Chapter 113: Outcome

Dust and debris billowed all over the place, obscuring the once-clear night sky with a thick haze of smoke and ashes.

This time, however, there were no bodies sent flying in the aftermath.

Instead, Jayden's body stood there, or what remained of it.

THUD!

His once-powerful body crumpled to the ground, now a charred and battered shell of its former glory. Smoke wisped from his destroyed clothing, the acrid scent of burnt flesh filling the air around him.

There was no wet blood to be seen, for the intense heat of the electricity running through his body had seared his flesh and vaporized any traces of bodily fluids.

All that remained was a twisted mass of burnt flesh and bone, a grim reminder of how much he had to sacrificed in order to temporary gain control of that borrowed power.

However, even with the fatal injury, the rune he had absorbed pulsated with a faint glow in his brain, preserving his life for a little while longer.

In that final moments, his life flashed before him: all the inspiration, motivation, and training he had endured just to achieved his goal of becoming a powerful hunter.

He had sacrificed everything—his childhood, his youth, and even his own family, just to pursue his career as a hunter.

A vision emerged in his memory—a man in his 50s, wielding a white katana with lightning pattern on it's blade, standing tall among the corpses of tens of thousands of corrupted and demons.

In his recollection, this was his aspiration, a towering figure revered and feared by many because of his commanding presence and overwhelming power.

"Father... I'm sorry... I failed you...." he murmured as he breathed his last.

***

"What's happening? Is it over?" Amanda asked anxiously, unable to figure out the current situation due to their distance.

All they saw was Jayden suddenly using Thunder Step, leading them to assume that the demon was still alive, and he was finishing the job.

Next moment, another, much larger explosion echoed, and the two hunters found themselves struggling to maintain their footing as the ground began to quake.

Whatever happened in that clash was beyond their wildest imagination.

This was no longer a battle that could be comprehended with their current knowledge.

"Let's check it out," Arnold suggested, his curiosity piqued by the outcome of the battle.

It was the first time he had witnessed a confrontation of such magnitude.

"Okay," Amanda nodded decisively.

In that moment of vulnerability, Reign used his claw bullet to shoot her in the back.

The bullets struck her accurately, puncturing through her flesh with a sickening thud.

Pain seared through her body as she crumpled to the ground.

Her vision blurred with tears as she gazed on the pool of her own blood spreading across the dirty ground.

At first, she dared to hope that the damage wasn't severe, but as her adrenaline faded, the truth became painfully clear.

Dozens of small spikes protruded from her flesh, each one a cruel reminder of Reign's merciless attack.

Unable to move, she lay there pitifully, gasping for air, until she finally died.

'That was tiring,' Reign chuckled to himself, feeling the weight of the recent events.

His carefully laid plans for staying under the radar until he reached level 20 had been thoroughly disrupted.

But, amidst the frustration, there was a glimmer of satisfaction in his face.

This unexpected confrontation had provided him with a treasure trove of material, enough to make him grin from ear to ear.

Especially, Jayden's dead body.

Reign wagered that the experience points and benefits he would gain from Jayden's corpsed would far exceed the setback, with interest.

With a sly grin, he decided to absorb the remaining dead humans first before gathering the bodies of the six fallen hunters.

Before carrying the bodies, he thoroughly checked them to ensure there were no trackers attached.

After he was done, he created six spikes from his back and impaled the six hunters like a barbecue as he sprinted towards the dense forest to hide.

He might appear okay at the moment, but the sheer amount of negative energy he had expended against Jayden was huge.

Reign couldn't afford to face another wave of hunters, so he had no choice but to retreat strategically for the time being.

SWOOOOSH!

The trees blurred past him as he raced on all fours, carrying the weight of six dead bodies on his back. Each stride shook the forest floor a bit because of the added weight, branches swiping at him as he dashed through it.

Once he was confident he had put enough distance between himself and the mine, Reign meticulously rearranged the mangled corpses on the ground.

Aligning them in the order in which he had brutally killed them.