PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

“God dammit, just die. ”

The cannonball of blue shockwaves detonated right in the centipede’s jaws, spreading its destruction throughout the beast’s interior, viciously eradicating its entrails.

From the juncture where the exoskeleton plates join along the centipede, jets of dark blood spurted out, showering a group of armadillo-like beasts with filth.

Going back a dozen seconds, Desmond was in the middle of a fight with this strange group of bipedal, four-armed armadillos he encountered while advancing into the mines. At the end of what had been a long tunnel, Desmond found a vast natural cavern with some subterranean flora. Still, the cave’s occupants attacked him before he could appreciate this new scenery.

The strange armadillos were about two meters tall, with a robust build, four arms full of bulging muscles of a menacing appearance. The armadillos had the entire rear part of the body covered with metallic scales of an opaque tone, which made them look very resistant.

The armadillos turned out to have extraordinary strength and a strong herd mentality, combined with their solid defenses and sharp claws on the ends of their limbs; dealing with them was no easy feat.

These armadillos also had some strange maneuvers that Desmond found exciting but dangerous. By shrinking their bodies, the armadillos turned into giant spinning wrecking balls. As if that weren’t enough, in their ball form, the armadillos weren’t slow at all. They only lacked versatility, as they could only use lunges in a straight line.

Just as Desmond dodged one of these armored death spheres, the centipede emerged from deep underground. The centipede didn’t mince words, going straight for Desmond in an attempt to devour him.

.....

Desmond reacted quickly but still couldn’t get entirely out of the way, which is how his left arm ended up in the beast’s mouth. In its frenzy, the centipede seemed to want to eat Desmond whole. It was only because of that that the beast didn’t chew off Desmond’s arm when it fell into its mouth, something Desmond was thankful for.

The rest was predictable; Desmond blew up what should have been a powerful adversary by pouring a tremendous amount of destructive power into the beast. Desmond took the opportunity to break out of the four-armed armadillo’s encirclement as the centipede collapsed.

Desmond didn’t expect that the armadillos would ignore him and instead run in the centipede’s direction, tearing the giant insect to shreds. The armadillos tore the centipede’s flesh in a frenzy before beginning to consume it.

Desmond had a strong feeling that these beasts weren’t naturally that violent. There was a strong air of hunger and desperation that could be felt from the way the armadillos devoured the centipede.

However, Desmond did not take pity on these strange armadillos; on the contrary, he was more than determined to kill them all. For one thing, the armadillos were almost devouring the centipede. Still, it didn’t seem like his hunger was nearly sated, which wasn’t a good sign. On the other hand, Desmond had heard about these beasts; he knew that finding them was the same as finding a treasure. But said treasure would be impossible to get without killing them.

If there was a manual titled “How to ensure you are killed by an aura user.” The first step would be to give the user a safe distance, and the second step would be to provide the user time to gather mana, and that would be it. There would be more steps. Since the armadillos did both for Desmond, it would be too stupid of him not to take the opportunity.

The blue in Desmond’s eyes had never been so bright and deep. The aquatic mana around him engulfed him like a flame, and under his will, it took shape and life. What started out as eight tiny blue vortexes above his head, feeding desperately on the mana coming from Desmond and the environment around him, soon turned into eight sapphire blue spheres.

Bringing to life a legend, a concept that dwells in Desmond’s mind, the eight spheres of water transformed into realistic-looking blue serpents. The size of the snakes was not the only thing increasing over time, but also their degree of realism.

Eventually, Desmond reached the limit of the mana he could control simultaneously, forming eight gigantic snakes, which altogether were even slightly larger than his ‘s.

In fact, given the time he had at his disposal, Desmond could have chosen to launch an at full power. Still, that kind of raw, loosely controlled destructive power didn’t seem right for dealing with the armadillos. He needed something more focused, more flexible.

Although it was a bit embarrassing for Desmond, he knew that strengthening the concept and intent used in ability was necessary when it came to Mana and Arcana users. Due to the path Desmond chose when creating his abilities, the easiest and most efficient way to do such a thing was to use words. A mantra related to the myths his abilities is based on.

“Insatiable appetite, you who ruled eight valleys, eight mountains, and eight lakes. Not even the sword of Susanoo could end your legend; take these humble creatures as a sacrifice. Devour them, .”

Distant memories of a childhood reading all kinds of mythical tales to Claire flashed through Desmond’s mind in a split second. Every fiber of emotion, every shred of information Desmond ever had for this legendary creature, all converge in the mantra used. At his command, the eight serpents become more realistic, their scales more detailed, and their murderous intent more intense.

When Desmond gave the order “Devour them, ,” any restraint these snakes might have had was broken. The air of greedy hunger filled the air around them. Perhaps through instinct, the armadillos sensed the change in the atmosphere. The armadillos quickly shifted their attention from the devoured centipede to the strange human in the cavern.

As if the sudden memory that this human was their original prey would strike the minds of all the armadillos simultaneously. They all coiled their bodies and charged with crushing momentum.

In the memories kept in the primitive minds of these armadillos, rolling over their enemies was always their most powerful blow. Something that could only miss on occasion but never be stopped; that perspective changed today. This time, the six armadillos found something that could resist their attacks.

The first armadillo to lead the charge was also the most enormous and most muscular. When its body was wrapped, it was at least 50% larger than its peers, and its scales also seemed more solid, generating sparks due to the constant friction against the ground. It was precisely because it was the alpha, the strongest of its pack, that the lead armadillo found it unheard of for something to crash into it and actually manage to stop it.

From Desmond’s perspective, the no small group of armadillos heading in his direction had to be stopped. Guided by his intent, the eight snakes charged with unrestrained savagery collided with the armadillos instantly. The result was quite surprising, as these water snakes managed to stop the momentum of the huge metallic-scaled armadillos.

Desmond frowned slightly, feeling the tension generated by the impact of the six armadillos against his ability. Still, the pressure wasn’t enough to break his hold on the eight snakes.

Unfortunately, the power of the eight snakes was not enough to directly damage the six armadillos due to their covering of scales. However, they were at Desmond’s complete mercy now that the armadillos had stopped.

The leader of the armadillos was the first to taste hell; Desmond used the two free snakes to attack. Under Desmond’s fine control, one of the snakes pinned the armadillo to the ground while the other two used their jaws and fangs to latch onto the joining point of the armadillo’s sphere shape.

The deep blue in Desmond’s eyes turned merciless, then the form of these two snakes seemed to condense and strengthen enough that they could use their jaws to force the armadillo to uncoil. Both snakes latched onto the armadillo’s upper and lower limbs, holding it in the air with its soft underbelly exposed to the third snake.

Sensing the danger, the armadillo tried to use the pair of arms that were not being held by the water snake to defend itself, to struggle in an attempt to free itself. Still, under the merciless bites and tears of the third snake, such attempts to resist were useless.

Under attack from three giant, flexible and tyrannical snakes, the alpha armadillo was torn to pieces in a matter of seconds. Desmond took aim at the rest of the armadillos with three free snakes.

For good or bad luck, the rest of the armadillos managed to use the time it took for Desmond to deal with his alpha to free themselves from the yoke of the other five snakes. Probably not wanting to follow in his alpha’s footsteps, the armadillos no longer dared to recklessly use their spinning lunge. The armadillos prefer to fight with their four arms and claws instead.

Desmond looked at these five armadillos with overflowing warlike intentions and couldn’t help but smirk. Since he had used the most powerful and purest form of his ability, , Desmond wanted to at least see the full extent of it. These five underground beasts were good guinea pigs.