PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

Emily had to watch as many of her acquaintances, even friends of her fiancé, were torn apart with bare hands. The scene was more than she could bear; for a once-lucky girl like Emily, who hadn’t seen the horrors of the world, that amount of blood and corpses was too large.

Unaware of the difference in power between the users, hope was fueled within Emily when she saw a lieutenant from the Esper division, a short-lived feeling, for, after a few seconds, Emily saw that lieutenant’s neck being broken with ease.

The culprit of the massacre was an unknown man with hair as black as night and eyes as blue as the ocean. The man paused briefly, looking around her carefully; Emily felt pure terror wash over her body as the man laid his eyes on her.

Images of soldiers and officers being thrown to the ground like rag dolls with broken bodies flashed through Emily’s mind. Still, instead of attacking, the man asked her a simple question with a polite demeanor.

“Sorry to bother you, miss, but could you show me the way to the command center?”

Was as strange as seeing the most grotesque of demons speak in an angelic voice; however, Emily didn’t dare to be rude; she did not want to be the next to die. Unable to contain her fear, Emily pointed to the hallway to her right with a trembling hand.

Desmond had an annoyed expression on his face, not for the response or fear of the secretary he was talking to but because there were inconsistencies between the plans he got for this building and the actual design of it. That’s why he had to ask for directions.

For Desmond, who had entered Verimar’s headquarters so boldly, it would be a complete embarrassment to get lost in the damned building and not accomplish his mission on time, but asking for directions was another kind of embarrassment itself. Desmond’s only consolation is that no one here probably had the reasoning ability or the courage to laugh at his stupidity.

.....

Mistaking Desmond’s expression of anger directed at her and unable to understand what the other part was thinking, Emily began to panic, more and more convinced that she was going to die.

Desmond was about to follow directions and head down the right hallway when, to his surprise, Emily offered to guide him through the building. It didn’t take Desmond more than two brain cells to realize that, in her fear, the secretary was trying anything to stay alive; it was understandable.

Too lazy to clear up any misunderstandings, Desmond nodded to the secretary, and the two of them began to make their way inside the headquarters. Only a few minutes passed, but Emily had already fully understood what power meant. Seeing Desmond non-stop killing dozens of soldiers made a deep impression.

To Emily, a non-user, Desmond moved so fast that she was only seen when he stopped to take the life out of someone with his bare hands, creating moments where Emily would only see the corpses fall to the ground after seeing Desmond walk past by the side.

At a certain point, security alarms began to sound throughout the building and its surroundings, and to Emily’s horror, such an event only caused Desmond’s smile to widen.

The alarm put all of the power users inside the building on notice of a high-powered invader, and it didn’t take long for Desmond to start encountering users of various kinds.

It could only be said that the Verimar headquarters was entirely unprepared for such an attack. The first users to run into Desmond died almost as quickly as ordinary soldiers; it resulted from the difference in power and ability between them and Desmond.

At some point, Desmond encountered a relatively strong Aura user, trading at least a dozen hits on equal terms. As the Aura user gained confidence and poor Emily stood shivering in a corner, the brief fight took a one hundred and eighty-degree turn.

After testing the aura user with a few trades and finding it boring, Desmond directly used to appear behind the aura user, impaling the latter with a thrust from his left arm.

On the other side of the conflict, the poor secretary who had volunteered as a guide watched as Desmond’s left arm protruded from the center of the now-dead aura user’s chest.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a crystalline flash shot out, aimed at the back of Desmond’s head. Being the origin of such a sneak attack, a user of some arcane law was very pleased with himself until he saw Desmond disappear again.

Then, Desmond’s voice came from behind the arcana user, like the whisper of a slightly amused demon. “I’ll give you a point for the ambush, much better than recklessly fighting head-on like your dead friend.”

After a flash of gold, the arcana user’s head fell to the ground, and a fountain of blood gushed from his body before he collapsed. Standing in the pool of blood with a nonchalant look, Desmond added something to his earlier comment. “Failure to stay hidden and kill your target subtracts points; I’m afraid there was only one attempt.”

A slight sarcasm and mockery in Desmond’s words made him sound like a bloodthirsty villain, but upon closer look, it seemed like Desmond was simply looking for a way to fill the silence.

Since a couple of users had shown up, Desmond figured he shouldn’t have much time left. It might seem that Desmond was an invincible death god, but that was only because he was dealing with regular soldiers and low-level users. Once the lieutenant colonel and commander level users arrived, things would not be so easy.

Trying to gain momentum and get to his destination as quickly as possible, Desmond had to carry the secretary and force her to guide him through the building as soon as possible.

Because he had to carry a person, Desmond’s fighting style had to change, a minor problem for someone so versatile. Soon Desmond began to blast huge holes into the bodies of his enemies with the silver pistol in his right hand.

With the intensity of the gunfire, it wasn’t surprising that backup, users included, found Desmond. The cruel irony was that people died faster after Desmond pulled his gun on him; after all, bullets were still quicker than his fists.

Desmond barely had to make an effort to make his way through the building, with one exception. When an arcana user trapped him inside some sort of illusion, Desmond ran into an exciting and frustrating roadblock. Desmond spent almost a dozen seconds inside an illusionary maze before he went for the violent and explosive option.

The illusion user died taking three office rooms with him due to an explosion of metal mana blades Desmond used. Seeing a corpse collapse into four separate pieces right after the illusion fell, Desmond was quite pleased.

The truth is that Desmond was nervous for a moment; things could have been hazardous if he had stayed inside an illusion while his enemies surrounded them. After all, Desmond wasn’t immortal; he would still die if a bunch of users bombed him, and he did not defend himself. That was why Desmond hated dealing with arcana users; they were too hard to predict and, in some cases, counter.

To the relief of both Desmond and the secretary on his shoulder, a metal plate on a door a dozen meters away indicated that he had reached the finish line. Contrary to what the secretary expected, Desmond let her go without saying a word, and no matter how much the secretary looked back, Desmond didn’t attack her. At some point, Secretary Emily lost sight of Desmond, after which she began to run frantically, looking for a way out of the building.

Having an idea of ??what awaited him behind those doors, Desmond took out an item from his hunter’s book and tied it around his waist. Unlike his attitude as he moved through the building, Desmond seemed very serious as he stared at the door.

Falling into old habits, Desmond talked to himself. “I guess it doesn’t matter that I know it’s an ambush; I still have to go in. I wonder if they really expect to take me by surprise, or did they come to the same conclusion as me, knowing that I will have to walk through that door one way or another.”

As Desmond expected, opening the door and entering the command center, he found a room filled with high-level users. A quick scan of the room would reveal at least ten lieutenant colonel level users and another three commander level users.

“Looks like it will be fun.” That was all Desmond said.