PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

Faerie’s combat prowess was inherently weak, something Desmond didn’t quite understand. Still, one shouldn’t underestimate how skilled a faery could be at manipulating the elements, especially an origin someone like Kyuru.

Although William had already sensed how dangerous the fairy’s move was, he didn’t have enough time to put up a fight before the small ball of wind hit him.

Kyuru’s attack was swift to the point where the ball of wind seemed to have teleported from her tiny hands to William’s side. The wind projectile blew up on impact, creating a massive explosion that hurled William like a rag doll into the distance.

William was having the worst day of his life; it was bad enough that he couldn’t beat someone in a battle in the sky and even got shot down, nearly killing him in the process. As if that wasn’t enough, now William couldn’t deal with a priestess and a cute-looking stranger.

At the same time that William was being shot by Kyuru, Desmond dodged the barrage of fire attacks from Frederick, who was holding him at bay.

As Camila calmly stood up and picked up her sword from the ground in no hurry at all, Desmond saw William’s misfortune. He tried to use the opportunity to reduce the number of his enemies.

Using , Desmond increased his speed, suddenly disappearing from Frederick’s sight. In the next instant, Desmond appeared in William’s flight path, meeting the knight with his right arm slamming into William’s back like a whip.

When William was hit with Kyuru, he could be described as being hit by a car. But when Desmond met him from the other side with a lariat around his neck, William felt like he was getting hit by a fucking truck.

.....

William’s momentum made him spin and crash to the ground after being hit by Desmond. William’s vision blurred for a moment. All his internal organs shuddered in pain, and if that wasn’t enough, William could already see Desmond’s boot expanding in his vision.

This was the second time William felt that his life was in danger in the last few minutes. He knew that Desmond was trying to crush his skull with a stomp, but he was in a position where he could not defend himself.

Halfway there, Desmond had to break his stomp. Desmond’s face paled before he sped away from where he was. With a burst of rock shards, Camila’s sword slammed into the ground where Desmond was a second ago.

Even when he was using to retreat, Desmond could feel Camila’s gray eyes on himself. She had no problem following Desmond’s speed with her senses. Desmond had to consider himself lucky enough that Cecilia didn’t possess speed similar to his, or with her destructive power, Desmond would already be dead.

Frederick’s senses weren’t as sharp as Camila’s, but his combat experience shouldn’t be underestimated. Trusting his sharpness in combat, Frederick predicted Desmond’s path of movement, unleashing a torrent of flames in his direction.

Desmond could already feel tongues of fire caressing his skin as a shield of golden light blocked the torrent of flames, causing the fire to spread to the surrounding area. The scattered fire blocked most of his line of sight, causing him to be too late to dodge the silver sword heading for his chest.

As if the intense flames didn’t affect her vision at all, Camila’s sword sought out Desmond’s chest with terrifying precision as she managed to avoid Cecilia’s shield of light.

Desmond fed the runes on the armor with metallic mana to bolster his defenses as he tried to use his sword to block the attack. If before Camila was shown as an immovable force when Desmond attacked her, now that she was the attacker, her sword was an unstoppable force.

It was Desmond’s turn to fly like a rag doll, his body shooting like a baseball into the distance. As blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, Desmond swallowed the mouthful of blood that Camila almost made him spit out with that attack.

A furious gale brushed past Desmond before William materialized behind him. The sword in William’s hands was covered in a whirlwind filled with dense and dangerous wind mana. If William hit Desmond with that sword, it was unlikely his armor would do anything to save his life.

Cecilia wanted to help, but two torrents of flame fell on her forcing her to protect herself and Kyuru with her light shield. Worried and terrified about what could happen to Desmond, Cecilia wished he could get out of this dangerous situation with all her heart.

A soft, oddly kind coldness shook Desmond’s hazy mind, helping him withstand the pain and steadying his senses in a moment of mortal danger. Using a blast of wind to correct his posture, Desmond met William’s sword with a full blow from his gauntlet.

“.”

“.”

Sword and fist collided as two angry roars ran after these. The oceanic patterns on Desmond’s gauntlets spiraled as the sea serpents roared with open jaws causing a maelstrom of blue to shoot out of Desmond’s fist like a fang. William’s sword was facing this watery drill, covered in a relentless and fierce tornado.

At first, it seemed like it was an even matchup, but soon Desmond began to fall behind. At the end of the day, William and the other royal knights were above the two-star class. It was already a miracle Desmond could fist bump them without getting crushed like an ant.

No matter how great Desmond’s talent was or how robust his base was. Even with his best abilities supported by equipment designed to enhance them, Desmond could, at most, briefly pair with the royal knights.

Sensing that he was falling behind, Desmond increased his mana output and concentrated everything into a single point. With a burst of wind and water, Desmond used the force of the blast to pull back and regain a stable stance as he watched William take only a couple of steps back.

After suffering several setbacks at the hands of Desmond and his group, William no longer dared to be careless and was now fighting with all his might. That was why Desmond felt pressured by the light blue-haired knight.

Desmond barely managed to catch a breath as the entire area he was standing in began to fill with a deep orange glow as the temperature rose at an amazing rate.

A gigantic basilisk of fire had formed on Frederick’s sword, emanating overwhelming pressure and temperature. From its giant flaming maw to its dense, glowing scales, the Fire Basilisk seemed highly realistic, which spoke volumes about the power and intent packed into this ability.

Desmond gulped nervously. Camila was already blocking his retreat path with her gigantic sword. Camila’s gray eyes fixed on him; Desmond knew she was calculating all the possible escape routes for him. The moment Desmond tried to move to avoid the fire basilisk, she would meet him with a crushing blow.

The same could be said for William, who, like Camila, was gathering mana into his sword. He was ready to charge at Desmond at full speed when he showed weakness.

Desmond’s breathing was ragged, his body beginning to feel the strain and damage of the battle. However, his blue eyes remained as determined as ever; he didn’t give up that easily.

A long trail of condensed steam escaped his lips as Desmond put his sword back in his sheath. Placing his hand on the hilt of his sword for a drawing motion, Desmond bent his legs slightly, thus lowering his stance slightly.

Since both Camila and William took a wait-and-attack stance as soon as Desmond showed weakness while fending off Frederick’s attack. Desmond decided to fully concentrate on said attack and crush his opponent in one move.

While it was true that the three knights were integrally and independently stronger than Desmond, the only person who felt truly invincible was Camila. That woman was like an impassable and insurmountable wall that constantly pressed on Desmond. Desmond knew that Camila wasn’t even showing her full strength. Instead, she always maintained a calm approach during the battle; otherwise, Desmond didn’t dare think about the results of facing that woman.

As for William and Frederick, they both had strengths that made Desmond very wary of them. However, Desmond was confident enough to deal with any of them whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Now with Camila and William still on the side watching, Desmond decided to show this group of knights that, when it came to sword skills, Desmond had enough on hand to threaten them. He was about to show them the second form of the Astryd sword style.