Chapter 4: The Good Hunter

The City of Stormfall was a relatively small metropolis whose geographic location was not particularly favorable; it was sandwiched between two massive mountains, with a raging ocean behind them and a great desert ahead of them.

Due to certain circumstances that Elias was not too knowledgeable about, getting weak beasts to kill for the growth of Lumina for Siphons was difficult for those in Stormfall, since there were not enough of these weaker beasts to hunt, instead there were extremely powerful beasts at the top of the mountains and the ocean behind their small town, even the deserts in front of them were the home of mighty beasts called Rune-Beasts.

These were Beasts who had gained access to the higher layers of the Weave and were fiercely intelligent; they even had their unique languages, and in such an unfavorable environment, extreme rationing was put in place to funnel the few kills and experiences to those who were valued by the major powers in Stormfall.

Elias, as a mortal, was not supposed to know much about the abilities or activities of the Siphons, but he had watched and listened, buying old books and records when he could and studying as much as he could to discover their secrets.

He could not be a great hunter if he did not know his prey.

Elias understood that anytime someone gained a level within their stage, say from Rank 1 Wisp to a Rank 2 Wisp, they were granted special points that could be assigned to various attributes in the body, like strength, agility, durability, and other esoteric abilities that may have awakened inside them, thereby enhancing their bodies from their natural state to something supernatural.

This was the ability for an individual to call upon their [Status] and assign these points to the attributes they desired.

Great strength, speed, healing, and so much more were given to those who touched the Lumina. This was the barest minimum to be able to survive in this world where monsters roamed, and that was the main reason why it was taking Elias the better part of an hour to cut through the limbs of Josef, even though he had access to blades made from Profound Iron that could easily cut through normal flesh like putty.

Elias straightened as he fished out a silver pocket watch from his breast pocket.

He did not need to tell time with this device, but he carried it around to disguise his supernaturally quick mind that let him infer the passage of time with precision. No mortal should have a mind like his.

It was such a small detail that most would miss since they were not likely to pay attention to a mortal whose prospect of touching the Lumina was bleak, but Elias had not reached this point by being careless, every little detail counted and he had forced himself to look at his watch anytime he wanted to check the time, as he spoke quietly to himself,

“Eight hours left until my eighteenth birthday. If I can’t touch Lumina, I would have to find a way to survive outside Stormfall. The city would be more dangerous to me than the Wilderness, but even leaving the city would only delay my death by a few months at most. Well, if this is to be my fate, then it has been a good run.”

Elias paused for a while as a flurry of thoughts raced through his head, but with a firm burst of will, he suppressed the misgivings in his heart and focused on the task at hand. This was not the space for him to become careless, not when he was so close to the end, he muttered to himself almost in annoyance,

“In two hours, Supervisor Chen will be coming to check the progress of my work. I’d better hurry before I am discovered.”

Elias picked up the right arm of Josef that was lying by the side of the torso. There was surprisingly little blood from the cut, barely a single drop had spilled, and it gave the body before him an unreal quality as if he was looking at a mannequin and not the remnants of a once-breathing man.

This lack of blood was not because Josef had bled out, nor was it a side effect of the poison he had used on this Siphon.

Of course, he had used poison; how else was it possible for a mortal to kill a Siphon?

The lack of blood inside this body was caused by something else—his second greatest secret, and what assisted him in his hunt.

Anyone who suspected that a mortal was killing a Siphon would most likely think that a Rune Weapon was involved, but Elias had no access to these special weapons, just his secrets.

He could attempt to craft a Rune Weapon, however, forging such a thing would easily kill any mortal, but with his regenerative powers he should be able to muscle his way through the process, however, even if he did, he would not have the Lumina to power this weapon, although he heard of special processes that could be used to make such a thing possible, even for mortals, he did not have those techniques as they required specialized sources to learn.

His greatest advantage was his ability to heal from grievous injuries rather quickly; it did nothing to aid him against a man who was strong enough to crush him like a bug with his pinky finger, and who also had the durability to disregard the sort of physical trauma that would kill fifty normal men.

His healing abilities were also not all-powerful; a single powerful blow from Josef would simply vaporize the part of his body that was hit, a few more blows would crush him entirely, and his healing powers would not be able to drag him back from such grievous trauma.

Elias suspected that a well-timed blow to his skull with sufficient force that could pulverize his head would instantly kill him; losing his heart or bleeding out for too long would also kill him, and so, his only recourse was poison. It had to be something extremely lethal yet nondescript for his hunts to succeed.

There were extremely few poisons that could fit this bill, at least of the sort that was available to mortals, but Elias was lucky, and his poison was quite special.

He was not afraid that details about it would be available to anyone outside, so this gave him an edge in his hunt, and it helped that until it was fully activated, he could repeatedly dose his target for weeks, and they would not have any idea about his actions or would any adverse effect be noticed.

Bringing the arm of Josef up to a square box that was suspiciously the exact dimension that could fit it, Elias placed the arm into it, and he did the same for the rest of the limbs, each of them finding their way into their respective box, and then he went forward and picked up the head of Josef.

Looking at the slack face for the last time, he spoke softly to it, as if the man could hear him,

“Six long years before my blade found your heart, the wait had been excruciating, but I hope your end was good for you, as much as it was good for me. I took my time with this hunt.”

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