PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

631 Chapter 631 The Wolf Hunt.

Following the instructions he obtained to attend the now-famous hunt for the heir to the Lupan clan, Desmond arrived at a familiar place. Desmond wasn’t surprised by that fact; after all, the preparation-obsessed hunter had already investigated Mathias Lupan.

Mathias Lupan, the heir to the Lupan clan, was a powerful werewolf with a marked tendency to violence and carnage. Apart from fucking like a dog in heat, Mathias Lupan had few hobbies. Among these, hunting was the one that ranked first.

As expected, Mathias Lupan had no interest in the almost non-existent wild creatures that inhabited this world, as these were more of the fighting-to-the-death type than the type that would lend itself to an exciting hunt. As such, the heir to the Lupan clan did not use animals as prey; he used people.

Desmond wasn’t even surprised when he discovered that, even though the werewolf turned his private hunts into some event and competition to show off his prowess, he was far from the most abominable being Desmond had ever met; that place was given to Elvar Tremor.

Whatever the case, with the way the almost non-existent ecosystem of the place was, there was only one place within tens of kilometers around that could serve as a hunting ground for Mathias Lupan, and that was none other than the decaying forest that was in the center of the city.

Although the forest filled with dead, gray trees was supposed to be a nature park in the city’s center, it was large and secluded enough for the kind of game Mathias played. Usually, no one would go into a forest like that for fear of becoming the victim of some night stalker, so there was no need to fear that other people would interrupt the game of the heir to the Lupan clan.

Of course, Desmond had swept the perimeter a day before just to get a feel for the terrain and to locate possible ambush sites or good places to fight. It was a pity Desmond couldn’t fill the ground with traps or alchemical bombs, partly because there weren’t enough bombs to cover such a vast area but also because they were unlikely to go unnoticed by the nose of the heir of the Lupan clan.

Even under the premise of Mathias Lupan not noticing the bombs, Desmond didn’t think the werewolf would die from something of that level. Given Mathias’s famous regeneration abilities, Desmond doubted any damage he managed to do to him would make a difference in his plans.

Desmond had no hope of taking the easy roundabout way to reclaim the key from Mathias Lupan. But it wasn’t like Desmond didn’t have a plan or anything. He did; it just wasn’t that easy to execute and had some variables Desmond couldn’t control.

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Unlike Elvar, who kept a farm of people just to satisfy his ill appetite, Mathias was quite random in selecting the prey for his hunts.

Mathias didn’t care if his prey was male or female, young or old, a member of the five clans or not. All the werewolf cared about was whether his prey was tenacious and capable enough to make his hunt enjoyable.

Desmond hadn’t the faintest idea how Mathias even measured these criteria or how he viewed them in his prey, to begin with, so it was impossible to make arrangements beforehand to manipulate his choice.

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To top it off, Mathias used to make his decision based on his mood, which could happen just a few minutes before the hunt, so manipulating the prey in any way was not an option either.

Mathias himself was a wild and unpredictable beast, as capricious as he could be expected in a position like his, so mind games or anything like that was off the table.

The only part Desmond had access to in advance besides the field of play was the list of participants, but that didn’t do much to support his plans. In his arrogance and need to aggrandize himself, Mathias wouldn’t invite anyone really capable or powerful to hunt him down, so the people on the list didn’t even qualify as Desmond’s pawns.

As endless as the setbacks seemed, Desmond never gave up. Even as he made his way to meet Mathias and his playmates, Desmond remained calm and confident. The reason was simple: excessive violence was always an option when all else failed.

As simple as it sounded, plain old violence was the best and only option in this particular case. There was no need for trickery or stratagem, no tricks or poisons; Desmond would use violence without regard to get the key from Mathias.

Of course, Desmond still had to pick at least one suitable scenario. After all, he still had to keep Mathias’s death as low-key as possible for his plans for the rest of the day, and that was the only reason Desmond attended the werewolf hunt.

With the rotting and desolate forest as his setting, Desmond would at least gain a degree of discretion and concealment that would do him good. It was in this way that Desmond met Mathias, who had no idea that the only prey Desmond was interested in was him, the heir to the Lupan clan.

Not being in a high-class gathering in a luxurious venue, Mathias was even cruder than Desmond remembered, bordering on direct violence in how he acted and treated others. “Just one more beast.” Desmond thought.

Besides Mathias, Desmond, and half a dozen noble members of the five clans, the only other person present was the prey of this hunt. Although he didn’t say anything out loud, Desmond was grateful that the goddess of fortune had smiled on him once since he came to this shitty world; at least his prey wasn’t a little boy or anything.

Still, Desmond was somewhat surprised that the prey brought by Mathias was a member of his own clan, a rare sight. It wasn’t like members of the same clans didn’t attack or kill each other, but Desmond at least knew there was some unspoken rule to do it discreetly.

Using someone from his own clan for a game like this certainly didn’t qualify as discreet. Still, Desmond suspected Mathias didn’t give a damn about the unspoken rules.

Mathias seemed to have noticed the reaction everyone had when they saw the prey he had brought back. Still, his bloody smile did little to hide how little he cared about others’ opinions. “Well, I was in the mood to hunt something really challenging. You guys didn’t expect us to go hunting one of your fucking clans, did you? I’m sorry, but none of your clans have what it takes to be worthy prey for me, so I took the liberty of preparing one of the best warriors in my clan. I hope none of you chicken out and decide to withdraw from the match.”

Mathias took an eerie pause and continued. “I would be very disappointed in you if you did not participate in my hunt. You know how violent I can be when I am disappointed.”

A blind man could see the threat that Mathias didn’t bother to hide, and from the countenance of the other nobles, this was very effective. Although he didn’t like the guy, Desmond had to admit that Mathias had his playmates terrified, at least enough to make them risk their lives.

The way Desmond saw it, the so-called dam Mathias prepared was more than capable of massacring the nobles present with hardly any difficulty, so participating in this game was by no means something a sane person would do.

On the other hand, Mathias was still strong enough to assassinate his clansman without too much effort, so the nobles could choose to participate but not make any real effort and just wait for Mathias to emerge victorious from the hunting.

As unsophisticated as Mathias was, this was a pretty smart move to boost his ego and humiliate Desmond, giving the latter a lesson in his place.

Desmond even suspected that this decision made by Mathias occurred due to his recent appointment as heir to the Darkblood clan. It made a lot of sense since it was different from having any noble as a guest than having a clan heir. As far as Desmond knew, the Lupan clan and Mathias himself had always had a rivalry with the Darkblood clan, so he would not miss the opportunity to humiliate the heir of that clan.

Of course, Desmond wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to manipulate the situation in his favor either. He had no problem playing along with the stupid werewolf by inflating his ego.

With an awkward smile that betrayed his uncertainty, Desmond planted the bait. “Of course, none of us are planning to retire, but I thought it would be wrong of us to put ourselves before the host of this event. How about Lord Mathias shows us how it’s done, and we join the hunt soon after?”

Desmond basically told the werewolf exactly what he wanted to hear: We’re too cowardly to go looking for our deaths; how about you, the mighty heir to the Lupan clan, teach us a lesson, and then we watch you in all your glory put an end to this hunt.

Although he felt weird about having exactly what he wanted, Mathias was too simple-minded to notice how strange it was that the previously arrogant Desmond would become so submissive, especially after becoming heir to the Darkblood clan.

On the other hand, Desmond was quite happy to see Mathias take the bait and couldn’t help but think. “Time to hunt down a big bad wolf.”