- The Hunter Becomes the Hunted

3 hours until dawn. In a forest clearing, Edge and his team set up camp.

Although it was not dangerous for their group to travel at night. They still needed rest after a strenuous operation.

Also, they were trying to see if they could bait their target into attacking or coming back to observe them.

Sentries were already planted with the sole purpose of informing them of any movement.

"This was the first time we failed an encirclement. I can't understand how the target escaped." One of the elites said to another while roasting a rabbit on a stick.

There were no beasts around so they had to hunt for game a distance away which was not hard for people of their caliber.

A burly man scoffed as he said "It doesn't matter. If he escaped then he wasn't strong enough, to begin with. Must be a nobody."

"Well, he might have just been scared of Edge." The rabbit roaster reasoned out.

"Bah! If he has the guts, he should be attacking right about now." The burly man said as the two were silent for a moment.

*Sigh*. The rabbit roaster was relieved that the death flag was not triggered.

However, the next moment, the burly man collapsed on the ground.

Just as he was about to pick up his weapon, two hands reached for his head and twisted it with much force, killing him on the spot.

'That's 8.' Zex, who was done hiding the two fresh bodies, uttered coldly.

Zex spent hours in and out of his Mind Space doing mental training to fully absorb the techniques and skills that he has learned. He also incorporated some ideas he grasped on the spot and some of which he had read and seen from various novels, comics, and movies to improve them or to fit his preferences.

He was confident that even that monster would not be able to sense his presence.

After all, he finally mastered [Mana Control] when he finished studying the concealment techniques he learned.

8 sentries were on watch at a time and would change shifts in a few minutes.

Unfortunately… The rest died in their sleep shortly after.

Although he had enough strength to brute force his way into killing them, he could not say the same when dealing with the one in the lead. Not to mention that with the techniques and formations he learned from them, he knew that they could take him out on their own.

Sometimes, technique is more important than strength. Currently, however, he had both at his disposal.

Zex gathered their weapons and tools since he had no time nor resources to create them himself. He also put on the clothing of the Burly Man as he was the only one with a size and body shape closest to his.

Just as he was getting ready to face the monster…

"Are you done preparing?"

!!!

Zex mustered all his strength to retreat far from the voice… only to realize that he dodged the wrong way. He noticed instantly that the location where he was jumping to, was right in front of a man leaning on a large rock.

"Hi." Edge said with his arms still crossed.

Cold sweat broke out from all over Zex's body.

'He threw his voice?' Zex realized what happened as every fiber of his being was on guard. Even in his previous life, he never saw anyone use such a technique from anything he read, watched, or played. Even if he did, it would probably not help him since his instinct already pushed him to do what he did without thinking.

"You sure did make quick work of them and I must say, in a familiar manner as well." Edge said while looking at the direction of the most recent corpses.

Zex drew two daggers and went into a fighting stance. The fact that his opponent knew his actions and was still calm about them, speaks volumes.

His opponent was not underestimating him. In actuality, he was being read like a book.

"Cute…" Edge finally stood up straight and released a burst of energy so sharp that it resembled numerous blades being mashed together like armor. This was an aura skill Edge developed to a high level called [Blade Aura].

Zex was about to react when the next moment, Edge's figure vanished like mist and reappeared next to him.

"I don't remember having a student such as you." Edge whispered in Zex's ear.

Despite the mental training and the demonic constitution he had… added to the knowledge and wisdom he had gained from old age, he still felt extreme fear at that moment. After all, he was just a frail human days ago. His mental processes were shut down and the chilling fear of death was grasping at his body.

The next instant, Edge was already a distance behind him. What came after was the pain of being cut open multiple times in a second.

It was the skill [Thousand Cuts], a sure kill move that uses a burst of blade aura as a parachute and dashing at extreme speed to the target, pulling the built-up blade aura from the previous location to emulate a thousand cuts towards anyone the user passes through.

Edge was a master of weaponry… but most of the time, he didn't use any weapon. He used the principles behind weaponry to deal extremely deadly blows. [Thousand Cuts] was just one of them. Where most could perform a thousand cuts on a target with extreme speed and incorporate techniques and weapons with accompanying attacks, they were child's play compared to the one Edge performed.

To begin with, the aura is initially formless but once mastered, could be shaped into any form the wielder wishes. In the hands of someone trained in the arts of taking a person's life as quick and silent as possible, this was nigh impossible to defend against.

Each of his cuts was directed to the target's vitals and ignored even the sturdiest armor. Blood was violently spraying from Zex's body and screams of agony escaped his mouth.