Hunters: The Prequel - Chapter 266

“Status”

Name: Unknown

Age: 44

Physical Attributes – Strength: 4.3

Agility: 3.9

Stamina: 4.9

Superior Attribute – Endurance: 4.99

Path: Endurance Oriented New Type

“Interesting” Mane smiled as he run towards the last assassin left. He found the man’s status interesting not because he was stronger or faster than the other two. He found the man’s status interesting because of the bit about a Superior Attribute. He knew little about New Types. Although the books Dan gave him spoke of them, it mainly had to do with general information. But nothing about Superior Attributes had been stated. Unlike Mystic Path Warriors, New Types didn’t awaken any strange abilities that let them fly or summon fire. What New Types experienced was an increase in their physical attributes. They usually had one of their physical attributes augmented, with the talent to improve upon that attribute if they were to train. There were recorded cases of some more talented individuals being dual attributed, but there was nothing on Superior Attributes. If Mane had to venture a guess, it was this: they didn’t know.

Unlike Mane who was able to see their Status and judge their attributes numerically, the inhabitants of this world had no such ability. It seemed that this man had awakened the superior attribute known as Endurance when he became a New Type. Endurance is a person’s ability to exert him or herself and remain active for a relatively long period of time. It is also a person’s ability to resist and recover from trauma, injury and fatigue. Although Stamina and Endurance were basically synonyms, Mane noticed that there was a slight difference in this context.

Stamina was placed under physical attributes, but endurance wasn’t. Endurance was regarded as a Superior Attribute. Why was that? Mane reckoned it had to do with the fact that Endurance was also a mental effort. Stamina was also regarded as a mental effort, but it seemed that ‘Status’ defined the two differently. From the way the Status separated the two as different variables, it meant that it was possible for someone to have high stamina, but average endurance. This meant it was possible for someone to have the ability to do something for a prolonged period of time (stamina) but not have the mental strength to tackle his or her limits (endurance). Personally, Mane thought they meant the same thing. The system was just being kind by making it a special attribute, but Mane didn’t care. All he knew was that there was a fine opponent for him to battle.

Name: Mane

Age: 15

Current Setting: Healthy

Physical Attributes – Strength: 3.2

Agility: 4.7

Stamina: 3.9

Test Difficulty: Chaos

Testing Ground: Chaotic Era

Daily Quest: Complete Dan’s morning training [Completed]

*Tomorrow’s Daily Quest: Go hunting with Dan

Goal: End Goal – Become Chaos

Completion Rate: 5.02

Skills: Speedy Chaos [Active skill] – You have caused chaos after only one month of entering the testing grounds. You run towards chaos, and it runs towards you. Run Wild Supreme. Be Chaos! {Permanent increase in Agility stats by 1.5. Additional 10% increase in speed when activated}.

Comparing his stats to the man’s, Mane only surpassed him in terms of agility, but he wasn’t really worried. One of his swords clashed with the man’s broadsword with a furious bellow.

*Clank*

Mane’s wrist felt a jolt, and the pain that was transmitted from his wrist to his forearm served to remind him that the 1.0 difference in strength was a massive gulf. But Mane was still smiling. He wasn’t a fool. He saw the man’s stats so he knew there was a massive strength factor. He only dared receive the man’s heavy sword with one blade because he wanted to know if the difference in strength could destroy him. After all, the man’s blow was filled with anger, meaning he didn’t hold anything back. That was the best chance to see if Mane could accept his some of his blows without blowing his wrist out. And he had his answer. Although there was a lot of pain, his joints were fine.

“Trash who bluffs. You do not know how to use two swords yet you bring about your end!” the man bellowed and put more power into his arm. Since Mane blocked his attack with only one blade, the man assumed that it was because Mane could use only one subconsciously. To him, Mane was only an inexperienced brat who got lucky and didn’t know the immensity of the heavens ad the earth.

*Bang*

Mane was flung back by the man’s strength. But his stance was stable. Although he had been knocked almost five metres back, he didn’t lose his balance and his smile didn’t fade. This didn’t go unnoticed by the man, and it caused the man to furrow his brow. For Mane to still be stable after he flung him back, meant he had excellent upper body strength, and a very stable base. It seemed the kid wasn’t all talk. He dashed towards Mane, intent on remaining on the front foot. What he didn’t know was that Mane wanted him to be on the front foot. Mane’s analysis of his stats allowed him to tell that the man wasn’t necessarily a huge threat to him. So Mane was looking for something else now.

*Clank*

Mane stopped the man’s attack with one blade again, but this time he didn’t face the full brunt of the attack. He deflected the large sword of his opponent skillfully and twisted his body strangely. Then he countered with his other sword.

*Clank*

The man hurriedly lifted his large sword to block Mane’s strike and rapidly retreated. His countless years of fighting allowed him to keep his composure, but his surprise at Mane’s skillful execution of his attack was expressed in the gaze he looked towards the boy with now. There was still anger in his eyes, but the disdain that shared in it was now absent.

Mane took the opportunity to go on the front foot. He quickly slashed at the man, three times in quick succession. One from his left blade, and two from the right.

*Clank*

*Clank*

*Clank*

Due to Mane’s superior agility, the man could only defend the three strikes and do nothing else. The large blade he wielded allowed him to cover a large area of his body and defend without moving much. So he only had to adjust the blade slightly to each of the attacks in order to ward them off. It showed his experience and proficiency with the weapon. This allowed Mane to see that unlike the male assassin he killed, this man’s actual weapon was the heavy sword. So that meant he wasn’t here to assassinate Mane. Because no assassin would use a weapon that was uncommon and could be easily found out. An assassin’s weapon focused on speed and deftness, not brute strength. This was why the male assassin, although he was a Strength Type, was using a light sword.

Mane span rapidly and dashed forwards. He put his momentum into his blades and slashed towards his opponent.

*CLANK*

This time, Mane was able to push him back almost a dozen meters. The man wrinkled his brow from the powerful blow and made a few observations.

“The first few strikes contained equal level of strength, meaning that he really is a dual sword wielder. And he has great talent with that. Plus the little spin he did to gather strength also proves that he knows what he is doing and isn’t a greenhorn. He has killed before. And not just once”

As the battle progressed, the man’s anger cooled down and his reasoning returned to him. Although he was big and strong, he was also smart. He quickly realized that they were mistaken by thinking that Mane was an amateur. If he knew that Mane had killed far more people than he ever would even if he killed for the rest of his life, he would have been gob smacked.

“The boy is just as abnormal as the one he is living with. How high is his talent that he has such high agility at such a young age? Is it 60%, 65%, or 70 %” The man thought to himself as he blocked another of Mane’s blows.

“I can’t even find the room to attack,” although Mane was the one doing the assaulting, the man couldn’t predict his blows. Usually, he should have gotten a hang of his opponent’s movements by now, but he still couldn’t figure out Mane’s attack pattern. It was almost as if the boy had a richer battle experience than he did!

“But that’s impossible. He’s only 15. He must be extremely talented. Yes, that must be it” The man comforted himself as he weathered a storm of Mane’s blows.

“His swords are light, and aren’t made with as much quality as mine. If he continues with this reckless assault, they would break. I just need to hold on for a bit”

If the man had noticed this, then so had Mane.

“Your weapons won’t last,” Hildegarde exclaimed when her sharp eyes spotted a small chip that was gradually widening in one of Mane’s swords! But when she looked at Mane, she saw a cunning smile etched on his lips. She knew right away that that was exactly what he wanted. Why he wanted that, she didn’t know. But it was part of his plans. She was comforted when she saw that the other sword was undamaged.

*Clank*

*Clank*

*Clank*

*Clank*

*Clank*

*Clank*

Mane continued with the relentless assault, and the small chip his left blade was now as wide as a finger. It was so wide that even the man could see it and was reassured.

“But why isn’t he stopping? I’m a Stamina Type, so I can handle this for long. Besides, I’m only defending so I am not expending much energy. But he has been attacking all this while. Unless he is a Dual Agility and Stamina Type, there is no way he would last. But that isn’t possible. Stamina Types like me are too rare, much less a Dual Type. So what is he thinking?”

If it was before the fight started, the man would have thought that Mane was just a young inexperienced fool. But the fight was teaching him that his initial assumption was wrong. He couldn’t get it out of his mind that Mane was planning something. He just couldn’t figure out what that was.

*Clank*

*Crack*

Finally, the sword in Mane’s left hand broke into two.

“Here’s my chance,” the man exclaimed internally! He took a large step forward and swung his sword with half of his power. He withdrew some of his power so that he could defend if he needed to.

*Whoosh*

Mane deftly avoided the attack he saw coming and stepped into an area within the man’s reach. Mane threw the undamaged sword in his right hand into the air and grasped the broken sword with both hands. He was only a step away from the man, but close enough for his opponent to see the mockery on his face. The man tried to pull his weapon back when he saw that something was wrong. But alas, his agility was lower than Mane’s and his weapon was a heavy sword. He could only watch in horror as Mane stabbed him in the midsection with the broken blade.

But that wasn’t all. The boy reached out and caught the broken piece of the sword which had yet to fall and stabbed it into the man’s neck, ignoring the fact that it was cutting into his palm as well.

The man could only make gurgling sounds as his mouth rapidly ballooned with blood. As he stepped back, he felt his vision failing and fell onto the ground. The heavy sword he had never let go off in any battle, slipped from his hands, just like his life was.

Through his blurry vision, he could see the hazy silhouette that stood over what would soon be his lifeless corpse. It was now that he realized that the boy was playing with him all along.

“I know what you want to ask. Why didn’t I kill you sooner?” Mane’s expression was solemn. The smile on his face was no longer there. He reached towards the man’s cloth mask and pulled it off, finally seeing the face that was hidden underneath. He tied the cloth mask around his injured hand to stop the bleeding.

“It’s because I acknowledged you,” Mane gave a genuine smile and said.

He wasn’t really explaining for the sake of the man. He was doing so for Hildegarde’s sake. This world was young, so even if there were any sword techniques available, they would be in the much bigger cities, not this small village. Yet this man had learnt to use the sword in this environment, and had passable talent with it. Mane felt admiration for him. But since he was his enemy, he had to die. The only thing Mane could do for him was to make him leave the world with dignity. The dignity of injuring his opponent. Unfortunately for the man, Mane didn’t want to receive an injury that would leave him sidelined for tomorrow’s hunt. So Mane did something else. He used the same part of his sword to launch a series of powerful attacks so that it would break, and planned to deal the finishing blow with the broken piece. That way, he would be hurt in the process of killing him. It was a move that bordered on pity, but that was all Mane could do.

“You’re crazy,” Hildegarde mumbled upon understanding what Mane did. But Mane only shrugged.

“I see,” the man thought to himself as he finally closed his eyes whilst praying that his master wouldn’t underestimate the boy. If his master did that, he would surely die!