PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

Desmond was perhaps one of the few people who would give up that advantage, not that he had much choice; with a dozen kids at his back, Desmond had to take a defensive stance.

An oppressive silence completely covered the surrounding area, each of the parties looking at each other, with the mana fluctuations becoming more intense. It was precisely because of Desmond’s mana fluctuations that his enemies didn’t dare to make the first move, they were too dangerous, and no one wanted to be the first to receive the heavy offense.

This was within Desmond’s expectations; however, he felt grateful that his opponents fell to his feint. After all, Desmond needed every extra second he could get.

Because of how tense the situation was, Desmond found himself quite dissatisfied with Cecilia’s performance, who, whether due to inexperience or fear, hadn’t made a single move until now.

However, it was impossible to delay things forever, and Desmond soon began to notice the impatience of his opponents. Desmond let loose all the mana he had accumulated so far with no other choice.

A tsunami emerged behind Desmond’s back. As the foreign soldiers prepared to counterattack, they had to stand and watch angrily as the tsunami formed a defensive wall protecting the children and Cecilia.

In a situation where he was surrounded by hostile people, the wisest thing would have been to attack with his full power from the start and take down as many enemies as possible as quickly as possible. That was common sense, but common sense seemed to have betrayed the foreign soldiers this time.

Still, these were trained soldiers with a mission to complete, and Desmond was nothing more than a hindrance. One of the soldiers furthest from the center of the confrontation gave a discreet signal to two archers hidden in the distance.

.....

Two arrows streaked through the wind, leaving behind nothing more than a low hiss, but instead of meeting their target, they were caught by Desmond’s bare hands, who barely made an effort.

To show insufficient skill in front of an expert is to ask for humiliation. The apathetic expression on Desmond’s face barely changed as his hands scrambled to pull his longbow out of the hunter’s book. Desmond didn’t even slow his pace for a single heartbeat before shooting back the two arrows in his hands in a display of skill and fluidity.

Three times as fast and accurate, these arrows stabbed into the chest of his previous owner a fraction of a second after they left Desmond’s bow. For his part, Desmond hadn’t waited for hit confirmation before putting his bow away, sure that his aim was on target and that the bow wouldn’t be suitable for the battle to come.

The contempt shown by Desmond as he murdered two of his companions was provocative in the extreme, and his enemies had had enough of letting Desmond get the upper hand.

The first to make a move was one of the few men present in full knight armor. His mana fluctuations were heavy and solid, bringing a feeling of steadiness and immobility with every step he took. The knight wasn’t fast by Desmond’s standards, but Desmond didn’t dare underestimate the man.

Desmond had already learned his lesson while dealing with Erigard, who wasn’t overwhelmingly powerful and skilled on his own. Still, with the support of all the high-level gear he was wearing, Erigard had enough qualifications that Desmond had to give it all of himself in battle.

In fact, when Desmond saw the array of enemies around him, he was tempted to use his sword and immediately charge in full power. Still, upon closer inspection, he realized that none of those present were close to Erigard, neither in force nor equipment.

Without using the analysis feature, Desmond would be able to get a vague idea of ??his enemies’ capabilities based on his experience and observation alone. Though his time in Serefia’s world wasn’t long, Desmond was, after all, a freaking monster with analytical abilities beyond what any human being could hope for. Although such analytical abilities do not necessarily translate into superior intellect, Desmond’s ability to analyze information was nothing to play with.

Desmond faced seventeen enemies, fourteen relatively well-equipped soldiers, and three high-level knights. The fourteen soldiers wore bladed weapons of various shapes and forms and uniform leather armor, all of their gear with simple runic carvings. Desmond could tell by the small mana signatures on these that they were several leagues below the gear worn by Erigard.

The three knights were a different story, their mana fluctuations were far higher than the soldiers, and the same could be said for their weaponry. Take the knight, now just a few meters from Desmond, as an example. His plate armor seemed highly robust; the rune inscriptions were much more complex and dense, with a much more intense mana signature that also applied to his gigantic two-handed sword.

Speaking of his sword, Desmond never thought that he would see a sword like that in his entire life. After all, those kinds of massive weapons were something that belonged in fantasy in his world. A metal sword two meters long and half a meter wide, with a dark green flat side of the blade, a single-edged shaft, and an overwhelming sense of heaviness; that sword looked dangerous as fuck to Desmond.

Hence Desmond didn’t dare to fist bump with a sword like that and instead chose to use his speed advantage to avoid the knight’s slash. That was Desmond’s first mistake, the mana from the earth coating the sword impacting Desmond’s torso, not with physical contact but with the heaviness emitted.

The sensation of his internal organs rearranged briefly served as a lesson for Desmond to commit an oversight. But it was none other than the earth knight who got the biggest surprise.

This was not the first time someone had dodged his sword only to be injured by its weight field, but it was the first time that someone had been so little hurt by it.

This was negligence on two sides. On the one hand, Desmond didn’t consider the possible hidden nature of such an attack, while on the other hand, the earth knight had never expected Desmond’s body to be so resilient.

In fact, Desmond himself didn’t know it but compared to most mana users, his physical body was considerably more robust. This was partly due to his continuous training. Still, it was also related to the quantity and quality of the resources he consumed during his stay in the Martial Sovereign World.

With all of the above, it was the earth knight’s turn to fail to react in time, as the high-frequency mana vibrations within Desmond intensified and the difference in speed only grew wider.

Like a wraith, Desmond’s body blurred slightly from the earth knight’s senses, who barely managed to make out Desmond to his left before Desmond’s fist slammed into the more minor armored part of his armor on the side of his waist.

Due to the need for mobility, even heavy armor needed more minor armored areas, which were usually covered by several layers of small composite armor pieces. This maintained a certain degree of protection against sharp weapons but was considerably less resistant to direct attacks because they could not transmit the impact force.

Desmond hadn’t seen the knight for more than a few seconds during the match, but he had already found one of the weak spots in his defense, mercilessly attacking at every opportunity.

But Desmond’s stance seemed strange, and the earth knight also felt the strangeness through the blow he received. It appeared that Desmond had landed a blow too early, retaining much of his strength and maintaining a compact stance.

A long trail of steam escaped from Desmond’s lips, activating for a second, letting the fire mana intensify his strength. Desmond’s stance retracted only a couple of centimeters before lunging forward.

It was there that the land knight realized Desmond’s intention; the goal was never to hurt him. That was secondary; Desmond’s real purpose had been to get him out of the picture.

The thrust force generated was too high, and not even the earth knight, whose style seemed to be based on heaviness, could hold on to the ground before being blown away by Desmond.

The other two knights did not stand by to watch all this happen and had long since advanced to engage but failed to arrive in time to interfere with the first exchange, which ended with them seeing their leader fly away.

But that was only the beginning of their nightmares; they soon understood why Desmond had rushed their leader away from the place. With the most dangerous element out of the picture and still maintaining his superiority in speed, Desmond could take on both knights and maintain dominance over them.

However, the knights weren’t alone, and while the soldiers accompanying them weren’t exceptional, they were still dangerous enough that Desmond had to go through extra effort to deal with all of them.