PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

The perpetual unevenness of the terrain, an ever-present slight incline, and a lack of natural light affected Desmond’s sense of balance in a way he hadn’t experienced before. Desmond overcame this awkwardness with his strong adaptability, but it didn’t erase the severe expression on his face.

There were other complexities to the terrain besides the ones that jump out at you, like a lack of fresh airflow, which is accompanied by a lack of air mana. The aquatic mana in the atmosphere also felt somewhat impure and challenging to control, Desmond’s only consolation being that there was no lack of metallic mana around him.

In hindsight, Desmond had vastly underestimated the dimensions of the mine; just speaking in terms of the number of entrances to the underground tunnels, there were no fewer than fifteen large entrances and nearly a hundred small entrances. Desmond’s chosen access was tremendous, like the gaping mouth of a wolf swallowing all the light.

Desmond wasn’t the only one using that entrance either. A dozen or more people passed through the entrance every minute that passed. Unlike Desmond, the rest of the people going into the caves were traveling in groups, so the presence of a lone person stood out a bit.

Standing out was not a good thing in a dark, desolate, lonely place, out of sight of any kind of authority. Predictably, Desmond soon encountered a group of reckless people who saw him as prey. Desmond could hardly believe the stupidity of the other party.

Putting aside whether Desmond was a pushover, the problem was that he was just entering the mines. Someone with an iota of intelligence should know that he wouldn’t have anything valuable on it.

“Stop there, pretty boy, throw all your belongings on the ground. If you behave well, maybe we’ll let you live.”

Seeing the other party’s disgustingly arrogant expression combined with a stupid and cliche speech, Desmond almost laughed. Desmond felt that his own IQ would drop if he engaged in a conversation with these people. There was also a slight possibility that Desmond simply wanted to release some pent-up stress by slaughtering the little bandits in front of him. Yes, just a slight chance.

.....

Without even offering an answer, Desmond went straight into before using his to sneak up in front of the bandit leader. Genuinely tired of dealing with bandits no matter what world he went to, Desmond saved his words and delivered a front kick.

Only a faint “Gungnir” escaped Desmond’s lips. Then, a golden spear shot out from his heel, causing more than half of the bandit’s torso to disappear, leaving only a vast, bloody hole.

Desmond nonchalantly retracted his leg before he turned around and kicked at another nearby bandit. For a second, it seemed as if Desmond misjudged the distance, as the bandit was too far away to be hit by that kick. However, after an “Excalibur” that came from Desmond’s lips, that bandit was cut in half.

That’s how fragile human lives were, how brutal Desmond was, and how effective a perfectly executed sneak attack was. In just two seconds, Desmond had collected the lives of two people who should have given him at least a little challenge.

Although Desmond caught them off guard, even intimidating the bandits a bit with his lethality, they weren’t vegetarians either, and the amount of blood on their hands was no small amount.

Quickly, the only female among the bandits began muttering some deep and strange words gathering a large amount of Arcana around her. At the same time, the other two bandits erupted with thunderous momentum, covering their bodies with intense flashes of Aura.

Desmond might never have spent much time playing video games. However, he still understood such simple logic as attacking the wizard first. Desmond tried to use his to sneak away again but was blocked and nearly hit by one of the bandits.

Desmond clicked his tongue with a “Tch”; he knew this was one of the weak points of this ability. was less effective against Aura users, and it became less and less effective the more he used it against the same person.

Desmond decided as he deftly dodged incoming attacks, sometimes deflecting punches and kicks with gentle palm strikes. Since stealth didn’t work, then he would use speed. With a strong gale erupting around his calves, Desmond’s image blurred from the abrupt acceleration, appearing a second later right next to the woman casting a spell.

The sudden increase in speed gave Desmond a small window of opportunity. Without a second thought, a fist covered in a blue glow slammed into the woman in front of him. Unexpectedly, as Desmond muttered “Resonance,” the blue shockwaves emitted from his fist met an extremely robust arcane barrier.

Desmond suppressed the urge to curse out loud and stepped back decisively just in time to avoid being hit by one of the bandits with an Aura-filled kick.

Desmond couldn’t even complain about his current situation; such futile efforts were beneath him. On the contrary, Desmond was incredibly excited and pleased with the battle he had engaged in.

This was the first time Desmond had faced strong and skilled enemies capable of using relatively complex techniques. Desmond had faced powerful enemies in the past. Still, most of them had only raw power, something they wielded almost savagely.

This time, facing an arcanist who was careful to erect a preventive barrier while casting another spell was a new experience. The same applied to Aura users; they fought coordinated, and their attacks were complicated and powerful enough to put some pressure on him.

Knowing that these people were mere bandits told Desmond that the people in this city were far more dangerous than he thought, but that only fueled his desire for battle.

Desmond jumped back twice a row before arching his body to avoid an Aura-filled claw attack from one of the bandits. The sword-sharp Aura managed to penetrate Desmond’s clothing, spilling some blood, but Desmond’s expression remained the same.

Occasionally, multicolored runes would appear in the air, shooting bolts of arcane energy in his direction. Still, even that wasn’t enough to completely corner Desmond. When the bandit woman realized that the harassment wasn’t working, she sped up the casting of the spell she had been preparing from the beginning.

In an unguarded moment, Desmond managed to latch on for that split second he needed. He struck back at one of the bandits, channeling the mana that poured out of his heart like a tidal wave.

Seeing Desmond’s fist covered in intense blue flashes slam into him, the bandit couldn’t help but let out a sneer. The bandit thought it was stupid for a Mana user to want to clash with an Aura user. The bandit didn’t expect Desmond would disappear at the last second.

Both bandits were focused on their fight, believing they had cornered Desmond, that it never occurred to them that Desmond never intended to clash with them. No matter how much they hurt Desmond or how hard they pushed him, Desmond never took his attention from the arcanist, determined not to let her complete her spell.

When these bandits entirely focused on him, Desmond used to push his reaction speed to the limit. Then, Desmond combined overlapping s to bypass the bandits’ senses altogether.

In essence, Desmond pushed his beyond its limits to do more than just vanish from his enemies’ senses. Desmond even created an advanced form of sensory decoy.

Unaware that his senses were being manipulated with masterful skill, both bandits thought they saw a ghostly shadow running to the right. The bandits identified the shadow as Desmond using his stealth movement ability again. In that instant, Desmond shot like an illusory shadow in the opposite direction.

Such a trick was almost too powerful, but it had a weakness; it only worked at close range. Being away from the confrontation between Desmond and the other bandits, the arcanist saw through Desmond’s trick. Unfortunately, she was an Arcana user, and reaction speed was not her specialty.

The arcanist tried to hurry to complete the casting of her powerful spell, having a feeling that this time her arcane barrier would not keep Desmond away from her. It was a pity that Desmond had always paid attention to the sorceress. Desmond decided as soon as he felt the energy fluctuations around the woman seem to level off.

Although Desmond was not an arcanist, he was familiar with using abilities. He knew that the stabilization of energy around the arcanist must mean that she was a fraction of a second away from completing her spell. Following the logic: the longer the cast time, the more powerful the magic. Desmond didn’t dare to be complacent.

“I didn’t think I would use this sword against mere bandits.”