PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

Based only on the above and on how much they argued each time they saw each other, one might think that they did not have good chemistry in combat ... but whoever thought that would make a big mistake.

Despite the many differences between them, when it came to dexterity and adaptability none of them was anything less than exceptional; which gave them great compatibility when they were fighting side by side.

And when the countdown whispered by Desmond reached zero, they again tested their great combat ability.

Still keeping active in conjunction with Desmond advanced with moderate speed as he descended the stairs, readying both daggers in a position that would remind someone of the drawing stance of a two-sword user, and he began the activation of

Remembering exactly the position of the guards and his approximate distance to them, Desmond got almost to the point where his body would soon become visible to everyone in the room even in low lighting, and immediately attacked.

Unable to see his targets yet, Desmond completely relied on his instincts for this attack, a stream of metallic mana flowing from Desmond’s body into his daggers causing the beautiful, carefully carved runes in the center of his blades to begin to fill with a golden glow.

At the same time, Desmond brandished his daggers in an outward cross cut, as his hands crossed each other in midair the runes on the daggers were filled with a golden glow, and a fraction of a second later the daggers transformed into a pair of golden long swords.

With the handle and blade of the silver daggers still visible one could say that these golden blades were nothing more than a mana construct but if someone thought that made them less dangerous he couldn′t be more wrong.

.....

The golden blades cut both corners of the wall that pigeonhole the stairs without any problem and according to Desmond’s calculations, the blades must also have cut the throats of both guards stationed at those same corners.

Without being able to get immediate confirmation Desmond had to trust not only his instincts but also in Xiauyue who was running after him.

Barely a fraction of a second after brandishing his daggers, Desmond had finished descending the stairs and immediately retracted the momentum with which he brandished his daggers bringing both arms back as he throws his now deactivated silver daggers at the group of guards who now glared at him in fury and surprise.

One of the guards had just started to stand up from the table where he had previously been eating and drinking with his companions when he saw a silver flash fly in his direction, to his bad fortune although his strength was not bad, right now his senses were quite hampered by all the alcohol he had consumed and his reflexes were barely a couple of thousandths of a second late.

Unfortunately, that couple of thousandths of a second was all that differentiated life from death in scenarios like this and this was no exception, now with a dagger inserted up to the pommel in his right eye socket where there used to be no such class of sharp object; the body of the guard stumbled backward and fell into the chair he had just risen from.

Unlike his partner, the second guard who saw a silver flash in his direction did have enough time to avoid being hit at a vital point and although having a dagger stuck in the left shoulder was not comfortable this was still better than being dead.

Even after seeing that one of his daggers had failed Desmond’s expression did not change in the slightest, nor did his course of action, as soon as Desmond threw his daggers he lowered his posture to almost squatting as he quickly drew his bow from the hunter’s book and took the opportunity to take a quick look at the guards on the side of the stairs he killed just a second ago.

One might think, wasn’t it a bit inappropriate to use a bow for battle in such a confined room as this? well, that was quite true, but Desmond had still drawn his bow and was even on his way to mount a guarded posture at the foot of the stairs.

And the reason was very simple, the four subjects in the room who glared at him for killing his comrades were not his problem, no, now they were the problem of the girl behind him.

Xiauyue who knew her time to shine had come and directly used as she stepped on the back of Desmond who had ducked to allow her to pass through the narrow entrance of the staircase.

Desmond barely felt the weight of the girl on his back, only based on the sensation Desmond would say that the girl weighed no more than a couple of kilos maximum but he knew that such a thing was impossible so he assumed it was related to the ability of movement Xiauyue used to make those almost instantaneous erratic movements that made her so dangerous.

And Desmond was correct, he immediately saw Xiauyue appear in an almost ghostly manner in front of the first two individuals to advance towards the stairs, and with his acute senses currently being amplified Desmond heard Xiauyue mutter: “”

He immediately watched as Xiauyue unsheathed the short sword tied behind her back, a projection of herself made of streams of Ki that mimicked a stormy sea manifested beside Xiauyue also with a sword of Ki in hand.

It was almost graceful and poetic the way Xiauyue moved when fighting but that by no means made her less lethal, with a single subtle twist of her wrist the sword in her hand and the sword in her projection hand sliced ??through both of the individuals in front of her without allowing them to resist in the least.

The cut was extremely subtle like a raindrop falling from the sky alone, barely carrying with it a brief and very faint distortion in the way the light is reflected, but that was more than enough to send two people to meet its creator.

And to be honest, Desmond found it chilling that Xiauyue was able to bring such beauty and elegance to the death of a person.

But at least Desmond was now sure that the two remaining individuals would be no problem for Xiauyue so he could focus on his current problem; the people running from the other rooms on the first floor to here.

They were for the reason why Desmond didn′t join the fight in this room and instead he stayed to guard his position at the foot of the stairs from where he had a point of view of the other two corridors that led to this central room.

Well, even though they hadn’t made much noise so far, Desmond believed that that would still be enough to attract the attention of other guards ... and he was right.

As Xiauyue advanced to execute the last two guards in the room with a sword in hand and another Ki projection forming beside her; Desmond saw a pair of guards appear at the end of the hall to the right of where he was.

One can imagine the surprise of the guards when they saw Desmond pointing a bow at them, especially when they noticed that there was no arrow being held by him, the poor bastards only understood this strange scene when they felt an indescribable pain in their chests.

Obviously, it was not Desmond who forgot to put an arrow in his bow but by the time the guards saw Desmond he had already fired a mana-reinforced arrow at them using as much physical force as he could to stretch the bowstring.

As a result, the arrow shot out with such force and speed that it completely escaped the senses of the two guards who only registered the pain of having their breasts pierced by an arrow that left a fist-sized hole in them.

“And to think I’d be lucky and hit two guys with one shot, I wish all my enemies would run lined up like that.” Desmond couldn’t help but comment with slightly sadistic glee.

Xiauyue who had just finished killing the other two guards in the room ended up rolling her eyes upon hearing Desmond’s comment and replied: “As if life was so easy.”

But to the surprise of both Desmond ended up repeating his previous success with two guards who came out of the opposite corridor, looking at the two additional corpses both Desmond and Xiauyue had a speechless expression.

Desmond ended up forgetting to make a sarcastic comment to poke fun at Xiauyue’s earlier comment, after all, he was speechless by the ridiculous coincidence.

Desmond even had the idea of ??attempting such a shot a third time just to test his luck but after waiting almost a full ten seconds, he realized that there were probably no more guards on the first floor.

But that in itself was a problem, not the fact that there were no more guards on the first floor but the fact that no guards were coming out of the basement whose existence was never questioned by Desmond.

“Well now I’m sure something is wrong,” Desmond said.

To which Xiauyue nodded before replying: “You are right, we murdered everyone on the first and second floors, leaving aside the second floor since we did it in silence; the cleaning of the first floor certainly wasn’t silent, so why isn’t anyone else showing up? ”

As was characteristic of him, Desmond shrugged and replied, “What else could it be? There must be a trap later when we enter the underground floors... Do you want to enter? ”