Hunter Academy: Revenge of the Weakest

Chapter 616 136.6 - The Hunt

Zharokath stood amidst the destruction, his towering figure emanating pure malevolence as he surveyed the room. The void energy pulsed around him like a living thing, warping the air and distorting reality in his immediate vicinity. His eyes, burning with void energy, locked onto the human who had dared challenge him.

At first, Zharokath had considered this fight little more than a minor inconvenience. He had been so certain of his superiority, so convinced that this "worm" of a human would be crushed beneath the weight of his power.

'Heh, another fool who believes they can stand against a demon of the Void Clan,' Zharokath thought, watching as his opponent maneuvered with surprising speed, using tricks and strategies that, while impressive, were ultimately insignificant in the face of his overwhelming might. 'How tedious. I've wasted enough time here already.'

But as the battle wore on, Zharokath began to feel something he had not expected—pain. It was faint at first, a dull ache in his leg where the human's blade had struck.

He brushed it off as nothing more than a minor wound, the result of carelessness on his part. After all, this human had only managed to land a blow due to tricks and shadow-based abilities.

But then, the pain intensified. More cuts appeared along his arms, his ribs, his back. His demonic hide, though tough and nearly impenetrable, had been sliced by the human's celestial weapon.

Zharokath's eyes narrowed as he staggered, momentarily taken aback by the realization that this insignificant creature had managed to injure him—not just once, but several times. Each wound burned, and with every passing second, the pain became harder to ignore.

'How dare he,' Zharokath thought, his mind swirling with anger. 'How dare this worm inflict harm on me. I'll tear him apart for this insolence!'

But just as he prepared to unleash his full fury, something more disturbing began to set in. His vision blurred for a moment, and the air around him seemed to thicken. The void energy swirling around him, usually a potent force of destruction, wavered for just a second. He could feel the burning cuts on his body, the celestial energy from the human's blade lingering in his wounds, preventing them from healing as quickly as they should have.

Zharokath's eyes widened with shock, though he quickly masked it with a snarl of defiance. He was a demon of the Void Clan.

How could a mere human inflict such damage?

Especially such a young one at that.

This bastard…..He didn't even look 20 years old or whatever.

His pride seethed at the thought. He had miscalculated. This human wasn't just another insignificant insect.

'Damn this human...' Zharokath thought, his body tense as he tried to push through the pain. He could feel the celestial energy disrupting his void abilities, making it harder to fully tap into the depths of his power. 'I underestimated him.'

Zharokath's arrogance had blinded him to the real threat, and now, he was paying the price. His breathing grew heavier, each breath filled with a mixture of rage and disbelief. How had he allowed this to happen? How had this creature managed to land so many blows?

The human, however, wasn't giving him a moment to recover. From the corner of his eye, Zharokath saw his opponent darting through the shadows, using his speed and precision to stay out of reach while delivering more precise strikes.

Zharokath's fury boiled over. "ENOUGH!" he bellowed, his voice shaking the air. His demonic energy pulsed outward, dark tendrils of void magic ripping through the space around him.

'Tssk…..The fact that I am forced to use this against a mere bastard…' Through the haze of pain and anger, Zharokath decided to use one of his clan's most potent abilities, one that few outside the Void Clan had ever witnessed.

「Void Nullification」

With a sharp gesture, he focused his power on the shadows surrounding the human. A pulse of dark energy rippled out from Zharokath's hand, moving faster than the eye could see, latching onto the shadowy mana that had been shielding and empowering the human.

The air around the battlefield grew unnaturally still for a moment, the atmosphere charged with a sense of foreboding.

The effect was instantaneous. The shadows that had been curling protectively around the young man suddenly dissipated, vanishing as though they had never existed. The human faltered, clearly feeling the absence of his abilities as the shadows—his primary tool for evasion and stealth—were rendered useless. His eyes widened in shock as he attempted to summon the shadows once more, but they no longer responded to his will.

Zharokath's smirk returned, his confidence slowly reestablishing itself as he saw the momentary panic flicker across his opponent's face.

"Annoying shadows," Zharokath muttered under his breath, before raising his hand once more. He wasn't done. The human might have been stripped of his shadow abilities, but Zharokath intended to crush him entirely.

「Void Suppression」

"Void Suppression," Zharokath intoned, his voice filled with cold malice.

With this second art, the air around the young man began to ripple, almost imperceptibly at first, but quickly growing in intensity. The space surrounding him distorted, bending as the void energy expanded outward from Zharokath. The ripple effect drew the very air away, creating a vacuum-like pressure that compressed the atmosphere around the human, pulling and dragging him inward. It was as though the very space he occupied was collapsing, folding in on itself.

The young man gasped, his limbs growing heavy as the pressure increased.

'Time to finish this,' Zharokath thought, his gaze darkening as he dashed forward, his form a blur of dark energy. He aimed straight for the young man's face, his claws gleaming, ready to tear through flesh and bone.

But just as Zharokath closed in, the human's legs suddenly moved, charged with mana. In a split second, the young man kicked off the ground, propelling himself upward with an explosive burst of energy.

–SWOOSH!

It was the same maneuver Zharokath had seen earlier—the one where the human used a burst of force to propel himself backward, gaining distance.

But Zharokath had already seen this trick once. His eyes narrowed in anticipation, and this time, he was prepared. As the young man's leg lashed out toward him, Zharokath dodged to the right, avoiding the kick with ease.

'Foolish,' Zharokath thought, his smirk widening. 'You should have learned by now. I am beyond you.'

With a cruel smile, Zharokath positioned himself to strike, his hand crackling with void energy. "Die," he muttered, his voice cold and final. He prepared to tear into the human's exposed flank, confident that this battle was over.

But just as he was about to strike, something caught his attention. The young man—who should have been off-balance after his failed kick—was already looking right at him. Zharokath's smirk faltered for a brief moment, his eyes catching a faint glow from the human's arm.

'Wait... what?'

Before Zharokath could react, the young man's arm shot forward, a concentrated blast of mana erupting from his hand. The energy rippled through the air, not from his legs as Zharokath had anticipated, but from his arms—an entirely different technique than what Zharokath had expected.

–BOOM!

The mana blast struck Zharokath's face with brutal force, sending a shockwave of pain radiating through his skull. The impact was so sudden, so precise, that Zharokath stumbled backward, momentarily dazed. His vision blurred, the world spinning around him as the stinging pain seared across his face.

"Grrraaaaah!" Zharokath roared, clutching his face as the pain coursed through him. He hadn't anticipated the human's quick thinking, nor the redirection of his mana to his arms. The attack had caught him off guard, and the force of the blast had been enough to momentarily knock him off balance.

'Damn it... how did he...' Zharokath's thoughts raced, his pride burning as he reeled from the unexpected blow.

But that was not the end.

SWOOSH!

Suddenly, his eyes captured a bunch of shiny grey objects flying at him.

'This….'

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! Zharokath's snarl of pain twisted into a furious growl as the sting of the chakrams cut across his body. Each spinning blade, formed of grey-colored mana, slashed through his skin, leaving trails of pain in their wake. His demonic hide, though resilient, was not immune to the concentrated strikes. Blood dripped from the shallow wounds as Zharokath's fury boiled over.

'This... insolence!' he thought, his pride seething. The human had dared to hurt him, to make him bleed. His body ached from the unexpected blows, his mind reeling at the speed and precision with which the young man had acted.

Without hesitation, Zharokath tapped into his reserves of void energy. His eyes glowed with malevolent power as he activated another one of his clan's fearsome techniques.

「Void Veil」

A shimmering dark barrier of void energy enveloped his body, absorbing the remaining chakrams as they collided with the protective field. The chakrams spun violently against the barrier, but they couldn't penetrate it, deflecting harmlessly into the distance. The swirling void shield shimmered as it absorbed the impact, but Zharokath knew that this technique came with a price—high mana consumption and a long cooldown period. Still, it was necessary.

'Enough of this game,' Zharokath thought, his fury mounting. Though his Void Veil had saved him from further harm, it had drained a considerable amount of his energy. The pressure was building, and now, his mind was set on one thing—ending this human once and for all.

With the barrier still flickering around him, Zharokath gritted his teeth, his eyes blazing with rage. The cuts on his body only fueled his anger, and he could no longer contain the seething hatred within him.

'You've forced my hand, worm,' Zharokath thought, his gaze darkening.

He had one more technique up his sleeve, one that consumed an enormous amount of energy and that he had not yet mastered.

The power of Void Cage was something that only the most ancient and powerful demons could wield to perfection, and though Zharokath couldn't yet fully control it, he didn't need perfection, not against this human.

With a deep growl, he activated Void Cage.

The air around them warped, and for a brief, almost imperceptible moment, everything froze. A dark pulse of void energy spread from Zharokath's outstretched hand, enveloping the area in a shimmering, distorted field. The young man, in the middle of preparing for his next move, suddenly found his body locked in place. His limbs refused to respond as the space around him twisted, locking him in a temporal stasis for a split second.

It was subtle and quick—barely a fraction of a second—but that was all Zharokath needed.

The void energy crackled violently as Zharokath rushed forward, closing the distance between them in an instant. His claws gleamed with dark energy as he prepared to strike. His fury, his hatred, and his demonic power all coalesced into one savage blow aimed at the human's exposed chest.

"This is the end for you," Zharokath growled, his voice filled with cold malice. The void pulsed around him, and he slashed downward, ready to finish this once and for all.

But then something happened.

–THUMP! A thump of heart reached his ears.