712 Second Hunt: Monster

"Attack?!"

"Defend!"

The human army that remained on alert responded quickly.

Their army rushed into the battlefield and assumed defense formations.

Varian's mental sense enveloped the five thousand abyssals just before the clash and—

Boom!

Bang!

Shua!

Lightning fell from the sky. Explosions reached clouds. Ground shook.

And blood—green and red spilled.

As the two armies clashed, lives began to vanish like popping soap bubbles.

'Not here, not there either…' Varian's eyebrows furrowed as he scanned through the dead abyssals.

None of them had their reactions delayed due to a psychic.

The psychics from human side were mainly targetting the space awakener abyssals.

It made Varian's life easier, but even after ten minutes passed, he still failed to find the invisible hunter.

'Was I wrong?'

As he was about to give up, his eyebrows quivered and Varian swiftly turned his gaze to a particular location in the battlefield.

His gaze pierced through the smoke and dust and saw it clearly as if the world slowe down.

A level 7 abyssal desperately trying to avoid a spear that was about to impale his chest. But his movements were delayed and the spear ended up piercing his chest.

'Boo!'

'Master, no psychics are targetting that abyssal.'

'It's him!'

Varian bolted into the battlefield, and sped through the crowd of abyssals, dodged dozens of attacks and reached the dying abyssal before spreading his mind sense open.

In a certain corner twenty miles away from the battlefield was a faint presence that he almost missed.

"You!"

Varian kicked the ground and closed the gap in the blink of an eye.

But before he could raise his hand, the world in front of him changed and Varian found himself facing the person he didn't want to see.

Enigma.

Her hand was piercing through his mother's chest with a vicious smile on her face.

At that moment, Varian could feel it clearly.

The despair and pain of his mother, the joy and glee of Enigma.

Enigma…he hated her without a doubt. Surely, she never intended to kill his mother. But she did.

However, Varian didn't want to destroy everything he worked on so far.

He didn't want to punish Sia for Enigma's mistake.

So, right from the moment he regained his memories, he tried to avoid her name as much as he could.

Of course, to reassure Sia, he did try to act normal. Sia already went through a lot. He didn't want to burden her anymore.

So, while the surface reason for asking Enigma to make the potion was to improve Sarah's talent, the underlying reason was to assure Sia that it was alright.

That he could bear Enigma.

If he was being honest with himself, Varian did genuinely try to interact with Enigma normally.

He even had a casual conversation with her.

But.

Six feet.

That was the distance between him and Sia. Even after everything he did, even after he loved her so much, why did six feet of distance still remain between them?

It didn't show up when Varian interacted with Sia or Sarah. It didn't show up even when Varian faced Enigma that day.

But in the depths of his heart…

"I want to kill you, bitch!"

Varian's eyes turned bloodshot and anger clouded his mind.

The muscles in his arms shook shook and he clenced his fist, causing an explosion due to the sheer force.

His fist moved in a flash and he punched out.

Booom!

"Ca-Arghh!" In the real world, far away from the battlefield, a young man knelt on the ground with a pale face.

Just one mile away from him was an abyssal staring straight at him. He was currently frozen in a punching posture. The muscles on his arms bulged as if they threatened to burst out.

"F-Fuck.." Austin Xander cursed as he forcibly stabilized the illusion that was about to break apart.

He quickly slammed his comm and yelled. "Declan! Hurry up!"

Right after he yelled, the air exploded a few hundred miles away and a presence shot towards Austin.

"G-Greh, who the fuck is this guy hating so much?" Austin looked at the abyssal with apprehension.

The mental strength of the abyssal was actually higher than him!

Normally, he shouldn't have fallen into the illusion, but due to his intense emotions, Austin was able to trap him.

But that wouldn't last for long.

"Declan better arrive before he wakes up." Austin's face turned paler with each passing moment.

In truth, not even a second passed since Varian froze.

"Abyssal?"

"Kill him!"

The human soldiers that were following the strange abyssal's movements already noticed he was frozen.

Without hesitation, they rushed towards him, even before the one Austin called could appear.

Fireballs capable of evaporating lakes and lightning bolts large enough to smash down a village reached Varian in the blink of an eye.

At the same moment, Declan Xander, number nine on the hunting list arrived.

Boom! Bang!

Right when the attacks were about to smash him down, the abyssal raised its fist and punched them off.

The fireball blew out like a dying flame. The lightning bolt scattered like a cheap firework.

"W-What?!"

"Isn't he frozen?"

The soldiers didn't understand.

But Austin Xander did.

And that's why a fearful expression dawned on his face.

"This guy…his body moved on its instincts. He trained so much that his subconscious was able to react to dangers and even perform counterattacks."

The invisible hunter's voice was grave and he yelled at the young man who just arrived.

"Declan! Kill him now! If he wakes up, that monster will kill everyone!"

Sensing the urgency in his voice, Declan Xander didn't even respond and rushed straight to the abyssal.

Ranked 13 on the hunting list: Austin Xander.

Ranked 9 on the hunting list: Declan Xander.

Austin deleberately spread his traces to the abyssals to lure the abyss princes to the planetoid.

It was Declan's plan to ambush them when they tried to find Austin.

In fact, he was already on his way to attack an abyss prince when Austin called.

"A monster, Austin says," Declan reached the abyssal in an instant.

With red eyes filled with hatred, the abyssal was staring into the void as if it was facing its most hated enemy.

"But I am the true monster."

Declan's body expanded in an instant and he turned into a giant red snake. Its face was as large as a mountain and its body stretched for a mile.

Even if this abyssal was powerful to block those attacks, without active fighting, Declan could kill him effortlessly.

"Arghhh!"

In the illusion, Varian's fist stopped just short of Enigma's face.

"Haa! Haa! Huff!" Varian took deep breaths as his chest heaved up and down. His whole body was drenched in sweat and his heart was threatening to burst out of his chest.

His very sanity was on the verge and Varian was pushed to the brink.

It was then…

"Don't get into trouble, okay?" Sarah's kiss.

"It's not your fault." Sia's strong smile.

"I…"

The killing intent in Varian's eyes receeded and he closed his eyes.

It was right then, the giant red snake raised its tail and lashed at the abyssal.

Whoosh!

Breaking the sound speed, the tail reached the abyssal in the brink of an eye.

At the same time:

"Hey! Aren't you going to kill me?"

Varian could still feel Enigma's mockery.