Apex Star

59  Hunt Part 1

As Nova continued going deeper into the forest, he felt harmonious energies in his body. His senses were at their peak, and his every movement was perfect. He didn't leave a shadow behind him as he moved after his first prey.

It was a group of five kobolds, all of them in the Evolver Stage. They didn't even hear or see anything before their vision was taken by complete darkness. Nova took their ears as he passed by their cold corpses.

He didn't say or think anything as he used his eyes and spatial energy to locate the next group of enemies. The Apex was slowly but surely strengthening his mind and body. It was like waking up his primal instincts.

'I can feel it...it's growing inside me. But what it is...?' Thought Nova as he felt something taking shape inside of him. He looked toward the sky and observed that in about two hours, the night would come.

Disappearing from his position only to appear a few hundred meters ahead, Nova looked at the ground beneath him as he clenched his fist.

BOOM! He smashed his fist at the seemingly ordinary ground before it collapsed. It was the entrance to a tunnel. Nova looked in front of him at a multitude of tunnels that were going in all directions. His golden eyes glowed even brighter, and he chose a path to advance.

-----

"Huff, huff. Is he behind us?" A Lion-man asked his companions.

"What the heck... he killed dozens of us, and we didn't even see his shadow." Said a Wolf-man.

"We should keep going. That monster was swift, and he may finish the others before checking this tunnel pat..." The Leopard-man didn't finish his words before his head was separated from his body.

His other companions were stunned before getting terrified at seeing that golden-eyed monster killing their comrade.

"RUN! THE MONSTER IS HERE!" Somebody screamed before dashing for another tunnel path. Alas...it was too late, as a second later, his body could be heard hitting the ground.

Thud! Thump!

Fear overtook the rest of the group as everyone dashed in a different direction. Still, it was only a minute later that the twenty beastmen all died.

'This is number 79...' Thought Nova cutting the last ear. 'I only have less than an hour until night arrives. I better go back to the garrison.' Saying so, Nova prepared to go back, only to suddenly stop and look in a particular direction.

"You have very sharp senses for a human. I just wonder who you are?" A surprised voice came from the darkness.

"You don't need to know that, after all, you're going to die soon." Stated Nova.

The figure taking shape in the darkness was stunned hearing this and began laughing. "Hahaha, what an arrogant human we have here. You're just a Late Nebula Stage, and you threaten a Middle World Stage like me? You're going to suffer for killing 79 of the 100 men under me in this tunnel region." Said the man, who looked like a black panther. He was clearly a Panther-man, a perfect assassin in the darkness.

The Panther-man appeared a few meters around Nova and prepared to attack him. But before he could take one more step, his pupils constricted as he felt an enormous pressure coming from the 'lamb' in front of him. Those massive golden eyes seemed to devour him down to the bones.

The Panther-man tried to turn back and run, as his senses screamed at him that the being in front of him was extraordinary. Right when he tried to turn his head and run, a golden flash came from Nova and pierced his heart.

'Just as I thought, a World Stage doesn't even require me to go all out. Maybe only a Galaxy Stage could force me...' Thought Nova before collecting the panther's ear.

'This guy said he had 100 beastmens under him in this region. That means there are 21 beastmens left. I already killed 70 Evolver Stage and 9 Nebula Stage, so at best, there are 90 Evolver Stage Beastmens and 10 Nebula Stage Beastmens in a tunnel region. I wonder how many tunnel regions there are? I should bring this information back to the garrison in case nobody knows about this.' Deduced Nova before trying to hunt the other enemies left.

-----

It was ten minutes before night settled, and the gate was still open. Nova's figure could be seen walking to the gate. The guards recognized him as the young man escorted by Master Albert, the butler, and friend of the Emperor, so no one even tried to identify him, and they let him pass.

As Nova stepped into the garrison, the gate slowly started to close. Waiting for him was, surprisingly, Elizabeth, that breathed a sigh of relief seeing that Nova was safe.

"I'm glad that you didn't encounter any problems. Did you kill someone? How far did you go? No, that's not right. You're clothes are to clean. You stayed at the safe zone all this time?" Elizabeth fired a barrage of questions, making Nova dizzy.

"Slowly, slowly, let me explain..." Nova started explaining to Elizabeth what he found out about the tunnels. Hearing this, Elizabeth frowned.

"So it's like this, just like I thought. Follow me." Said Elizabeth before departing the gate with Nova. She seemed to be going to the center of the garrison, where the Emperor was located.

A few minutes, they once again arrived at the Emperor's chambers. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Your Majesty, it's Elizabeth seeking an audience." Said Albert waiting for Emperor Dorian's response.

"Bring her in." The same magnetic and gentle voice resounded from the room.

Elizabeth entered the room along with Nova. She stopped before turning back to Albert.

"Master Albert, please remain here too, as the next subject may greatly influence the course of the war."

The three men were stunned to hearing Elizabeth saying this.

The Emperor thought for a while and asked just to be sure. "Is it related to what you said to me earlier today?"

"Yes, your Majesty. But it seems to be even more complicated." Responded Elizabeth, her voice slightly shaking.

Nova was stunned seeing her this scared and downcast. 'What could possibly happen?' His face was full of confusion.

"Nova, please say to his Majesty and Master Albert what you saw today." Said Elizabeth.

Nova nodded before proceeding to explain what he saw and all the information he collected about the tunnels.

Emperor Dorian and Master Albert had a surprised expression before it turned into a solemn one.

Nova was still confused as to why they were so worried and.. afraid?

Perhaps seeing that Nova was still confused, Elizabeth told him what they all were afraid of.

"Remember how the beastmens attack different cities and territories at the same time? It's exactly through these tunnels that they did so. This means that they prepared for this moment for years...at least.

But that's not what surprised us. It's because from what you said to us, the nature and darkness energy are camouflaging the tunnels. This means that the ones who made the tunnel invisible from above the ground are very good at using nature energy.

And those camouflaging it from down below are masters at using dark energy... Unfortunately, this perfectly describes two other races living in another continents, as the beastmens aren't good at using nature and darkness energy, or at least we don't know of someone that good.

So only a single conclusion has been taken. It's not an attack by the Beastmen Kingdom, but an invasion by the Beastmen, Elf, and Demon Kingdoms to completely eradicate our Human Continent." Elizabeth finished her words in a cold voice.

Nova's pupils constricted slightly, and his back chilled. He never thought about 3 Continents allying themselves to drown the Human Kingdom.

The atmosphere in the room was extremely tense at this moment, as everyone expected the worst to happen anytime from now on.