Novel Full Chapter 175: Hunt
Chapter 175: Chapter 175: Hunt
Chapter 175: Hunt
For the next hour, Rhain moved through the Thunder Beast Ridge like a silent reaper.
The Violet Thunder Panthers — beasts that even Core Formation experts approached with extreme caution — were reduced to nothing more than prey beneath his fists.
With his vastly expanded Spiritual Sense blanketing the area, he didn’t need to search for his prey; he merely walked in a straight line from one target to the next.
Every time a late-stage Spirit Manifestation Violet Thunder Panther sensed him and attempted to ambush the ’ignorant human’, the result was exactly the same.
A single, devastating punch.
Because the mission strictly required intact corpses, Rhain restricted himself to clean, blunt-force strikes to the skull or neck.
After an hour of uninterrupted hunting, Rhain paused on a rocky overhang.
Just a few hundred yards below, his Spiritual Sense had locked onto something.
It was an entire pack of five Violet Thunder Panthers resting within a cavernous depression.
Rhain didn’t bother hiding his approach.
He simply leaped from the overhang, landing in the center of the depression with a heavy thud.
ROAR!
The five massive beasts instantly shot to their feet.
Their blue eyes locked onto him, and thick arcs of violet lightning violently erupted across their sleek black fur.
Without a single second of hesitation, the five predators attacked simultaneously from all directions.
Five streaks of violet lightning converged on his position from five different angles — a coordinated kill formation honed by years of pack hunting.
Swoosh!
Facing the attack, Rhain calmly stepped through a tiny gap in their coordinated assault.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
His fists moved with terrifying speed, and physical power.
He struck out five times in the span of a single breath.
The dull thuds of heavy impacts rang out.
The five Violet Thunder Panthers didn’t even have the chance to utter a whimper before they crashed lifelessly against the stone floor, their skulls caved in perfectly.
With a flick of his wrist, the five intact corpses vanished into his spatial ring.
Rhain casually swept his gaze over his ring.
Nine intact corpses of late-stage Spirit Manifestation Violet Thunder Panthers were neatly stored inside.
"One more," Rhain murmured.
He extended his Spiritual Sense outward once more, scanning the surrounding peaks and valleys for his final target.
The mountain range was vast, but his perception covered it thoroughly.
He found several candidates — a lone panther drinking from a stream three miles south, another pair prowling near a collapsed watchtower to the northwest.
But just as he was about to select his final target and bring this hunt to a swift close-
ROOOOAAAARRRR—!
A thunderous roar tore through the distant mountains.
Rhain’s dark grey eyes snapped toward the source of the roar.
His Spiritual Sense had already locked onto the origin point before the sound had even finished echoing through the valleys.
What he perceived made a flicker of genuine surprise cross his composed face.
Approximately twelve miles to the southwest, near the outer perimeter of the ridge — an enormous Violet Thunder Panther was engaged in violent combat.
But this was not an ordinary late-stage Spirit Manifestation beast.
The aura radiating from this panther was at least twice as dense as any of the nine he had already killed.
Level 9 Spirit Manifestation Realm.
"Oh? They actually managed to kick an iron plate," Rhain muttered, a faint, amused smirk curling the corner of his lips.
Without a single word, Rhain’s Flashing Thunder Boots erupted with an arc of lightning.
His figure vanished from the mountaintop.
___________
Thirty minutes earlier.
The narrow ravine Rhain had pointed them toward turned out to be exactly as he described.
Beric, Quinlan, and Jace stood at the base of the eastern cliff face, staring at the sight before them with expressions of pure joy.
Standing before them, nestled perfectly into a crevice on the eastern cliff face, was a beautiful cluster of glowing herbs.
They had silver-colored leaves, and tiny sparks of wild lightning constantly danced across their surfaces.
There were at least thirty stalks — far more than the twelve they needed for their mission.
"He... he wasn’t lying!" Quinlan stammered in disbelief, "To pinpoint a hidden herb cluster eight miles away, through solid mountain rock, the instant we arrived at the ridge... how did he do that?"
Even Jace, who had been the most vocal skeptic, stood in stunned silence.
He opened his mouth, as if wanting to say something, but ultimately pressed his lips together and said nothing.
He had confidently declared that Rhain was lying, only to be proven completely wrong barely an hour later.
Beric stepped forward, and carefully sealed the final herb into a jade box and stood up.
"We have exactly what we came for," Beric said, his tone turning serious. "Let’s leave the Thunder Beast Ridge immediately. We were lucky not to encounter any high-level beasts on the way here, but we shouldn’t push our luck."
Quinlan and Jace both nodded in agreement.
The trio swiftly departed from the ravine, retracing their steps along the outer perimeter of the ridge toward the path leading back to Stormveil City.
However, their good fortune had officially run out.
As they were passing through dense trees, their path was suddenly blocked by a beast.
A Violet Thunder Panther.
And it was nearly twice the size of an ordinary Violet Thunder Panther.
Beric’s face instantly drained of all color, turning as pale as a sheet of paper.
"L-Level 9..." Beric gasped, "A Level 9 Spirit Manifestation Realm beast!"
A Level 9 Spirit Manifestation beast was fundamentally a different category of existence from anything they had prepared to face.
It was the kind of creature that required a coordinated team of at least five or six top-tier Gold Badge disciples to have even a prayer of surviving.
And there were only three of them silver badge disciples.
The panther’s blue eyes locked onto the jade container in Beric’s hands.
ROOOOAAAARRRR—!
The beast threw back its massive head and released a thunderous roar that physically threw the trio backward.
"RUN! SCATTER!" Beric roared at the top of his lungs, his Level 5 aura erupting as he drew his weapon.
But the beast was simply too fast.
ROAR!
The massive panther dashed into a streak of violet lightning.
Its massive paw, crackling with concentrated lightning essence, swatted Beric’s raised sword aside as if it were a twig.
The force behind the casual backhand sent Beric hurtling through the air.
His body crashed through two thick tree trunks before slamming into a boulder, leaving a deep, body-shaped crater in the stone.
He slumped to the ground, blood pouring from his mouth and nose.
His sword arm hung at an unnatural angle, clearly broken in multiple places.
"Beric!" Quinlan screamed, horror flooding his face.
Hearing the scream, level 9 Violet Thunder Panther turned its blue eyes toward Quinlan, and swept its claw at him.
"No—!"
Quinlan barely had time to raise his arms before a massive, lightning-coated paw swiped across his chest.
In the span of ten seconds, the team had been utterly decimated.
Two of them had completely lost their fighting power.
Only one person remained standing.
Jace.
The massive Level 9 beast turned its glowing blue eyes toward the youngest and weakest of the trio, letting out a rumbling growl of mockery.