PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

511 Chapter 511 Desperate Escape

Roy Valentine, 35 years old, ambiguously single, known as the capricious mercenary or the god of thunder. As one of the most powerful espers known in Europe, Roy was quite famous, or perhaps the correct word would be infamous.

One of the reasons Roy was famous was obviously how ridiculously powerful he was, but his reputation was strongly related to his personality. Roy was a fickle person who worked for money; he was essentially a mercenary. Roy was infamous because of his capricious nature, which led him to break his contracts relatively often.

From changing his mind and wanting a higher reward than agreed upon to wanting someone’s wife or daughter as part of the reward, Roy was known for basically doing whatever he wanted. He refused to honor his contract on more than one occasion because he was no longer in the mood to do so.

Hence, Desmond believed that it was ridiculous for Country C to hire such a person. From Desmond’s point of view, hiring Roy was too costly a gamble where the chances of winning were too slim. Despite the above, many people were still interested in hiring the capricious mercenary; after all, Roy was insanely strong.

Roy Valentine was one of the few lightning users known to mankind; if that wasn’t enough, he was one of the strongest. As a user of lightning power, Roy had two things that made him a threat to anyone: unsurpassed speed and terrifying offensive power.

If possible, Desmond wished he didn’t have to meet such a character in his life, but that was no longer an option. Well, strictly speaking, Desmond hadn’t met Roy Valentine yet, but those lightning bolts falling from the sky at him were already more than Desmond wanted.

From Commander Paulett’s memory, the C Country government had hired Roy Valentine to raze Green Seed City. The amount offered for Valentine’s services was immense, but as always, the mercenary was not entirely satisfied. Also, Roy was already several weeks behind in his task. That’s right, Roy Valentine was supposed to have already attacked Green Seed City weeks ago; Desmond almost had a heart attack when he saw that particular detail in Paulett’s memory.

In a way, Desmond was grateful for Roy Valentine’s gross irresponsibility. However, that feeling of gratitude was fading fast with every bolt of lightning Desmond managed to dodge at the last second.

At this point, Desmond had already moved away from the city of Verimar by almost a kilometer, but Roy, giving chase from the sky, still hadn’t given up chasing him.

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Speed ??was always one of the strongest aspects of Desmond, who had always put considerable effort into developing movement and strength skills. However, all of Desmond’s efforts barely kept him alive; asking for anything else was too much.

The combination of the mana boost and wind-propulsion from the movement skill, , with the general strengthening skill, was barely giving Desmond the speed he needed to get out of the way every time a bolt of lightning fell from the sky.

Unlike a standard beam that traveled at the speed of light, Roy’s attacks were slower, as expected. Strictly speaking, these were artificial lighting created with mana.

In the same way that Sasha could create fire with solar properties but not something as hot as the sun, Roy could create something with electrical properties but not as fast as light; otherwise, no one in the world would be a match for Roy Valentine. While Roy Valentine’s attacks didn’t travel as quickly as light, they were still too fast for Desmond.

Once again, Desmond felt the deceptively seductive caress of death run down his spine. Without a second thought, Desmond overloaded his body with mana, putting tremendous strain on his muscular and skeletal system so he could burst with speed and dodge a gigantic lightning bolt.

Standing on a lightning platform nearly a hundred meters above the sky, Roy Valentine watched with cruel interest. Literally, on a whim, Roy fired lightning bolts at Desmond from time to time and was entertained by watching Desmond try his best just not to die.

Among the many things that Roy Valentine enjoyed, this type of deadly and sadistic entertainment was one of them. In fact, Valentine’s infamy regarding these matters was so great that even a person who never watched the news or read magazines like Desmond knew of such things.

Running out of Verimar’s headquarters, Desmond had made as much noise as possible to attract Valentine’s attention before the damned psychopath noticed Silvia or Claire.

As expected of an individual like Valentine, his name was almost a symbol of terror for women around Europe. Valentine was not only lustful, but he had no moral limits preventing him from getting what he wanted.

Not that Desmond wanted to brag, but Claire was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen; only supernatural entities like Katya and Titania could surpass Claire’s youthful and fresh beauty. On the other hand, Silvia was a beauty on the same level as Claire; it didn’t take any precognitive ability to know what would happen if that bastard Valentine laid eyes on them.

Unfortunately, none of those details mattered to Desmond right now; the only thing that mattered now was finding a way to escape from Valentine. With each passing second, it became harder for Desmond to keep dodging the barrage of lightning.

After sidestepping a lightning bolt as thick as a person’s torso, while Desmond was still in the air, a flash of light in the sky made Desmond see that he had walked into a trap.

Valentine wasn’t just a brute who only knew how to attack with no plan in mind. Evidently, the mercenary had gotten tired of playing around and was now trying to kill Desmond by using well-coordinated continuous attacks.

Despite the lack of time to react, Desmond had already been expecting something like this, so as he desperately ran, Desmond, focused every available drop of aquatic mana and stored it in the two blue gloves on his arms. With every drop of blue mana invested, the leviathan-filled ocean patterns on the gloves seemed to come to life.

Still in midair, with a sudden twist, Desmond fired a punch charged with tons of navy blue mana. A gigantic bolt of crystalline blue mana shot out in a whirlwind, colliding head-on with the lightning sent by Valentine. At the same time, a chain made of aquatic mana shot out from a point a dozen meters away, wrapping around Desmond’s waist before pulling him in that direction.

As Desmond had predicted, his attack was neutralized almost instantly. Still, that tiny fraction of a second it took for the lightning to crush the was enough for Desmond to get out of the impact area. As the bolt hit the ground, creating a crater, Desmond’s expression turned grim, he knew that Valentine was powerful, but this was still hopeless.

During the few minutes he had escaped, Desmond had experienced a fair amount of attack from Valentine and now had a rudimentary understanding of the capricious mercenary’s capabilities.

In short, Valentine was easily one of the strongest people Desmond had ever met on earth; Valentine was most certainly in the middle stages of the two-star class.

Usually, Desmond shouldn’t have that much trouble facing someone on Valentine’s level; at minimum, Desmond shouldn’t be desperately fighting to stay alive.

The problem with Valentine was his mana attribute, lightning boasting extremely destructive properties, and almost unbeatable speed. In a head-on clash, Desmond’s attacks would be crushed mercilessly, and his defenses wouldn’t have a much better time. On top of that, running away wasn’t an option either.

Lightning was easily the most destructive and combat-friendly element of nature, surpassing even the destructive power of fire. The next few minutes of Desmond’s escape were hazardous, and the only reason he stayed alive was that he kept cleverly and skillfully using every move in his arsenal.

A torrent of golden sand erupted from Desmond’s feet, soon solidifying into a crystalline-looking amber shield. The metallic mana compressed to the point of forming tiny golden crystals consolidated into the most robust defense in Desmond’s arsenal. Worthy of being an ability derived from Titania’s gift, the golden crystal shield proudly withstood the direct hit of one of Valentine’s beams; it wasn’t until the third beam that the guard collapsed.

As the shield crumbled, Desmond breathed heavily, clearly exhausted, all sorts of plans kept running through Desmond’s mind, but none seemed hopeful.

Desmond had already tried to even shoot Valentine with his bow and pistols, but the bastard was as fast as the lightning bolts he used. Desmond would have attempted to use feints and complex attack patterns to abolish Valentine’s movement speed, but he was in no position to do such a thing; in fact, Desmond was on the receiving end of such tactics.

As time went on, things got worse for Desmond. Valentine’s attacks seemed relentless, but the same couldn’t be said for Desmond’s defensive measures; the young hunter’s mana reserves were about to reach their limit. For the first time in a long time, Desmond was forced to acknowledge his own weakness. Such had happened in the past, but Desmond had always believed it was because powerful individuals were abundant in other worlds while things were different in his own world.

Being the victim of Valentine’s continual persecution showed Desmond just how arrogant he had become. For months, Desmond had taken things lightly, concentrating on expanding his influence through his own military merits or through Garden, and that had led him to neglect his strength.

Weeks ago, Desmond had reached the barrier between his mana path’s first and second steps. Still, following Kyuru’s advice, he had decided to wait for the breakthrough to happen naturally.

Only now that Valentine had cornered him, Desmond regrets his decision a little. However, crying over past mistakes was not Desmond’s style; no, his style was to turn the tables and bite the throats of those that believe they are on the winning side of the predator-prey relationship.

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