Chapter 567 - 563 – THE SEVERED THREADS OF FATE AND PRACTICAL HUNTING

The atmosphere inside the still-smoking volcanic crater suddenly tightened, enveloped by a silence that constricted the throat. The night air filled with the scent of ozone and burnt flesh seemed to freeze as the five elite hunters stared at the scene before them.

For the five hunters in luxurious armor who had just arrived, what they saw was not merely a surprise, but a blasphemy that shattered their entire common sense and hard work.

For three consecutive weeks, this elite hunting group from the Imperial Capital had been tracking the Rank 8 Thunder-Belt Tiger. They had sacrificed half of their best team members, burned hundreds of high-level magic scrolls whose value equaled an entire residential district, and endured extraordinary exhaustion and fear. All of it for a single purpose: to bring home the carcass and Mana Core of the jungle sovereign.

The value of a Rank 8 lightning-type monster like this was beyond the imagination of ordinary people. That pure lightning Mana Core the size of a melon was not merely an ordinary energy crystal; it was the primary material for creating continent-class artifacts or breakthrough potions for high-level mages. Even the Emperor of the Tianhua Empire himself was certain to personally intervene to purchase it at the imperial auction.

If they succeeded in bringing this carcass and core back to the Capital, fragmented wealth would not be the only thing they would obtain. A noble rank on the level of Viscount or Count, the right to manage a feudal territory, and lifelong respect from the Central Hunter Association already stood right before their eyes.

Yet now, all those beautiful dreams and future glory had been shattered into pieces right before their own eyes.

The Rank 8 monster that had nearly slaughtered them the day before had now frozen into a lifeless carcass. And what made the blood in the five hunters’ bodies boil to the peak of rage was the way that multi-billion-gold-coin carcass was being treated.

In the corner of the crater, Noir the small black cat that was actually a Black Dragon was lying leisurely atop a volcanic rock. With extremely slow and indifferent movements, it tore at the thigh portion of the giant tiger, which was the densest energy-packed meat, chewing it slowly as though enjoying a cheap snack by the roadside.

Meanwhile, on another obsidian rock, Sol the soft golden-furred cat was reclining while stretching out its front claws. The small cat was rolling and licking the Rank 8 Thunder Mana Core that glowed bright purple, playing with it back and forth like a ball of yarn or a worthless plastic toy.

"W-What... what is this..." whispered one of the hunter members, his hand gripping a magic spear trembling violently. "Rank 8 meat and core... being eaten and treated as toys by pets?"

"Our tribe leader died tracking this monster..." another hunter muttered with a face flushed dark red from the rage burning in his chest. "And this girl... she stole our prey?!"

Surprise quickly evaporated, replaced by blinding greed and extraordinary humiliation. In their eyes, Sylvia was merely a young girl from outside the city who happened to be lucky. They assumed that Sylvia must have used an aura-concealing magic tool or a finishing bomb to steal the final attack on the Thunder Tiger that was already dying from their forces’ previous bombardment. It was impossible for a girl wearing a sports bra and tight leggings without bringing a hunting party to take down a Rank 8 monster alone.

The group leader, the blond youth in torn golden-lotus armor, stared at Sylvia with a gaze full of dense killing aura. Frustration and greed had extinguished his rationality. If they killed this girl here, in the middle of a wilderness unreachable by city law, not a single person would know. The Rank 8 Mana Core and the entire tiger carcass would return to becoming theirs.

Without uttering a single word of negotiation because for them, a dead witness was the best way to keep a secret the five elite hunters moved their hands simultaneously.

SRING! CLACK!

They drew weapons that functioned as high-level magic catalysts. The blond youth drew a wide imperial-style sword coated in wind-cutting crystals. Two people behind him aimed large-caliber magic rifles with armor-piercing rounds, while the remaining two spun spears and magic staffs, projecting dual magic circles into the air.

"Die, Thief!" the leader shouted in his heart.

Five lethal attacks were launched simultaneously with extremely precise coordination. A storm of sharp wind slashes, red lightning radiating from the magic rifles, and earth-element magic spears shot through the crater air, aiming precisely at Sylvia’s head, chest, and heart from five different angles. The speed of the attacks was so insane that it created a shockwave explosion that cracked the volcanic ground beneath their feet.

Yet in the middle of that attack storm capable of leveling a military fortress, Sylvia still stood extremely casually.

She did not raise her hand to create a magic shield. She did not leap to dodge. Sylvia did not even shift her foot a single millimeter from where she stood. She merely stood with her arms crossed, regarding the five humans charging at her with a pair of heterochromatic eyes that glittered coldly.

As an entity holding absolute authority over death and the underworld, Sylvia’s vision was no longer limited to mere mortal physical forms. When she focused her eyes, the true vision of the Queen of Death opened.

In Sylvia’s eyes, the world around her suddenly lost its color, transforming into monochrome shades of gray and black. Above the heads of the five hunters who were running hard, Sylvia saw a single thread of fate that was dull black, extremely thin and fragile.

The Thread of Life’s Fate.

Sylvia observed those threads with a gaze full of understanding. "Ah... so that is how it is," Sylvia murmured softly in her heart.

Through those threads of fate, Sylvia could read the end of a person’s life journey. In truth, the lifespan limit of these five elite hunters was indeed destined to end in this place, on this day. In their original lines of fate, these five people should have been torn apart and burned to ash by the thunder breath of the Thunder-Belt Tiger several minutes earlier.

Sylvia’s presence in killing the tiger suddenly and unintentionally delayed their deaths for a few moments. Yet instead of fleeing and being grateful for the miracle that saved their lives, these five humans were instead possessed by petty greed, choosing to attack the Queen of Death herself. They voluntarily ran toward the inevitable fate that already awaited them.

"You should have already died ten minutes ago," Sylvia whispered with a melodious voice that echoed like a death knell within the souls of the five hunters. "Attacking the existence of death merely to seize a piece of meat... truly a most pitiful mortal foolishness."

Sylvia raised her right hand with an extremely elegant motion. Her thumb and middle finger came together in the air.

CLICK.

An extremely light and delicate snap of the fingers echoed amid the roaring sound of magic charging toward her.

There was no magnificent energy explosion. There was no complicated necromantic magic circle. What occurred was merely the absolute enforcement of the law of the realm of death.

Simultaneously with the sound of that finger snap, the dull-black threads of fate above the heads of the five hunters were severed all at once, cut by Sylvia’s unstoppable will.

In that instant, an extremely peculiar phenomenon occurred inside the crater.

The storm of wind slashes, red lightning magic bullets, and earth pillars shooting toward Sylvia suddenly lost their mana supply mid-path. The destructive attacks unraveled into harmless light particles and vanished, carried away by the night wind before they could touch even a single strand of Sylvia’s black hair.

Meanwhile, the five elite hunters who had been running hard with faces full of rage suddenly stopped their movements unnaturally.

The light of life and the aura of greed in their eyes extinguished at once, turning into empty, soulless gazes. Their consciousness and souls were cleanly extracted from their mortal bodies in the span of microseconds, without leaving even the slightest pain.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

One by one, the bodies in luxurious armor collapsed under their own momentum, falling face-first onto the sharp volcanic rocks. The expensive catalyst weapons in their hands slipped free and rolled across the ground. There were no screams of pain, no blood spilled from external wounds. They died instantly, transforming into five cold, lifeless corpses.

The atmosphere of the crater fell once more into perfect silence.

Sylvia did not even bother glancing toward the five corpses lying several meters in front of her. For a sovereign of death, seeing mortal corpses whose souls had already returned to the underworld was the most ordinary thing she encountered every day. She did not waste time searching their clothing or concealing evidence of the battle.

In the depths of this wilderness filled with mutation radiation, the existence of five human corpses would not last long. Within hours, the scent of blood and organic matter would attract packs of scavenger monsters or mutant insects to devour the corpses until nothing remained, reuniting them with the earth.

"Nyam-nyam... the meat tastes decent, but a little too fibrous," Noir whispered via telepathy, wiping its mouth with its black claw after finishing the best meat portion it desired.

Sol also stopped its play. The golden cat swallowed the pure energy glow from the Rank 8 Thunder Mana Core that it had partially absorbed, then leapt back onto Sylvia’s shoulder with a slightly swollen, full stomach.

Sylvia waved her hand, storing the remaining cleaned Rank 8 Mana Core into her spatial ring.

She leaned her back against a large rock while rubbing her chin, thinking for a moment about her future plans.

"Selling a Rank 8 Mana Core in a border city like Black Lotus seems unwise," Sylvia murmured while analyzing.

Although its value was extremely fantastical, bringing an item on the level of a natural disaster such as a Rank 8 monster core into an ordinary market would certainly trigger an extraordinary uproar. The mayor, the head of the Hunter Association, and even spies from the Imperial Capital would immediately flock to her apartment to investigate her identity. Sylvia had come to this continent to enjoy a vacation and a carefree life free from bureaucratic interference, not to become the center of local political attention.

"If I want to obtain large amounts of local currency without raising suspicion or causing a ruckus," Sylvia continued with a thin smile, "hunting mid-rank monsters is a far more practical choice."

Rank 5 and Rank 6 monsters were the most ideal targets. Mana cores and body materials from monsters at these ranks held sufficiently high selling value to finance her luxurious lifestyle in the penthouse apartment, buy fashionable clothing, and sample every street food in Black Lotus City. Most importantly, the quantity of Rank 5 and Rank 6 monsters was extremely abundant in the border regions, so selling them gradually at various guild markets would not make people think strangely.

"Let us go earn some normal shopping money," Sylvia said casually.

She raised her communication bracelet, reactivating the blue holographic projection screen. Her slender fingers slid across the three-dimensional map, filtering signals from the Scanner Mosquito Drones to map the nests of Rank 5 and Rank 6 monsters in the shallower northern sector.

In a matter of seconds, a dozen clusters of green and yellow dots appeared on her screen indicating the presence of packs of Mutated Armored Boars, Ice Crystal Bears, and Spiked Python Snakes.

Without wasting any more time, Sylvia turned around, leaving the volcanic crater that contained the Thunder Tiger’s carcass and the five imperial hunters’ corpses without the slightest regret.

With a single light push from her combat boots, her body shot into the air, leaping across the branches of giant trees with extremely smooth speed. The Queen of Death now moved toward the lower hunting grounds, ready to harvest dozens of mid-rank mana cores in order to fill her gold-coin purses for the next night’s culinary adventure.