PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

Unfortunately, even at her best, Aisha was still inferior to the werelion who led her enemies. No matter how strong Aisha was or how commendable her efforts to resist her captors were, strength was the only thing that mattered, so cruel was reality.

Although stunned for a fraction of a second, the werelion still responded with blunt force, easily dodging Aisha’s hammer before striking her in the stomach. Aisha felt all the air escape from her lungs as her ribs cracked from the impact.

The punch’s force sent Aisha flying, stopping only when her body slammed into one of the cave walls. The pain from the punch still hadn’t finished invading Aisha’s body when her back was awash in a world of pain as she crashed into the wall.

Aisha fell to the ground, barely managing to stay on her knees as she gasped desperately, trying to get some air into her lungs. Looking up, all Aisha saw was the disdainful look and cold smile of the man who hurt her.

To tell the truth, the werelion named Rekna still had some lingering fear. He didn’t expect her to still have such strength; that hammer wasn’t something he could take head-on without consequences. Now that Aisha was on her knees, Rekna’s heart found calmer, which only turned the fear he felt into shame and anger.

The anger turned to a dark desire for possession as Rekna laid his eyes on the still-beautiful Aisha. There was a reason why they attacked Aisha, and that was because her race was very special in more ways than one. Aisha’s race’s natural talent was challenging in the way of fire mana, her talent for forging and artifact creation was in no way inferior to that. That was already enough to make her race valuable, but the cherry on the cake was of a different nature.

Recalling the rumors about Aisha’s race, Rekna felt an evil fire that invaded his entire abdomen and back. Common sense told Rekna to be smart, to keep the girl intact, and to sell her for a better price, but it was getting harder and harder to contain his dark desires.

Aisha seemed to sense the change in Rekna’s gaze, and only then her heart filled with actual fear. She knew the kind of fate that would await her if she fell into the hands of a person who looked at her that way.

.....

Aisha would rather take her own life than suffer such a fate. Unfortunately, she no longer had the strength to take her own life. Poor Aisha didn’t know that her face full of despair did nothing but exacerbate the bad thoughts inside Rekna.

“Guys... I change my mind.” Rekna exclaimed suddenly; he paused slightly and continued. “We won’t get another chance like this even if we wait a hundred years, capture her. Today we’ll play with her until our hearts are satisfied.”

Rekna’s words had the same effect as steroids on his men, who howled with unholy glee before lashing out at Aisha. They couldn’t wait to pour all of their lust and desire onto the girl, no matter how much it would devastate her.

Rekna didn’t know that his words did more than provoke the sinful hearts of his men. His words also provoked the hidden bystander he had been stalking all this time.

From the start, Desmond had no intention of getting involved in the events unfolding before him. The girl, while pitiful, had nothing to do with Desmond, and he wouldn’t risk it for a stranger. Desmond wasn’t the kind of idiot who felt the need to always be on the side of justice or be the hero who saved the beauty. Still, even Desmond had a bottom line, certain taboos that shouldn’t be touched.

It wasn’t a matter of justice, of right and wrong, nor did Desmond feel the need to intervene just because he found the woman attractive; this was a matter of pride.

To Desmond, no matter if he did good or evil, he was no stranger to getting his hands dirty and harming the innocent. Yet, no matter what Desmond did, he never betrayed his heart.

For Claire, Desmond even sold his body, using it to please older women when they lived in the shelter. Still, even then, Desmond kept pride in his heart precisely because he was doing it for Claire. Ultimately, moral distinctions were not Desmond’s concern; however, betraying his heart was not something he was willing to do.

For Desmond, standing by while this woman was tortured and abused by a bunch of scum wasn’t an option, not because he cared about the woman or for justice. Desmond wasn’t about to sit idly by because his pride wouldn’t allow it.

“Pride... what a useless thing.” Desmond commented to himself mockingly, but; that he was preparing his weapons betrayed his true thoughts.

Desmond hated getting involved in other people’s problems; in his opinion, his life was already difficult enough. Still, since he was going to do it anyway, he would use every last bit of his wisdom, strength, and cunning not to put himself at risk and obtain the best possible results.

The world followed its course, and Aisha could only sit and wait for her capture, helplessly watching as the filthy claws reached out for her. Desmond watched all of this unfold with a calm expression, making sure to hide his breathing and contain his mana fluctuations until the last second.

In an instant, a torrent of pale green mana flowed from Desmond’s heart to his legs. Desmond didn’t hesitate to pour abnormal amounts of mana to create a tremendous propulsive force that originated from a gale in his legs. Pushing his speed to the limit and beyond, Desmond ignored the pain signals his body was sent from the use of .

Desmond bought a window of opportunity to catch the four werehyenas rushing towards Aisha off guard in exchange for a massive amount of mana and a considerable amount of pain.

Since Desmond paid such a high price, there was no way he would waste such an opportunity. Despite his superior strength and senses, the werehyenas were still surprised, only noticing Desmond’s presence when he managed to intrude on them.

Normally, it would be suicide for Desmond to get so close to a group of beasts that clearly excel in physical power. Still, Desmond was also aware that this was his only option, given his circumstances. Desmond’s arsenal of abilities wasn’t exactly small, but all of his powerful abilities shared common weaknesses. These had very long cast times and weren’t inconspicuous at all.

Of course, since Desmond decided to get so close, it was because he had a plan. The four werehyenas watched as Desmond reached out with both hands from behind his waist, unsheathing two strange objects he pointed at. Desmond poured two mana streams into both objects before his enemies jumped to conclusions and pulled the trigger.

Loud bangs reverberated throughout the cave, accompanied by two fountains of blood. Seeing that he had failed the vital organs, Desmond clucked his tongue. “They have better reflexes than I expected.” Although Desmond complained, his hands didn’t stop, swinging the huge silver pistols to the sides, aiming at the two intact werewolves.

Since too many of his abilities were not suited to sneak attacks against such strong enemies, Desmond opted to use the only weapons in his possession whose lethality could overwhelm his enemies.

Using the sword, , flashed through Desmond’s mind. Yet, he didn’t trust that he could effectively wield the sword against a group of individuals who outclassed him in physical attributes. Furthermore, the mana consumption was too tall.

On the other hand, not even these werehyenas were fast enough to dodge a barrage of bullets at point-blank range. Had it been a couple of hours ago, Desmond wouldn’t have used the pistols, being well aware of its inability to penetrate defense from high-level Aura users. Nevertheless, that notion died after Desmond used the silver gem.

When Desmond saw the effects of the silver gem, his first thought was that it was useless to him. Still, that thought didn’t last long as Desmond remembered the pair of silver pistols in his storage. While beautiful and relatively powerful, that pair of pistols wasn’t really useful to Desmond. They just couldn’t carry enough mana to make the bullets as lethal as he required.

When Desmond’s train of thought reached that point, making the connection wasn’t difficult since increasing mana conductivity was one of the main features of the gem. Since there wasn’t much to lose, Desmond followed his instincts and used the gem to reinforce the pair of pistols. The results?

Bang* Bang* Bang* Bang*

The werehyenas’ aura defenses were like paper against tungsten bullets reinforced with large compressed amounts of pure metallic mana. Spring came, and blood flowers bloomed from Desmond’s shots before anyone knew what the hell was going on.