Chapter 7

Both legs were tangled and locked by blood-thorn vines.

And his hunting blade was even knocked away by the opponent's damn lucky shot.

Nelson, whose head was buzzing, though already a prisoner, still refused to submit.

"If... he had just been off by a little."

"Then I could pull off a counterkill!"

"Damn luck!"

Nelson's mouth, stained with dust and nasal blood, muttered lowly.

"Who sent you here?"

Unlike the opponent's seasoned, battle-hardened tone, the opponent's voice was very youthful.

Nelson smirked.

Maybe he's strong, but after all he's just a child.

"I just saw you were young, so... I wanted to pull a job."

"This is all too common in Lamor City-State."

"Now I've lost; you can take anything of value I have."

"Kid, you're still young; don't go down the wrong path!"

Nelson spoke, half-feigning misery, half-advising.

Taku drew a deep breath and rubbed his brow.

"I think you still don't grasp the seriousness of this."

Taku raised his right hand.

The gesture spell Bullet Tendrils activated accordingly.

"Bang!"

One of Nelson's ears exploded outright.

The pain stimulated tears and snot that smeared Nelson's cheeks as he lay on the ground wailing.

Unlike his earlier disguise, this time he was acting as himself.

A full minute passed.

The wailing then gradually faded.

Taku's voice sounded steady.

"Although blood-thorn vines don't suck blood as quickly and in large amounts like blood-sucking vines..."

"But slowness has its own advantages."

"You can watch as the blood-thorn vines drain your thighs dry."

"If your life force is strong enough."

"You can even watch as the blood-thorn vines suck dry your physique."

"Feel free to waste time; I don't mind!"

"Besides..."

"Your sleeve arrows are nice, but they'll soon be mine."

Taku's slow, orderly words sent a chill straight up Nelson's spine.

"He discovered my sleeve arrows!"

"How did he find out?"

"Moreover, he never got close to me even a step the whole time."

"Even now, he still maintains extreme vigilance toward me."

"This guy... is he a devil?"

Nelson, whose throat was a bit dry, finally felt a chill.

"If I tell you, spare my life."

Nelson had just opened his mouth.

"Bang!"

With the gunfire's end, Nelson's second ear also blew up.

"You aren't qualified to negotiate with me."

"You can stay silent."

"I'll spend a little more time investigating, but you... will linger on the brink of death for a long time."

Taku's tone remained as calm and steady as ever.

And Nelson, whose both ears had blown up, could no longer hear Taku's voice.

But now he had deeply felt the terror and cruelty of this young demon.

Moreover, when his second ear burst, the mage used a third vine to wrap around his arm bearing the sleeve arrows.

Now he couldn't even commit suicide.

Nelson, not a tough guy, after feeling his lower leg turn to skin and bone,

He quickly related everything he knew truthfully.

Fifteen minutes later.

Taku looked at the hunter corpses on the ground, already picked clean, and at the distant sheriff arriving late.

Taku raised his hand and released a fire-oil bomb.

The fierce fire burned on the corpses, raging wildly.

Ta Ke had already disappeared.

With the firelight as a guide.

Two constables in the duchy's official constable uniforms quickly appeared at the alley's entrance.

The young constable who had just taken office saw that what was burning was a corpse.

He hurriedly wanted to go up and extinguish the flames.

"Someone wants to destroy the corpse and erase traces."

The young constable wanted to uphold the scant justice that La Mo Er Gao Ta Cheng Bang still had.

But the old constable beside him stopped him.

"It's just someone setting a small, unimportant fire."

The old constable said this solemnly.

"But..."

The young constable still wanted to say something, but didn't know how to begin.

He could only watch helplessly as the corpse burned away.

"This damned weather!"

The old constable, shrinking his neck, approached the burning corpse.

A pair of eyes carefully examined the fire and the corpse.

"The fire is formidable; it can ignite the extraordinary trait of a ninth-rank hunter, at least that of a first-rank spellcaster."

"This fire can burn for a long time."

Glancing at the young constable who was somewhat unwilling to approach, the old constable gave a hehe laugh.

"This... is La Mo Er Gao Ta Cheng Bang in the Ashen Land; the more thoroughly you understand it, the longer you can live."

In the Ground Nest Area, inside the residents' passage.

Inside an underground passage that is not particularly wide.

A rotten and foul smell permeates it.

Occasionally one or two figures can be seen, all hurrying through the underground passage.

Inside an underground hut.

Ta Ke took off his grey mage robe, revealing the chainmail underneath.

This is a relatively safe underground hut; this is the property left to Ta Ke by his parents, his only inheritance.

Through the surface window, Ta Ke gazed at the desolate passage outside, pondering the information he had pried from Hunter Nelson.

The situation seemed more complicated than Ta Ke had anticipated.

"I don't know which evil god organization is treating La Mo Er Cheng Bang as an ATM again."

"The last time something like this happened was only half a year ago."

"Don't they know about sustainable development?"

"Even this time, they didn't let off someone as weak as me, a ninth-rank apprentice mage."

"Let me develop steadily to rank 100, then come die... cough cough... wouldn't it be better to come hunt me instead?"

A mysterious organization reached an agreement with the local hunter association that Nelson belongs to.

Hunt mages, obtain mage sequence crystals.

Whether apprentice mage or first-rank mage, both are acceptable.

This is the information Ta Ke obtained from Hunter Nelson.

As repayment,

Ta Ke cleanly blew his head off with a single shot.

It was a painless shot.

"Evil god organization, local gang!"

These two forces, not uncommon in La Mo Er Gao Ta Cheng Bang, are obviously not something Ta Ke can provoke now.

"Normal mage advancement does not require extra mage crystals to strengthen one's mage framework."

"Since it is needed..."

"That proves this is not a simple promotion."

"Most likely——Steam Ascension!"

Ta Ke's eyes narrowed slightly.

From an ordinary mage to a steam mage with greater overall strength and extremely high potential ceiling.

This is the dream of all mages in the Steam Supernatural Era.

This is also one of Ta Ke's pursuits.

In this present steam-roaring era.

The Steam Sequence, as an ascension sequence, has already been profoundly changing, even reshaping this world.

One could say the Steam Sequence is the answer of the new era!

"From Nelson's exposition, this time that mysterious organization is wealthy and powerful, with immense strength and a mighty advance."

"Looks like we need to be careful for a while."

"Even if I have S-rank extraordinary talent, I'm still just an apprentice mage."

"Or we follow the original plan: first advance to first rank, then comprehensively enhance strength."

Only with sufficient strength can one not fear those evil god organizations and local gangs.

Only then can one survive in this turbulent and bizarre ashen land!

(End of chapter)