The bounty hunter dared not slacken for even a mont.
Quickly, he reached behind his back and pulled out a new arrow from his quiver—not the sa insidious explosive poison arrow he had used before, but a shock arrow imbued with powerful gravity magic.
Swish!
The arrow sliced through the air with a sharp, piercing whistle, flying straight toward Alan's position.
Poison still coursed through Alan's veins, sapping his strength and slowing his reactions.
Dodging at this mont seed all but impossible.
In that critical instant, Alan did sothing incredible.
He simply raised his hand and caught the arrow mid-flight, stopping it a few centiters before it could strike him.
The bounty hunter stared in utter disbelief.
"Stopped it barehanded?! What the hell are you?! So kind of monster?!"
"Monster, huh?"
Alan chuckled coldly, then with a casual snap, broke the arrow in half.
"If you say so, then so be it."
The mont he finished speaking, Alan once again vanished from the bounty hunter's sight.
Panic gripped the bounty hunter as he frantically scanned his surroundings, but no matter how hard he searched, he couldn't find any trace of Alan.
"Looking for ? I'm right here!"
Suddenly, a voice roared from overhead.
The bounty hunter tried to look up, but it was too late.
Alan's fist was already a re few centiters away—just like the shock arrow had been monts before.
Boom!
Alan's punch slamd into the bounty hunter, sending him hurtling deep into the alley.
He crashed through multiple walls before finally being embedded into the last one, a pathetic figure half-buried in stone and debris.
anwhile, Alan casually snatched the bounty hunter's quiver and held it in his hand.
At first, Alan intended to destroy the arrows—after all, an archer without arrows was no different from a toothless beast.
No longer a threat.
But just as he was about to snap them, he sensed sothing unusual.
Mana.
Powerful mana waves continuously seeped from the arrows.
Focusing his senses, Alan realized with astonishnt: the arrow shafts weren't ordinary—they had been crafted using different types of staffs as their core material.
No wonder they had such diverse and potent effects.
Grinning, Alan decisively slung the entire quiver across his back, right in front of the bounty hunter's bewildered gaze.
The bounty hunter, groaning as he freed himself from the wall, looked up and saw Alan casually taking possession of his precious gear.
"Fighting's one thing, but stealing a man's stuff... isn't that a bit low-class—"
Before he could finish his complaint, Alan closed the distance in the blink of an eye.
The bounty hunter's face twisted in panic.
He hurriedly raised his arms to protect his head, instinctively guarding against another punch.
But Alan's mana Overpressure wasn't limited to his fists.
Lowering himself into a crouch, Alan channeled all his strength into his right leg.
In one smooth, explosive movent, he twisted his waist and unleashed a brutal whip kick toward the bounty hunter's exposed abdon.
This kick was coated with a terrifying layer of mana Overpressure, capable of shattering stone—and the bounty hunter, focused solely on guarding his upper body, had left his midsection completely undefended.
Victory seed imminent.
But then, the bounty hunter laughed coldly.
"Heh heh heh… Kid, did you really think I ca to hunt you without so preparations?"
Buzz!
A low hum resonated through the alley.
Suddenly, seven magic arrays of different colors materialized around the bounty hunter's body.
They weren't offensive spells.
Their sole purpose was defense—absolute, impenetrable defense against any external harm.
Sure enough, Alan's whip kick was halted mid-air, unable to penetrate the layered barriers.
His foot hovered re centiters from the bounty hunter's abdon, yet the gap might as well have been an abyss.
"Be a good boy and surrender," the bounty hunter sneered, licking his lips.
"If you cooperate, I might even let you die quickly."
But in the very next second—
The seven protective magic arrays collapsed all at once, disappearing without a trace.
It was as if they had never existed.
"What—?!"
The bounty hunter gasped, utterly at a loss.
He couldn't understand how his carefully prepared defenses had been annihilated in the blink of an eye.
Only after Alan's mana Overpressure crashed directly into his body did he finally grasp, with a creeping sense of horror, the true cause of his impending demise.
Alan's kick struck with overwhelming force, splitting the bounty hunter cleanly in two.
As his body fell lifeless to the ground, the strange toxins lingering in Alan's system also faded away.
Apparently, the poison had been rooted in mana—once the caster died, it broke naturally.
Alan turned slowly, gazing coldly at the severed corpse.
In a low voice, he said,
"I know my life's worth a lot of money...
But so money, even if you can take it, you won't live long enough to spend it."
Monts later, a group of clerics from the Church erged from the building.
They didn't co to accuse Alan of murder in public—instead, they hurriedly moved to dispose of the body.
The Church of Steam and Magic was regarded as sacred by its faithful.
They could not allow a corpse to taint its grounds.
However, as they carefully bagged the remains, so clerics noticed sothing shocking.
Even in death, the mana residue clinging to the bounty hunter's body indicated a Tier-Gold level powerhouse!
Several clerics glanced up, astonished, at the young man casually strolling toward the Church entrance.
A Tier-Gold bounty hunter had been defeated in just a few short exchanges—and judging by Alan's relaxed deanor, he might not even have used his full strength!
At the sa ti, across the street in a tall building, three more bounty hunters stood at a floor-to-ceiling window, their faces grim.
They silently observed the aftermath.
After a long pause, the man standing in the center—a sharp-eyed figure wearing a monocle—spoke coldly.
"Withdraw."
"Huh? Withdraw?"
One of his companions, a rat-faced dwarf, protested bitterly.
"Boss, did I hear you right? You're saying withdraw?"
"Do you know how much the reward was for this target?" the dwarf whined.
"It's the biggest bounty we've ever seen!
If we pull this off, none of us would need to work for years!"
Bang!
The monocle-wearing leader slamd his fist against the glass window, his voice a harsh growl.
"I only chase bounties within my capabilities!
Or..."
He glanced sidelong at the dwarf with scorn.
"You think you're stronger than 'Big Crossbow'?"
The rat-faced dwarf fell silent instantly.
Big Crossbow—the bounty hunter who specialized in the massive siege crossbow—was a notorious lone wolf with strength few dared to challenge.
Yet he hadn't even survived three moves against Alan!
Even if the three of them attacked together, the outco was painfully obvious.
At that mont, the silent third mber—a tall, thin man—finally spoke up.
"I did so digging.
That guy's na is Alan.
He's a new recruit at Sirius Academy."
"Though young, his strength is unfathomable."
"And there's sothing else… The organization that issued the bounty is highly suspicious.
Everything points to it being a front for Lioncrest Academy."
"It's likely we've stumbled into a power struggle between two great factions."
"And in that case…"
He glanced aningfully at his comrades.
"Getting out early is the wisest move."
Reviews
All reviews (0)