Life Hunter

Twenty-four hours later, Arima and Night woke up at the same time as if they had set an alarm.

Arima groaned while moving his stiff body and looked around. He was laying against the wall of the cave with a blanket on him. He was also in a better state than he thought he would be. Night also noticed the same things, and he as well, although he was in a dragon form, was placed in a more comfortable position and his scales had been washed.

Arima glanced at Lanya sleeping in a corner and chuckled as he stood up. Night turned into a wolf again since being smaller was always more comfortable.

They sat facing each other and Night was the first one to speak, "So? What happened?"

Arima scratched his head. "Well, I have an idea at least," He said and oddly directed his eyes toward the ground.

"First of all, that thing was aiming at me because I released my killing intent yesterday, obviously. That's the only thing that can explain why someone would suddenly target me. It means that someone or something sensed it and decided to eliminate me."

Night quietly listened.

"Now here's the important part," Arima became serious. "Chronepsis told me that I would be chased by Gods; Heavenly Gods, and Earthen Gods. The Heavenly Gods are most likely the same as the one who sent me in this world after my death." Of course, Night was already aware that Arima was from another world.

"As for the Earthen Gods, it's most likely something like this big guy," Arima pointed at the ground with his thumb. "Pure mana."

Night followed his finger and instantly understood, "Are you telling me this planet just attacked you by attracting an asteroid?"

"No, it's not this one. This planet wouldn't attract something that could destroy and kill everything on its surface. I saw it last time. The spirit inhabiting this planet is really protective. I'm guessing that it was the doing of some other Earthen God."

"Hey, are you saying that another planet just tried to kill you?" Night frowned, "You're sure of that?"

"It's not necessarily a planet. It may be something else. But the remnants of mana I detected on the broken part I sent away at the end were, without a doubt, 100% pure."

Night took a few seconds to process the information and opened his mouth, "How are we supposed to act now? If you're still alive, won't he try to kill you one more time? Sorry, but I don't think I can keep destroying meteorites every day without losing it."

"I don't think that's a problem. As long as I hold my killing intent from now on, it should be alright. I assume that he knew I was here just because he felt it. Now, he must be thinking that he killed me. I don't think he will be able to sense me one more time without my killing intent. We're most likely too 'small' for him," Arima said and grinned.

Night scowled at him, "You're planning something, aren't you?"

Arima laughed lightly, "I need to become stronger. For now, 'Life Hunt' is the best solution I have. I certainly can't use it on the guy we're standing on, but I'm sure I would have no reason to hold back against the guy who tried to kill me along with billions of people."

"Basically… you want to steal the life force of an Earthen God?"

Arima shrugged, "Why not? He began hostilities first."

Night sighed heavily and Arima turned his head toward a corner of the cave, "Why don't you just stop faking it already and say 'Good morning'."

Lanya trembled. She slowly opened her eyes and sat down properly, "…Good evening," She replied, a little flustered

"Mh?" Arima was confused, "Oh, sorry. Yes, you're right. It's night time. Anyway, don't you want to join the conversation?"

Lanya shook her head, "I'm fine. But I have something to say," She said and looked at Arima in the eyes, "You were targeted because of me. I'm sorry."

Arima waved his hand dismissively, "Don't worry, you don't have to feel sorry for that. I would have done it someday anyway. Also, do not apologize since I awakened your inheritance that way just because I was too lazy to do it otherwise."

Lanya bitterly laughed, "Thank you."

"Good," Arima stood up and stretched a bit. "Let's go. We still have to finish our job in the undead zone."

"Wait, you're still not fully healed!" Lanya was a bit agitated as she tried to stop him

Arima smiled at her, "What are you talking about? You're the one who has to fight for the moment."

"Ah…"

*********************************

"Azes, this time we really have a problem," In the God's realm, Zesta barged inside Azes's study and made herself at home as she said that.

"What is it?" Azes was working on a runic desk made out of minerals. He was writing on some strange pieces of paper that vanished into white particles when he signed them.

"That human really did it this time," Zesta uttered and sat down on a leather couch.

"Oh?" Azes's curiosity was picked and stopped working, "What happened?"

"Slaughter intent."

Azes was stunned for a moment until he slammed the desk and stood up, "Impossible, I didn't feel it when I retrieved his soul!"

"Apparently you missed it. An Earthen One tried to kill him."

Azes's expression twitched and he calmly sat down again. "Slaughter intent is not a simple thing but from what I saw, I don't think he is a sort of psychotic killer. It should be fine."

"I can understand that, but there's something else," Zesta's tone turned grim, "That human, there's no doubt that he is a Life Hunter."

Azes was shocked when he heard that but this time, he wasn't panicked but delighted. He started to laugh wholeheartedly, "They're not extinct after all. There was actually one hiding in a circuit-less world!"

"What's your plan? Now that an Earthen One has acted, others will notice something," Zesta warned him. Without knowing it, she had already joined Azes's side.

Azes mused, "In what planet did I send him? Which Earthen One attacked him?"

"He's on planet 5B. The one who attacked him was Errastas."

"There's no problem then. Errastas is known to be whimsical. Even if other Heavenly Gods find out about him, they won't do anything very soon. You're also one of the only Gods who have enough time to waste on observing a simple human."

Zesta snorted and looked away, "I was just curious."

"You can go down a bit if you want to meet him. That should be interesting. Also, help him hide his identity as a Life Hunter." Azes suggested and Zesta's eyes widened.

She seriously thought about it then nodded, "Well, it would be entertaining indeed to visit the mortal world once in a while."

********************************

Arima stayed on his lion and worked on some mithril while Lanya kept facing the undead on their path. Fortunately for her, the strongest she had met were only at the seventh level.

Night was also teaching her, as per usual, but he corrected her a lot less than before. Her learning speed was something that even Arima had to praise her for.

Three hours after they left the cave, they halted and observed the path ahead. There was a gloomy stone edifice, located a mile away from them, which resembled a mausoleum.

Arima snapped his fingers and the lion disappeared. He stood on the ground and smiled, "We should be more careful from now on. First, I didn't want to eliminate the leading undead but I realized that I need to get stronger to have more fu- to keep me alive."

Night cast him a really questionable look and Lanya wasn't sure how to react.

Arima walked toward her and handed her a silver, French-looking rapier, "Take this."

Lanya was astonished and took a lot of time to grab the rapier.

"Seems you like slashing. Hell knows why you chose a rapier, but with this weapon, you can slash and pierce at the same time if you want." Arima said and pointed his palm at the rapier. The sword was transmuted into a blue light. Because he had already done it for his weapons, it took less time than before but he still took a few minutes to finish.

When Lanya realized that the rapier was bound to her soul, she was extremely happy, "Thank you!"

Arima snickered and turned toward the mausoleum. He cracked his neck and kicked the ground to go there. Night and Lanya looked at each other before following him. In just a few seconds, they reached the mausoleum and admired it.

"You'll destroy it?" Night casually asked as he looked at the sturdy looking walls of the edifice.

Lanya blinked, "Huh? Master?"

"Why not."

"Seriously?" Lanya joined those two not long ago so she still wasn't used to their way of doing things. Of course, she would be surprised.

"Let's do it then. Lanya you may have nothing to do. Stand back for now and learn." Arima stated and resonated with Night. He flew off and placed himself above the mausoleum which was a hundred meters tall.

"Let's go with light for once," Arima declared and waved his hand. A quadrangle magic formation instantly surrounded the edifice. Arima then clasped his hands together and a loud boom echoed, making the ground shake.

"[Alligatum, Obfirmo] (Confinement, Lock)," He chanted and a huge white cube confined the whole mausoleum.

"[Fulgebunt sicut sol] (Shine like the sun)," An extremely bright light shrouded everything that was inside that barrier and hot steam started to come out of the ground.

"[Ultimum Magicae, Lux Amputates] (Ultimate Magic, Light Eradication)."

The light inside the cube became so strong that it illuminated everything in a ten miles' radius while every weak undead around it was vaporized.

Even Lanya who had a light attribute inheritance felt that she would be injured if she were to lower her defenses, even if she was outside of the cube.

Soon the light faded away and the cube broke into pieces. Arima took a deep breath and a whirlpool of colorless energy formed around him before it was absorbed by him.

"Not bad at all. That's a good amount of life force," Arima grinned. "I've gone up by half a level."

He inspected his strength and stared at where the mausoleum was supposed to be. There was only a small stone ruin left. From inside of it, eleven figures got out.

"{A part of it wasn't destroyed. There must be something special with that stone,}" Night commented.

Ten of the figures that appeared had all a very similar appearance. They were around five meters tall and each looked like a different animal. They were all standing on their two hind legs and their two other limbs were bizarrely large. Their flesh was rotting and the ribs and internal organs were almost completely visible.

"Wendigo," Arima muttered after he saw them. It was the first thing he compared them to. Then, he gazed at the last figure. It was a gray skeleton wearing a black cloak. There were flames blazing in his eyes socket.

"A lich, huh?" Arima smirked and lightning thundered around him. "Classic. Bring it on."