The Witch Hunter System

Chapter 1210: Crystal Swarm

A needle-like form of condensed Soul Power immediately shot into the distance, drilling straight through the seemingly impenetrable defense of the Hyperion Shard on the shattered star fragment.

Psst!

Alas, right after the Soul Power Needle disappeared within the Hyperion Shard, it struck something incredibly firm and stable, causing its penetration to fail. Ultimately, it shattered on the spot, dispersing its concentrated Soul Power.

’Indeed, a Beyond True Divinity-rank Hyperion Shard with some spirituality wouldn’t have such a weak soul defense. At the very least, Pinnacle-stage Divine Warrior-rank Soul Attacks won’t cut it.’

In that instant, Vaan confirmed his lack of power.

’Then, what about a soul attack above the Divine Warrior rank?’ Vaan quickly followed up with a second attack.

Once more, his Soul Power condensed into a needle form.

However, unlike the previous Soul Power Needle, this new one received the enchantment of Soul Runes.

Annihilation Rune, Penetration Rune, Strength Rune, Speed Rune, Rotation Rune...

Vaan drew Soul Runes onto the Soul Power Needle one after the other, enhancing its overall power each time. Eventually, its power greatly surpassed the Pinnacle-stage Divine Warrior rank, reaching the Late-stage Divine Knight rank.

Indeed, this was the power of Soul Masters when paired with the power of Soul Runes.

An Early-stage Divine Warrior-rank Soul Master was already invincible within the same Divine Warrior rank. As such, a Pinnacle-stage Divine Warrior-rank Soul Master such as himself would definitely demonstrate power beyond his cultivation level.

Boom!

The enhanced Soul Power Needle penetrated the spot on the targeted Hyperion Shard once more.

Psssst!

Alas, the enhance Soul Power Needle still shattered. Even so, it showed significant resistance and effects before its Soul Power dispersed. At the same time, the Hyperion Shard seemingly came to life, evidently enraged by the attack.

Clearly, the second Soul Power Needle had inflicted some damage upon itself.

Rumble...!

Within moments, the shattered star fragment’s entire crystal region seemingly came to life as the Hyperion Shards rattled with low-rumbling vibrations.

Although they possessed only a trace of spirituality and were hardly sentient, Vaan could tell they were expressing anger. Even so, all they could do was express their anger. After all, they were embedded in the shattered star fragment and couldn’t move.

Ultimately, they were just high-level minerals, not some life forms.

They couldn’t chase him, even if they wanted to—or so Vaan had thought until he discovered large numbers of small Hyperion Shards breaking away from the main body, heading in his direction. ⱤÅƝ𝐨ᛒƐŠ

"This..." Vaan uttered with surprise.

"Sir Vaan, we need to leave! We’ve made a mistake. This crystal region is a giant nest, full of crystallized life forms!"

Empyrean Oceanheart quickly urged as she hurried back, clearly being chased by a separate swarm of humanoid Hyperion Shards.

"Indeed!"

Vaan acknowledged the situation.

Seeing the large swarm of humanoid Hyperion Shards that emerged from the depths of the crystal region, he confirmed nearly millions of crystallized life forms.

The Hyperion Shards themselves could not move.

However, it was a completely different story once they assimilated other beings or their corpses, which effectively parasitized them. It could be said that once they parasitized other beings or their corpses, they were no longer mere minerals but a crystal race!

Swoosh!

Shortly after Empyrean Oceanheart returned, she immediately grabbed Vaan and Seraphina before shooting off into the distance, crossing a vast stretch of space.

The scenery rapidly changed before Vaan and Seraphina found themselves in a new region of shattered star fragments, where there was almost no presence of the Hyperion Shards nearby.

Afterward, Empyrean Oceanheart used a sensory spell to check on the agitated crystal swarm. She saw that they were already returning to their crystal colony after losing their targets.

"It seems the crystal swarm won’t chase if we quickly escape their sight... No, wait..."

Empyrean Oceanheart was about to end her sensory spell when she detected the crystal swarm suddenly turning, locking on her direction, and beginning a frenzied rush once more.

"What!"

She was immediately astonished by the crystal swarm’s movements.

Clearly, the swarm of crystal life forms had lost their target and intended to return to their nest. Yet in the next moment, they found her location and gave chase again.

Empyrean Oceanheart hurriedly cancelled her sensory spell, waited a short period, then cast it again to check on the crystal swarm. Sure enough, the crystal swarm originally returned to its nest, but soon set out towards her direction.

"This..."

"What’s the matter?"

"The crystal swarm seems to be able to sense my gaze whenever I peek at them through a sensory spell."

"Is that so? It seems these crystal life forms can’t be underestimated. Even though their spirituality is undeveloped, they are ultimately born from materials of a higher dimension. This might grant them extraordinary instincts."

After listening to Empyrean Oceanheart’s recount, Vaan quickly speculated on the cause.

"We must have moved several dozen light-years away, right? To think those strange creatures could sense our magical gaze from so far away with just their instincts. That is too terrifying."

Seraphina was absolutely astonished by Vaan’s speculation. Suddenly, she had a thought.

"Doesn’t that mean they might also be able to sense us whenever we think or talk about them?" Seraphina guessed.

"No, it shouldn’t be that heaven-defying." Empyrean Oceanheart shook her head.

Although Empyrean Oceanheart believed Vaan was correct about the crystal swarm’s instincts, she didn’t believe it was powerful to that extent.

"If I’m not wrong, I believe they can only sense us when we target them specifically. Since we are only discussing and thinking about the crystal swarm as a collective whole, we avoid the detection of their instincts."

"However, it’s different when I peek at them with a sensory spell, since I’m looking at them directly. As such, many crystal life forms can detect me, triggering the whole swarm to come after us."

"The situation should be like that," Vaan nodded, agreeing with Empyrean Oceanheart’s theory. Shortly after, he asked, "Were you able to produce any positive results?"

"Not quite." Empyrean Oceanheart shook her head as she explained, "My soul attacks were able to hurt them, but it was only superficial damage, not enough to wipe out their spirituality."

"Moreover, this was only for a small part of the Hyperion Shards."

"As such, if I want to wipe out the spirituality of the Hyperion Shards on the scale of the Edge Sweeper, I’m afraid my power is not enough, even if I were to make a sudden advancement to Middle-stage Empyrean God."

Upon hearing this, Seraphina was quickly disappointed to learn that they wouldn’t be able to eliminate the forces that threatened them. The Umbral Edge was simply far too dangerous.

"Speaking of the Edge Sweeper, is it still coming after us?" Vaan inquired.

Empyrean Oceanheart quickly confirmed after performing her long-range clairvoyance spell. The Edge Sweeper still stubbornly pursued them. Unless they kept moving, it would take another ninety-three days to reach them.

"We don’t need to worry about the Edge Sweeper for now. As long as my magical power hasn’t run out, it’ll never be able to catch us," Empyrean Oceanheart confidently assured.

"By the way, were you able to produce any results with the Hyperion Shards, Sir Vaan?"

"Unfortunately, no. My situation was the same as yours: superficial damage, and not enough to wipe out spirituality. However, if I can advance my soul cultivation to the Divine Lord rank, such a feat should no longer be a problem," Vaan claimed.

In fact, he figured that elevating his soul cultivation to the middle stage of the Divine Knight rank would provide sufficient soul power to wipe out the Hyperion Shards’ spirituality.

However, if he could reach the Divine Lord rank, then he would have much more confidence.

"Divine Lord-level Soul Master, huh? That doesn’t seem possible to achieve in three months..." Empyrean Oceanheart uttered with a look of disappointment.

Wait a minute!

Empyrean Oceanheart suddenly paused in the next moment. Then, she quickly glanced at Vaan with strong doubt.

"Wait, how long do you think it will take you reach the Divine Lord rank if you start focusing on your soul cultivation now, Sir Vaan?" Empyrean Oceanheart asked.

Even top-tier human geniuses would take years to advance to the Divine Lord rank from the Divine Warrior rank.

However, Vaan was the most monstrous existence she had ever encountered.

Naturally, his genius couldn’t be spoken in the same breath as other top-tier human geniuses. In fact, she couldn’t even think of anyone who could compare to Vaan’s level of talent.

As such, his cultivation would surely be much faster!

"If you can safeguard my body and allow me to completely focus on soul cultivation, it should only take me a few hours to a day to advance to the Divine Knight rank. As for the Divine Lord rank..." Vaan quickly did some educated calculations before stating, "Maybe a week?"

Seraphina dropped her jaw while Empyrean Oceanheart stared at Vaan speechlessly.

Was there anything more outrageous than this?

What did they just hear?

Soul Master Cultivation was supposedly the most difficult cultivation of all paths! Other Soul Masters might not even achieve a single breakthrough in hundreds of years!

Yet, Vaan claimed he could make consecutive breakthroughs and reach his goal in a single week! He seemed to treat such a difficult cultivation path as if it were as simple as breathing!

Could this monstrous genius simply sleep his way to True Divinity?!