Hunt! Hunt!

October 6, around 6 a.m. Zi City time, in the joint examination's secret realm.

After a night of slaughter, nearly half the beast tide had been reduced to remains scattered across the ground, while most of the rest had fled in all directions.

No matter how obedient the lower Beastfolk were, their survival instincts still overrode everything else.

The fact that they hadn't fled the moment they faced their natural enemy was already a sign of steadfast loyalty.

Once fear had left their less-than-clever brains, however, the fleeing Beastfolk would still carry out their orders to find and hunt the remaining examinees.

And that was exactly what Shisui wanted.

Leaving aside the students as a whole, at least the examinees in this area all carried his spatial teleportation anchors: his Kagune feathers.

As soon as the Beastfolk appeared before an examinee, Shisui could go straight to them and catch the humans and Beastfolk all in one net.

At the center of the battlefield, a giant cocoon lay immersed in crimson mud and water. The first rays of the sun fell on its pitch-black shell, reflecting a purplish-red metallic sheen.

"Crack, crack, crack—"

A rapid series of cracking sounds rang out.

The cocoon's shell crumbled away, and a second cocoon made of Kagune opened like a blossoming flower bud, revealing Shisui, completely naked inside.

He opened his eyes, and with a thought, black Koukaku streaked with deep purple spread over his body, encasing him in an exoskeleton.

His Kagune had burst his clothes. He needed to make the openings at the shoulders for his Ukaku bigger.

Lou Shisui, whose ability to look after himself was maxed out, thought this as he cleaned up the flesh, blood, and bones covering the ground.

He had now advanced to the Early Fourth Realm. The closer he got to the Fifth Realm, the stronger that vague sense of restraint became.

By rights, with the [Metamorphosis] skill, he shouldn't have encountered a bottleneck. So what exactly was preventing him from "transcending the mundane"?

He had hidden the Lou Family's ring in a small space he had opened up in the suburbs, and now he didn't even have a book to consult.

It looked like he needed to read faster. Knowledge and the like were more convenient to keep in his head.

Lou Shisui straightened up and stretched toward the sun, which had fully emerged.

His Steel Feathers shook, slashing an instant crack into space. Shisui became an afterimage and darted into the rift. Then space's self-repairing power immediately began to slowly mend the sudden damage.

In the secret realm's forest, the beast tide was still running rampant.

Although the Beastfolk army had scattered because of Shisui,

both their individual strength and their numbers surpassed those of the human examinees. The scattering of the beasts had instead made clearing out the examinees more efficient.

"Hah, hah..."

A team of ten examinees was currently on the run.

They were made up of scattered examinees who had previously not joined any teams.

The forest was now fraught with danger, and there was a high chance of running into one or two Beastfolk. They had met one another while being pursued by one or two Beastfolk.

"There's a boulder up ahead. It should hold them up for half a second."

"Lin Lin, get your binding skill ready. He Wu, lock onto its weak point and take the first shot."

"Everyone else, watch where He Wu's attack lands and follow up."

"Got it."

Nine voices answered in unison. After hours of high-intensity combat and fighting together, they had plainly undergone a complete transformation.

If they could survive the Beastfolk's encirclement and slaughter and make it out of this joint examination alive, they would surely become pillars of the Human Race in the future.

The boulder was close at hand, and they reached it in the blink of an eye.

They quickly went around it, then turned a short distance behind it to face their pursuer.

We need to finish it off while we still have the strength, then find somewhere to rest for a while.

"Boom!"

The Beastfolk charging recklessly after them was far too large to make a sharp turn. It slammed straight into the rock, which was about as tall as he was.

"Now!"

A young woman held a longsword, its tip shooting forth a fierce light that rushed toward the Beastfolk rhinoceros as it smashed through the rock.

Her robe was already covered in dirt, and her hair and face were a mess, but the Psychic Energy attack she unleashed was concentrated and precise, radiating a chilling aura through the air.

The massive rhinoceros was restrained in place. In the next instant, a sharp arrow whistled through the air and buried itself in his eye socket.

Eight attacks followed close behind, becoming a driving force that pushed the arrow lodged in the rhinoceros's eye farther in.

"Pfft!"

The arrow pierced the rhinoceros's brain, and the pursuing Beastfolk died on the spot.

"Huff, huff..."

Exhaustion washed over the examinee leading the team the moment they won, and he leaned against a young man beside him who was more robust than he was.

He propped himself up and said, "The noise will draw the Beastfolk. Let's get out of here first and find somewhere to rest."

"Great, we can finally get some sleep."

"Damn, I'm fucking awesome."

"Wah, we survived."

Just as they relaxed, a tremendous noise came from above and to the side.

"Get down!"

A laser cannon made of Psychic Energy struck its target dead center and exploded in an instant!

Three members of the ten-person team died on the spot, and everyone else was injured.

The leader trembled as he pushed away the young man covering him. His internal organs hurt as though they were being torn apart.

He crawled up from the ground and forced himself to his feet.

"Anyone still alive, fall back with me!"

He had no time to grieve, because the Beastfolk flying toward them showed that more than one had already been drawn here.

Clenching his trembling hands, he prepared to lead the survivors away.

But it was too late.

The speed of flying Beastfolk was measured in seconds. The moment the attack hit them, they had already lost their chance to escape.

Resentment welled up in their hearts, but they no longer had the will to fight back.

There were too many.

Third Realm flying Beastfolk filled the sky as they closed in, at least a hundred of them.

Even farther back, three Mid Fourth Realm vultures circled and lingered.

The leader closed his eyes in pain, intending to make a last stand and take a few of them down with him.

Just then, a sensation of warmth came from the hem of his clothing at his waist.

The next moment, a crystal detached itself from the corner of his clothing and instantly formed a spatial rift.

"What is thi—?!"

A pitch-black phantom darted out of the gradually healing rift and charged toward the beast tide.

His first targets were the three powerful Mid Fourth Realm beasts at the rear.

Wings even larger than those of the flying Beastfolk spread open, like a savage taotie opening its mouth to bite into the flock.

The razor-sharp wingtips traced piercing sonic booms through the air, slicing through everything in their path as they flew past.

Then, twisting tentacles poured out of the figure and swiftly swept up the severed limbs of the Beastfolk.

The seven survivors stood rooted to the spot, watching helplessly as the monster harvested the beasts.

That was a Third Realm beast tide with Fourth Realm leaders. Any single Beastfolk among them was enough to give them a long, hard fight.

But now, the beasts that were a nightmare to them were being slaughtered in a one-sided massacre.

A moment later, the pitch-black figure stopped moving. Not a single beast remained alive in the vicinity.

"Um, thank you for saving us, senior. May I ask your name?"

The leader took the initiative to step forward. Although he didn't know whether the other party was human, since he had stepped in and killed the Beastfolk, he probably wasn't an enemy... right?

"Squelch!"

Seven Bikaku shot out, piercing vital points in their bodies.

"Ah, if you hadn't spoken, I almost wouldn't have noticed you. That was a big help."

Shisui absorbed the Beastfolk he had just killed. When the aura of the Fourth Realm beasts had appeared, he had rushed over in excitement, paying no attention to the Second Realm small fry among the beasts.

Ah, that won't do. I can't let my guard down!

Shisui reflected for a moment, then made a decision.

"From now on, it's better to clear the area first."

Shisui shook his Ukaku, scattering a few feathers with spatial properties. Then he spread his wings and flew away from the disordered sea of crimson.

A Ghoul's slaughter had no specific target. Rather, every creature that could fill his hunger was his target.

He was a hunter who had come to hunt, and every creature present was prey.