Chapter 765 - 467: The Godslayer Pathway (1)

His slaughter was purposeless, driven purely by the thrill of the kill.

From this, it could be inferred that he had likely encountered a problem during his advancement. He had been infected by a higher being, and his mind had suffered from Erosion.

Such situations were not uncommon among Professionals.

After all, the path of a Professional was inherently fraught with madness and danger.

Only some of the more common Professional paths were relatively safe in the Early Stage, but they too became susceptible as one’s Sequence advanced.

As for the more niche, secretive Professional paths, they were a matter of life and death.

But Aelons had never imagined that such a thing would befall him.

Facing a being who had lost all reason, any attempt to stall for time was futile.

The only path to survival was to risk everything in an all-out fight and cause a huge commotion.

Just then, the silver-faced man in the raincoat flicked his arm.

An iron rod transformed into a sharp, black shadow, whistling as it suddenly tore through the curtain of rain.

At the same time, the silver-faced man in the raincoat leaped down from the top of the wall.

He charged straight toward him.

The iron rod shot forward like a sharp arrow, but the instant it reached Aelons, it was easily deflected by a high-speed, rotating barrier of rainwater.

With a crisp CLANG, it fell limply to the ground.

At the same time, the ambient moisture in the air suddenly condensed, forming crystalline chains that wrapped around the Silver-faced Man’s feet like nimble serpents, instantly binding him in place.

Aelons watched the bound, raincoat-clad Silver-faced Man, a cold smirk slowly forming on his lips.

"Did you take me for some helpless pushover? That might have been the case any other time, but right now, this is my home turf!"

"Looks like I’ll be collecting a hefty bounty today!"

At the thought of the high bounty on his opponent, the trace of fear Aelons had felt upon encountering the Silver-faced Demon vanished completely.

’In his eyes, his opponent’s strength was nothing special. He might not even be a match for me.’

With this in mind, he let out a low shout and abruptly spread his arms.

The rain suddenly froze in midair.

It gathered and stretched around him, forming countless sharp blades of water that looked like floating shards of glass.

A savage grin spread across his face as he stared at the Silver-faced Man.

He clapped his arms together. "Die!"

The next second, the blades of water shot out!

Yet, in the face of this attack, the Silver-faced Man’s exposed eyes remained perfectly calm.

He didn’t flinch in the slightest.

He raised his hand, clenching his fingers into a fist. The exposed skin of his hand instantly took on the color of Black Iron.

Then, he threw a simple, unadorned punch. The pure brute force and speed compressed the air, creating a semicircular, fan-shaped shockwave.

The instant the water blades made contact with it, they shattered, reverting to a fine mist that filled the air!

Aelons’s savage smile froze on his face, but before he could even register his shock...

...a hand like an iron pincer had already clamped around his throat, lifting him clean off the ground!

"Ghk... Ghk..."

Aelons’s eyes flew wide.

He tried to say something.

But in the next moment, the five fingers tore through his neck.

Aelons coughed up bloody foam, his face a mask of irrepressible terror.

He could clearly feel his Extraordinary Traits and his own Vitality rapidly draining away.

Meanwhile, in the mind of the Silver-faced Man—Hu Qi—information about Aelons’s Professional path appeared.

The Professional pathway he followed was called Rain Master.

It included Sequence Nine: Rain-Praying Man, Sequence Eight: Mistwalker, Sequence Seven: Rain Summoner, and Sequence Six: Storm Messenger.

The man before him, Aelons, had been a Sequence Eight Mistwalker.

’All the way to Sequence Six? Not a bad haul!’

Hu Qi muttered to himself.

By this point, the Aelons in his grasp had become a desiccated corpse, still clad in his clothes.

After a quick search of his personal effects, he found some coins.

He kicked open a sewer grate, casually tossed the corpse inside, and replaced the cover.

THUD!

Just as he was about to turn, his head snapped to the side.

A hole exploded in the wall beside him.

The hole was the size of a man’s head.

Looking up, he saw a man standing not far away, dressed in the uniform of a Federation Agent and holding a pistol.

The man wasted no words.

Seeing that his shot had missed, he pulled the trigger again.

BANG!

Flame shot from the muzzle.

Strangely, if one could slow down time, they would see the bullet expand to several times its original size the moment it was fired.

Faced with this, Hu Qi’s figure blurred as he dodged again, listening to the faint sound of footsteps approaching from all directions.

He had no intention of getting entangled. He raised his hand and slapped the ground.

Instantly, the falling rain exploded into a white mist that enveloped the entire street in a moment.

By the time the white mist dispersed, Hu Qi’s figure was long gone. All that remained was the Federation Agent, letting out a frustrated curse.

...

「A few moments later.」

Hu Qi’s figure materialized like a phantom atop a towering clock tower a kilometer away.

He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing down upon the whole of Night Crow Harbor.

The distant lighthouse beam diffused in the rain, forming a hazy, orange-yellow halo. It was like a giant, drowsy eye, struggling to pierce the thick, damp darkness.

Strands of rain danced in the beam of light, like countless falling silver needles.

His gaze pierced the rain, locking onto the alley where he’d just been.

"Interesting."

A slight smile touched Hu Qi’s lips.

’A Professional specializing in firearm enhancement, or some kind of mystical item... But, now that I’ve attracted their attention...’ he mused, his voice dissolving into the rain. ’I’ll need to be more cautious from now on.’

Before the thought even finished... his figure had already become a wisp of shadow, melting into the darkness of the buildings below and vanishing.

The rain... continued to fall.

It fell on gothic spires, drummed against the masts in the harbor, and soaked the cobblestone streets.

The sleeping port city was bathed again and again in the downpour.

But the rain could never wash away the rust-like stench of blood that had seeped into the cracks between the bricks.

...

「Over a month later.」

In a seaside manor in Night Crow Harbor.

The morning mist had yet to disperse as a salty, damp sea breeze, carrying the port’s distinctive briny smell, poured into the room through open French doors.

At this moment, the dreaded Silver-faced Demon was enjoying his breakfast with the unhurried air of a true nobleman.

Hu Qi, dressed in an exquisitely tailored black suit, held a gilded knife with his slender fingers, gently slicing into the bear paw on his plate.

The fat SIZZLED under the blade, and the aroma of meat mingled with the sharp scent of black pepper.

A maid stood bowed beside him, steam rising from the fresh goat’s milk in a silver pitcher.

In the distance, the harbor bells could be faintly heard, and the masts of merchant ships pierced the morning mist.

And here in the manor overlooking the bay, the soft clinking of cutlery was the only sound that broke the silence.

Before long, Hu Qi had finished all the food on the table.

He took the damp cloth a maid offered him and wiped his mouth.

As for why he was now so wealthy, the inheritance from Ired alone was certainly not enough for such extravagance.

The reason was that while hunting Professionals, he had also made a point of looting them.

As Professionals who possessed Extraordinary Abilities, none of them were paupers.

The wealth that fell into Hu Qi’s hands had directly turned him into a tycoon.

Hu Qi was not one to mistreat himself.

Thus, he had spent a small fortune to purchase a manor and hire a dedicated butler and servants.

Although the current era was a terrible one... with money, one could still live a very comfortable life.

KNOCK KNOCK...

Just then, a knock at the door broke the silence.

"Come in."

Hu Qi said without looking up.

The door opened, and a middle-aged butler in a black tailcoat entered.

He held a long case, its surface intricately carved with dark patterns.

"Young Master, the longsword you commissioned has arrived."

The butler bowed respectfully, presenting the wooden case with both hands.

"Oh?"

Hu Qi raised an eyebrow.

He took the case, his fingertips tracing the embossed patterns on its surface before flipping the bronze clasp open with a CLICK.

Inside, a longsword of a uniformly dark hue lay silently.

Its material did not seem to be ordinary steel, but was amber-colored, revealing twilight-like dark patterns in the light.

He lifted it. With a light turn of his wrist, the blade traced an elegant arc, like a twilight cloud sweeping across the sky.

Strangely, the sword was unsharpened.

Yet it inexplicably exuded a heavy, oppressive aura.

"Not bad."

Hu Qi’s lips curled as his fingertips gently caressed the faint cloud-like patterns on the sword’s spine.

He waved a hand, dismissing the maid and the butler.

Once the door had closed and silence returned to the room, he turned his gaze to the translucent panel floating before him.