*THUMP*
*THUMP*
*THUMP*
Just after he shot the bullets, Clarence could hear the blunt sounds of bodies hitting the ground.
Clarence halted and turned around. He took a defensive stance and moved forward, not letting down his guard.
When he reached the approximate area where the sound came from, he could see three bodies at an approximate distance of ten meters to each other in a triangular formation.
From the looks of it, they died before they could put up any resistance, causing them to fall down into the same formation.
Clarence looked for precious objects on them. After looking around for a bit, he soon found a bow slung to the back of the last person he searched.
No sooner than he held the bow in his hands did he order,
"System, exchange for the highest damage long-range weapon."
[Rank six great letwig wooden bow * Barrett M82A1]
With the same previous things repeating, a sniper appeared in his hands with all the information relating to it getting transferred into his brain.
He then cleared up all the traces of battle and put the bodies in his spatial bracelet.
Clarence looked around for a while in search of a tall tree before climbing it. After he stood atop it, he faced the direction where he dropped the snake carcass and scoped in.
After he moved around his scope for a while,
"As expected," He muttered as he found a man clothed in black sitting atop a tree branch, covered in further small branches and leaves.
If not for the scope, the man not being on guard, and Clarence having the leisure to find the person. The latter might have never discovered the man.
Clarence quickly pulled out a vacuum formation from his spatial bracelet and set it up on the tree. After taking a deep breath, he activated it.
He then took aim at the man's head, calculated all the factors such as wind speed and direction, range of the gun, which he assumed to be still lethal at the current range, light source and barometric pressure.
After he was confident that he could kill or at least injure the man in case he detected the incoming bullet and dodged, Clarence pulled the trigger.
There wasn't any noise because of the vacuum around him and the sniper. The bullet flew at breakneck speed towards the unsuspecting man's head.
The bullet easily tore open the man's skull before drilling its way through his brain. It emerged from the other end, where it continued to fly before lodging itself deep into a tree.
The man wasn't aware of what took place even until his last moment. Clarence had put in his golden blue energy into the bullet.
Although it would put his bullet at the risk of being exposed. He wanted to be completely sure to at least injure or better yet kill the man.
Because if not, he would have to give up on the carcass and run away or worse, fight the man whom he assumed to be of the same rank as the rest, if not higher.
By the time he put the formation back into his spatial bracelet, Clarence was struggling to hold his breath.
*phew*
That single statement, along with the release of breath, also described Clarence's relief at finally overcoming the dangers.
He put the sniper back into his spatial bracelet and got down from the tree. He started moving in the carcass' direction as soon as his feet hit the ground.
When he approached the carcass, he could notice a body lying on the ground a few meters away from it, near the base of a tree.
After moving close to it, he put away the body in his spatial bracelet without crouching down to search it.
Following, he approached the carcass and placed it in his spatial bracelet.
He then chose a random direction and began walking in that direction at a moderate pace.
Earlier in the battle, when he moved out of the cave, he started running as soon as he sensed the energy fluctuations.
When the hidden enemies were revealed, he sensed an imperceptible fluctuation ahead, which the man who called out to him tried to hide.
He tried doing so by disturbing the mana in the surroundings through his voice, which was laced with mana, enough to disturb the surrounding mana but not hurt him.
Getting wary, he changed direction. Along the way, he could feel a slight fluctuation ahead of him several times, causing him to change directions. He was certain by that moment that there was a fourth man.
He bet he could only sense minute fluctuations because of the golden blue energy running through his body. His normal mana sensitivity definitely wasn't enough for such a task.
It became obvious to the pursuers that he could sense the traps being laid ahead of him. Before they could think of anything else, Clarence gave them a counter offer.
Quickly discussing among themselves, the man wrapped in black stayed behind to guard the carcass since his specialties, which lay in setting up traps, were almost useless.
The three men pursuing Clarence continued pursuing him, but only after they stopped using mana and used pure physical strength. They did so in order to not alert him.
They didn't even use their mana sense, as the mana required to use it was still something that Clarence could have sensed.
As soon as they stopped using mana, their speed didn't have an advantage over Clarence anymore.
It caused them to make more slip-ups while chasing, further leading to more noise, which Clarence picked up and shot at as soon as he got the gun.
He guessed that if these people were the ones who put that rank five snake in the critically injured state, they should have an artifact which granted them confidence to battle that beast.
Hardscale snakes are one of the most terrifying beasts as they could battle up to six to eight humans of similar cultivation.
So, to come hunt that snake with only four people, they should have something they believed in.
Just like he expected, he found a bow, which he exchanged for a long ranged weapon to try and kill the last guy because he wasn't willing to give up the snake carcass.
*****
At a certain distance away from the mountains, a group of three men wrapped in black sat around a table in a restaurant.
Suddenly, one of them felt something and took out a lantern from his spatial bracelet. When the three of them saw the lantern wasn't burning, they widened their eyes and left the restaurant in a hurry.
That lantern is a soul lantern. It has a specific range and can determine if the person whose soul shares a connection with the lantern is alive within a certain range.
Seeing that the lantern wasn't burning, it was obvious that some unforeseen circumstances took place with the person making the three men hurry.
The three men, as soon as they exited the restaurant, started levitating above the ground before they were full-blown flying in the air at full speed towards the bluemist mountains.
It was clear that these men had a high level of cultivation, as only rank six and above can fly freely in the air.
Soon, the three of them saw the bluemist mountains in the distance. Just as when they were about to enter the mountain, a black wall seemingly made of shadows blocked their path.
Seeing the wall instantly made the three men solemn. They looked around for a bit before the one in the middle said,
"Your excellency, we just want to check up on our student who came here to hunt a snake."
The three of them didn't know if the opposite person was stronger than them or not, but the wall in front of them contained a powerful aura they weren't willing to fight with.
So they naturally treated it with caution and called out what every lower ranked cultivator called the higher ranked cultivators when conversing, Your excellency.
The wall in front of them quivered before a string of texts appeared on it, which read:
"Entry is prohibited for such high ranks, no matter who you are."
The man in the middle didn't give up and tried to convince by saying,
"We would just search the area where the connection with the soul lamp disappeared. We can even take an oath that we won't roam around, but just check the surroundings and leave."
After the man said his part, he, along with his companions, waited for a reply, but even after waiting for a while, the texts on the wall remained the same.
"Entry is prohibited for such high ranks, no matter who you are."
The three men understood they had encountered a tough situation. They wanted to save or at least bring the body of the student back.
The four students also had the rank six great letwig wooden bow in their possession, which they borrowed from the academy on rent for this mission.
They have to at least bring back the bow. Every artifact is a resource.
The three men looked at each other as if they were mentally communicating before they nodded at the same time, their expressions becoming firm.
The man in the middle said,
"Your excellency, we apologize for the rudeness but it is a very important matter for us. We'll be going in regardless of what you say."