Chapter 671: The Beginning of the Hunt
"Something catastrophic seems to have happened in the Third Tier!"
"Are you referring to the total annihilation of the [Far East Magic Association]?"
Luo Xi, known by the title [Crimson Lotus Magus], had been aggressively leveraging her time lately to reinforce her baseline attributes. She was intensely anxious that she might sustain a rapid rout in the upcoming Title Tournament.
The rate at which Reincarnators scaled their raw muscle and processing metrics was exceptionally fast; practically every single time a mission cycle concluded, a swarm of newly ascended powerhouses would breach the map, while those unable to match the evolutionary curve were systematically and ruthlessly eliminated.
Granted, thanks to the structural existence of a [Title], any interloper who successfully locked down a title-grade profile commanded an array of high-priority [Title Capabilities]. This functioned as a highly effective operational moat, guaranteeing them a stable tactical leverage over the lower ranks.
However, every fresh Title Tournament represented an absolute, non-negotiable shuffle of the board.
Throughout this specific multi-faction gauntlet, regardless of whether you operated as a mediocre, low-tier title holder, a specialized powerhouse commanding a unique title framework, or one of the elite apex predators occupying the absolute zenith of the ladder—even a reigning [Sovereign of Supreme Power]—
Every single line of Title Capabilities was hardcoded to become completely, flawlessly void. Every Reincarnator was forcefully stripped of their mechanical advantages, compelled to return to the most primitive, unrefined scramble for raw dominance.
Only by securing an absolute win in this savage tournament could an organism continue to safeguard its structural leverage across the subsequent epoch cycle.
Luo Xi held a perfectly clear comprehension that her own progression had fallen significantly behind during this epoch. The [Crimson Lotus Flower] faction she had spent a lifetime meticulously engineering had even sustained a total, near-permanent collapse, leaving virtually all of her civic efforts completely erased from the ledger.
Fortunately, her tracking arrays had successfully unearthed a monumentally powerful wild predator—Mercenary Tao—and her alignment had subsequently secured a rare line of favor from Her Eminence, [The Deathly Silence of Life]. Consequently, her access to premium research resources remained unblemished.
Listening to the non-stop arguments echoing across her faction channels, her mind involuntarily and flawlessly mapped the name Mercenary Tao to the center of the grid.
Analyzing the catastrophic territorial shifts currently fracturing the Eastern District of the Space, nearly one-third of the operational data streams were directly linked to this single monster.
Before she could unhinge her jaw to launch a query, a high-priority communication flag suddenly flashed across her sensory grid. Her expression instantly turned sharp and military-precise as her body morphed into a blazing stream of light, executing an immediate spatial transmission to exit the area.
In the very next fraction of a second, Luo Xi re-materialized directly atop an immense, pristine savannah. A lone, weathered wooden cottage stood rigidly independent amidst the swaying grass, surrounded by an infinite bloom of pale, delicate flora.
Transforming into a blazing fire meteor to slice through the massive expanse of this Personal Space, she dissolved her flames mid-air to drop cleanly before the threshold. Taking a microsecond to smoothly suppress the anxious rattling of her nerves, she pushed the wooden door open and entered.
Three separate individuals were already standing within the cozy, timber-lined room. These three assets were universally logged as the absolute most trusted title-grade Reincarnators operating directly beneath Her Eminence [The Deathly Silence of Life], each manually steering a distinct high-tier coalition or combat team.
Luo Xi's heart executed a rapid micro-twitch. Registering that her own profile had been explicitly summoned alongside these apex assets, did it verify a diagnostic reality that she had smoothly ascended to become one of Her Eminence's primary subordinate generals?!
Beep... Boop...
Within the warm, rustic perimeter of the cottage, [The Deathly Silence of Life] remained completely curled up inside the cushions of a vintage plush sofa, lazily hammering away at a hand-held video game console manufactured during the previous century. Evaluating Luo Xi's entry, the three powerhouses presented highly distinct facial expressions.
Propped against the window frame, a black-haired man clad in a sleek blue-black leather jacket kept his long hair woven into an intricate, heavy braid; his active biological template cleanly and beautifully replicated the precise aesthetic profile of a Lancer class from a certain Holy Grail worldline.
He merely cede Luo Xi a fleeting, dismissive glance before cleanly redirecting his visual focus. He blatantly, intensely loathed this woman—a pathetic failure who had recently allowed the [Chaos Sage] to hammer her coalition down to the absolute brink of a total systemic collapse.
Conversely, a blonde man seated atop a carved timber stool adjacent to the sofa sofa offered her a light, genuinely welcoming smile.
"Good to see you, Luo Xi. Her Eminence has centralized our coordinates to finalize our strategic counter-measures for the upcoming transition."
"Strategic counter-measures?"
This asset was logged under the codename [The Eastern Rising Sun], an elite champion who had successfully secured the prestigious title of [The Golden Crow]. Expressed through a tactical framework, he was universally recognized as the single most powerful vanguard follower operating within [The Deathly Silence of Life]'s alignment.
The only structural discrepancy was that Her Eminence, entirely unlike the Sovereign of the Final Sun, harbored a profound distaste for forging rigid corporate syndicates or deploying inside tightly locked team structures; consequently, her wider organization operated under an exceptionally loose, decentralized matrix.
Standing directly behind The Eastern Rising Sun's back was a blonde woman whose hair fell loosely to drape her shoulders, the fine tips curling inward. Her twin irises carried the unmistakable sub-atomic signature of a high-tier Mystic Eye specialized relic, radiating a magnificent, color-shifting luster.
Codenamed [Honey Pear], she was a monster who had aggressively locked her tracking arrays onto [The Crown of Supreme Power] during the historical tournament, only ceding her compliance to follow Her Eminence after sustaining a head-on tactical defeat against her blade.
Evaluating Luo Xi's completely vacant, un-informed posture, Honey Pear lowered her eyelids, her vocal register dropping to a cold, raspy chime:
"That un-indexed freak technically still occupies a slot on your active faction ledger, does he not?..."
"He systematically pulverized the entire infrastructure of the [Far East Magic Association] and executed Solomon down to the atom. What exactly is his definitive objective?"
"Does your agency possess the communication priority to establish a direct link to that monster? Furthermore, do your instruments map any indicator of what subsequent campaign he intends to launch across the grid?"
Honey Pear was visibly, intensely annoyed by the data vacuum. Her rapid-fire barrage of high-pressure queries left Luo Xi marginally dazed for a frame, but her advanced processing quickly re-anchored her focus.
Her face initially went slightly pale under the duress, before rapidly flushing with a sudden, warm rush of confidence.
Granted, Mercenary Tao was an undisputed, apocalyptic monster—but when evaluating his direct interactions against her own agency, his demeanor had consistently remained layout-wise... somewhat "amiable"?
Her own intellect recognized that deploying a term like amiable to map the psychological baseline of a creature like Mercenary Tao was layout-wise, astronomically bizarre—yet the empirical data remained absolute: throughout their entire history, she had completely failed to trigger a single wisp of conflict against his blade.
Clack.
At that exact microsecond, Her Eminence—who had remained entirely isolated inside her video game loop—finally set her controller down onto the low table. She methodically raised her upper body from the deep cushions of the sofa, her vacant eyes pinning themselves straight onto Luo Xi's face.
"My directive requires an absolute, head-on audience against his vessel."
"You. Coordinate the parameters."
The remaining three powerhouses in the room registered a sudden, severe mutation across their expressions.
As an absolute, reigning [Sovereign of Supreme Power] widely rumored across the Space network to possess the single most lethal close-quarters slaughter capability on the ledger, [The Deathly Silence of Life] had generated an infinite archive of terrifying legends.
Yet, this scarlet, rule-bending blade had completely refrained from executing a top-tier Reincarnator for multiple world cycles.
Right now, with the active epoch cycle frantically ticking down to its absolute expiration, Her Eminence was proactively demanding a direct, un-blockable meeting against an unrefined engine of slaughter like Mercenary Tao. A strategic variable of this magnitude automatically forced their intellects to compile an array of complex, runaway calculations.
Was Her Eminence planning to utilize the final remaining window before surrendering her Crown of Supreme Power to forge a joint combat alignment alongside Mercenary Tao, manually launching a head-on execution campaign to systematically liquidate a specific top-tier Reincarnator... or perhaps, another reigning Sovereign?!
The Deathly Silence of Life blatantly cede them zero baseline explanations. She merely dropped the mandate down the line with absolute finality.
Luo Xi could only execute a rapid succession of submissive nods.
Evaluating the trajectory, The Eastern Rising Sun instantly flipped his strategic blueprint, his features breaking into a warm, diplomatic smile as he noted:
"Luo Xi, Mercenary Tao's [Eden] organization is currently amassing an exceptionally massive threshold of momentum across the Eastern District. Your intellect would be far better served by immediately transitioning the master headquarters of the [Crimson Lotus Flower] straight into his central coordinates. By executing a territorial merge of this classification, our arrays can naturally extract a much cleaner line of operational data mapping Mercenary Tao's baseline."
He held a perfect, lucid comprehension that although his own parameters categorized his vessel as an elite champion, when measured against freaks like Su Qingqiu or Daheitian, his assets merely occupied an equal tier; Mercenary Tao's unrefined muscle capacity comfortably and flawlessly out-scaled his metrics by multiple structural tiers.
Since Her Eminence held zero intention of drawing her blade to finalize Mercenary Tao's liquidation, establishing a highly cooperative, friendly alignment against his faction was mathematically the single most optimal path forward.
His mind immediately tracked a highly specialized, top-tier material asset his combat team had recently harvested from a high-order grid. Rumors across the network verified that Mercenary Tao was continuously and ravenously amassing high-priority materials explicitly linked to advanced martial arts tempering and absolute physique enhancement. Perhaps... his agency should proactively initiate a direct trade protocol against his host...
Meanwhile, out across the dilapidated alleyways bordering the Eastern District Slums, the Tree Herder walked with a perfectly expressionless countenance, completely ignoring the non-stop pointing and whispered barbs of the surrounding low-tier Reincarnators as he methodically parked his bones behind his designated trading stall.
The absolute demolition of the [Far East Magic Association] had smoothly morphed into the single most high-traffic talking point across the entire district. Existing as a rare "survivor" of that catastrophic purge, a vast percentage of the local networks had already compiled a diagnostic blueprint holding that his agency had actively betrayed Solomon, forging a clandestine joint alliance alongside Mercenary Tao to orchestrate the total liquidation of that prominent coalition.
Under standard parameters, a calculation of that nature would have comfortably matched the layout of reality—yet right now, the Tree Herder merely processed this entire generation of Reincarnators as an intensely, thoroughly disgusting stain on existence.
This swarm of locust-like parasites didn't merely restrict their operations to blemish pristine, stable story worlds with a non-stop torrent of death and geological ruin; they actually generated an intense wisp of pure, self-absorbed amusement when witnessing the terminal liquidation of their own peers.
Sustained by the continuous, unyielding pulsing of the [Life Equation] embedded deep within his soul tracks, the Tree Herder's mind finalized a definitive resolution to activate an absolute line of Judgment.
With a fluid microsecond of input, he forcefully mapped a fresh, high-priority transaction flag straight onto the global market display:
[Compensated Intelligence Provision: Comprehensive Operational Parameters and Vital Signs Mapping the Entity Codenamed Mercenary Tao.]
(End of Chapter)
~~~
Get early access to 50+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
~~~
Every 5 new reviews = 2 extra chapters
Every 100 Power Stones = 1 extra chapter