PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

Despite his conflicting comments, Desmond was quite decisive in his approach to the problem before him. High-purity aquatic mana gathered in an instant. A second later, a blue shockwave blew the giant ant in front of Desmond to pieces.

It was that giant ant that prompted Desmond’s comments. From Desmond’s point of view, it made perfect sense that the plague of beasts in this area of ??the underworld would be ants.

In the first instance, ants were a reasonably common pest on earth. On the other hand, Desmond had heard of certain types of desert ants that were quite dangerous and territorial. So it was not difficult to add one plus one to get the result in front of him.

However, these ants were as big as horses, had exoskeletons harder than steel, and could control sand, so from a human perspective, these ants made no sense at all.

Whatever the case, this plague wasn’t Desmond’s problem. Although slightly annoying, these ants barely surpassed the intermediate level of the one-star class. Desmond would not be threatened unless he was besieged by thousands of them.

Desmond watched indifferently as the giant ant was reduced to a speck in the sand and decided to continue on his way. Being in the two-star class was quite rewarding for him, especially after realizing how fluid his use of his most powerful abilities became. But since these ants were so weak, Desmond hadn’t had a chance to test his new limits, so he was so bored.

Unfortunately, Desmond knew that his boredom had only just begun. According to the map he had at hand, the entire desert was the target of the extermination mission. Given its dimensions, it would likely be days before Desmond found the person he was looking for.

Although bored by the drab scenery, lack of company, and weak enemies, Desmond never lets his guard down. As a hunter, Desmond was aware of the danger of being off guard, having taken advantage of over a dozen people or creatures in that state himself.

.....

Precisely because Desmond never let his guard down, it didn’t take long for him to realize what a little trouble he had gotten himself into. Just a few minutes ago, Desmond had thought that it takes thousands of those giant ants to threaten him; well, it seemed his theory was about to be tested.

The almost imperceptible tremor that alerted him only intensified. Judging by the direction, Desmond could already tell this was due to the ant he killed a few minutes ago.

“Some kind of chemical or hormonal signal.” Desmond muttered, somewhat intrigued as to how he was tracked. After a second thought, Desmond added, “Could also be something similar to tremor sense.”

Desmond considered leaving to avoid crashing into the horde of ants, but a part of him wanted to test his new powers. Since the giant ants weren’t dangerous, Desmond thought they made a good training target.

At least it was better to find out the extent of his newfound strength now rather than wait until he was in dire straits. If things got dangerous, all Desmond had to do was summon Zero and get out of there. With the ants’ movement speed, they couldn’t keep up if Desmond was riding Zero.

As the first ants emerged from the sands, Desmond snapped out of his thoughts. Wanting to test his physical strength first, Desmond lunged forward, adjusting his stance midway through his movement to deliver a shoulder strike. Bajiquan’s movement sent the ant flying as if it had been hit by a battering ram. Still, Desmond could see that the ant was fine, besides a few fractures to its exoskeleton.

Without even looking back, Desmond shifted his stance, bracing his feet on the ground before his right elbow shot out into the face of an ant that tried to ambush him. Elbow strikes were one of Desmond’s favorite Bajiquan moves because of how these channels the force exerted. That sentiment was reinforced as he watched the ant’s head burst open in a disgusting mess.

Desmond narrowed his eyes slightly after killing that ant. Now that he was paying attention, he detected a strong scent of fluids coming from the corpse. Noticing its strange stickiness and how his clothes would inevitably get stained with them, Desmond remembered his first guess.

Seeing how the nearby ants fresh from the arena seemed to go into a frenzy after the death of a comrade, Desmond came to a very simple conclusion. “So that’s how they track the enemies of their colony. Their hive mentality also seems to be very strong.”

Desmond jumped as he felt a vibration near his feet. The ant that ambushed him from the ground found only empty air. Desmond had a thoughtful expression. He was curious to know if the ant was following its insectoid instincts to ambush, the way spiders do, or if this one had any real intellect to speak of.

Desmond raised his right leg above his head and thought. “Not that it matters either; these ants are not my problem.” After which, Desmond dropped his leg like a guillotine, smashing the ant’s head to the ground. Desmond delivered a roundhouse kick as soon as his feet touched the ground, forcing away the ants that had gathered around him.

Desmond fought off a dozen other ants relying only on his body and martial prowess before he was satisfied with his experiment. “Without relying on mana, my physical strength should be comparable to that of a high-level, One-Star Class Aura user.”

Releasing a long breath, Desmond circulated pure mana throughout his body. The high-frequency mana vibrations stimulate his potential and physical power, taking it to a new level. Quickly, the rate at which Desmond slaughtered ants increased. A single blow completely exploded the ants’ body, but Desmond didn’t seem pleased.

“Even using , my physical power doesn’t reach the standard of a two-star class Aura user. Even if the latter doesn’t use the Aura to amplify his physical strength.” Desmond commented in annoyance as he remembered the werelion that nearly cornered him, relying exclusively on its ridiculous physical power.

Desmond had expended massive amounts of mana in that fight just to stay alive. Were it not for the ridiculous lethality of his sword, , the outcome of this battle would have been difficult to predict.

Desmond remembered how his most powerful abilities barely held the werelion at bay. Desmond was frustrated not only by the total power disparity between them but also by the tremendous gap between their physiques. He couldn’t be helped; even as a Mana user, Desmond was obviously a close combat enthusiast.

“At least, my defenses seem to have gotten a decent boost, though that’s probably due to the sap’s effects more than my advance.” Desmond commented, realizing that an ant managed to take advantage of the chaos to bite him. Still, it barely made a dent in his defenses.

Desmond had to keep his current dissatisfaction with his own physical as he saw that, little by little, the number of ants only increased. The idea of ??obtaining a bloodline that would give him a much more powerful innate physique flashed through Desmond’s mind, taking root with force. Yet, he was forced to leave that thought for another day.

Desmond sighed at the increasing number of ants and commented with a bored smile. “I guess it’s time to test the real extent of my strength.”

“Let’s start with the basics. .”

The blue waves erupted from Desmond’s fist and immediately decimated a space five meters wide and twenty meters long. The explosion left behind nothing but swept sand and ant fragments.

Feeling the distinct lessening of the strain this ability placed on his body and elemental seed, Desmond smiled and attempted something he had always wanted to do. With both arms covered in ocean blue patterns, Desmond slowly retracted his fists and let the air into his lungs with a slow well-controlled breath. A second later, Desmond’s fists began to fire blue waves with the same rate of fire as a 9mm.

Fifteen seconds passed, during which Desmond did not stop firing, again and again, those waves of destruction that devastated everything around him. Desmond stopped, sensing some tension building in both his mana pool and his intent.

Desmond stood there silently for nearly five seconds with a contemplative expression. Despite the hundreds of giant ant carcasses, Desmond pondered its power output and current limits. “When I use the skill like that, the raw power of each hit decreases. I can fight by imbuing each of my hits with around 70% of the ability’s total power, probably better suited for certain scenarios where I don’t have a guaranteed hit.”

No matter how many ants Desmond killed, the insect invasion didn’t stop. Barely ten seconds passed, and the place was full of ants again. Desmond even believed that there were more and more ants instead of fewer.

“What small annoyances, although at least they serve to train.” Desmond commented as he cracked his neck, intending to continue training.