The Irascible Slaughterer

As luck would have it, Ming Yu had drawn the first half of the night shift, placing her directly in the path of the attacking sea beasts.

She remembered Exxon’s face and the deeds he had committed.

This was not Pharos.

Out on the boundless ocean, faced with such extreme violence, morality and rules were as flimsy as a sheet of paper, utterly inconsequential.

Sea beasts, after all, did not engage in rational discourse.

If Ming Yu wished, and had no intention of ever returning to Pharos, she could have dispatched everyone without a trace of guilt. Yet, she harbored no such twisted inclinations.

Having swiftly dealt with the human detritus, Ming Yu finally shifted her focus to the dozens of sea beasts swarming onto the deck, igniting the reactor of her thermal cutting blade.

The silver blade glowed crimson, its lethal edge subtly contained.

Ming Yu casually flicked a crimson arc with her blade, her eyes reflecting an icy indifference as she took elegant strides toward the dozens of tentacled catfish beasts clambering aboard.

The familiar sensation returned.

During the months spent with Little Nightingale and Qing Shui Ling Yin, Ming Yu had consistently displayed her softer nature. Over time, she had begun to question if she would falter, if she was still capable of such a task.

Now, it seemed, there was barely any impact.

She was a born slaughterer.

A fierce itch now plagued Ming Yu’s hands, her crimson blade seemingly thirsting for blood.

This was a feast of slaughter.

In the past, Ming Yu would have paid little mind to the gore clinging to her. Now, however, her blade instinctively veered away from such defilements with every swing.

With practiced agility, her blade rose and fell in a blur, swiftly clearing a wide circle of tentacled catfish.

The piercing howls of the sea beasts drew the attention of some hunters. By the time they ascended to the deck, weapons in hand, they found no source for the commotion, only mangled remains strewn across the floor, emitting a pungent stench of gore.

A white sea eagle circled overhead for a moment before descending gracefully to land beside the chunks of the tentacled catfish, where it began to feast without a hint of hesitation.

Ming Yu leaned against the stern railing, casting a fleeting glance at the returned white eagle, but quickly averted her gaze, turning her attention instead to the dark, hazy night sky.

Above the inky canopy, neither stars nor moon were visible. They were likely obscured by a thick blanket of clouds.

After completing her watch, Ming Yu stretched languidly before stepping off the deck and returning to the sea beast hunters’ exclusive private cabin.

Outside the transparent porthole, rain lashed down in a dense, slanting curtain, its gentle patter enveloping the entire latter half of the night.

She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was amiss.

When she had been slaughtering the sea beasts with her blade, the deck had been unlit, yet the darkness had not impaired her vision in the slightest. It was strikingly similar to her experience in virtual reality.

Her thoughts yielded no answers, and a full day’s accumulated fatigue began to surge, prompting an uncontrollable yawn.

Resting her head on the cushion, she gently closed her eyes, and her breathing in the cabin gradually softened into a steady, even rhythm.

****

At sea, Ming Yu’s sleep was always light.

As dawn approached, a cacophony of dull thuds and piercing howls erupted, shattering her tranquility.

Even with her eyes closed, her slender eyelashes trembled subtly, and her delicate eyebrows furrowed involuntarily.

The former Ming Yu, even if roused, would have felt no particular emotion, merely adjusting his state in the shortest possible time to observe his surroundings and assess the situation.

Yet, for reasons unknown, her current self felt profoundly irritated.

It was akin to the irascible temper of someone abruptly woken from sleep.

The irritation building to its peak, Ming Yu abruptly sat up in bed, opening her eyes and pressing a hand to her forehead as she lightly shook her head.

Her mind quickly cleared.

Leaving the bed, she grabbed her Mistcutter and pushed open the door.

Upon returning to the deck, she found every other hunter already present, collectively observing a fierce clash at sea in the distance.

Ming Yu narrowed her eyes, following their collective gaze.

Against the deep blue expanse, steel and flesh collided with explosive force.

Her pupils abruptly dilated, her vision sharpening.

‘What an enormous tentacled catfish.’

It was easily ten times larger than the ones she had dispatched, surely an elite, perhaps even a king, among its kind.

Yet, the steel giant, Xingtian, descended from the heavens, effortlessly unleashing a powerful hook punch. An ethereal blue flame erupted from its elbow, providing a burst of propulsion, and the metal fist struck the colossal catfish’s crystallized gill cover squarely.

A crisp crack resonated instantly, followed by an agonizing shriek that pierced the very heavens.

The hunters gathered on the deck, enthralled by the battle, erupted in fervent cheers.

“Truly an S-rank hunter! That punch was magnificent!”

“I was wondering if Xingtian was being overly confident, telling us not to interfere… Now it’s clear, they probably just didn’t want to accidentally injure us.”

“No, how can they… how can they possibly be this strong…”

“Ah, no wonder the requirements for S-rank are so stringent. A monster like Xingtian… compared to us, their combat power is simply on another dimension.”

“Isn’t there another S-rank in the team? Is her strength also this terrifying? It’s truly incredible…”

“You mean that woman? Hmm… I don’t think she’d evoke the same desperate sense of disparity as Xingtian…”

“True, Xingtian’s physique alone is imposing… To wield such massive full-body steel armor, their own stature must be equally extraordinary.”

“…”

As Jeston’s discussion shifted from Xingtian to the other S-rank, the usually taciturn Luo Bin found a faint smirk touching his lips, a subtle twitch in his eyelids.

His expression was rather peculiar.

Just then, Jeston abruptly elbowed him.

“Binbin, what’s your take?”

“…What aspect are you referring to?”

“These rarely seen S-rank hunters, they can’t all be as terrifying as Xingtian, can they?”

“I believe there are disparities even among S-ranks. Xingtian might very well be one of the absolute strongest.”

“…”

Luo Bin’s expression grew increasingly strange.

Xingtian might indeed be one of the top S-rank hunters, but Luo Bin had personally witnessed another individual possessing equally terrifying dominance. Unable to discern the silver-haired woman’s movement patterns, he knew absolutely nothing of her fighting style, only that her power vastly surpassed his own.

Xingtian, by contrast, was clearly not a speed-oriented fighter. He could roughly estimate the chasm-like disparity between them, yet he wasn’t disheartened by it, nor did he excessively underestimate himself.

Only with Silver Kite…

Compared to Xingtian’s overt, terrifying power, Silver Kite’s enigmatic unpredictability sent a deeper chill through his heart.

As he mused in silent awe, a flash of silver-white suddenly streaked past him.

Ming Yu stretched her limbs briefly, then tidied the tangled white locks she had neglected after waking, brushing aside the strands that obscured her vision before drawing her blade from its sheath.

Deep crimson light bloomed across the silver-white edge.

She let out a long breath, her gaze fixed on Xingtian and the tentacled catfish locked in fierce combat, a decidedly hostile expression in her eyes.

‘A creature that could be dispatched in a few swift cuts, did it truly warrant such prolonged entanglement?’

‘So loud.’