novelraw Chapter 247: Accidentally Walking Into a Gathering of Powerhouses
Chapter 247: Accidentally Walking Into a Gathering of Powerhouses
Temporarily? What does that mean?
This question involuntarily arose in the minds of the numerous hunters and townsfolk present.
"Go."
At this moment, Chen Qi, covered in shadow beast blood, lightly pointed his finger, commanding the Deepsea Water Spirits to collect the shadow beast materials scattered on the ground.
"!! (Understood!!)"
Water Spirits No.5 and No.6's eyes gleamed as they excitedly rushed forward with two large sacks.
They absolutely loved this kind of work - watching their master finish a battle, then helping him tally up the spoils.
Thus, amidst the black pools of blood from hundreds of shadow beast corpses, No.5 and No.6 enthusiastically stuffed shadow beast cores and Wriggling Shadows into their sacks.
Chen Qi roughly estimated the gains from this battle:
He had killed over three hundred ordinary shadow beasts. After excluding those that were too weak, he had earned 8,600 inspiration points.The Giant Shadow Python had dropped 5,000 inspiration points.
Combined with his previous points, he now had a total of 15,100 inspiration points - breaking his personal record!
As for the shadow beast cores collected by the Deepsea Water Spirits, there were three hundred and twenty in total, equating to over three hundred contribution points.
Additionally, there were the Wriggling Shadows.
Only ten Wriggling Shadows had dropped - even during the Night of Shadow Tide, they were relatively rare materials... Chen Qi noted silently.
Just then, a voice interrupted Chen Qi's thoughts.
"Excuse me... can we leave now?"
A tall hunter from the crowd mustered his courage to speak to Chen Qi.
Leave? Why? Chen Qi tilted his head slightly, maintaining an extremely calm demeanor.
He wasn't just inside a dimensional rift - he was also completing his Lamp Keeper mission.
For third-tier profession missions, besides the obvious rewards, there were special bonuses.
These special rewards required continuously completing good missions.
Among the Lamp Keeper's duties, besides protecting light sources, safeguarding others during the night was also an essential evaluation criterion.
As a Lamp Keeper, he had successfully driven away the shadow beasts and protected the townsfolk.
Seeing how nervous everyone looked, Chen Qi thought for a moment before gently comforting them:
"There's no need to be afraid."
His tone was gentle, his words polite, and he had just protected them - truly the model of a warm-hearted gentleman.
Under Chen Qi's gentle reassurance, the crowd grew even more terrified. A little girl even hid behind one of the hunters.
To them, Chen Qi - drenched in shadow beast blood - looked more terrifying than the shadow beasts themselves. Combined with his pitch-black tentacles, he barely resembled a human at all.
The tall hunter felt crushed by overwhelming fear, as if standing on the sharp teeth of some monstrous beast, his legs trembling uncontrollably.
Holy shit! This is terrifying!
Gathering his words, he said earnestly:
"Then... can we run?"
Run? Why would you want to run? I just cleared out the shadow beasts here and created a safe zone for you, and now you want to run?
If they just stayed in this safe area, these two hunters and the other townsfolk could spend the night in safety.
And why were his legs still shaking?
Was he not being gentle enough? Chen Qi said softly:
"Relax, the shadow beasts here are all dead. There's no need for you to leave."
Chen Qi made extra effort to keep his tone friendly.
However, all they heard were the words "no need for you to leave"!
The tall hunter couldn't take it anymore. He suddenly gripped his spear tightly, took a step forward, and then—
Boom! Fell to his knees!
"Sir, please spare the children behind me! I'm willing to hand over everything I have!"
Shadow demons were cruel and ruthless. Though the chances were slim, this shadow demon could speak - maybe there was hope for survival.
As he spoke, the tall hunter presented fifty shadow beast cores and fifteen Wriggling Shadows with both hands.
"......"
For a moment, Chen Qi didn't know how to describe his speechlessness.
Between the Night Monster passive and Ember's Touch, the aura of brutality he emitted was like a volcano about to erupt.
Am I really that terrifying?
Explaining probably wouldn't help - it might even reveal too much information...
Should I just accept these materials?
A semi-transparent black tentacle extended from Chen Qi's back and slowly took the Wriggling Shadows and shadow beast cores.
Wait a minute... Chen Qi blinked, suddenly noticing something odd.
Why were there so many Wriggling Shadows? They were supposed to be rare materials, yet this ordinary hunter had fifteen of them!
Currently, he only had a little over ten himself.
Chen Qi crouched down and asked softly:
"Where did you get all these things?"
The tall hunter trembled, the hair at his temples soaked with sweat:
"P-picked them up..."
"Picked them up?"
The tall hunter panted as he explained:
"Yes... the white hunters were chasing some monster. They were in such a hurry that they left all the shadow beast corpses they killed along the way untouched... so we gathered our courage and picked up some..."
Chasing some monster? Chen Qi's spirits immediately lifted.
The White Tower hunters hadn't gone to resist the Shadow Tide - they'd come to town instead.
Come to think of it, he still hadn't found any trace of the Shadow Weaver. Could it be that the White Tower hunters were also after it?
Those with Book and Lamp affinities were known for their inspiration, and the White Tower Federation was the nation that governed these affinities. Compared to physical talents, they placed greater emphasis on powerful inspiration and extensive knowledge.
Though Chen Qi's inspiration was quite high, it paled in comparison to that of a third-tier supernatural from the White Tower Federation.
Moreover, White Tower Federation hunters were renowned for their intelligence networks. The likelihood of them knowing about the Shadow Weaver wasn't low.
Were the White Tower hunters also tracking the Weaver?
This was troublesome - he had competition... After some thought, Chen Qi asked:
"Which direction did they go?"
The tall hunter slowly raised his head and pointed a trembling finger toward the dim lighthouse within the town.
Chen Qi followed the direction of the finger.
That was the lighthouse established by the Sea God Pirates after modifying a watchtower following the Smiling Moon event.
I see... Chen Qi picked up the Daylight Lantern and called to the Deepsea Water Spirits:
"Come back, we're leaving."
The Deepsea Water Spirits followed with their sacks full.
On the ground, besides the shadow beast cores and Wriggling Shadows, there were numerous shadow beast corpses whose parts could fetch a good price.
Additionally, there were the night scales from the Giant Shadow Python - excellent materials for crafting armor.
However, harvesting them would be too time-consuming, and they were too bulky to fit in the Backpack Card.
He'd leave the valuable materials from the shadow beasts here for them.
Chen Qi stepped into the dark streets and disappeared from everyone's view.
Moments later, only after confirming his footsteps had faded did the crowd dare to lift their heads and start discussing.
Among the townsfolk, someone asked fearfully:
"What kind of monster was that just now? His aura was absolutely terrifying! Does our Sea God Pirates really have someone like that?"
The tall hunter answered:
"No, he's not a legend - just a third-tier supernatural."
"Third-tier! Could it be Lord Haige? Or one of those rising stars at the peak of third-tier? Or... some crazy monster created by our bishop? Or a special type of shadow beast?"
"No, no - judging by how he hunted shadow beasts, he's clearly not one of them. Perhaps... he might be that Black Hunter from before..."
"The Black Hunter? He came back from the dead? Didn't he get beaten to death fighting the Gunfire Queen?"
"Wasn't the Black Hunter whipped to death by the Flower Witch?"
The crowd couldn't contain their astonishment. On the high seas, new talented individuals emerged every day, but once their names disappeared from the newspapers, it usually meant they'd died.
And on the seas, sensational rumors spread faster than the truth.
Combined with some news spread by the Blood Blade Pirates, many who followed the Black Hunter believed Chen Qi had sunk to the bottom of the ocean.
The tall hunter frowned:
"I'm just guessing - it's probably not true. But regardless, those pitch-black tentacles mean he's a monster that will haunt our town."
Everyone couldn't help but recall Chen Qi's terrifying appearance earlier and shuddered.
At this moment, another hunter in the group - short and thin - spoke up:
"Recently, there have been two rising stars making names for themselves - the aristocratic Bomb Hunter from Bonfire Energy Company, and the gentle hunter An. Both have declared they'll hunt deep sea monsters. Maybe they can deal with this creature..."
The crowd immediately thought of this. These two hunters' reputations had been growing rapidly lately, having hunted numerous deep sea monsters recently!
If the Black Hunter was indeed alive, he would undoubtedly be one of their primary targets!
The tall hunter said self-deprecatingly:
"Don't count on others! But that monster's hunting targets are the White Tower's monsters! Maybe it won't survive tonight..."
The White Tower hunters were the strongest independent hunter group on Sea God Island. They operated in teams of seven and had completed multiple S-rank bounty missions.
Whether it was the massive Black Pig Shark, the storm birds that navigated thunderclouds, or the lava sea dragons - all had fallen to them.
The thin hunter added:
"Yeah, especially that Melanie. Not only is she beautiful, her strength is incredible - probably second only to our hunter group's Haige."
'Can you stop talking about this...'
A little girl reminded them fearfully before staring blankly at the Giant Shadow Python's corpse.
That monster had left them a boss's body!
In the darkness, the python's night scales emitted faint glimmers.
Everyone swallowed hard, at a loss for words to describe their current feelings.
......
......
The black mist grew increasingly thick.
Chen Qi walked along the pitch-black streets that seemed to devour all light, carrying his lantern.
With the enhancement of Shadow Step, his movements were light yet firm, as if he'd reached some understanding with the darkness, leaving no unnecessary sounds behind.
The Daylight Lantern providing illumination was carried by Deepsea Water Spirit No.1.
The lantern's light revealed countless shadow beast carcasses - a rough estimate put the number at over a thousand!
Yet these valuable remains were completely intact. The hunters who'd killed these beasts clearly didn't care about their worth.
These remains were quite valuable - without a doubt, the White Tower hunters were pursuing something of even greater value.
As Chen Qi moved deeper, he had the water spirits collect another ten Wriggling Shadows.
Unconsciously, his stock of Wriggling Shadows had exceeded forty.
Just as he was directing the water spirits to loot, a sudden commotion shattered the silence.
"Where did that antlered monster hide? We must capture it! Otherwise, if it repairs its body in the darkness, the consequences will be unthinkable!"
From the darkness, Chen Qi looked toward the source of the voices.
It was a group of hunters dressed in white uniforms.
They wore matching white outfits embroidered with exquisite White Tower emblems that shimmered silver in the gloom, making them particularly eye-catching.
At the center stood a hunter with white ponytail hair wearing light white armor.
Her white hair was slightly disheveled, with a few strands hanging in front of her chest, sweat continuously trickling down her cheeks.
This was none other than Melanie from the White Tower!
Wait! Chen Qi stopped in his tracks, quietly observing his surroundings and assessing the developing situation.
In the darkness, there was the sound of rushing wind...
Wait, this can't be... Chen Qi grew tense.
The Shadow Weaver was an extremely rare neutral NPC capable of forging forbidden equipment for players.
Though a super rare neutral NPC, the Shadow Weaver possessed massive health pools, a powerful mental debuff aura, and terrifying abilities to move through darkness.
Once provoked, its strength would surge dramatically, roughly equivalent to a hidden boss in an extra-large C-tier rift!
During the Night of Shadow Tide, even seven White Tower hunters would pay a considerable price to defeat it.
Of course, the White Tower hunters were too powerful - each could be considered a top-tier player. Ultimately, the Shadow Weaver would inevitably be defeated!
These guys had started the encounter... Chen Qi took a step toward the Daylight Lantern to guard against a potential ambush from the Shadow Weaver, which also feared light.
Just then, a bespectacled White Tower hunter suddenly exclaimed:
"Captain, we can't locate it!"
"Captain! There's a monster in the darkness!"
Suddenly, the hunter team also noticed the presence in the dark. Their steps paused momentarily before they quickly adjusted formation and retreated, the atmosphere instantly becoming tense.
"Captain! A new monster has appeared - a humanoid one!"
"What?!"
Melanie turned sharply to look at Chen Qi in the darkness.
This was some unknown monster with black tentacles on its back - unfathomable like a black hole.
In the distance, a lantern had inexplicably appeared.
In the darkness, Chen Qi's aura had completely changed. Even Melanie from the White Tower couldn't recognize him at all.
Are these guys my competitors? Did I come to the wrong place... Chen Qi frowned and took a step back.
The power gap between third-tier hunters was enormous, and Melanie had mastered Book Release and Hammer Release - she was an extremely powerful entity.
Though Chen Qi's own Release was decent, there remained an insurmountable gap between him and Melanie.
If they really fought, he stood no chance - especially since the White Tower hunters had six other capable third-tier hunters with them!
In his current state, he was like a helpless lamb that had wandered into a pack of wolves.
Purely in terms of strength, he wasn't qualified to negotiate with Melanie.
I've accidentally walked into a gathering of powerhouses... my situation is very dangerous... In Chen Qi's eyes, Melanie was even more frightening than the Shadow Weaver.
Should I make a tactical retreat... Chen Qi frowned deeply, thinking rapidly.
The next second.
Sweat pouring down her face, Melanie flicked her wrist and shot a card toward him:
"You! Stay back!!!"
Card: Mini Solar Flare!
A top-tier demon-expelling flare from the White Tower Federation's finest workshop, worth a million coins - specially designed to combat shadow demons!
Whoosh!
The card dissipated in the air like flame before rapidly transforming into pure, righteous Scale Phase light that burst forth before Chen Qi!
The effect...
Had no effect whatsoever...
Suppressed by the Night of Shadow Tide, the light only illuminated a three-meter radius.
Is it just me...? Chen Qi was momentarily stunned. He vaguely sensed that these seven hunters seemed... afraid of him.
But the next moment, he witnessed something incredible.
"Just what are you..."
Melanie's voice trembled slightly as she struggled to maintain composure, but the fear in her words was unmistakable.
As she panted, a black rift suddenly tore open above her.
Then, two mountainous hands descended violently from twenty meters up!