Chapter 1: Desert Hunter

The scorching sun stung the eyes.

Under this sky so clear not a single wisp of cloud could be seen, the word "clear" no longer represented merely that warm, pleasant weather, but also extreme heat and drought.

The air twisted into transparent flames in the high temperature, and together with the ceaseless wind of the Desert, it carried away the last trace of moisture from the ground, leaving behind fine sand that melted into the wind.

The sand dunes, built up grain by grain from these sand particles, maintained a posture that was still yet churning, transforming into a sea symbolizing death that stretched to the ends of the world.

Then, the golden waves crashed against a patch of green.

This green was so glaring, like a mold spot inexplicably growing on pure gold, abrupt, eye-catching, and difficult to remove.

Death should be able to swallow everything, but there are always some things it cannot swallow at once, which remain behind.

—Life.

Even in the Sand Sea symbolizing death, there are always Oases.

"Gao-ao!"

The Oasis, which usually made no sound other than the wind, was unusually lively at this moment.

A Yellow Velocidrome roared and accelerated, charging toward the opponent before it.

This small Monster common in desert regions possessed the slender build characteristic of the Velocidrome Family, its entire body covered in scales of a dull yellow-green, providing the best camouflage in the wasteland and the Oasis.

Unlike its relatives found in forests, the Yellow Velocidrome had very short claws and lacked strong destructive power.

What was truly dangerous were those two hollow poison fangs.

Once bitten by them, the Paralysis Toxin injected into the body would deprive the prey of its ability to resist within an extremely short time; the ferocity of its toxin was such that even large Monsters could not ignore it.

The young Hunter, wearing a dust-proof scarf, pulled the Hunter Dagger (Iron Plate Hand Sword) from the prey, casually flicked it to shake off the fresh blood clinging to the blade, and turned to face the rapidly approaching Yellow Velocidrome.

At his feet, another Yellow Velocidrome lay on the ground, its limbs twitching.

Its heart had already been pierced by the blade, its life force rapidly draining away with the blood; in at most a few more seconds, it would completely become a corpse, not worth paying attention to.

Facing the Monster that had lunged to his front, the young Hunter sidestepped the Yellow Velocidrome's pounce, 顺势 slashed diagonally with his sword, striking the side of the Yellow Velocidrome's head.

The iron blade tore through the scales and skin, ripping a wound at the neck of the Yellow Velocidrome while also blinding one of its eyes.

The Yellow Velocidrome howled in pain, yet did not retreat; instead, its ferocity was provoked, and regardless of the consequences, it lunged and bit again at the Hunter beside it who was preparing to launch a combo.

"Quite spirited?"

The Hunter grunted, forcibly stopping his sword swing in a posture quite awkward for an ordinary person, protected his body with his Shield, and agilely jumped backward.

The Yellow Velocidrome, maddened by pain and having held nothing back, lunged and bit into empty air; its center of gravity tilted forward as it howled, just about to adjust its posture to regain balance.

The Hunter seized the opening and swung his sword upward, carving another wound tens of centimeters long on its chest, with flesh and blood turned outward.

This attack rhythm perfectly matched the opponent's openings, a feeling that was quite wonderful; the young Hunter was just about to find an opportunity to strike again, but due to a momentary lapse in concentration, the rhythm became disordered.

The subsequent attacks no longer had that "everything just right" feeling from before.

He clicked his tongue, no longer worrying about timing or rhythm, simply increasing the speed and force of his sword swings, and forcibly hacked the Yellow Velocidrome to the ground.

Giving the opponent no chance to rise, he lunged forward, pinned the Yellow Velocidrome's slender neck with his knee, pressed the Hunter Dagger against its throat, and pulled hard.

The trachea and artery were both severed, and blood heavy with a fishy smell gushed out.

The Yellow Velocidrome convulsed violently, struggled a few times, and soon fell silent.

The battle ended; the Hunter boy, who looked to be only sixteen or seventeen years old, sheathed his Weapon.

The Yellow Velocidrome hide, hacked to shreds during the fight, had little value left for carving.

However, those scales and fangs could still fetch some money.

Especially the Paralysis Tooth, soaked in Paralysis Toxin, was a core material for making Paralysis Bullets; Archers had a huge demand for them, general stores bought them without limit, and there was never any worry about selling them.

While dividing his attention to stay alert of the surrounding environment, the boy wielded his Carving Knife, methodically dismantling and storing away those scales, the Paralysis Tooth, and the Crown serving as proof of the subjugation.

Quickly, the collection work was already completed.

The boy named Aolang let out a light sigh, grabbed a handful of the ubiquitous dry yellow sand, rubbed his hands together, and removed the bloodstains clinging to his palms and the sword hilt.

The scent of blood in the air was very obvious; before long, carnivorous creatures would be attracted.

The first to arrive should be other Yellow Velocidromes.

Monsters of the Velocidrome Superfamily were accustomed to hunting in groups; these two Yellow Velocidromes, now corpses, had already emitted calls to summon their companions before launching an attack.

By now, some Yellow Velocidromes should have arrived nearby; the reason they had not immediately appeared was likely hesitation.

Many people thought they were merely bloodthirsty beasts, but in fact, these gregarious small Monsters were surprisingly cunning.

Following the call of their companions, when they arrived close by, the movement of their companions had vanished, replaced by the familiar scent of blood; such a situation would make them wary.

But they would not immediately turn and leave; instead, they would linger nearby, waiting for more companions to gather. Once formed into a small group, they would launch a coordinated attack.

If asked why he was so familiar with the Yellow Velocidrome?

Naturally, it was because he had encountered them many times, suffered losses, and been injured, so naturally, he knew everything.

As for the method to counter them, of course, there was one too.

Aolang cupped his left hand to his mouth, then thrust his right thumb into his mouth against his tongue, and a call identical to that of a Yellow Velocidrome summoning its companions emerged from his mouth.

"Ji-ga—"

After a few calls, he quickly moved to a clump of sand willows about twenty meters away from the corpses and hid, holding his breath and concealing his presence.

Sure enough, just a few minutes later, the figures of several more Yellow Velocidromes appeared, climbing over the sand dunes and showing up in the area where the Oasis met the sandy ground.

"Three of them? A bit troublesome, but that's fine too."

The young Hunter in the sand willow clump flexed his wrist, "Solving them all at once, the mission quota will be enough."

Aolang did not immediately walk out from the hiding sand willow clump; with his strength, fighting three Yellow Velocidromes simultaneously was, to be honest, very risky.

If possible, he wanted to resolve one first through a sudden assault or a sneak attack.

Dealing with two at the same time would be much easier.

The three newly arrived Yellow Velocidromes looked around, searching for the figure of the companion that had made the call.

Quickly, they noticed those two blood-soaked corpses.

Unable to resist the lure of blood, the two larger Yellow Velocidromes charged forward, fighting and snatching at each other as they tore and gnawed.

The smaller one also tried to inch closer, but was driven off by bites and scratches—it held lower status in the pack and had no right to priority feeding.

"Despite having considerable sociality, they show no aversion to fighting over and devouring the corpses of their own kind."

Not far away, Aolang, who had witnessed all of this, wore an unmasked look of revulsion: "Truly disgusting creatures."

He endured patiently, waiting a moment longer.

Only when the two Yellow Velocidromes, once wary and still lifting their heads to glance around while eating, became fully absorbed in their feast, did he burst from the underbrush.

Kill one first—with the utmost speed!

Like swinging Dual Blades, he flung his arms open; the thin but real Savage Will Qi flashed and vanished, and as his feet pushed off, his body became a blur, streaking forward.

Before the two feeding Yellow Velocidromes could react, he was already before the smaller one, waiting on the sidelines.

Feet crossed, body spinning at high speed, the edge of his iron Shield nearly shattered the creature's lower jaw, followed instantly by the slicing strike of the Hunter Dagger.

His entire form swept past the Yellow Velocidrome like a whirlwind, blade and shield alternating to carve a string of gashes across its flank.

The poor Yellow Velocidrome was cut down on the spot.

Aolang delivered a merciless final slash, ending its life.

Two left.

He retrieved his Hunter Knife, raised his Shield, and fixed his gaze on the remaining prey.