A hurricane swept through the Hunter's previous position, instantly kicking up a cloud of dust and smoke that obscured nearly everyone's vision.
But adhering to the principle of "where there's smoke, there's no harm," the Hunter emerged unscathed. About twenty to thirty meters from the arrow's impact point, she frowned slightly, scanning for the direction from which the projectile had come. Her eyes soon fell upon the Sword Hero, Spear Hero, and Shield Hero charging aggressively toward her.
As for their teammates... they were trailing behind, simply unable to keep pace.
Among the three, the Spear Hero sprinted ahead, his speed-enhancing "cheat" giving him a significant advantage. As he ran, a long afterimage trailed behind him.
The Spear Hero had witnessed most clearly how the Hunter had evaded the Raging Wind Arrow. In that crucial fraction of a second before impact, her figure had blurred into an afterimage as she retreated from the arrow's blast radius with near-instantaneous speed.
"A cheat like mine?" The Spear Hero's lips curled into a smirk. "Then let's see who's faster! Full speed, unleashed!"
True to the Sakura Nation's style, the Spear Hero loudly announced his technique before unleashing it, his speed surging even further. Had he been in White Eagle, he would have easily earned the nickname "The Flash."
The Hunter responded simply by maintaining her furrowed brow, raising her hand, and pulling the trigger.
Her movement was ordinary—the speed of an average person firing a gun. Yet in that split second, the Spear Hero, who had been a considerable distance away, was now less than a hundred meters from her.
Scoffing at the Hunter's almost playful counterattack, the Spear Hero was confident that at his current speed, he could outpace the bullet itself. Evading the shot would be effortless.
Instead of dodging, he decided to show off. With a flourish, he spun his weapon, its crimson tip tracing a graceful arc through the air as it sliced the bullet in mid-flight.
Boom!
A violent explosion erupted where the bullet met the spear tip, confirming Firefly's suspicions: the Hunter was using custom-made explosive rounds.
But even as the blast reverberated, the Spear Hero had already changed direction, sprinting sideways to close the distance between them. He was closing in on the Hunter.
Then, for reasons unknown, the Spear Hero's body suddenly lurched violently, his speed plummeting. His weapon slipped from his grasp, and he lost his balance completely, crashing face-first into the ground. Carried by the momentum of his earlier sprint, he tumbled forward relentlessly until he came to a stop at the Hunter's feet.
If anyone were to examine the Spear Hero's corpse—yes, he was already dead—they would notice a tiny bullet hole in his forehead. The two halves of the bullet he had sliced apart had precisely struck the same spot.
Meanwhile, high above, Firefly finally accessed the Hunter's information. She pursed her lips in disbelief. "No way... is she really this absurdly overpowered?"
The Hunter was a pure Superhuman with only one Ability: Certain Hit. As for earlier, she had also used a power called Self-Acceleration, which, as the name suggested, accelerated her personal timeline to enhance her speed. This was how she had dodged the Bow Hero's arrows. However, Self-Acceleration wasn't an inherent Ability; it was an effect granted by an artifact she possessed.
In short, let's return to the "Certain Hit" ability. Unlike Mad Lion, who grows stronger with each battle and continuous upgrades, the Hunter's ability is fixed from the moment she acquires it, remaining exactly as it was initially.
The effect of this ability is simple: anything "launched" by the Hunter's hand will invariably, certainly, and absolutely strike its target, maintaining its initial constant velocity without change.
For example, if the Hunter gently tosses a pebble at a swallow, the pebble will drift through the air at that incredibly slow initial speed until it hits the bird. This might take a very, very long time—perhaps even longer than the swallow's natural lifespan, since the swallow is also moving—but even if it takes decades, the pebble will eventually strike its target.
The bullet that the Spear Hero had just sliced in half behaved similarly. Despite being severed into two pieces, each half continued at the exact same speed it had when fired, slamming into his forehead and killing him.
"Certain Hit...?" Of course, it guarantees a hit, not a kill. For instance, if Firefly, SAM, stood still and allowed the Hunter to shoot him, even headshots would be futile. His exceptional durability would make him impervious to the bullets, his protective barriers impenetrable.
Firefly, watching from above, understood what had just happened. But the Sword Hero, Shield Hero, and Bow Hero below were stunned. They had only seen the Spear Hero suddenly collapse unconscious mid-sprint, completely unaware of what had caused it.
"What's going on?"
"What happened?!"
"Regardless, caution is paramount!" The Sword Hero declared, quickening his pace as he shouted, "Cover me!"
The two girls trailing behind him, panting heavily, immediately halted. One, a Priest, and the other, a Mage, began chanting spells. Support and enhancement magic cascaded over the Sword Hero. Clearly, he had considered more than just looks when choosing his teammates; he had carefully considered their professions as well.
The Hunter glanced down at the corpse at her feet, then slowly raised her head, fixing her gaze on the two figures still sprinting toward her in the distance. She didn't know what was happening, who these people were, or why they had suddenly attacked her. But none of that mattered.
Imagine being shot at on the streets of White Eagle. Who would have time to think? You'd immediately return fire!
The Hunter raised her hand and fired the last bullet from her magazine.
"Watch out! Get behind me!" At the same moment, the Shield Hero stepped in front of the Sword Hero, raising his small, round black shield.
The Shield Hero's cheat was simple: Absolute Defense. This active skill allowed him to conjure an invisible barrier in front of his shield, capable of blocking any incoming attack.
"Don't worry, I'll protect..."
But before the Shield Hero could finish his sentence, a violent explosion erupted behind him, followed by a sticky sensation. He whirled around, his eyes widening in horror.
The Sword Hero's headless corpse slowly toppled to the ground. Because they were so close, a torrent of blood soaked half of the Shield Hero's body crimson.
The Shield Hero's cheat was indeed powerful—his shield could truly block any attack. Yet, this very strength created a paradoxical situation: in that instant, two contradictory truths clashed: the bullet was destined to hit its target, and the barrier was destined to stop it.
It was the ultimate bullet versus the ultimate shield, and everyone had just witnessed the result of their clash.
Since the bullet couldn't possibly pierce the shield to reach its target, it simply skipped the entire process.
The moment the Hunter pulled the trigger, the bullet vanished from the chamber, reappearing instantly at its destination: the Sword Hero's forehead.
This was the most terrifying aspect of the Hunter's ability—the sheer priority of its Certain Hit was overwhelming.
Firefly couldn't help but wonder: if the Hunter knew about SAM's situation, knew what she looked like while piloting the mecha, could the bullet instantly strike her as well?
This ability was practically tailor-made to target humanoid entities, leaving no room for evasion. If one had to find a flaw, it would be that the ability required a target to activate. But that was almost a moot point—who fires a gun without aiming?
Moreover, the target didn't even need to be precisely defined. For instance, imagine a skyscraper in the distance with a pattern on its rooftop. The pattern might be so far away that the Hunter could barely make it out, seeing only a blurry black dot. Yet, as long as she mentally locked onto that dot as her target and fired, the bullet would still find its mark.
Therefore, the Hunter had to be prevented from firing, or at least from locking onto her prey's appearance. Otherwise, the moment she pulled the trigger, the game would be over.
"Damn it, what the hell is going on?" The Bow Hero, positioned far away, panicked as she watched two of her teammates fall instantly at the start of the battle. She had barely nocked her second arrow, but now there was no point in continuing. If she didn't provide support immediately, her entire team would be wiped out in moments!
A fiery arrow blazed through the air, tracing a dazzling arc against the sky.
"So you were here all along..." The Hunter looked up. The previous Raging Wind Arrow had been too fast to track, but this time was different. "I see you now," she murmured.
Before the arrow could strike, she activated her Self-Acceleration ability again, transforming into a near-motionless blur as she swiftly dodged the impact point. While moving, she reloaded her rifle and raised it to fire.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Six gunshots rang out in rapid succession. In the distance, the Bow Hero; nearby, the Shield Hero; and between them, the bewildered members of the Hero Party, unsure whether to continue their journey—all were engulfed in a massive explosion.
The Hunter ejected the revolver's cylinder, tilted it slightly, and listened with immense satisfaction to the crisp clatter of six spent casings hitting the ground. That sound... that's the very essence of a revolver!
At that moment, five figures materialized from five directions—left, right, front, back, and directly above her—simultaneously attacking from less than two meters away. They were none other than Director Fujiwara's five bodyguards, the same "King's Shadow Guard" who had deceived the Heroes earlier.
"Self-Acceleration has an internal cooldown and can't be used continuously," one of them whispered. "Plus, she's out of ammo. Now's our chance!"
A flicker of surprise crossed the Hunter's face, but no fear. She had remained vigilant, sensing the deliberate nature of this ambush. What truly astonished her was that the mastermind behind this betrayal turned out to be someone from the Sakura Nation.
Or, more precisely, Hunter hadn't expected the Sakura Nation to dare betray her in this situation.
How dare they?!
Despite being ambushed and unable to use her Self-Acceleration Ability, Hunter remained calm. Her movements were even a step ahead of her five attackers.
Hunter swiftly unleashed a palm strike, a punch, and a kick, simultaneously targeting the jaws, abdomens, and knees of three opponents.
The five-person encirclement instantly crumbled. Exploiting the gap created by the downed trio, Hunter leaped backward twice, breaking free from the encirclement while dodging the blades swung by the remaining two.
Unlike Wizard, though Hunter was a Superhuman, her close-combat skills were far from lacking.
"I don't know who gave you the courage," Hunter said, calmly reloading her pistol as she locked eyes with the two remaining attackers. "But... this ends here."
As for the other three? They were currently drifting slowly through the sky.
While attacking them, the Hunter casually chose a destination: the small hill where the Bow Hero stood in the distance. The brief "push" she gave them during her assault had inadvertently fulfilled the "launch" condition.
Thus, the three men were now flying toward their destination at a constant velocity, matching their initial launch speed.
One was being dragged by his stomach, another by his knees, but the unluckiest of all was the one being pulled by his chin. His face had already turned a ghastly shade of cyan, and it seemed he wouldn't even need a finishing blow; he would likely suffocate to death soon.
"..." The remaining two exchanged terrified glances. Their figures gradually faded into transparency as they fled without looking back, desperately trying to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the Hunter.
"Shield Hero! Save us!" one of them cried out as he ran.
Just then, the Hunter noticed that the young man with the shield was still alive. The Shield Hero's skull was visible through his forehead, and barely a patch of intact skin remained on his face—only charred muscle tissue.
Yet, against all odds, he had survived. He had essentially taken a high-explosive grenade to the head, demonstrating truly astonishing resilience.
This highlighted one of the Hunter's ability's weaknesses: if a target's defenses were strong enough to nullify her attacks, her Certain Hit ability became meaningless.
"So these are the Heroes of this world?" As she spoke, the Hunter paused mid-reload, not out of pity, but to eject the high-explosive round she had just inserted and replace it with even more devastating ammunition.
If the Shield Hero could withstand one blast, she would simply give him more.