PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

429 Chapter 429 Beast Cornered (two)

From the dust clouds inside the building, a shadow pounced toward Xavier. He reacted by shooting a beam of light with the mana he had gathered beforehand. Dust was pushed away by the beam of light, revealing a wooden table that shattered into hundreds of splinters as Xavier’s attack hit it.

At the same time, Xavier felt a presence behind him. Without an affinity for the wind like William’s, Xavier showed himself vulnerable to Desmond’s . Like a whirlwind, a fierce spinning kick bit Xavier in the back, sending the holy knight into the building.

Blinded by rage, Xavier never thought he would face such a familiar situation, the one that took his friends away from him. Lying face down on the ground, Xavier only saw some metal cylinders hidden in the rubble around him.

A vast explosion was followed by a cloud of fire that shot into the sky. The rest of the building collapsed, unable to take as much structural damage. Desmond barely made it out of the collateral damage area in time after kicking Xavier.

To Desmond’s surprise, Frederick lunged at him, accompanied by a burning sensation that covered him completely. Desmond didn’t miss the change in Frederick’s armor, and it didn’t take long for him to realize what was happening.

Having barely exchanged a couple of blows, Desmond had to break away from Frederick after knocking the knight back with a kick to the stomach. Although the change was not overwhelming, Frederick’s close combat prowess significantly increased. Coupled with the occasional intense flashes of fiery mana covering each attack, Desmond knew he was in trouble.

As if to confirm that Desmond was right, William joined the melee, his armor showing a similar sheen to Frederick’s. To Desmond’s surprise, he was actually being overwhelmed in close combat.

The most surprised was none other than Frederick and William. One had to know that in their current state, in terms of strength and speed alone, they had received a twenty percent boost. Even so, outnumbering Desmond two to one and using this Ace up their sleeve, they were still unable to subdue the monster in front of them.

However, the damage soon piled up on Desmond. It wasn’t just his inability to entirely block or dodge his two rivals’ attacks and the constant streams of hostile elemental mana raining down on him.

.....

During his desperate fight against the fire and wind knights duo, a pillar of light erupted from the ruins, from which Xavier emerged. The flames of anger and humiliation in his eyes belied how unharmed the holy knight appeared.

Almost prophetically, the star shield in front of Cecilia shrank to the size of Camila’s hand. The shield repelled the grey-haired woman with its form now filled with much more condensed mana.

Forced to take a few steps back, Camila watched with interest as the shield of golden light disappeared in front of her eyes. Before it reappears at Desmond’s side just in time to block what could only be described as a pillar of crystallized light.

Fueled by his immeasurable hatred, Xavier let go of any limitations and considerations, letting infinite mana fill his adamantine-looking arms. Like a kaleidoscope of endless refraction, the prismatic patterns on his skin filled with intense golden light.

Clasping both hands above his head, Xavier waited until his mana saturation reached his limit. Then he dropped his now golden arms; like a divine hammer that comes to deliver the punishment of God.

Fanaticism and maniacal ego filled Xavier’s angry voice as he charged, ignoring the presence of William and Frederick. “Cursed heathen tastes the wrath of God.”

A beam of light like no other shot out from his hands, solid and dense to the point where it seemed to be a golden crystal. Desmond had lost count of the number of times he had felt the presence of death since the beginning of the day. But this was undoubtedly one of those times.

Then William could see it again. The first time he had thought it was just an illusion or some kind of reflection, but now he was sure that he saw it. A pair of golden four-pointed stars gleamed deep within Desmond’s pupils.

The phenomenon distracted William, whose reaction to the following events was delayed by a fraction of a second. A star shield met Xavier’s light beam with titanic firmness, successfully blocking the terrifying attack. Due to the shock, the golden crystal pillar shattered into some scattered rays of golden light, some of which hit Frederick and William.

Seizing the opportunity, Desmond turned and swung at William, his covered arm in a whirlwind, sending him flying with a blast into the distance. Frederick tried to react, but a metallic blur collided with his armor breaking his balance.

To Frederick’s utter disbelief, Desmond had used a wrist flick to launch his sword at him. Desmond appeared before him, leaping into the air with one leg raised above his head. In a display of superhuman prowess, Desmond used a downward kick to knock the sword’s pommel guiding the blade into Frederick’s shoulder.

The blade almost went all the way from his shoulder to his left lung as a stray beam of light hit Desmond in the side. This time it was Desmond’s turn to end up on the ground, holding his ribs that were probably broken. If not for that lucky break that stopped Desmond, Frederick would now be drowning in his own blood.

Enduring the pain, Frederick pulled out the sword buried in his flesh. With a pale face, he threw the sword with all his might, letting the weapon recede into the distance; he didn’t want to give Desmond the chance to get the sword back from him.

“Frederick, are you okay?”

William got the shock of his life when he saw his comrade about to be impaled alive, so he couldn’t help but ask when he saw the opportunity. Blood trickles from Frederick’s lips, and he squeezes an answer between his teeth. “I’ll be fine. Hey William, is it my imagination, or has that bastard gotten stronger?”

William didn’t answer; he just looked at the man who was on his hands and knees on the ground. William found that man’s gaze unsettling, no matter how wounded and exhausted he might be; the ferocity in Desmond’s eyes kept growing.

Desmond kept his chilling gaze on the trio before disappearing in a blur. Against all odds, despite his condition, Desmond had the nerve to be the one to go on the offensive. As if that wasn’t enough, Desmond didn’t even attack one of the three knights he was fighting.

When Desmond reappeared, his body crashed squarely into Camila’s outstretched arm. Desmond had already expected that Camila would be able to react to the attempt to grab Cecilia and run away from her. But he didn’t expect to end up going down with the same move he used against William just a minute ago.

As he drove a car at full speed into an iron girder, Desmond’s momentum was cut short, and his back soon found the ground once more. Unlike some acquired tastes like beer or cigarettes, Desmond found it no more pleasurable to crash into the stone floor no matter how many times he did.

If Desmond’s previous move surprised William, Frederick, and Xavier, who was recovering from different circumstances. Then his next move almost made them not trust their own eyes.

Showing more than superhuman reaction speed. As his back had finished bouncing off the ground, Desmond had pinned both hands down with his arms crossed. Every muscle fiber in his arms and torso screamed in agony as they produced a devastating twisting force.

The resulting whirlwind kick landed, to everyone’s surprise, on the backs of Camila’s ankles, who for once failed to react in time to Desmond’s unorthodox move.

For the first time in her life, Camila knew what it was like to lose ground as her vision filled with the blue of the sky. Perhaps that was the first time Camila recognized that she had underestimated Desmond. Despite the enormous disparity in their strength, Desmond achieved something that no one has ever attained before; knock her down.

Like a wounded, cornered beast, Desmond unleashed his full potential. Whatever effect the prayer had on Desmond seemed to keep him fighting at his apex, no matter how wounded and exhausted he was.

In fact, William and Frederick misunderstood it; Cecilia’s help was primarily spiritual and didn’t really increase Desmond’s strength. What they were looking at now was nothing more than Desmond fighting with everything on the line. Desmond’s five senses were pushed to the limit, his mind operating at full power, every fiber of his being squeezed of all its potential.

Desmond was using all his martial prowess, mastery of mana, tools, and weapons. Even his wisdom and adaptability became the sharpest daggers in his arsenal. What they faced was none other than Desmond Astryd at his best.