Birth Of The Crafts-God

"Eight against ten huh?"

Lucas stroked his chin as he began reviewing the information he just received.

"No, it should be seven against nine now."

Behind him, a black disfigured corpse laid bare in the ground in a horrific manner. It was what remained of the one-armed man.

After extracting the information he needed, there was no way Lucas would let him go. As such, he killed the man by burning his corpse using his gauntlet. This way, even if someone were to find the corpse later, he would be mistaken to have died in the earlier explosion.

'From what he said, the two leaders are facing up against each other right beside the Heart of Silver. So it would be impossible to sneak it past them.'

This conclusion made Lucas frown.

According to the information, the leader of the one-armed man's group is the son of the deputy city lord of Blue Springs City. He was a talented fifth level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner armed with two Grade 3 vestiges. Lucas estimated he could even have more trump cards. He was definitely not someone Lucas could take on right now, and even less could be said about the leader of the opposing team, a peak fifth level stellar practitioner.

'It would be best if they can kill themselves, but I can't interrupt their battle to make that happen.'

Fifth level stellar practitioners weren't the same as third level stellar practitioners. They were already in a separate class from the other as every three levels was a class of its own. If Lucas approached those two, there was a significant chance that they might sense him, unless they were too focused on their fight. But that wasn't possible because their battle took place right beside the Heart of Silver. It was inevitable that a bit of their focus would be on their surroundings.

'There should be some way.' Lucas began frowning while slowly making his way forward carefully.

Suddenly, he noticed a few strange tracks on the path.

These tracks easily blended with the environment, which was a dark and gloomy place. Although the Mystic Silver ores did give off a bit of light, it was a dull green light that was barely enough for one to see. A stellar practitioner could see just fine enough here, but not as good as in broad daylight. Because of that, there were a couple of dead angles. This was one of the reasons William, Canza and the other high level fighters still utilised a bit of their perception and focus on their environment even during their intense duels.

Lucas turned towards the bizarre tracks he spotted and went over to take a closer look at them. For some reason, he felt that he shouldn't ignore them.

'These are...!'

Lucas' eyes widened in shock.

'I understand it now. It makes sense now. How could I have missed such a fact?' Lucas slapped his face with a sigh.

As his hand shifted away, a smiling expression appeared on Lucas' face.

'This can work.'

. . .

The battle between William's team and Canza's unit became heated up and by now, casualties had already occurred on both sides.

Of the 3 third level stellar practitioners on William's team, only one survived. One was killed by his opponent while the other one died in Lucas' hands, even though he should have lived.

The fourth level stellar practitioner who went against 3 third level stellar practitioners from Canza's side, came out victorious, although he was heavily injured to the point of not being able to display his true strength.

On the other hand, one of the other 2 fourth level stellar practitioners had died to an opponent of similar strength while the other survived and killed his enemy. The two eventually discovered each other and began a new bout.

As for the top level fighters, Cassie was still locked in a tight combat with William's bodyguard. Both sides were fifth level stellar practitioners, so it would take a bit more time for their battle to end unless they went all out. However, there was no reason to do so yet even though the battle was already quite intense. On one hand, the bodyguard needed to retain enough strength to still defend William later on. As for Cassie, she wasn't willing to put her life into this mission.

That left the battle between William and Canza which had evolved to be even more dangerous than the other two. This was because of Canza's nature in battles, which was the same as a bloodthirsty beast that operated purely on battle instincts. Due to this, William had things rough and couldn't even focus on the overall situation. The best he could do was to monitor his environment to prevent anyone possibly sneaking up on him or stealing the Aión source.

"You crazy bastard." William gritted his teeth as he blocked a barrage of attacks from Canza's claw.

He immediately took a step back and fired a few shots from his gun, forcing the latter to pause and create distance between them.

"If I'm correct, you should be the Wild Dog, Canza."

William said as he stared at Canza in the eyes while his hands still gripped tightly on his vestiges.

Canza the Wild Dog.

It is a somewhat popular name in the freelancer circle because the owner of that identity was a man with an impressive record of almost 100% success rate in missions. But despite such an achievement, he was given the title of Wild Dog, which almost seemed to be derogatory. The reason for this was because of Canza's personality in battle; a scene where he became just like a wild dog and fought without care.

It was said that the more vicious a fight was and the more injuries he took on, Canza would become less and less of a hyuman and more of a rabid dog operating solely on instincts.

Right now, William wanted to avoid such a situation, which was why he continuously messed up Canza's tempo mid-battle using his gun. As long as Canza didn't lose himself in battle, it wouldn't devolve into a reckless fight that would put a strain on him. Even if William won, it would end up being at the cost of severe injuries and such an ending wasn't a good one.

"My identity doesn't matter. Stop this farce and face me like a man. Or is this how your father trained you?" Canza stared derisively at William.

Even though the latter was known for a calm composure, the taunt seemed to have worked as the vibe around him became gloomy.

" 'Heaven seeks not the soul of the man who stands proud before it, but the pleas of the ones who crawl'."

William chanted as he stared at Canza with a tranquil expression.

Suddenly, the atmosphere turned eerie and gloomy as a weird sound echoed closeby.

"...you're not a pure hyuman, are you?" Canza looked at William with surprise.

Initially, he had sensed the unique frequency wave generated by hyumans and so never doubted William's nature. However, with the revelation of this skill, something suddenly crossed his mind.

It was common knowledge that some hyumans could unlock a part of their innate superpower before reaching the tenth level, which was known as 'a hint' of their superpower. However, it was a bit of an uncommon knowledge that such phenomena were more popular within mixed bloods and hybrids.

This was because, unlike hyumans who are a genetically modified or artificially created species, other alien races were natural and innately possess the ability to manipulate stellar energy. As a result of this, it's easier for them to tap into their true potential, unlike hyumans who had to get stronger until they reached the tipping point to unlock their abilities.

On the other hand, a cross-breed was like the mid-point of both sides. Some cross-breeds were lucky to have the advantages of both sides but it was more common to see them in between than superior. For instance, they still had the limits of hyumans, but they didn't need to reach the tenth level of the Apertures Opening stage to unlock their innate potential. They could already tap into a portion of it from the third level, although this was much weaker than the true form of their super power. Nonetheless, it was still a massive advantage.

Seeing William utilise what looked to be a superpower, Canza suspected that rather than being a pure hyuman, William was more likely a crossbreed between a hyuman and an alien species. Such situations weren't uncommon, within the unofficial Belfargos city-state, neither was a hybrid being in a place of power.

William didn't reply to him but simply channeled his stellar energy into his surroundings, planning to end the battle.

Just as the situation was about to change, a loud roar sounded within the cavern. Compared to the sounds of battle all over the place, the roar superseded all that and occupied everyone's ears, disrupting their tempo.

"What the hell was that?"

Cassie, who had now separated from her fight with William's bodyguard, had a worried look on her face as she turned towards the direction of the roar.