Thud.
The Rat Master Hunter had finally fallen.
At the same time, the black rats besieging the Branding Iron Clown instantly froze, their bodies turning hazy and insubstantial one after another.
This meant that their master's body and mind were heading toward destruction like bubbles, leaving him unable to sustain the effects of his Innate Spirit Art any longer.
And so, in an instant, the rat swarm's movements descended into desperate chaos.
Having dispelled the Brand Mark Field, Sainsai calmly extended a hand and unleashed a tide of energy condensed from Auling Power, blasting apart the frail rat swarm around him in one sweep.
"Squeak, squeak, squeak—"
Thus, amid a string of feeble wails, the black rats, like bolts at the end of their flight, crumbled into ashes before Sainsai's eyes, dissolving into countless motes of light.
"Hah."
Sainsai let out a soft breath, then circulated the Auling Power within him to forcibly straighten the twisted bones in his legs.
Crack, crack, crack.
Several dozen seconds later, having barely tended to his injuries, Sainsai used the "Reference Branding Iron" in his hand as a cane and shakily pushed himself back up from the ground.
Looking toward the figure lying motionless in the distance, Sainsai reached up and grasped his dented, uneven iron helmet, pulling it off his head and casually tossing it onto the ground beside him.
Clang, clang, clang.
The crack-covered iron helmet rolled several times across the ground.
Sainsai's features were now fully exposed to the air.
A grayish-white head covered in extensive burns; sparse hair standing atop it; a gaunt, angular face as sharply contoured as a skull; a mutilated nose with its bridge gouged away, leaving only a pair of nostrils; and one enormous eye, its scarlet iris occupying a full third of his face—
This