Predator Boots

Rosen leaped out of the window, lifting the Godslayer Crossbow to aim at the hidden assassin several hundred meters away.

Had the assassin stayed hidden and kept their distance, Rosen would have had difficulty pinpointing their location. However, the moment they got too close and made contact with the Nightmare Slime's split-off clone, they were marked by the Nightmare Seal, making escape impossible. No matter how well the assassin cloaked themselves, they now shone like a beacon in the darkness.

Due to the Nightmare Seal, the assassin couldn't perceive Rosen or the Nightmare Slime, and as a result, they completely ignored the space-piercing bullet from Rosen's crossbow. The bullet pierced through the assassin's skull before they even realized what was happening.

Rosen couldn't help but realize that he had once again underestimated the power of the Nightmare Slime.

The group—composed of a hunter, a rogue, a mage, and a knight—was a standard four-person team. Typically, a well-balanced squad like this wouldn't have two of the same sequence rank, as that would complicate the distribution of rewards. Each member of this elite team was Sequence 8, yet Rosen had managed to eliminate them all in mere moments using the Godslayer Crossbow.

While the victory was satisfying, Rosen quickly checked himself, reigning in his emotions before pride took over.

Yes, he had won and relatively easily, but that didn't mean he had grounds for overconfidence.

Without the Mysterious Study Room, his initial sneak attack wouldn't have killed the hunter instantly. If the beast knight had chosen to fight instead of fleeing, they could have forced Rosen to use another precious Space Piercing Bullet, giving the mage a chance to retaliate. The assassin's final strike, too, would have been lethal if Rosen hadn't been safely hidden in the Mysterious Study Room.

Although his enhanced five senses helped, the assassin's advanced stealth abilities—erasing both sound and presence—made detection nearly impossible. Without the Nightmare Seal, Rosen wouldn't have been able to prevent the assassin from escaping either.

Reflecting on the battle, Rosen concluded that his strength accounted for only 30% of the victory, luck contributed another 20%, and the Mysterious Study Room was responsible for 50% of his success.

There was little reason to feel overly proud. He knew he still had plenty of room for improvement.

After packing up the Mysterious Study Room and disabling its anchor, Rosen decided not to head straight back to Cinder Shadow City. His spirit had just undergone a significant transformation after reaching Sequence 8, and he hadn't fully acclimated to his new abilities. Advancing again too soon would be more harmful than beneficial.

Instead, he chose to remain in the Void Wasteland for additional practice before returning to advance in the Painter Sequence.

With the Godslayer Crossbow merged into his right arm and the Hunter's Eye floating nearby for scouting, Rosen wandered deeper into the wilderness. The Nightmare Slime, reduced to the size of a fist, rested on his shoulder, providing an extra layer of defense against surprise attacks.

As he walked, Rosen suddenly realized he had gotten ahead of himself in his excitement and forgot to check his spoils from the battle.

He paused and focused his mind to enter the Scavenger Space, where he found a few scattered glowing orbs and the intact body of the hunter.

The hunter's body had been preserved because the Scavenger Ability rarely extracted loot from fellow hunters. This time, the body itself had been stored without any major spoils. After a quick inspection, Rosen found that the hunter's gear wasn't particularly impressive—nothing superior to his own equipment, except for one intriguing item.

He found a small, one-foot map, which revealed itself to be an Enchanted Hunting Map after spiritual refinement.

The map could display the positions of living creatures within a 1,000-meter radius, marking their locations. Additionally, any terrain Rosen had previously seen could be automatically mapped onto the paper, making it a valuable scouting tool.

Rosen casually tucked the Enchanted Hunting Map away and moved on to examine the rest of his spoils.

Aside from a few hundred units of spiritual crystals, there was nothing of significant value among the hunter's belongings—evidence that this hunter had not been particularly wealthy.

Next, Rosen examined the glowing orbs, where he found the soul essence of both the mage and the knight. Their spiritual crystals were slightly more valuable than the hunter's, but their enchanted items were similarly mediocre.

It seemed the entire group was strapped for resources, explaining why they had attempted to rob Rosen.

Finally, Rosen shifted his attention to the orb left behind by the assassin, expecting something more valuable.

The assassin's soul essence hadn't been preserved, indicating that it had fused into a rare enchanted item.

The item revealed itself as:

[Enchanted Predator Boots: A Rare Supernatural Item]

Grade: Sequence 8

Attributes: Greatly enhances movement speed and cancels the air resistance caused by high-speed travel.

Ability 1: Stealth Enhancement – Amplifies the effect of all stealth-related abilities.

Ability 2: Storm Pursuit – Consecutive hits on a target trigger a follow-up strike, significantly increasing penetration power.

Requirement: Hunter Sequence 8.

Rosen inspected the Predator Boots and the rest of his haul, then paused in thought.

The more he learned about the Hunter Sequence, the more he understood the Scavenger Ability. After a kill, the Scavenger Ability could transform the fallen enemy's loot into glowing orbs or, at times, entirely remove their body and gear, converting everything into equivalent loot.

However, where those missing items and bodies went remained a mystery.

There was a theory that hunters' scavenger abilities were linked to the Hunter's Divine Right.

At Sequence 8, Rosen's Scavenger Ability had grown stronger. Normally, killing four Sequence 8 enemies wouldn't yield much, especially without overleveled kills. Yet he had found valuable loot multiple times in a row, almost as if by sheer luck.

He began to suspect that the divine energy within him—gained from his encounters with god-like entities—was influencing his Scavenger Ability. If the Hunter's Divine Right was involved, it made sense that his divine power could enhance the effects.

Regular hunters had no contact with divine energy, but Rosen had interacted with such power three times. Even though he couldn't fully control that energy, its latent presence might be amplifying his Scavenger Ability, making it far more potent than usual.

Pondering this, Rosen slipped on the Predator Boots and used his Shadow Walk to quickly hunt for new prey.

Several hours after Rosen left, a group of cloaked figures arrived at the Poisonwater Swamp, where they swiftly captured nearly all the slimes in the area. Similar incidents were unfolding across the Void Wasteland, as teams of unknown origin methodically gathered slimes from every corner.

End of Chapter