Chapter 301

Chapter 301: Chapter 298: "Looking Forward to Talking with You"Bang" a red flash, and the bullet shot out of its chamber.

"Clang—" a crisp sound rang out as Valen’s longsword blocked the bullet fired by Laryar.

He didn’t concern himself with Laryar leaning against the door but instead swung his sword at Su Ming’an beside him.

He knew that Laryar, his companion in arms for many years, was surely just bewitched for the moment, just hadn’t thought things through yet. As long as he killed this dangerous being to whom Laryar pledged loyalty, he believed Laryar would definitely return to normal.

What theories... what Lighthouse, all were surely just nonsensical words meant to deceive. He didn’t believe that Laryar’s loyalty to the Empire could be changed by someone’s mere words.

"Whoosh—!"

The silver longsword flashed in mid-air, bringing with it an extremely strong gust of wind that even lifted the corpses of nearby crew members from the ground.

A Soul Hunter’s attacks were always dramatic, which related to their combat style, their weapons contained flowing energy, which easily stirred up wind when swung.

The silver sword streaked past Su Ming’an’s eyes, and at the same time, he heard the system notifications.

A Combat Power of 2000 was about the same as Flax’s back then.

The battle with Flax was indeed at the limit. He had exhausted a clone and all his mana to kill the enemy, and now he was without his clone by his side.

He immediately used Spatial Displacement to dodge the silver line, landing on a large rock in front of Valen and extending his hand.

This was the storage room for the Yate Stone, as well as the hold. He wouldn’t use a high-power Spatial Vibration here, but in such a confined space, a Spatial Vibration of a thousand mana points was enough to restrict the opponent’s movements.

The air boiled instantly, a long silver mark trailed across Valen’s body. Valen seemed to have activated some kind of defensive prop, directly weathering this terrifying vibrational attack.

The next moment, Valen made a move that Su Ming’an hadn’t expected.

He gripped the hilt tightly, his body coiled up, his arm swinging violently.

"Whoosh!"

The silver longsword flew out of his hand, like a slender silver snake savagely lunging at Su Ming’an. In that moment, Su Ming’an felt as if he were completely locked onto by the silver snake.

He shifted his feet, but suddenly found that he could no longer move, nor could he use Spatial Displacement. The blinding silver light struck towards his chest with a relentless determination to draw blood.

The prompt for the special move flashed before his eyes.

Su Ming’an remembered that Flax had a similar move that affected everyone, so it wasn’t strange that Valen had such a powerful skill.

He wasn’t panicked but calmly watched as the silver snake resolutely sprang towards him, rushing towards his chest without any obstruction...

"Ding!"

A crisp sound echoed.

Laryar, who had been about to rush forward to help, halted in his tracks.

He saw Su Ming’an standing on the rock, a golden glow emerging from his chest.

It was as if a transparent necklace floated in front of his chest, the golden light drawing a glaring beam as if an invisible hand wriggled down, firmly protecting his heart.

Under the blinding golden light, the silver sword was fixed at his chest, unable to penetrate even an inch, as if frozen in midair by the golden glow.

"Ting-a-ling—"

The silver sword fell to the ground, emitting a clear sound.

The golden light in front of Su Ming’an dispersed.

"Thud."

At that moment, a heavy sound of a body hitting the ground resonated, and the pupils of Ral’ya, who witnessed this scene, constricted.

Next to him, a person who appeared to be a passenger suddenly materialized and fell to the ground.

A golden light enshrouded the chest of the passenger, who now lay on the ground.

As the specks of golden light faded away, a piercing sword wound appeared clearly over his heart, extremely fine and with a very small diameter, but it instantly took away all his vitality, like a thin silver snake that had pierced his heart.

"This, this wound?"

Ral’ya instantly recognized the manner of death of this passenger... This wound, it looked strikingly similar to those inflicted by Valen’s signature move...

"Whoosh!"

Su Ming’an, now in his Bright State, leapt down, slashing at Valen, who had already lost his weapon.

A blood-red shield sprang up, fully protecting Valen’s body.

The sword blade sliced through the blood-red shield like a knife through tofu, and under Valen’s shocked gaze, Su Ming’an’s sword blade unobstructedly penetrated the shield, slashing towards his face like the scythe of Death itself.

"You—"

Valen quickly leaned back, but his words were never spoken.

A line of blood was drawn, and the sword blade, engulfed in darkness, slashed down from his collarbone, across the chest to the lower abdomen, as the blood-red light burst forth from the black uniform of the Soul Hunter, like lava on the verge of eruption.

As darkness enveloped the sword, it retracted as quickly as it had struck, and the light faded from Valen’s eyes in an instant.

Su Ming’an pushed Valen’s shoulder with his left hand, and with a dull sound, Valen’s lifeless body tilted backward, blood spurting and staining the quiet boulder beside them.

Ral’ya, watching this scene unfold, was almost at a loss for words.

...Was this an instant kill?

The Guardian God of the Yate Empire, an S-rank Hunter at the pinnacle, the most experienced pillar of the Soul Hunters...

He was simply split in half by this straightforward sword strike, from the chest to the lower abdomen.

The Soul Hunters’ proudly boasted defensive Soul Shield, like paper, was instantly split under that sword blanketed with dark energy, providing no protection whatsoever.

Ral’ya put himself in the shoes of the Viscount’s enemy. If it had been he who fought a battle of life and death, he feared the outcome would have been the same.

He had heard that Su Rin, the Viscount of the Yate, was just a declining noble from a family that was on a downward spiral, unaccomplished in both the arts and the military. He had only abandoned the dreary Empire because he liked the way the man spoke, finding his words moving.

But now...

The man’s strength was clearly on par with any S-rank Soul Hunter.

Why had he stayed undercover in the Yate for so long...

Su Ming’an pushed away Valen and took a step back, hearing the familiar system voice.

The golden-red badge appeared in Su Ming’an’s hand, he put away the badge and pulled out a long cloth, wiping the blood-stained blade in his hand.

By now, he had learned a bit about weapon care, at least not to let its durability drop too quickly.

"Viscount, the golden light just now was..." Rarya approached from the side.

At this moment, not just Rarya, but the barrage of comments seemed somewhat agitated:

Su Ming’an folded up the cloth, flipping over the sword that was as reflective as a mirror, the cold light reflecting in his eyes.

He looked at Rarya: "You can think of it as my divine skill."

"Oh." Rarya nodded with interest: "Such a powerful divine skill... I didn’t expect the Viscount to have such a trump card."

Su Ming’an didn’t speak.

He indeed used the Ruler’s active skill on Rarya to enhance the other’s favorability towards him.

But in reality, this skill does not forcibly change a person’s will, nor does it twist another’s faith, it just makes the other party subconsciously fond of him, like coming across someone they instinctively trust.

That it worked so well, to the extent that Rarya decided to shift his allegiance, was mainly because Rarya himself had very little loyalty to the Empire to begin with.

All it took was a casual chat with Rarya about life’s aspirations in the early morning, and he decided to abandon the now drearily rigid Empire to travel together with Su Ming’an.

As long as the seductiveness of what Su Ming’an described as his ideal outweighed Rarya’s interest in the Empire, Rarya would naturally change sides.

As Rarya said before, he admires "freedom, reason, and romance," a person of whimsical nature indeed.

Plus the addition of favorability and an S+ charm boost, Rarya had been entirely seduced by the future painted by Su Ming’an.

"...Alas, I wanted to spare that guy Valen’s life." Rarya said somewhat regretfully: "Too bad, Viscount, your special ability to solidify the energy of the Yate Stone can’t be revealed, huh? Valen just had to test you with the Yate Stone, what a pity. The guy was good in every way, just too stubborn, too defiant, and too fixated on one person... I did try to advise him before..."

As he spoke, he suddenly saw Su Ming’an climbing back up onto the boulder using a ladder.

"...Viscount? Viscount?"

Su Ming’an turned around: "I’m experimenting with something here, you continue with the plan."

Rarya, left with no choice, could only acknowledge with a response, removed the lock from the door, straightened his slightly wrinkled clothes, and walked out.

"By the way, Viscount." He turned back around: "Once we get to the Maritime City, you must tell me about your ideals. I am very interested in your past."

"We’ll talk later." Su Ming’an kept his eyes on the Yate Stone in his hand.

"Looking forward to our next conversation." Rarya smiled.

He wore his hat, leaned on his cane, and walked out of this sea of blood with graceful steps, as if nothing had happened.

Su Ming’an sat on the huge rock, experimenting to see if he could control his energy from solidifying the Yate Stone.

As he tried and tried, he suddenly heard Ral’ya’s amplified voice from outside.

"—Ladies and gentlemen, I regret to inform you of some unfortunate news... I, Ral’ya, and my dear comrade Valen, have underestimated the power of that Soul Clan member. In the recent test, we accidentally discovered the detestable Soul Clan member. During the fight, Valen was unfortunately sacrificed... Now, the Yate Vessel is incapable of expelling that horrendous Soul Clan member and has no choice but to resort to the contingency plan of abandoning ship for survival. Please, everyone, do not panic, proceed according to the Empire’s evacuation plan A, and board the lifeboats in an orderly fashion, our crew will assist everyone in an orderly escape..."

The amplified voice had a tremendous penetrating power, spreading throughout the entirety of the gigantic Yate Vessel from top to bottom.

People who had been relatively calm plunged into panic all of a sudden, streaming out of their rooms like tides, converging, and they gathered, rushing frantically to the deck as if being a step slower would mean death.

"Valen... An S-class Soul Hunter actually got killed..." said a civilian in plain clothing, with a look of despair in his eyes.

"It’s over, it’s over; the Yate Vessel is finished, the future glory of the Empire... it’s going to be completely recorded on the pillars of shame..." trembled a shaman, praying while gripping a cross.

"Pillars of shame... We should count ourselves lucky if we can stay alive. The voyage is not far from the Maritime City, getting on the lifeboats and contacting the Empire, we should still have a chance to make it back alive..." said a noble confident in being able to board the lifeboat.

The dense, torrential rain was still beating down on the deck, with thick dark clouds pressing down on the churning sea surface.

Dressed in various garments, people braved the rain and rushed to the deck at this moment, their clothes soaked in an instant by the pouring rain. Some noblewomen didn’t even have time to grab their umbrellas, their hair laying on their bodies like seaweed, an extremely disheveled sight.

Saya was also squeezed among these people; the moment she heard the news of Valen’s death, her expression immediately turned dull as if she had lost all strength in her body.

"Grandpa Valen..." she whispered, clutching the hem of her dress tightly.

After a moment of silence, there was a slight change in her eyes.

Suddenly, she turned around, going against the flow of people, and dashed back towards the cabin.

At this point on the chaotic deck, a group of elite crew members rushed over to maintain order.

The lifeboats were lowered one by one, and perhaps considering the possibility of a disaster on the Yate Vessel, the preparations were quite thorough. The lifeboats were not small, and given enough time, they were sufficient to hold two-thirds of the people on the Yate Vessel.

"Please keep order, guests from the first-class cabins first, followed by the second-class. Children and women have priority, no pushing—our Lord Ral’ya is still watching over everything—"

People on the deck started to evacuate.

Some who were still hesitant, contemplating whether to stay on the Yate Vessel for a while, unwilling to give up on this Imperial Glory, suddenly heard a piercing scream.

"Ah!"

The scream was agonizingly shrill and brief, as if it were the last cry before a person’s death.

Accompanied by a burst of shock from the crowd, a horrific corpse, with its soul sucked dry, was thrown down from the upper levels, igniting the crowd like a bomb. People scrambled onto the boats, afraid to be a step too slow.

And then moments later, more screams came from the cabin, and a splash of blood flew out, splattering on the faces of those who were lining up.

"Soul Clan—they’re inside murdering people—I saw it—" A woman’s scream rose, and immediately, the crowd became as disorganized as a pot of boiling porridge.

In the storage room, where he was conducting experiments, Su Ming’an heard Ral’ya’s transmitted voice:

"Viscount, it’s chaotic enough now; there’s no need to create the false appearance of the Soul Clan anymore. People have decided to evacuate."

As Su Ming’an listened, his movements paused slightly.

"...I didn’t create any illusion," he said.

There was suddenly no response from the other side.

Instantly alert, Su Ming’an quickly put away the Yate Stone and fiercely pushed open the door.

A smear of warm, fresh blood splattered on his face.

The figure of a blonde girl fell before his eyes, plunging down like a sinking whale.