Territory Defense Battle and the Appearance of the Legendary Hunter

Rosen expanded his World Domain, carefully layering seals around every inch of the Spirit Realm Fragment's internal space.

He wasn't in a hurry to kill the goblin deity because doing so might cause the Spirit Realm Fragment to collapse.

Since the goblin deity had fully assimilated this fragment, turning it into a pseudo-divine kingdom, it was better to harvest the Spirit Realm Fragment first and then deal with the goblin deity afterward.

Months later, using World Laws as support and Dimensional Sealing through Dimensional Canvas as the core method, Rosen successfully sealed the entire Spirit Realm Fragment into a Dimensional Canvas of True God-tier quality.

Using this canvas for anything less than a Sequence 0 Spirit Realm Painting would be a complete waste of its value.

Carefully storing the Dimensional Canvas inside the Mysterious Study Room, Rosen finally entered the Quantum Void to hunt the goblin deity.

With absolute control over the Quantum Void and the ability to retreat into the Mysterious Study Room at any moment, the entire battle was completely one-sided.

At its peak, a Sequence 0 deity had no weaknesses in any aspect.

In the end, Rosen relied on the portraits drawn with God's Hand to continuously weaken the goblin deity, while also using Chrono Archer to drain his lifespan.

It took a staggering 1.3 million years of lifespan erosion before the goblin deity finally succumbed to natural death.

This also confirmed something—

Even gods were not truly immortal.

The moment the goblin deity fell, black loot spheres materialized due to the effects of Retribution Judgment.

There were three in total—

One miracle artifact, one complete Sequence 0 Divinity Core, and one Sequence 2 Soul Gem.

As expected, the drop rate for Soul Gems inside Spirit Realm Fragments was significantly higher.

A Sequence 2 Soul Gem might not seem overly impressive at first glance, but—

If used to upgrade a Troop Nest, it would enable the mass production of Sequence 2 extraordinary soldiers.

There were countless Sequence 3 Troop Nests across the entire world—

Even if the number wasn't in the millions, there were at least several hundred thousand.

But Sequence 2 Troop Nests?

The total number across the entire main world was likely less than a thousand.

As for Sequence 1 Troop Nests—

Even the World Government, on the surface, only owned two.

The Sequence 2 Soul Gem was too valuable for Rosen to use immediately, so he stored it away for later.

As for the Sequence 0 Divinity Core, he planned to send it to the Main God Hall to see if he could exchange it for a Divinity Core that better suited him.

Finally, Rosen picked up the miracle artifact and was surprised by its unexpected benefits.

The Sequence 0 "Goblin Mine", which could randomly produce various metallic ores ranging from Sequence 9 to Sequence 0.

The higher the metal's grade, the lower its production rate.

It had only one miracle trait:

The ability to assimilate real-world mineral veins, which would enhance its ore production.

Rosen immediately placed the Goblin Mine near the World Tree—

At last, his Ancient God's True Realm could mass-produce extraordinary metals!

Having successfully harvested one Spirit Realm Fragment, Rosen became even more determined to find another.

Over the next few years, his Secret Sight ability from the Ancient God's Eye led him to a second Spirit Realm Fragment.

However, this one was significantly inferior to the first.

The strongest beings within it were only two Sequence 1s, and in the end, Rosen's loot consisted of just a Sequence 3 Soul Gem and another Sequence 0 Dimensional Canvas, crafted from the Spirit Realm Fragment's essence.

Once he obtained this Soul Gem, Rosen immediately used it to enhance the Demon Nest.

Now, he could mass-produce Sequence 3 demon troops, adding to the Sequence 3 Angel Rebirth Pool and the Sequence 3 Undead Matriarch.

With these upgrades, his Divine Territory could now mass-produce three types of Sequence 3 extraordinary troops.

"The Old Continent is truly a goldmine…"

Rosen continued venturing deeper into the Old Continent.

Two weeks later, he stood atop the corpse of a massive Ashen Lifeform, deep in thought.

Lately, he had been encountering more and more Ashen Lifeforms.

He wasn't sure whether this was because Ashen Lifeforms naturally increased the deeper he went—

Or if they were intentionally converging toward him.

If it was the former, it was still manageable.

But if it was the latter, it meant that a sentient being was commanding them, orchestrating an ambush against him.

Both possibilities existed, but Rosen believed the latter was more likely.

His Seventh Sense was giving him a faint sense of unease.

Casually flipping open the Void Sketchbook, he drew a Prophetic Painting.

In the painting, he stood atop a giant beast's corpse, completely surrounded by Ashen Lifeforms—

The sky, the ground, the mountains—Ashen Lifeforms swarmed from every direction.

It was obvious.

He was about to be ambushed.

"So, there really is someone out there hunting me."

Rosen burned the Prophetic Painting and pressed forward.

There was danger, but it was within acceptable limits.

As long as it wasn't a True God, he had a 100% chance of escaping unscathed.

Since his unknown hunter saw him as prey, then why not turn the tables?

To Rosen, this was simply free prey delivering itself to him.

Two days later, Rosen entered a mountainous valley plain surrounded by peaks.

The terrain was perfect for an Ashen Lifeform ambush.

Everything matched the scene from his Prophetic Painting.

Suddenly, countless Ashen Lifeforms burst from the mountains, sealing off the sky.

More surged from the valleys, flooding toward Rosen like a tide.

A rough estimate—

At least tens of thousands of Sequence 4 Ashen Lifeforms, and over several thousand Sequence 3s.

The ones at the frontline were all Sequence 4 cannon fodder, meant to drain his divine energy.

Rosen expanded his Divine Territory.

Instantly, over a thousand Sequence 3 angels and over a thousand Sequence 3 demons clashed with the Ashen tide.

These were painted angels and demons—

Some even fused with real Sequence 3 angels and demons, making them elite troops in the Sequence 3 tier.

With their seamless teamwork, they slaughtered the Ashen Lifeforms in a one-sided massacre.

When half of the Sequence 4s had fallen, the Sequence 3s finally charged in unison.

Even though they outnumbered Rosen's troops by more than double, they were still inferior in combat power.

Because—

His side had a Hero Commander.

Rosen had officially appointed the Sequence 1 Abyssal Shadowfiend as his third Domain Hero—

Bestowing upon him the Hero Title: Apostle of Calamity.

Troops commanded by a Hero could defeat enemies several times their number with minimal losses.

In less than thirty minutes, the Sequence 3 Ashen Lifeforms had been completely wiped out.

Blood flowed like rivers across the valley plain.

But—

There were no corpses left.

All the remains had been automatically collected into the Scavenger Space.

Despite the victory, Rosen remained cautious.

He ordered all angels and demons to retreat.

Instead, he summoned Xiao Longnu and the 1,000 Dragonblood Nagas she commanded.

Within his Divine Territory, they began casting Draconic Incantation Magic, setting up Elemental Barriers across the battlefield.

Meanwhile, the 1,000 angels, though lacking a Hero Commander, started buffing every single Dragonblood Naga.

Demons couldn't withstand the buffs from angels, and their defensive formations were difficult to integrate with the rest of the battle system.

So, all demons retreated to the area around Ashen Castle, forming a defensive line against the powerful Ashen Lifeforms descending from above.

After slaughtering so many Ashen Lifeforms and failing to relocate immediately,

The surrounding Ashen Lifeforms were now being drawn in by the residual Ashen energy.

At this moment, Sequence 2—or even Sequence 1—Ashen Lifeforms were rapidly closing in.

In the Prophetic Painting, Rosen had seen a beast-shaped Ashen Lifeform lying dead at his feet.

For it to cut through his territorial troops and reach him directly,

It was guaranteed to be at least Sequence 1.

With Hunter's Divine Eye, whatever he thought of, he could see.

For living beings, even Sequence 0s were visible at will.

For non-living objects, whether he could see them depended on his own strength.

Of course, his visions weren't without limits.

The clearer his mental image, the more precise his sight.

The vaguer his thoughts, the harder it was to lock onto a target.

If he had no idea what a Sequence 1 Ashen Lifeform looked like,

Even if he wanted to see one nearby, he wouldn't be able to find it.

There were simply too many Sequence 1 Ashen Lifeforms across the entire Prime World.

Hunter's Divine Eye couldn't possibly scan all of them at once.

Otherwise, Rosen could have simply thought about seeing a Sequence 0 Spirit World Entity—

And effortlessly tracked down every Spirit World Fragment in the Old Continent.

But in reality, such a feat was nearly impossible.

However, since his Prophetic Painting had already shown the Ashen Lifeforms that could threaten him,

He now knew their exact appearances.

With that knowledge, all he had to do was think, and Hunter's Divine Eye would find them.

The nearest one was a colossal beast, only a few dozen kilometers away.

Under Hunter's Divine Eye, this giant elephant-like beast was covered in rock armor.

As it moved, entire mountains melted, their liquefied remains being compressed and fused into its rock armor.

By now, that armor must have forged itself from the mass of thousands of mountains.

Its defense was obviously insane.

No wonder it was the first to reach him.

Rosen instantly transformed into a Bronze Dragon.

At the same time, Dragon God's Wrath—through the Weapon Master's Miracle Trait: Weapon Adaptation—

Shifted into a twin-barreled sniper cannon that looked just like dragon horns.

It had become dual-barreled because Dragon God's Wrath had undergone another upgrade.

After obtaining the Goblin God's Divinity, Rosen had sent it to the Main God Hall for trade.

In exchange, he acquired a Sequence 0 Mechanical Ruin Dragon Divinity.

Using the Enchanted Hunting Gun Set,

He enchanted Dragon God's Wrath with the Mechanical Ruin Dragon Divinity,

Granting it mechanical authority and even greater transformation abilities.

Two Mind Bullets began charging for a fatal shot,

Ready to fire the moment the Ashen Colossus breached his Divine Territory.

Barely ten seconds later, the earth began to tremble.

A few seconds after that, the hundred-meter-tall Ashen Colossus locked onto Ashen Castle and charged forward like an unstoppable juggernaut.

When its rock tusks slammed into the Elemental Barrier,

They produced a terrifying armor-piercing effect.

However, its momentum was also greatly reduced.

Then—

The Ashen Colossus raised its massive trunk, aiming straight at Ashen Castle.

From its nostrils, it fired a barrage of fist-sized stone spheres.

The moment these stones left its trunk,

They expanded into gigantic, ultra-dense boulders, each dozens of meters in diameter.

The stone projectiles were continuously shot down by the angels' arrows and intercepted by Draconic Magic.

Seeing that its ranged attacks were ineffective, the Ashen Colossus suddenly planted all four legs into the ground, unleashing a terrifying gravitational field that spanned hundreds of kilometers.

Within this gravitational domain, the stone projectiles remained unaffected,

But the arrows and Draconic Magic were forcibly dragged downward by the increased gravity.

At that moment, the Calamity Apostle made his move—starting with Calamity Curse Mark and Calamity Decree.

The ground within ten thousand kilometers shook violently, triggering a devastating earthquake.

All of the destruction caused by this disaster was absorbed into the Calamity Curse Mark,

Resulting in the Ashen Colossus' rock armor being shattered and completely stripped away.

However, it still did not sustain any injuries,

Because beneath its rock armor, a layer of white jade-like scales covered its body.

These white jade scales provided extreme resistance against Authority-based attacks.

Moreover, their physical defense was far superior to the rock armor,

Allowing the now unburdened Ashen Colossus to unleash an explosive burst of speed,

Charging straight for Ashen Castle.

Rosen's Dragon God's Wrath had already finished charging,

And he no longer suppressed the two Mind Bullets.

Twin Dragon God's Roar Rounds blasted from the barrels mid-flight, striking the Ashen Colossus.

Both rounds emitted the Silent Roar of the Yinglong,

And the ensuing Dragon Breath was the Bronze Dragon's Temporal Dragon Breath.

This breath primarily induced time dilation,

So while both Dragon God's Roar Rounds failed to penetrate its defense,

The Ashen Colossus was now slowed to a crawl, moving as sluggishly as a snail.

Dragon God's Wrath began charging again,

But this time, every skill augmentation focused purely on damage output.

With its enhanced base damage and stacked true damage,

The destructive power of Dragon God's Wrath had reached a terrifying level.

The two Mind Bullets left the barrel in curved trajectories,

Activating Time Sketch, causing their speed to increase a hundredfold.

The faster the projectile, the greater its kinetic energy.

This time, the white jade scales of the Ashen Colossus shattered upon impact.

But even then, it did not suffer a fatal wound—

Instead, it roared furiously and charged straight at Rosen.

It managed to push forward all the way to the foot of the mountain where Ashen Castle stood,

Before finally collapsing and losing its life force.

Rosen felt a chill down his spine as he watched the still-breathing Ashen Colossus.

This beast had taken dozens of Dragon God's Roar Rounds,

Yet even now, its skull had not been penetrated.

What was even more terrifying—

Its injuries were visibly healing just moments after death.

If not for Hunter's Divine Eye, which had simultaneously attacked and shattered its Divine Core,

This Ashen Colossus could have posed a real threat to Ashen Castle.

Before its transformation into an Ashen Lifeform,

This creature must have been an extraordinary superlifeform.

Rosen teleported onto the Ashen Colossus' corpse,

Deciding to make his stand here against the remaining Ashen Lifeforms.

If the incoming Ashen Lifeforms were all as formidable as this one,

Then its corpse would serve as the perfect shield in critical moments.

Meanwhile, he had already moved Ashen Castle into the deepest layer of his Divine Territory's Ninefold Realm.

As it turned out, Rosen had overestimated the remaining Ashen Lifeforms.

A total of six Sequence 1 Ashen Lifeforms arrived,

But none were as terrifying as the Ashen Colossus.

Rosen didn't even need to intervene.

His territorial troops were more than capable of handling them alone.

Rosen deliberately avoided engaging,

Because he was searching for the mastermind behind this siege.

From beginning to end, the entity orchestrating the attack had not revealed itself.

Initially, he had assumed it would strike alongside the Sequence 1 Ashen Lifeforms.

But had it fled midway, realizing it wasn't a match for him after seeing him slay the Ashen Colossus?

His instincts told him otherwise.

The Seventh Sense still detected an ominous threat.

The Ashen Colossus, while troublesome,

Had ultimately been hunted down without Rosen suffering a single injury.

This kind of existence was no longer enough to make him feel threatened.

Which meant there was still a stronger opponent lurking in the shadows.

The moment the last Sequence 1 Ashen Lifeform fell, Rosen turned his gaze toward the eastern mountain range.

From the depths of the Ashen Mist, two Sequence 1 Ashen Lifeforms suddenly emerged.

One was a Sequence 1 Ashen Dark Phantom Dragon, the other was a Sequence 1 Ashen War Behemoth.

"So, it's a hunter..." Rosen murmured thoughtfully.

He could clearly sense traces of Hunter Power layered upon the two Ashen Lifeforms.

Which meant that the one ambushing him this time was, without a doubt, a Sequence 1 Pioneer Explorer of the Hunter Sequence.

By the time one reached Sequence 1, an Extraordinary Sequence was considered fully developed.

At that point, ascending to godhood was practically guaranteed, with little to no risk of failure.

The strongest Pioneer Explorer Rosen had encountered so far had only been Sequence 2.

At that moment, atop the Ashen Dark Phantom Dragon's head,

A gaunt figure silently appeared, wielding a long whip in one hand.

With a flick of the whip, it coiled around the dragon's neck,

Then violently tightened, shredding the entire throat apart.

The Ashen Dark Phantom Dragon let out a mournful cry,

Plummeting from the sky—

And by the time it crashed into the mountains, it had already withered into a dried corpse, crumbling into dust.

The gaunt figure then flashed above the War Behemoth and struck with another lash of the whip.

The War Behemoth suffered the same fate—

Its body dried out instantly before collapsing into dust.

And at that moment, beneath Rosen's feet,

The Ashen Colossus' corpse suddenly flickered with dense, intricate runes.

In the next instant, the Ashen Colossus also withered into a dried husk before disintegrating completely.

Then, one after another, the six remaining Sequence 1 Ashen Lifeforms from before all turned into dried corpses as well.

As this happened, the gaunt figure suddenly grew fuller, its body becoming robust.

Its level was still Sequence 1,

But the pressure it now exuded was far greater than that of the Sequence 0 Goblin God.

"A Sacrificial Hunter—the forbidden path of the Hunter Sequence."

The moment Rosen saw this, he immediately understood.

The Hunter Sequence was rooted in the Law of the Hunt.

Hunting—not slaughter, and not destruction.

While hunting inherently involved killing and destroying,

The core essence of the Hunt was about maintaining ecological balance.

Therefore, to advance far in the Authority of the Hunt,

One must not engage in reckless slaughter.

Even when dealing with prey, there had to be a limit to how much could be hunted.

And even more so, a Hunter should never slaughter their own pets.

Even if a pet could no longer keep up with a Hunter's strength,

There was no reason to kill it outright.

A Hunter could share power with their pet,

And this power-sharing was immensely potent.

However, under normal circumstances, a Hunter could only share power with one pet at a time.

But a Sacrificial Hunter...

Could sacrifice multiple pets at once,

And simultaneously absorb the power of all those sacrificed.

This made Sacrificial Hunters unbelievably powerful.

Throughout history, every Sacrificial Hunter that emerged had easily slain gods while still at Sequence 1.

There was even a record of a true god almost being slain by a Sequence 1 Sacrificial Hunter.

However—

A Hunter was never meant to kill their own pets.

A Sacrificial Hunter could never attain godhood through the Authority of the Hunt.

The only way to ascend was to abandon the Hunter Sequence and take up an Authority of Slaughter.

But doing so meant completely forsaking the Hunter Sequence itself.

Over time, Sacrificial Hunters became reviled by the Hunter Faction.

All ritual formulas, Extraordinary skills, and secrets related to Sacrificial Hunters

Were destroyed by the Hunter Guild.

As a result, for the past several thousand years,

Sacrificial Hunters had faded into legend.

(End of chapter)