The Hunters

Lu Yuan had barely gone a few steps deeper into the tunnel when a flash of crimson cut through the dim light ahead.

Panicked footsteps drummed against stone. Four human warriors came sprinting around the bend toward him, their faces tight with desperation.

Three cat-kin followed at their heels.

*Hunters.*

That was the name given to a particular kind of Gene Warrior in the Land of Origin — ones who didn't hunt beasts or brave dungeons for treasure. Instead, they hunted other Gene Warriors, stripping them of hard-won resources.

By necessity, Hunters were stronger than ordinary Gene Warriors. You couldn't prey on other fighters without the power to back it up. They operated on a simple principle: land the killing blow on the first strike, or vanish before the target could regroup. Most Gene Warriors had a deep aversion to fighting to the death, and Hunters exploited that. Facing Hunters, running was usually the only realistic option. If you were lucky, you got away. If you weren't, you were losing everything you'd earned in that run, your spirit taking damage, and your next entry to the Land of Origin delayed by a long stretch.

The last thing Lu Yuan had expected on his first trip into the Sandy Rock Palace was to run into Hunters this early.

He swept his gaze across the three cat-kin. The one who stood out was a woman — black leather armor, a striking figure, a longbow held loosely in one hand. She licked her lips, sharp green cat-eyes already fixed on him with cool, unhurried amusement. Of the other two, one wore robes and carried a carved wooden staff, clearly an elementalist, while the other was a sword-wielding Assault type warrior.

The fleeing humans spotted Lu Yuan and skidded to a halt. At the front stood a tall, broad-shouldered Guardian type — a composed-looking middle-aged man — who opened his mouth immediately:

"Friend! Those cat-kin behind us are Hunters! Run!"

The others stumbled to a stop around him. The warning caught them off guard, but they didn't break. These weren't people who panicked easily; they clearly trusted the man leading them. They recovered quickly and fell into fighting stances almost as one.

Seeing that, the three cat-kin Hunters exchanged glances. Thin, contemptuous smiles played across their faces.

"That Guardian type is solid," the cat-kin swordsman said. "Kill the others first — first target is the one with the sword."

He was already moving before he finished speaking. His combat technique flared; his skin took on a faint reddish flush as his speed surged sharply, and he drove straight into the human warriors with his longsword sweeping in a wide arc, white qi streaming along the blade.

The Guardian type met him without flinching. He gave a sharp grunt and drove his shield — nearly as tall as a man — into the stone floor with a ringing crash.

*Clang!!*

Longsword met great shield. The boom rolled through the tunnel. The Guardian type staggered back half a step, a strangled sound forcing through clenched teeth; old wounds split open, fresh blood welling free. But he didn't go down.

"My Blood Frenzy technique combined with Heavy Sword Body Slash," the swordsman said, tone easy and almost casual. "Blocking that was impressive enough. Too bad you're already hurt."

The Guardian type stared back with cold, steady eyes.

"Get past me first."

Watching the man's defense begin to show cracks, the cat-kin swordsman let a savage grin spread across his face. He pressed in harder, his blade carving from brutally difficult angles — hunting the gaps in a battered guard with the patience of someone who had done this many times before.

The three remaining human warriors moved to help and immediately had to scatter. The robed elementalist raised his staff; spiritual energy rippled outward, and a head-sized fireball bloomed at the staff's tip and launched forward.

*Boom!*

The shot detonated on the stone floor and blew the humans' formation wide open. More fireballs followed, chasing them wherever they tried to regroup. The tunnel was barely thirty meters across — with part of the space already occupied by the main clash, there was almost nowhere to maneuver.

The Guardian type was flagging. His wounds kept tearing wider; his face had gone pale.

It was then that the cat-kin archer turned her gaze to Lu Yuan. Her sharp green eyes curved in a smile.

"This human boy is quite handsome," she said. "What a shame."

She drew the bow. A faint red glow shivered along the arrow's length as she pulled it back.

When she released, the arrow split the air with a piercing shriek and came straight for his chest.

Lu Yuan's pupils contracted. He wrenched his body sideways at the last instant — the arrow aimed at his heart buried itself in his shoulder instead.

*Clang!*

His Gray Beetle Armor absorbed part of the impact. The raw force still made him inwardly wince. Only the arrowhead had actually broken skin; it hadn't reached bone, let alone punched through. A minor wound by any honest measure.

He glanced at the scorched, cratermarked wall where the shot had grazed stone nearby. His mouth twitched.

Lu Yuan: …

That power was several times greater than the gnoll Third Young Miss's arrows. This one had almost certainly inscribed a Transcendent Gene purpose-built to enhance archery. In open ground, he'd have no answer for her.

But this was a dungeon.

The tunnel was only thirty meters across, with part of that space already occupied by the ongoing fight. If he used his defensive strength to keep advancing — steadily closing her room to retreat, narrowing her options with every step — he could back her into a corner. He could take the hits; his Black Iron Body saw to that. In open ground, he couldn't outpace her. But in here, he didn't have to.

He gripped his longsword, his expression settling into cold composure.

All three cat-kin Hunters had watched Lu Yuan absorb the arrow without retreating a single step. All three of them narrowed their eyes.

"He's strong."

"Be careful — this one's capable."

The cat-kin swordsman immediately abandoned the near-broken Guardian type and turned, charging straight at Lu Yuan.

Across the tunnel, the elementalist's expression shifted. He locked his gaze on Lu Yuan and began condensing another fireball.

*Boom!*

It hit the wall just beside Lu Yuan, erupting in a thunderclap of heat and fire. He ducked sideways, face expressionless. He glanced at the scorched, splintered stone. Another crater.

The female archer met his gaze with calm certainty.

"I'll hold this one," she said to the other two. "You deal with the rest."

"Just break their formation and leave him to me."

The four human warriors had stood frozen for a moment as Lu Yuan stopped the arrow cold. Then the disbelief cracked open into something that looked almost like relief — grins spreading across exhausted and bloodied faces.

"Friend! We've got your back!"

"Those three bastards killed Xiao Qi and the others — time to make them pay!"

Their leader, the Guardian type, took one look at Lu Yuan's toughness, set his jaw, and made the call. He was covered in wounds, but not a trace of hesitation showed in his eyes. Now that a real chance had opened up, a warrior with his experience wasn't going to let it slip by.

"Together! Hit them now!"

The remaining three closed ranks and drove toward the cat-kin swordsman. He gave a light snort, his form blurring as he flowed clean through three simultaneous attacks, none of them finding purchase.

Of the four humans, the youngest stood out — an Assault type swordsman with a boyish face that put him roughly at Lu Yuan's age. The moment the cat-kin Hunters' eyes swept toward him, his face drained of color. Cold sweat beaded at his hairline.

Lu Yuan pressed steadily forward.

Fireball after fireball came his way as he advanced. He sidestepped them when he could, let his armor take them when he couldn't. The cat-kin archer kept firing — each arrow trailing its pale red glow, each one forcing him to shift his path. She was fast, fluid, and precise. Her evasion was equally sharp; in open ground she could have circled him indefinitely.

But the walls were there.

*Clang!!*

He caught one arrow directly on his blade. The deafening impact jolted his arm numb for a moment. He pushed through it and kept moving forward. Another arrow grazed armor plate rather than flesh. Another detonated in the stone nearby, blasting another crater into the wall.

He was shrinking her space with every step.

The cat-kin archer's expression tightened.

Just when things looked bleakest for the human Gene Warriors, a scream tore through the tunnel.

Even in his final charge, the archer loosed one last desperate shot at nearly point-blank range — a trajectory that left him almost nowhere to go. He wrenched his body sideways in the last fraction of a second. The arrow aimed for his heart caught his shoulder instead.

His Gray Beetle Armor caught most of it. The arrowhead sank into muscle and stopped there — bone untouched, nothing close to a killing wound.

Call it a graze.

Lu Yuan drew the Beetle Claw sword.

Moli crumpled.

She lay on the stone floor with her chest heaving in wet, ragged gasps, a black blade driven clean through her abdomen. Blood poured freely from the wound, spreading in a dark stain across the ground. The sharp green light in her cat-eyes had dimmed to something distant.

The cat-kin swordsman and the elementalist froze. Their eyes went wide.

"MOLI!"

"DAMN IT!"

Lu Yuan stood over her with the sword in hand, his expression cold and unmoved.