Hate me, Miss Witch!

The bullet spun out of the chamber amidst a piercing shriek as it tore through the air.

It swept through the atmosphere, whipping up a storm, breaking the sound barrier.

Shiayar did not use his Pet Beast's attack Skills.

Because every high-order Beastmaster possesses extremely keen Spiritual Intuition, the fleeting intent to kill when launching an attack would certainly be detected.

Similarly, Shiayar did not employ Elemental or Magic abilities.

For these abilities would inevitably cause Elements Fluctuation in the surroundings before they were activated, revealing flaws.

What Shiayar chose was merely the most simplistic: a gun forged from purely mechanical structures.

Compared to those magictech cannons with Hardening and acceleration inscriptions on their barrels, greatly enhancing the firepower of the ammunition—

This purely mechanically-driven gun, in terms of sheer power, was undoubtedly much weaker.

But this also meant it was sufficiently pure.

No murderous intent, no Elements Fluctuation, no tell-tale signs of rune array activation.

Silent, still, yet deadly and dangerous.

A shot that pierced the clouds.

BANG!

The bullet was faster than the sonic boom, traveling dozens of meters in an instant, striking directly toward Norton's temple.

It was a slender bullet, the warhead a deep Crimson, like a finely polished ruby with a blood-like glow flowing within.

Seaweed-like crimson filaments spread out from the ruby-like warhead, enveloping the entire body of the bullet like a spider's web.

This was alchemical ammunition ground from "Sage's Blood."

Shiayar had purchased twenty grams of "Sage's Blood" from the Dark Shadow Council, but in the end, had only managed to refine and concentrate less than two grams into these alchemical warheads.

Purely in terms of value, this single bullet was worth over thirty thousand Rhine gold coins.

「A thousandth of a breath later.」

CLICK—

At the very moment the Crimson bullet was about to penetrate the skin and flesh of Norton's temple, it suddenly froze in mid-air.

A silver membrane with the texture of mercury spread out in mid-air, right outside Norton's temple.

Then, it absorbed all the kinetic energy carried by the bullet in a fluid manner, leaving nothing behind.

Beastmasters, unlike Pet Beasts, were blessed with physical enhancements from their Soul Pact and could also borrow a portion of their Pet Beasts' powers. However, Pure-blooded Humans were a Race inherently skilled in intellect rather than physical might. A Beastmaster's method of self-improvement was to temper their spiritual power. When it came to physical bodies, how could they truly compete with the innate racial advantages of more powerful species?

Directly beheading the opposing Beastmaster themselves was always the best option in combat for Transcendent beings.

Therefore, how to preserve oneself in battle, and the tactical engagement centered around the Beastmasters themselves, was an essential part of combat training for every high-order Beastmaster.

The reason was simple: those "geniuses" who faced mortal enemies yet naively believed their opponent wouldn't attack a Beastmaster—like in some academy tournament—and cluelessly failed to defend themselves? The grass on their graves was mostly two meters tall by now.

Norton, as the ruthless man who had single-handedly taken down over a dozen 4-Ring Great Beastmasters and orchestrated the earth-shattering conspiracy to overthrow Azure Garden, certainly wouldn't make such a rookie mistake.

He was also an elder of the Brunestadt family and had likewise bonded a Silver Spirit.

However, it wasn't Norton's main battle Pet Beast. The Skills he focused on cultivating for it were Metal Strengthening, Liquefaction, and Super Hardening.

And the only command he had imposed on this Silver Spirit was "Autonomous Defense."

This was an automated spell directly programmed into the Silver Spirit's body. It could be triggered automatically, even without the Silver Spirit's conscious reaction, guarding Norton himself around the clock, day and night, blocking all attacks that endangered him.

The Crimson bullet was still spinning in mid-air, but it was halted right there, unable to advance even a fraction beyond that mercury barrier.

This was only natural.

If just anyone could take a mechanically-driven gun without Rune enhancements and instantly kill a Beastmaster of 5-Ring or higher—

then the countries of the Western Continent would not spend so much effort training high-order powerhouses, nor would they invest heavily in developing magictech Rune technology. Instead, they would simply hand out sniper rifles to every soldier in their armies.

However, this was also precisely the result Shiayar had anticipated.

He had never expected Norton to lack any defenses and be taken down by a single headshot like a fool.

Otherwise, the pistol he named "Sea Blue Judgment" should not have been loaded with alchemical warheads ground from Sage's Blood in its magazine from the start; it should have been switched to the "Great Sin Armor-Piercing Bullet" specially made by the Empire Military Department.

「The next moment.」

The ruby-like alchemical warhead, upon that mercury-like barrier, silently melted away.

The vermillion crystalline substance on the alchemical warhead dissolved.

Like blood, yet akin to ink.

It split into thousands of dense blood filaments, which in an instant corroded Norton's Silver Spirit, causing it to emit a piercing shriek.

But this chain of events had not yet ceased.

On Norton's aged face—

The look of rapturous ecstasy, of being on the verge of transcending the barrier between human and god, froze.

Even at this moment, Norton had no idea what was happening to his body. His mind was still immersed in elation, but intense pain had already spread throughout his entire being.