Birth Of The Crafts-God

*Bang*

A gunshot sounded again from a different direction.

As with before, the bullet penetrated the beast. But this time around, the target was a wound on the monster created by Loffi's axe attack from earlier.

"Kraaa!"

The Púcaí felt pain unlike ever before as it staggered after the shot.

It so happened that the victim of the gunshot was an internal organ.

"Don't hesitate. Focus and kill it." Neslie shouted from the back.

The others gritted their teeth as they dashed at the monster from different angles. This time around, even Condo who was tasked to stay behind, joined in and attacked the creature. He held two handguns and fired at the monster continuously.

Although they were Grade 3 vestiges as well, the firepower of the handguns weren't on par with the sniper rifle Neslie used or even Loffi's twin axes. This was the flaw of hot-weapon-type vestiges; in exchange for their ease of production (in the sense that they could be mass-produced), the firepower of these kind of vestiges was largely dependent on the stellar energy level of the user and the type of ammunition used.

Nevertheless, as a peak fifth level stellar practitioner, Condo was still able to deal some damage to the creature. This helped in attracting its aggro, thereby giving the other two the opportunity to approach it.

"You're done for!" Coco climbed up a tree and dived from above, dealing multiple slashes towards the monster.

With each swing of her dagger, a black blade light extended from the dagger and darted towards the monster.

"Kraa!"

The Púcaí paused as it roared in pain, turning immediately to attack Coco who was still in mid air.

"No you don't!"

Loffi roared as he brandished his pair of axes at the monster.

"Kraa!"

The creature was forced to switch its attention to Loffi after being injured and it immediately swung its arm at him.

Being within reach of the monster, Loffi was unable to dodge in time so he shielded himself with the two axes.

*Bang*

Right as Loffi was flung away, Neslie fired another shot at the monster. Its only functioning eye was taken out by the attack, rendering the monster blind.

"Take it down."

The boss of the team, Nolan, had already recuperated from the hit. Thanks to the battle suit he wore, he had got off lightly from the attack of the Púcaí. He appeared behind the monster with his jagged great sword and carved out a gory mark on the monster's back.

The other members of the team began unleashing attacks on the Púcaí, with even Loffi joining in after shaking off the pain.

Although the desolate beast was a fierce creature that was even stronger than a stellar practitioner at the same level, it was outnumbered and outmatched. The five freelancers continuously dealt severe injuries to it before playing passive and letting the monster tire out.

After fifteen minutes of intense fighting, the hyumans were victorious.

"Damn. That was such a tough battle." Condo said as he fell to the ground in exhaustion.

"Tell me about it." Loffi echoed the same sentiments as he sat beside Condo.

"Are you alright?" Coco stared at Nolan.

"Yeah. It's not a big deal." Nolan smiled.

"Your suit is damaged." Neslie pointed at a spot in the armour.

The battle suit was a special body armour that protected freelancers and pioneers during explorations and battles. Although it felt just like a polyester fabric, upon impact or when channeled with stellar energy, it solidified and became almost like bullet-proof glass panels. In this form, the battle suit was able to absorb a large amount of force and impact without harming the user or being destroyed —as long as the force was under its threshold.

Nolan's battle suit had a visible crack just by the lower right side of his abdomen. That was a sign that the battle suit's threshold had been exceeded at that point.

"I'll get it fixed when we return later on." Nolan brushed it off.

"No. I think we should go back now." Neslie said.

"I agree with Nes." Loffi added.

"We've already been here for three days now and we've picked up a lot. A couple miles ahead is the white desert. With our ability, going there is no different from seeking death." Loffi explained.

Of the five of them, only Nolan and Loffi were at the sixth level of the Apertures Opening stage. As for the other three, they were at the fifth level —albeit at the peak. Only such a team could have confidence to venture into a Class S desolate beast domain. This was because in a Class S desolate beast domain, the lowest level of desolate beasts —excluding the young and undeveloped ones— was the fourth level.

A team of five consisting of 2 sixth level stellar practitioners and 3 peak fifth level stellar practitioners was the bare minimum to survive here. However, that was on the condition they were lucky to not encounter a seventh level desolate beast —especially one at the peak level.

Luckily, the Forsaken Void Expanse had been explored to some extent by past pioneers and freelancers. From their findings, it was ascertained that the outer region of this cursed graveyard was usually occupied by desolate beasts at the fourth to sixth level, with some occasional seventh level desolate beasts spotted.

The white line, which became known as the white desert, was filled with peak fifth level to seventh level desolate beasts, with the latter being at the bottom rung. There were also some eighth level desolate beasts that established their territories here. Due to this absurd lineup, the white desert was also known as the 'white line of death'; entering here was no different from walking into the jaws of a beast.

As for the inner region, that was where the strongest desolate beasts resided. Even the weakest there was born a second level desolate beast. In terms of matured beasts, the weakest was at the peak of the fifth level and compared to the white desert, they were littered everywhere. The desolate beasts in the inner region operated in packs consisting of a mix of fifth to seventh level desolate beasts. These packs were usually led by an eighth or even ninth level desolate beast.

There was also the core area of the inner region where the true rulers of the Forsaken Void Expanse dwelled. However, no one has lived to tell the tale of what laid in there. Even orbital satellite scans couldn't find out much about this place.

It was said that a tenth level stellar practitioner once ventured into the core area but was never heard of again. From this, it was estimated that there were a couple tenth level desolate beasts at least, or even an eleventh level desolate beast. This was the only reason why a tenth level stellar practitioner would die without a chance of escaping.

Forget about the inner region, even the white desert was a problem for this team to traverse. In fact, they were already quite lucky enough to not have come across a seventh level desolate beast here.

"He's right. Also, the value of the Púcaí is already enough." Even Condo was convinced as he sounded out his concerns.

Coco didn't say a word, but she stared at Nolan, or to be precise, the damaged part of his battle suit.

"Alright, fine. After we've taken what we need from the corpse, we'll turn back and head home." Nolan said.

Even though he wanted to take a look at the treacherous white desert, Nolan had to admit that his teammates made a good point.

The others sighed with relief after Nolan gave the order. Three days in this place was spent being on alert at all times, even during their rest period. There was also the intense battles they fought with their lives in the line. It was natural that they would want to finally get a break from such activities and not want to take an even larger risk.

"When we get back, I have a surprise for you."

Coco whispered into Nolan's ears after the rest of the team walked towards the Púcaí's corpse and began working on it.

Nolan stared at her and after seeing her coquettish smile, he blushed a bit. For a second, almost wanted to give the order to depart right away. However, Nolan knew that the team needed to rest. They also needed to extract the valuable parts from the Púcaí's flesh.

"Alright." Nolan smiled.

However, his vision was suddenly covered in red.

Coco's head was gone.

"Coco..."

Nolan was stunned, refusing to believe what was in front of his eyes.

At this moment, Neslie, who had sharp senses, noticed something was amiss and turned around. Almost immediately, he yelled at the top of his voice.

"RUN!"

*Thud*

Neslie's head flew out from his neck and crashed into a tree with a loud thud, before landing on the ground.

His eyes were still side open with fear and his mouth still open in the same position as when he yelled.

At that moment, a somewhat playful and elusive voice softly sounded in the clearing.

"Shhh. I don't like the noise."