PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

457 Chapter 457 A Violent Demonstration

Being dead wasn’t enough to cover the bear’s current state in front of Revna. At a glance, one could tell that the beast had taken a lot of punishment, although the internal damage actually killed the beast.

An average person should be extremely excited and proud of themselves for being able to defeat such a creature, but Revna is not a normal person. Desmond brought her out of hell, so she was unsatisfied with the result. She didn’t think Desmond was satisfied either.

“I’m sorry, Master.”

Revna’s apology was as sincere as possible; however, that did not take away the strangeness of the girl’s attitude. The prowess displayed by Revna was no less than Desmond’s in the not-too-distant past. This was no longer a matter of vanity; Desmond knew very well what kind of monster he was. He didn’t expect to have someone as talented as Revna under his wing.

Desmond could only blame himself for not having the time in the past to monitor the progress Revna was making. Desmond knew that Revna’s shadow power was strong and versatile, which is why she is his best-hidden weapon; it’s just that he didn’t expect her to have so much hidden talent.

As long as Revna wore the necklace Desmond gave her, she would always be loyal to him, Desmond knew. Desmond also knew that even without the necklace, it was improbable that Revna wouldn’t betray him. However, Desmond still felt it was necessary to give the girl some incentive given her progress; that would positively reinforce Revna’s efforts.

“No need to apologize. On the contrary, Revna, I am very pleased with your progress. I think I had underestimated too much how far you had come. In fact, I think a reward is necessary. You have enjoyed almost the same privileges as the rest of the Garden girls, but you have gone further. If there is something you want or need, just say so; that will be my reward for you.”

Revna, expecting a scolding from Desmond, looked somewhat surprised at the unexpected response; after surprise came joy, quickly followed by a thoughtful expression on Revna’s face.

As Revna pondered her request, Desmond walked over to the bear’s carcass.

.....

<Unknown species. Class one star, intermediate level.

System: Aura.

Description: Its flesh is brimming with strong vitality and stores a lot of nutrients. The heart has the highest concentration of nutrients and vitality. No other valuable materials were found.>

After reading the information provided by the hunter’s book and coming up with a random name, Desmond felt that his luck today was pretty good as this bear fit pretty much what they were looking for.

Since it was impractical to try to extract anything from the bear at this point, Desmond stored the carcass inside the hunter’s book.

Having dealt with that, Desmond turned to look back at Revna, who had blushed for some reason. “Have you thought about what you want yet?”

Revna didn’t dare meet Desmond’s eyes with hers, answering as she looked in a random direction in the woods. “I think I’ll tell you another time, Master.”

Seeing Revna’s attitude that she said, kill me, I won’t say anything anyway; Desmond decided to put the matter in the back of his head. Half of the objectives of this trip to the woods had already been completed, and since the other half was a random affair, Desmond decided to just circle around and head back to town.

Revna and Desmond weren’t quite far from where the bear died when Revna stopped in her tracks. The girl’s gaze quickly scanned her surroundings with vigilance and passed Desmond a warning.

“Master, I feel some disturbances in the shadows around us.”

“Those panthers again?” Desmond asked as he took some things out of his backpack.

Revna’s shadow began to shake as she used her senses to scan more closely. “Half a dozen, they are slowly approaching. They’ll make contact with us in ten seconds or less.”

Desmond produced three portable surveillance cameras from his backpack, which he threw at Revna. “Do you think you have time to place these before you hide in my shadow?”

Instead of responding, Revna moved as fast as a wraith, pausing three times to set up and activate the surveillance cameras before darting back into Desmond’s shadow.

“Five seconds to spare. It seems that my shadow is quite fast.” Desmond commented both to himself and to Revna.

If anyone else saw what was going on, he wondered; What the hell is Desmond doing? The answer would be: Gather information and evidence. This wasn’t just a spur of the moment, something obvious since Desmond even came prepared with cameras.

This was related to a part of the new military reforms. There was a detailed list of ways to obtain military credits, and the information about humanoid mutant beasts was on that list.

High-profile arrests, intelligence gathering, embargoes of prohibited materials in large quantities, and even murder were on that list, with a list of wanted targets attached.

Desmond had already begun formulating a plan to use this reform to his advantage, but much of that plan would take time and the right conditions. In fact, his trip to the woods was more of a lucky break than anything else.

Information on mutated humanoid beasts was pretty high on the list, so Desmond decided to walk around, hoping to find something. Since the more accurate the data, the higher the price would be, Desmond collected video evidence to attach to the organic samples.

Speaking of organic samples, six of these had finished surrounding the area around Desmond. Though the young hunter couldn’t see these panthers lurking in the shadows, Revna was the one who warned him of the arrival of his guests.

Since there were cameras to record the whole thing, Desmond had to limit much of his abilities, as the military still viewed him as a martial-type user. Perhaps out of boredom or for pleasure, Desmond pulled his two modified pistols. Since his skill with firearms was no secret, Desmond didn’t think there was a problem.

Desmond intended to cut the first few seconds of the recording to prevent Revna from appearing in it. Now that the portion of the recording he was to introduce had begun, Desmond gave an introduction. “Lieutenant Colonel, Desmond Astryd, code: 159753. Video sample of an unidentified specimen.”

Desmond intentionally made his narration draw his attention away from a particular spot where the closest panther was. When Desmond finished, a tug on his shadow was already telling him that the panther had taken the bait.

Desmond continued narrating towards a camera. “The specimen was first seen on the north wall of the city of Green Seed. Date 28th day of December in the year 20xx at 4:00 p.m.”

The next instant, a panther emerged from the shadow of a nearby tree, already bearing down on Desmond. Without taking his eyes off the camera, Desmond took a step to the side, tilting his stance and slightly dodging the surprise attack.

“The specimen displays an ability that allows it to hide in the shadows, although it does not appear to be able to attack from the shadows.” Desmond commented as he dodged.

bang* bang* bang*

Without batting an eye, Desmond shot into the panther’s back, though the bullets barely penetrated its thick hide. “The specimen displays a defense that allows it to ignore small caliber bullets as long as they don’t hit vital parts.”

With a jump, the panther pushed itself off the ground, launching a kick followed by a tail swipe at Desmond, who easily dodged. “Primitive intelligence and martial prowess.”

Having already missed twice, the panther attempted to escape by returning to the shadows but was stopped by Desmond, who emptied the rest of his pistol’s magazine onto it. Some bullets hit the panther’s abdomen and legs, spilling a large amount of blood.

Ignoring the beast’s howls of pain, Desmond continued narrating. “The specimen shows minor defense in the area of ??the abdomen and legs. Its ability to hide in the shadows seems to be able to be interrupted by physical means.”

At the same time, other panthers began to come out of the shadows to attack Desmond in an attempt to rescue their injured companion from him. Desmond managed to escape the barrage of attacks by increasing his strength and speed by a margin.

As he dodged and fired occasional shots, Desmond didn’t forget to keep talking. “The specimen shows pack behavior and hunting tactics together. The coordination between the beasts is exceptional, but their attacks show clear behavior patterns.”

Such absurd combat continued for almost three minutes, during which time Desmond was limited to using pistols and several ammunition magazines. Desmond could be seen surrounded by six bullet-riddled corpses by the time he finished it all.

“The specimen’s combat prowess is below lieutenant grade, but its ability to move in the shadows makes it extremely dangerous. The specimen tends to hide in existing shadows, although it does not seem limited by it. I should add, since a much more powerful member of the same species appeared in the past, it is unknown how many of their kind can be this strong.”

After finishing his speech, Desmond turned off all the cameras with remote control. Revna stepped out of his shadow, watching the cameras turn off; she looked at Desmond adoringly.

By this point, Desmond had already built up such a resistance to that look that he was able to ignore it. “Come on, we got lucky and found what we were looking for pretty early. Although it bothers me to have found these panthers so close to the city, I will have to make a report about it.”

“Master?”

“Yes?”

“How do you intend to get rid of the carcasses of the panthers?”

Only then did Desmond remember that he couldn’t use the book to take anything to the military. “Damn.”