Chapter 165 - 151: Ether Burst

At the bottom of the slope, Captain Field did a few simple stretches.

Under Spiritual Vision, flames shot from his chest and engulfed his entire body. His silhouette on the Ether Layer glowed white-hot.

The knowledgeable Maggie added in a low voice, "This is an Ether burst. Only Practitioner Level Hunters can use it."

"At the Practitioner stage, it can only be maintained for ten minutes at most. While it’s active, their explosive power is several times greater than normal."

Richard saw Captain Field take his first step.

He leaped up from the meadow, his feet pushing off something like an invisible wall in mid-air.

His landing point was the very center of the puddle.

The pair of short axes from Captain Field’s waist were already in his hands.

The axes were double-bitted. The heads weren’t large, but the blades were extremely thin.

Through his Spiritual Vision, Richard could see a dark red film of Ether clinging to the blades.

’This must be temporary weapon Enchantment. Something only a Senior Practitioner approaching Minor Mastery could do.’

’The blades themselves are nothing special, but once imbued with Ether, they gain a dispelling effect against Evil Beings, similar to an Enchanted Bullet.’

While his thoughts were racing, the Captain had already swung his first axe... Richard couldn’t follow the trajectory of the cut.

He only saw Captain Field’s right hand rise and then fall.

A dark red blur flashed, and the Swamp Corpse’s patty-like face was split in two, from crown to jaw.

As it was split open, a brown sludge gushed from the corpse’s interior.

Captain Field, holding his left axe in a reverse grip, swatted it flat-sided, knocking the gushing sludge back.

The few Newcomers present watched with rapt attention.

The second axe strike was even faster. Before the Captain’s heels had even touched the ground, the target’s upper and lower body were already separating.

The third was a Salted Coal Walker. It poked its head out of the puddle, and the Captain threw his right axe with a backhand flick.

The axe spun three times in the air before the blade embedded itself squarely in the middle of its patty-like face.

The fourth was already taken care of by Sarah.

Seeing the muzzle flash, Richard’s gaze shifted to Sarah.

The Female Hunter hadn’t engaged in close-quarters combat; she stood at the bottom of the slope, off to the south.

Double-barreled shotgun raised, aimed, fired.

"BANG!"

The double-barreled shotgun was loaded with two shells, which could be fired separately.

The first shot had barely left the barrel when her hand was already loading the third shell.

As the third shot was fired, her left hand was already loading the fifth.

A micro-circulation flowed with every shot, every reload, every aim... coordinating with each of her body’s movements.

Including reload time, Sarah fired six consecutive shots in eight seconds.

Six Evil Beings fell, including two Salted Coal Walkers.

No matter how thick a Salted Coal Walker’s hide was, it couldn’t withstand a Silver Bullet to its neck joint.

Over on Captain Field’s side, he was already cleaving the seventh Swamp Corpse.

Richard’s heart pounded as he watched the two of them in action.

’A Hunter on the Path of Burning Blood, under the effect of an Ether burst, can cut down Evil Beings like stalks of wheat.’

He stared at the constantly flashing, dark red blur of the axes and recalled something Hecate had once said.

’Abyss plus Hunter: At the same Tier, they are virtually unrivaled and can even contend with some Experts.’

’An ordinary Hunter is this astonishing just by activating an Ether burst.’

’So how terrifying would a Grand Master Hunter following the Abyss Tradition be in an all-out fight?’

At the bottom of the slope, Captain Field’s Ether burst was coming to an end.

His micro-circulation gradually eased from a scorching inferno back to its usual energy-saving state, like a pot on a slow simmer.

The dark red glow on the blades of his two axes also faded.

The blades returned to looking like they’d come from an ordinary blacksmith’s forge, though they were now caked in dark brown sludge.

The two Hunters had finished clearing out all the Salted Coal Walkers, but they had deliberately left a few Swamp Corpses.

Captain Field, holding his two axes, waved at the four Newcomers.

That pool of dark water in the depression looked like an eye from below.

"Don’t stare at it," Sarah’s voice called out. "If you stare at it, it will stare back."

Richard immediately looked away.

"Spread out and take positions around the rock," Captain Field commanded.

"Twenty paces apart. Edmund to the east, Richard to the south, Maggie to the west, Theodore to the north."

"Sarah and I will guard the perimeter. Blow your whistle if anything happens."

The four Newcomers moved to their assigned positions.

Richard went to the south side of the rock, his feet finding a relatively solid patch of meadow.

Beneath the meadow was viscous black mud, and below that, water.

He set down his backpack and initiated the Breathing Technique.

When the first full cycle was complete, he could feel the "door" right beneath his feet. This door was much wider than the one at the Highland Summer House yesterday.

During the exhalation phase of the third cycle, Richard took a step.

This time, he deliberately reduced the force of his push to less than half of what he had used the day before.

The view of the material world receded from the corners of his eyes, and the entire peat bog changed color.

But this time was different from his experience at the Highland Summer House.

Under Spiritual Vision, he saw an echo from a thousand years ago.

At the depression on top of the rock, dozens of figures were lined up.

They were crowded together, each facing the depression, their hands bound behind their backs.

The one at the very front was being pushed toward the depression by two robed Priests who had him by the shoulders.

The person being pushed struggled violently. Richard could see his heels scraping bloody marks on the rock’s edge, his neck twisting beneath the hands of the two robed figures.

He opened his mouth but made no sound.

The residual echoes of this place were silent.

The scene played out, the motions were made, but the sounds had been worn smooth by time.

In the end, the man was pushed off. His body fell into the depression, sending up a splash of water.

The next person was forced forward. This time, it was a woman.

Richard saw that the woman’s hair was tied back tightly with a vine.

The woman did not struggle.

In the final second before she was pushed, she raised her head and glanced at the sky.