The Witch Hunter System

Chapter 1203: Relentless Pursuit

"Ahhhh—! Save me!"

"No—! I don’t want to die—!"

Horrific cries of despair and terror rippled across the void as hundreds of Divine Lord Survivors failed to escape the black hole-like maw of the Void Beast.

The moment the Void Beast opened its mouth, space seemed to freeze, locking hundreds of beings in place before sucking them into its abyss of death, guarded by millions of razor-sharp crystal teeth.

"Ahhh—! It’s the crystal dust!"

"No!! Get away from me!"

In another nearby space region, more despairing cries emerged as the Divine Lord Survivors who fled in that direction were caught in a field of crystal dust.

The crystal dust was incredibly small, like fine particles. Even so, they could still be detected with sharpened senses. Unfortunately, a single moment of carelessness was enough to lead to a tragic outcome.

At the moment of contact, the crystal dust seized the survivors, transforming their fleshly bodies into crystals. The process wasn’t particularly swift, but the horror of a slow but inevitable death was pure torture.

Of course, surface contact with crystal dust wasn’t completely fatal.

As long as one was ruthless and decisive enough, they could still survive if they cut off the infected areas before the crystal assimilation could spread further.

However, it was a completely different story if the crystal dust entered their airways. Once the crystal dust invaded one’s body and spread throughout their organs, there was literally no cure.

Death was the ultimate outcome.

Everyone infected by the strange crystal would follow three stages of physical decay, energy decay, and ultimately soul decay. The fearsome assimilation ability of the strange crystal affected all essence, energy, and spirit.

"Can we not save them?"

Seraphina looked back in horror, feeling sad for the tragic deaths of the survivors. They had been surviving just fine until they arrived. She didn’t believe they were free of blame for the Edge Sweeper’s arrival.

Clearly, they were to blame for this tragedy.

"That Void Beast is not strong, being only a Peak-stage Divine Emperor-rank existence. However, the crystals it carries are absolutely lethal, even to me. They affect all essence, energy, spirit."

"Although it is unfortunate, they can only rely on themselves. If we try to help, our own lives will be forfeited."

"This..."

Seraphina felt sad after hearing Empyrean Oceanheart’s decision. Still, she understood how dangerous the situation was. Thus, she didn’t insist on her righteous ideals.

As Empyrean Oceanheart shuttled through space, distancing their group further away from the compromised shelter, the Edge Sweeper surprisingly ignored the remaining survivors trapped within the shattered star fragment.

Instead, the Edge Sweeper fixed its attention on Vaan’s group before giving chase, the remaining survivors behind, dumbfounded and surprised.

"We’re... still alive? Why did the Edge Sweeper spare us?"

"Indeed, this has never happened before. However, this is not the place or time to worry about these things. We have to regroup and rebuild a new shelter elsewhere now that our hideout has been compromised."

Although the survivors were very surprised, they didn’t think too deeply about it. Essentially, survival was their number one priority. Everything else could be discussed after their safety was secured.

"Hm?!"

Meanwhile, Empyrean Oceanheart quickly noticed the Edge Sweeper chasing after them. It couldn’t keep up with her speed, but it was surely following their direction, as if it could pinpoint their location. 𝖗ÅＮÒ𐌱ЁṨ

Whenever Empyrean Oceanheart made large turns, she could also sense the Edge Sweeper adjusting its route to align with their direction.

"This is bad. The Edge Sweeper is tracking us. It can’t keep up, but it surely knows where we are. As long as we stop, it’ll eventually catch up."

"How can that be...?"

Seraphina was startled after finding out that someone as powerful as Empyrean Oceanheart couldn’t shake the Edge Sweeper off their tail.

"It seems the Edge Sweeper has special tracking means." Vaan narrowed his eyes and said, "The fact that he even abandoned the other survivors to specifically chase after us suggests a few possibilities."

"Either it finds our small group more attractive than that survivor camp, or it is specifically targeting us for a reason. It might just be following some mighty being’s orders."

Vaan’s heart felt heavy as he recalled the feeling of being marked by the passing shadow. Sure enough, it was not just a feeling but a reality.

It was as if they had been dragged into a big hunting ground and forced to run around like helpless prey. Unless they could do something about the Edge Sweeper, they would never have a moment of peace.

However, Vaan was certain that even if they could deal with the Edge Sweeper, bigger problems awaited them.

After Empyrean Oceanheart made several more turns through the depths of Umbral Edge and found the Edge Sweeper still following their trail, she confirmed that it truly had a special means of tracking them.

Given its level of existence, its sensory abilities shouldn’t be anywhere close to hers. Yet, it still managed to stay on their trail despite being on the edge of her sensory range.

"Indeed, this Edge Sweeper shouldn’t be able to track us this far away, yet it’s following our trail accurately without fail. Could it be attracted to my Empyrean Power?" Empyrean Oceanheart frowned with suspicion.

Indeed, an Empyrean God was much more attractive to a Devouring-type Void Beast than a large group of mere Divine Beings, since an Empyrean God contained far more energy.

Regardless of whether the Void Beast could succeed in hunting an Empyrean God like herself, her Empyrean Power was certainly capable of accelerating its evolution to True Divinity.

However, she still couldn’t figure out how the Edge Sweeper was able to track them so accurately.

Were they truly marked by some mysterious force that the Edge Sweeper could detect?

In fact, Vaan had another suspicion. Besides the unknown mark on them, he suspected the Void Beast could sense his Boundless Sea and Sky Aura, considering it was a type of sea creature.

Although he had completely suppressed the Boundless Sea and Sky Aura within his body, he still couldn’t be certain that it was completely foolproof.

"Dammit. This Void Beast is relentless in its pursuit. We can’t keep fleeing like this. We must find a way to deal with it," Empyrean Oceanheart stated with a deep frown.

As long as they could completely avoid or negate the harmful effects of the crystals on the Edge Sweeper’s body, she could easily deal with them. She fully wielded the power to do so.

However, if the initial problem wasn’t resolved, it would be mutual destruction.