The Night Panther opened its mouth. Black oil-like saliva covered its teeth like cobwebs. From its throat, a low growl of utter intimidation.

Siderius dropped his red bow on the ground. He unstrapped the quiver on his hip, letting it slide down. His hand was placed on the handle of the Blazing Soul.

"Come, you stupid beast. We have a lot of things to talk about." Siderius mocked the panther.

The panther had learned from its previous mistake. It knew Siderius was no ordinary man. The provocation worked but it valued its life too much to come crashing at him again. It still remembered that blue stingy fire.

Until now, the pain still haunted its mind. It was the only fire that could neutralize its regeneration ability.

The panther walked around in a circle, sizing Siderius and finding a weak point to strike.

Siderius faced the panther. When it moved, he turned, always keeping the beast in front of him. In this empty foothill, there was no place for the panther to hide and ambush him.

The panther had a big disadvantage.

"Hesitate? I don't have that much time to play this game, beast."

Siderius stepped forward and approached the panther. It instinctively stepped back.

Siderius smirked. "Why such a coward all of a sudden? Where is all your savagery from before?"

Siderius stomped on the ground with his right foot, gaining a solid balance then shooting his body forward. He ran straight into the panther.

The panther growled loudly. It jumped forward and lunged at Siderius.

The two front legs of the panther extended. Its claws aimed at Siderius. Its mouth opened wide with that dense oil-like saliva.

Siderius twisted his body in the air, changing the direction in mid-air. He went under the panther instead of colliding directly into it.

Their gaze met each other. The panther, lunging mid-motion above, and the hunter, going under it with his back pointed at the ground. His hand was still on the sword.

A curvature slowly formed on Siderius' lips. He pulled the sword slightly, revealing a small section of its blade out of the scabbard. His left thumb flipped the fire starter over. The flint caught the small section of the blade flawlessly.

Then, Siderius summoned all his strength to pull the sword out of the scabbard as quickly as possible. The flint scraped on the blade, creating a spark.

The spark caught onto the oil mixture around the sword.

The dark gray sword instantly caught on fire. A bright scorching orange flame.

Then Siderius did a spin with his sword. The Blazing Soul drew a horizontal spiral in the air. A mix of orange flame and black smoke. It looked like the sword was a paint brush drawing on an empty canvas.

All of that happened within the blink of an eye. The drawing of the sword, the igniting of the flame, and the elegant dance-like strike that went through the stomach of the beast.

Siderius landed on the ground. He made a quick roll to recover and extended the distance to the panther behind his back.

The panther did not have such a peaceful landing. Its enormous body smacked on the ground. Its stomach was sliced open, black oil leaking out of its organs.

The orange flame burned on its stomach. The panther tapped its paws on the flame and quickly extinguished it. It jumped back onto its feet.

The wide open wound on its stomach quickly closed itself up, oil stopped leaking entirely.

Siderius' attack was effective. But its regeneration ability was a headache to deal with.

However, his eyes caught something very interesting.

He saw a red Mana Core inside the body of the beast. It was an actual physical Mana Core. It was different from the spiritual Mana Core of the witches.

"How can this be?"

Siderius removed his obsidian glass. It was currently dusk and the sky was darkened enough for him to see.

Without the glass, he could clearly see the flow of magic in the belly of the beast.

Then Siderius blinked. A flash of gold appeared in his irises before fading away.

His Truth-Seeking Path allowed him to spot Aethers. He could see the spiritual mana core inside a witch and tangible physical Dark Aether. However, magic came from Dark Aether. But it was not Dark Aether itself. It was a form of the ever changing matter of Dark Aether.

The closer the magic was to the reality-shaping Dark Aether, the clearer Siderius could see it.

Nora's magic was very pure as he could easily see her physical tentacles Dark Aether.

Jude and Caterina were different. Their magic was much farther away from the original source.

But with the new pair of Mystic Eyes, this shortcoming was taken care of. Now, Siderius could also see magic in all forms and the traces they left behind.

With his True Eyes, he could see that the beast did not have any spiritual Mana Core at all. This meant that it did not have a mana pool inside its spirit.

"From spiritual to physical? A mutation from the original family of the Kingdom of Chaos?"

In Siderius' eyes, the Chaos Beast and witches were like sisters and brothers.

The witch held their magic in their spirit while the Chaos Beast held their magic in their body.

Siderius licked his lips gently. He could smell the amount of knowledge that this beast would grant him. And for a Truth-Seeker, knowledge was what they most craved for.

"Now I have even more reasons to not let you get away, little black cat."

The panther had recovered completely and it rushed at Siderius again. However, this time, it did not lunge at him again. It just got its stomach sliced because of that move.

It wouldn't be using that again soon.

The panther raised its front big paw with long claws and struck Siderius.

The hunter swung his sword over, easily deflecting the strike. Its claw smacked on the thick durable blade. A shiver was sent throughout the panther's body and its paw went numb.

Its pupils expanded.

"Surprise to see my blade doesn't break? You have broken many blades before, huh?"

The panther continued its barrage attack but Siderius wasn't going to let it. He swung his flaming sword in a curve. The scorching heat pushed the panther backward, creating a space for Siderius to use his sigil.

"Let's see if Dispell works on you."

Siderius flexed his left arm, the silver bracer appeared. His thumb, index, and middle finger stretched out to draw three circles simultaneously in the air.

The symbol of <Dispellera> materialized and floated in the air. Its power reached out to the beast and disrupted the flow of magic within it.

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