Eternal Thief

It had been six hours since the Hunter Mania had started, and contestants had entered the misty swamp.

Outside the demonic gates, a large projection appeared, which showed some contestants to the spectators.

It was also to show the institute was impartial and any kind of judgment will be fair and unbiased.

Everyone was watching closely the movements of the young demons and up till now no one comes face to face with anyone and most of them were hiding instead of wandering.

The four grand demon clans were also paying close attention without speaking.

“That’s why this competition is so difficult to pass. Most of the time, everyone just hides with concealment treasures. Even their martial or soul senses can’t see through those treasures.” The Ash Duke sighed ruefully.

Everyone agreed with him, and they had somewhat ugly expressions because their descendants might not pass this year’s test.

Finley, on the other hand, was happy with this new development because if Archie didn’t enter the Royal Demon Institute this year, then he would have had an entire year to get rid of him.

This time, even the main clan might aid in this, which will make it even easier.

“Look, that life demon is moving close to where another participant is hiding. He didn’t even use his concealment treasure and walked without any care in the world. Do you think he got ambushed by him, after all that talk?” Someone from the branch clans crowd exclaimed, drawing everyone’s attention to Archie’s projection.

Harvey looked with a hint of worry as Archie was getting in someone else range, and Archie just wore his concealment cloak like a normal cloak. He didn’t even activate it as if he wanted others to attack him!

—

Ace move unarmed in the swamp without showing any discomfort or worry.

‘I’m being observed, so doing anything out of the ordinary would not be a wise choice. I could only pretend to walk aimlessly towards a participant and then act.’

Ace could vaguely sense the hidden Qi undulation in this place, and he reckoned that it was filled with monitoring formation arrays. So, he didn’t want to do anything that a life demon couldn’t.

So, he decided to walk without concealing himself, and if someone attacked him, he could use his ‘superior cultivation’ to overpower the other party.

While the truth was, those concealment treasures weren’t enough to hide from his soul sense.

Furthermore, Ace also discovered that this swamp was like a small maze, and it was only large enough to give contestants some space to hide. But they can’t leave the area, and eventually, they will come in contact with someone.

It also gave him some insight into just how advanced the Royal Demon Institute’s formation arrays were, and this was just the entrance. He didn’t dare to imagine just how advanced the formation arrays would be at the core of this place.

At this moment, Ace’s lips curled slightly. ‘He took the bait.’

He could feel the other party’s martial sense locked on him, and he was under the impression that his martial sense was concealed with a treasure, and Archie had no idea that he was already been discovered.

As the distance between them got closer and closer, he was still moving closer to Archie.

Thereupon, when Archie was passing by a swamp tree, a shadow suddenly flashed toward him from above, and a sharp blade was going to pierce through Archie’s head. It was a clear killing blow, and the other party had no intention of sparing his target!

Just as he was a few meters away before his sneak attack would connect, Archie’s jeering voice rang. “Your killing intent gives you away. Now can be on your way.”

Archie’s sudden response startled the attacker, but strangely, he didn’t move a muscle, which made the attacker think Archie was bluffing.

However, the very next moment thereafter, paper talismans started appearing over Archie’s head, forming a small web.

The attacker instantly saw through the famous talisman web of the Runic Soul Demon Clan, and he knew the other party was a descendant of the Grand Life Soul Demon Clan!

He knew if he touched this talisman web, it would be akin to death. He quickly blurted, “Wait… I…!”

However, it was already too late. The talisman web suddenly shimmered, and ‘Boom’, an enormous blast, sounded in the vicinity!

Archie finally looked toward the charred body that fell not far away and walk over.

Although the body was intact since the demon managed to activate a defensive treasure at the last moment, a collective explosion of 18 high-grade-3 talismans wasn’t a joke either.

It was a surprise that this demon was still alive.

He weakling tried to utter with great difficulty, “I… su…”

“Not happening!”

The next moment, 6-feet-long runic white bow appeared in Archie’s hand and he pulled the string before the green runes on the bow lit up and a vivid green Qi arrow formed which was ethereal. It was an arrow made with soul Qi.

He let go of the string and the arrow flashed into the demon’s head, killing him before he could surrender!

All of this took only just two seconds!

Ace’s eyes narrowed slightly as he held the bow in his hand. ‘Why was that feeling?’

Just as Ace drew the bow, he felt a strange feeling as if he could shoot down anything from anywhere. But that feeling was fleeting, and it vanished as fast as it appeared.

Furthermore, he never tried archery before, but his reaction speed while using a bow and arrow was extremely fast, as well as his aim. It was like he was practicing it for years.

‘Could it be because of the memories I annexed that’s why I gain mastery of Archie’s archery as well?’ Ace mused, and he wanted to try other weapons as well to see if it was true or not.

Because getting memories and getting the entire mastery over weapons were two different things.

Nevertheless, it was the time or place to check his hypothesis, so Ace collected the hunter badge, which was intact even after enduring that explosion.

He also took the storage ring, but he didn’t leave the area and hid within the tree crown, and waits for someone to come.

That explosion will draw someone’s attention, and they might come here to see if they might fish in troubled waters.

But they would be falling into Ace’s trap and give him a chance to experiment with archery more and collect more badges.

—

Outside, the area was completely silent as everyone saw how Archie killed the demon with little trouble and a cyan skin demon in the crowd had a pale expression.

He was the father of the deceased demon and was from the branch clan of the nightmare demons, but he couldn’t even curse after his son’s death and could only endure.

p-a- n-d-a-n-0-v-e-l、(c)om Because everyone saw his son was the one who had gone for the kill, and if he uttered any complaints, even the main clan of nightmare demons wouldn’t help him no matter what.

On the other side, the Dark Fire Duke’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Harvey meaningfully. “It seems Archie’s soul sense is much more powerful than a diamond river core cultivator.”

Everyone had grave expressions since they thought the same, but kept their mouth shut since hiding cultivation was a common thing.

Harvey also kept quiet about it, but he was no longer worried about Archie and was completely relaxed. He knew Archie was a platinum soul river core cultivator, and it was bound to come out eventually.

He even flashed a mocking smile at Finley, who seemed as if as had swallowed a flea.

At this moment, everyone saw a fiery demon slowly creep toward where Archie was hiding and couldn’t help but shot that pitiful fellow a rueful gaze.

If Archie’s soul sense was really at the platinum level, then without a grade-5 treasure, it was impossible to completely hide Qi fluctuation unless they were in the same cultivation realm.

The demon was extremely vigilant, but just as he was fifty meters away from the explosion’s location. They all saw Archie suddenly pull the string, make an arc, and a soul arrow manifested.

The next moment, he let go, and the arrow headed toward the hidden demon’s head.

However, it wasn’t the end, but within a second, he again pulled the string and shot another arrow, and in five seconds, Archie had shot ten arrows in succession!

It just proved that his cultivation was above the Diamond Doul River Core Cultivation Realm!

The hidden demon didn’t discover those incoming arrows because of the mist until they were ten meters away from him, and it was already too late.

Before he could react, the arrow pierced through his throat, and the next nine arrows landed all over his face, making it a horrible sight to see. Another one was dead!

Ace appeared again, holding his bow and collected the badge and storage ring with a cold smirk on his face, and left the vicinity this time to search for more targets to practice his archery, which he found delightful all of a sudden!