture that was followed by chains of water emerging from thin air, these chains shooting like snakes to a point in the air where there was nothing in the at all but for the precise moment when the chains finished covering that area; it was Keneth who appeared when his acceleration became zero due to the chains.

.....

Unable to conduct the tremendous electrical currents in Keneth at the same time that these failed to stop his momentum, the aquatic chains collapsed completely but not before robbing Keneth of some of his momentum and balance.

It was Keneth’s turn to not know how to respond to his current situation where he had completely lost control of his speed as he tripped and rolled on the ground at high speed; Keneth only stopped when a leg that was reinforced by the force of the storm kicked him in the face.

Stopped in his tracks for a brief moment by Desmond’s kick, Keneth’s entire world turned upside down as the momentum he carried caused him to spin into reverse and continue on his way across the ground for another dozen meters.

Resisting his injury with his powerful physique, Keneth got up from the ground quickly and glared at Desmond, the kick seeming to have jolted his senses hard enough to snap him out of his blind rage; a small detail Desmond hadn’t expected to be honest.

However Keneth looked exhausted, it seemed like the wolf couldn’t maintain his berserk state for long periods and it was more of an immediate one-use ult rather than a constant ability.

It was only out of anger that Keneth had maintained that state longer than necessary, and it was precisely his anger that led Keneth to fail to take advantage of that state to kill Desmond.

But even exhausted, Keneth had pride of his own, so he refused to back down and instead lunged at Desmond this time trying to use his speed to subdue Desmond.

Desmond soon fell into a disadvantageous position now that he was facing a Keneth who used his buffs wisely, having to be on the defensive most of the time, Desmond having to deplete his mana at an alarming rate just to repel the electrical currents from Kenneth.

The healing potions Desmond drank were barely able to help his body sustain the stress of using at the current level of intensity for so long, so Desmond had to quickly think of a countermeasure.

In a moment of carelessness on Desmond’s part, Keneth seized the opportunity and delivered a crushing kick to Desmond’s stomach sending Desmond flying until he impacted the base of the north wall.

The sheer force of the impact against the wall rocked Desmond’s brain causing his consciousness to become dangerously fuzzy for an instant that Keneth didn’t miss as he began charging another one of his electric roars.

Knowing that Desmond was unlikely to die from ordinary attacks given his defensive abilities and reflexes, Keneth chose Desmond’s most vulnerable moment to attempt to deliver a killing blow.

That was Keneth’s biggest mistake, the wolf greatly underestimated the willpower and tenacity of the man known as Desmond Astryd.

Compared to the world of pain Desmond was subjected to when he consumed the in the Martial Sovereign World, few things could dull Desmond’s mind for long.

It was only a tiny fraction of a second before clarity returned to those cold blue eyes and Desmond’s smile grew vicious as he spotted an opportunity.

Seeing the window of opportunity when Keneth was preparing his ability, Desmond focused every available ounce of strength and the frequency of mana vibrations within his body reached unprecedented levels as Desmond simply stepped forward.

It was a very simple gesture, his body language didn’t seem to say anything at all and his air couldn’t be more worldly, and then... Desmond was gone... vanish.

Keneth found this ridiculous and his senses went into high alert trying to locate Desmond as Keneth’s diaphragm reached its peak of expansion.

Unfortunately for the wolf, the ability used by Desmond was specifically designed to do a high-speed sneak move.

Before Keneth could find Desmond, the latter appeared right in front of Keneth’s chest with both arms covered in a tornado as ‘s effect ended.

Without giving Keneth a chance to react, Desmond delivered a two-handed right to the center of Keneth’s expanded chest.

Keneth’s overextended lungs were crushed by a terrifying force that caused huge rips to spread everywhere as the electrical energy within Keneth went haywire increasing the degree of internal damage.

A fountain of blood and small pieces of lung erupted from the jaws of the now injured Keneth who in his agony was left at the mercy of a very bloodthirsty Desmond.

“You’re mine now.” Desmond’s smile turned victorious for a brief moment with his breathing turned into a mess before his expression worsened as he felt something stab him in the back.

From Keneth’s shadow, a huge bipedal black panther came out digging its claws into Desmond’s back, the vicious grin on the panther’s face was annoying in the extreme but it quickly met an elbow strike that Desmond reflexively did.

The panther recoiled in a slight daze without actually being hurt by the attack, while Desmond staggered a couple of steps to the side away from the still kneeling but dangerous Keneth and the black panther who had apparently been hiding in Keneth’s shadow all this time.

“Treachery bastard” Desmond commented without realizing the enormous irony, at least he didn’t think too much about it since his own shadow was now on a mission under his orders.

While some blood trickled from Desmond’s injured back, whole mouthfuls of blood still came out of Keneth’s mouth, who breathed in agony before giving the order: “Kill... that human.”

As if it were a signal directed at more than just the black panther that had just appeared, gigantic flocks of mutated birds appeared in the sky trying to overwhelm what was left of Green Seed Town’s defenses.

As an exhausted and heavily wounded Desmond faced his new opponent, walking a fine line between life and death, the city’s air defenses responded with fiery lead causing blood to rain from the sky as corpses fell like meteorites.

However, both Desmond and the city’s defenses began to be overwhelmed, the enemy offensive was too intense and the remaining forces to defend themselves were too few.

It was at a critical moment in the city’s defense that hundreds if not thousands of crimson roses filled a portion of the sky above Green Seed Town.

Amid the crisis, Sasha had managed to break the bottleneck that prevented her from ascending to the two-star class, all driven by her strong desire to protect and support Desmond when she saw him in mortal danger as she reached the top of the north wall.

Sasha didn’t even care who could see her and she immediately released her true form, a crimson dress made of liquid fire covered her body while her horns extended a few centimeters, and with all her power; fire covered the sky as Sasha directly unleashed the most powerful skill she knew

Nearly a quarter of the flying mutated beasts were directly turned to ash while another quarter of them fell from the sky in flames, a single move was enough for half of the mutated beasts to fall helping the city resist the rest.

Unfortunately, Sasha didn’t have complete control over her new strength and fell powerless as all the mana within her was exhausted, now both Sasha and the nearby Claire could only watch as Desmond was dancing with death.

Back at Desmond’s side, his kevlar suit now had more damaged and missing parts than intact parts, blood was pouring down in copious amounts and Desmond was beginning to look somewhat pale and exhausted as the black panther continued to stalk.

The situation began to seem desperate to Desmond who was unable to receive support due to the mutated flying beasts and amid the chaos, a distant shadow in the sky that was clearly superior to all the other creatures around it began a typical bird of prey dive.

It was the worst possible moment for Desmond who could barely stand without being killed by the were-panther in front of him, Desmond didn’t even notice the shadow falling with terrifying speed until it was almost on top of him leaving him no time to react.

And then, an oddly familiar adorable sound came just a little faster than the flying shadow did: “Kurururu.”

Then Desmond smiled warmly, it seemed that someone had come to extend a helping hand or perhaps a friendly wing.