"He should be dead now, shouldn't he?"

Two figures watched the flaming tornado. It had sucked in even the robotic hounds that were cowering away. The combination of the two second-realm hunters' attacks produced flames that were hot enough to burn even their fire-resistant interior.

No matter how strong Zhang Lie was, he was little more than a first-realm hunter who had gotten a little lucky, and their combined efforts were surely enough to get rid of him.

"Of course he's dead! Liu Mo, don't you think the clan grossly overestimated his abilities? One of us would have been more than sufficient to deal with an insect like him." The second figure's fiery-red armor was particularly eye-catching.

Liu Mo, who had been hiding in one of the tunnels, stepped forward in a dark-green suit of armor. It did seem quite ridiculous to them that they, peak second-realm hunters, had been dispatched to slaughter someone still in the first realm.

"We may have taken things a bit too far, eh? Looks like there won't even be a corpse remaining," Liu Mo murmured disdainfully.

"What could we have done? He's simply too weak."

Suddenly, a change swept over the battlefield. From within the fiery tornado erupted a wave of water-attuned genetic energy. A river of blood poured out from within the tornado, sweeping quite a few smoking hound carcasses out with it.

Zhang Lie, having transformed into a forest wolfman, emerged from the bloody river with such power and authority that it stunned the hunter in red.

"Be careful!" Liu Mo cried out, jolting the other hunter into action. Explosions peppering his feet, he quickly escaped from the grasp of the river.

Red waves smashed against the floor of the testing ground, causing it to shudder. As the water splashed against the ground, corroding it and forming a hole burning with green smoke and filling the air with a noxious stench.

The hunter in red stared at the sight. If he had been struck by Zhang Lie's attack...

"He didn't die?!"

Zhang Lie, dyed in blood, his eyes glinting, his shortsword glowing a radiant purple, gave the two second-realm hunters a huge shock. Their sneak attack had been strong, but Zhang Lie had noticed them before they struck.

Almost as the fire-attuned hunter launched a fireball at him, he instinctively activated his superior-grade soulshards in succession, pushing his own combat power to the limit.

That bloody river was one of Zhang Lie's strongest attacks, which he had already shown off to devastating effect in the widely circulated fight against the three-star scarab: [The Boundless Blade: the River Lethe].

Not only had the two second-realm hunters failed in their sneak attack, it had barely harmed Zhang Lie. This wasn't a training battle; they had intended on killing him with that one blow.

"Oh? Perhaps this fight will be worth a little of my time, after all," Liu Mo called out. He didn't dare underestimate Zhang Lie any longer, but his words were as confident as ever. Beside him, his companion also seemed far more serious than before.

In truth, if Zhang Lie hadn't reacted so quickly, he would likely have become nothing but a pile of ash by now. Even he couldn't take it easy when facing two peak second-realm hunters. His eyes gleamed red as he stared at both of them. His constitution wouldn't be able to keep the effect of the blood ant soulshard up for long, and he would have to attack immediately. Otherwise, the moment the effect was over, he would be helpless.

But despite his urgency, he couldn't yet strike—he would need an opportunity. Activating his galewolf soulshard and [Mirrored Refraction] simultaneously, Zhang Lie seemed to vanish and reappear from sight in bursts, moving so quickly that neither of the hunters could pinpoint his location.

"He has at least three superior-grade soulshards active," Liu Mo murmured. "We'd better fight with our full strength."

The two hunters had their backs to each other, covering both of their weak spots.

Zhang Lie activated his superior-grade venombane scorpion soulshard, vanishing from sight entirely.

Liu Mo furrowed his brows. Hunters who had a potent stealth ability were extremely troublesome to deal with. Not only was Zhang Lie able to enter stealth at will, he could launch a potent, devastating attack near-instantly, and he would be a formidable threat.

The two of them glanced at their surroundings as they slowly turned. Genetic energy surged from their bodies. The moment they discovered Zhang Lie's location, they would attack instantly.

Zhang Lie had gained the advantage in this fight. While the boost from his blood ant soulshard was steadily ticking away, he continued inspecting the two hunters from the distance to determine their weak points. His strike would have to be lethal; he wouldn't have enough time to repeat this procedure again.

Silence filled the arena.

Suddenly, a drop of sweat dripped down from the fire-attuned hunter's forehead, causing him to blink. The moment he did so, an arc of blood speared toward him.

"Watch out!" Liu Mo shouted.

"[Wildfire Siege]!" The startled hunter activated a skill, blocking Zhang Lie's devastating blow and causing a huge explosion. He was experienced enough to use a field-based attack in order to guarantee that Zhang Lie would take some damage no matter from which direction he attacked, but the tradeoff would be weakness in a direct confrontation. The clash of the two attacks caused an explosion accompanied by a billowing cloud of steam, and the fire-attuned hunter stumbled back.

Taking his place, Liu Mo charged forward. "[Tiger's Howl]!"

Veins throbbed on Liu Mo's arm as it suddenly grew larger, clearly the effect of activating some impressive soulshard. Wind encircled him, and three tigers formed from these gusts of wind launched themselves toward Zhang Lie.

Based on the density of genetic energy gathered around Liu Mo, this was at least a legendary-grade technique, combined with a superior-grade soulshard.

Zhang Lie couldn't take this attack lightly. He took a deep breath and materialized a black serpent around himself. "[Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade]!"

His eyes opened wide, as did the serpent's. As his water- and darkness-attuned genetic energy combined perfectly, the serpent shot toward the three tigers.