Chapter 158: Start of the Hunt
Ka returned to the real world.
He found himself on the bed, staring at the familiar ceiling.
Since he didn’t enter the House of Night through normal means, he couldn’t set the time when he would wake up. The night was already thicker now; he could feel it—so he quickly sat and scooted to the edge of the bed.
Dorian must’ve been waiting for him right about now.
Not to mention, Bree would also be doing the same thing.
And he didn’t want to get an earful from either of them for being late.
"I always wonder how Talitha managed to carry me to the bed," Kai looked at the partition separating the room; beyond it was Talitha’s personal space. He stood up and went to check— finding Talitha sleeping soundly. "Must’ve been tiring for her to sleep like that."
Kai shook his head and wore his uniform again.
It’s time for him to hunt.
As he grabbed the Blood-phantom Scimitar, he reached for his pocket and took out something.
Took out the cluster of Dark-Eyed Grapes.
[Dark-Eyed Grape: A fruit that contained the dark and fire affinity—with the origin tied to the Spawn of Black, an obsidian-skinned panther with the long tail of a snake known to have an overpowering fire breath. Its fire would burn the body of the victim while sparing their eyes, trapping the souls in them.]
Just as expected, the Dark-Eyed Grape is something incredibly powerful.
It has two affinities that came from one origin.
Kai doesn’t know exactly how strong this Spawn of Black was—but affinities that have an origin are sought after even by higher-ranked Supernals. And he has two of them now. He could use it on his Blood-phantom Scimitar to make it even stronger.
But he has no idea how to do it.
Unlike the blood he obtained from the Furies’ Main Path, the grapes only contained—the two affinities originating from the Spawn of Black. They were simply ingredients. He couldn’t rub the juice across the Blood-phantom Scimitar and hope for the best.
It doesn’t work like that.
No, he needed someone to refine the affinities into the scimitar.
Someone with the appropriate Divine Bloodline.
But he doesn’t know anyone with that kind of Divine Bloodline, so it’ll have to wait.
Kai hid the Dark-Eyed Grapes on the corner of the room near his bed, and then walked out of the room. He instantly made his way to the Aerial Stable. As expected, Dorian was waiting for him on the Pegasus.
A look of sourness marred his face when he saw Kai approaching.
"Am I your boyfriend or something?" Dorian asked exasperatedly. "What took you so long?"
"Don’t make it gay," Kai mounted the Pegasus. "I overslept."
"Overslept...? I should’ve left you behind. You should thank me for being patient."
"Stop whining and get to it."
Dorian smacked his lips in annoyance and flicked the lead, launching them both to the sky.
An hour later, Kai wiped the sweat on his forehead and straightened his back.
He’d been grinding away at mining mana ores to make sure he could fulfill the weekly quota, but that pressure had eased significantly now. The others could lend him help by giving away their surplus mana ores without worrying about the academy.
Being in the same group meant they could help Kai without getting into trouble.
But still, Kai tried to gather what he owed without any help.
Kai saw movement from his left; a shadow that swirled and then coalesced into a giant figure beside him. "Perion," He called, turning to face his loyal companion. "How was it? Did your search go well?"
Almost like he was embarrassed, Perion shook his head and looked away.
Seemed like it didn’t go well.
But then again, Kai wasn’t expecting much.
Perion was good at finding mana ores as the Stone Ending—which made him more connected to nature. But finding Awakened Monsters that aren’t native to nature would be significantly harder for him to do.
"Don’t worry about it," Kai patted Perion on his arm. "You have been nothing but helpful."
Hearing those words calmed Perion down a bit.
He could see it from how Perion’s shoulders relaxed a bit.
"In that case, care to tell me which directions you had gone to?" Kai asked.
Perion gestured toward the western and eastern edges of the Fire Swamp, leaving the north as the only real choice—south would simply take them back the way they’d come. And north meant one thing: Kai would be pushing deeper into the swamp.
Perhaps even entering the inner area.
In the outer area, there’s not a single Star Beast, and the Awakened Monsters practically owned it. He was quite certain that the moment he entered the inner area, Star Beasts would be more common, and that’s worrying.
Before he could contemplate this, he sensed someone approaching.
Kai gave the signal, and Perion immediately dissipated.
"There you are." Bree’s bright eyes appeared first, glinting from the darkness before the rest of her emerged. She walked toward him with measured—unhurried steps. "I’ve been searching everywhere. Do you have to keep your imprint active? It’s not like you still need it right now. You’re really hard to find with that thing on."
"Oh, right," Kai deactivated his Nigh-Phantom imprint. "My mistake."
It has already become a habit by now that he kept it active.
But since he’s now a part of the Ambrosia Pact, there’s no need for him to do that.
"It’s fine," Bree fanned her hand in front of her face. "Good news—I found a scourge of Steel-tusked Boars with about sixty of them, a few hundred yards north. The scourge is well-hidden with the lush bushes, but I found them."
"Sixty? That’s great!" Kai’s eyes shone with excitement.
He would need to gather about two thousand and six hundred usable exp—in order to learn Kaelmorath’s second ending fragment. A Steel-tusked Boar should give him at most ten—so sixty meant about six hundred.
That’s a good number to start.
"Yeah, I got lucky when I stumbled upon them," Bree nodded. "But tell me again why we’re hunting Awakened Monsters instead of trying to take down a Star Beast? I’m sure you’re more than accustomed to killing Awakened Monsters by now."
"I grow stronger through devouring things..." Kai answered truthfully. "This is solely for me, so you don’t need to stick around and help if you don’t want to. You can do your own thing, and we’ll meet back up again. I’m still not confident in taking down a Star Beast."
"What are you saying?" Bree looped her arm around his and tugged him forward, toward the location where she found the scourge. "Where you go, I go. I don’t mind at all." Her voice was soft, but the steel beneath it remained. "Besides, my strength grows through nurturing as well as healing others. So, expect me to always be close. Always."
For a second, Kai turned to look at the side of Bree’s face.
He could hear determination in her voice.
And frankly, he didn’t know whether he should feel honoured or scared.
"What?" Bree looked at him and tilted her head. "Am I being clingy again?"
"N-No..." Kai blinked and smiled a little. "Not at all. I mean, it’s good that your growth path is somewhat aligned with helping me."
"Right?" She giggled sweetly. "Now, let’s kill some boars!"
Moments later.
Neigh—!
Kai’s eyes flashed as the three steel-tusked boars died before they understood they were prey.
His Blood-phantom Scimitar carved a horizontal arc that shattered their tusks like glass—and continued through flesh, sinew, and spine; bisecting the beasts in a single stroke. The blade is so sharp that the air whistled in its wake.
All three steel-tusked boars’ bodies split apart and struck the wet mud in opposite directions.
Even before the carcasses dropped, Kai’s sharp eyes were already moving.
Scanning the area left and right.
Five more incoming.
They charged through the underbrush with their tusks levelled—driven by the blind anger of creatures who had just witnessed their kin butchered savagely. The earth trembled under their heavy mass.
But Kai did not.
Having fought their kin many times already, nothing about them scared him.
Their physique is not stronger than his. Their tusks are not sharper than his blade. And their growls are not louder than the heart beating inside his chest. He stepped into the charge; every muscle in his body coiled with explosive strength.
The scimitar punched upward beneath the lead steel-tusked boar’s jaw, and he lifted it.
Kai lifted the steel-tusked boar’s heavy body with one hand; a feat that would’ve been harder to do yesterday. The pitiful beast rose on the end of his blade, front legs kicking as it let out a choked neigh of agony.
Once, this would’ve been a struggle.
Now it was an inconvenience.
No time for a throw. He ripped the blade free and hacked laterally into the next boar without breaking rhythm—the edge bit through the neck in a clean decapitation. The head tumbled, tusks-first, into the mud.
Around, the world eased into a half-speed clarity as he pushed forward.
The remaining three steel-tusked boars were still charging, still blindly raging, still too slow.
He slashed the first across the snout and felt the skull give way. Even Kai was surprised to see how easy he hacked its head away. His free hand shot out and caught the second by the tusk, and then kicked its front hooves out from under it.
A loud, disturbing crack echoed as the bones snapped like dry branches.
Kai flipped the scimitar in hand, holding it in a reverse grip, and drove it into the boar’s brain.
It couldn’t even let out a scream before it died.
Finding it lodged too deep, stuck, Kai let go of the scimitar and met the third boar—with bare hands. He seized both tusks at the base, twisted his hips, and slammed the beast to the ground with a tilt and a heave that shook the earth.
It thrashed. Squealed.
But Kai’s fingertips were already against its throat, and Dark Discharge flared.
A cold, black pulse of dark energy punched through its hide, muscles, and then vertebrae.
Even though Kai didn’t touch it directly, he could tell its spine shattered from the gnarly crack and how its head slumped unnaturally. Once this boar died, silence seized the area again. He pulled back and brandished his hand, cleaning it from blood.
Kai basked in the silence until the tingle of Dark Discharge faded from his hand.
He then looked around, finding carcasses littering the mud in the clearing.
"A good start..." Kai nodded and began devouring the carcasses using Deep Slumber.
[You fed the House of Night with an Awakened Monster.]
[Gained 10 exp]
[Gained 8 exp]
[Gained...]
