Ace was scrutinizing everything and also monitoring the Live Fate Map.
But nothing changed as Santos remain the glittering silver point, but he kept his calm.
Santos's panicked voice fell in his ears at this moment, "Not good, it's about to release its ultimate soul attack with everything it had!"
Ace's eyes contracted because he felt the powerful soul Qi undulation from the Blazing Soul Crocodile, but he didn't take any action and used his soul barrier to fortify his soul defense.
After reaching the middle stage of mastery over it, he knew he could take this soul attack, which wasn't locked on him.
The very next moment, a transparent red shock wave was released from the Blazing Soul Crocodile, and the group of nine mist tribe demons took the massive damage because they were closest to it.
Their protective Qi barrier instantly shattered as they were sent flying like broker leaves in wind and Santos also suffered a huge impact, instantly coughing a huge amount of blood, making a small puddle.
Alora also wasn't spare despite being two hundred meters away from the fight, and she also protected the unconscious Carlee, but the impact was too great, and she also felt unconscious as blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.
Only listless Blazing Soul Crocodile and Santos remain standing.
The Blazing Soul Crocodile's rationality had returned after using its ultimate soul attack, and it slowly started to retreat toward the dark swamp without finishing its fight. It has many injuries all over its body and almost exhausted its soul Qi, so it wanted to retreat and recover.
"You wanted to run? Not happening!" Santos gritted his teeth. He knew this was his only chance to kill this tenacious beast, or all of his losses would be for nothing.
He took out another Mist Lance Talisman and was about to activate it when something strange happened.
Before the Blazing Soul Crocodile could counterattack or escape, the light from its eyes suddenly vanished… it was dead!
This sudden turn of events completely bewildered Santos and thought this beast was playing some kind of trick on him, but he also sensed no more soul Qi fluctuations from it anymore, which mean it was dead.
"But how?" He mumbled in disbelief.
On Ace's hidden spot, he instantly received a system notification.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt=====
[Killed a Platinum Soul River Core Stage, Soul Beast]
[Reward: Please retract the Soul-Beast Core for SP]
=====
It was indeed Ace who finished the Blazing Soul Crocodile off with his soul-piercing bullet.
How could he let free soul points go in front of his eyes?
Furthermore, the beast would've died by Santos's hand anyway, so he sneaked to attack the already exhausted Blazing Soul Crocodile, which failed to defend against Ace's soul attack in its exhausted state and died miserably.
However, this system's notification gave Ace another surprise, and he couldn't help but said, "What? Do you mean I need the beast core for EXP or SP? Doesn't this mean even if I don't give the killing blow, as long as I gained the beast core of martial or soul-type beasts, I can gain EXP and SP?"
He never killed a demonic beast with the beast core, so this naturally came as a surprise to him. If this was the case, as he said, then this had many advantages, and he would get another source to acquire EXP or SP.
System answered him impassively.
"[Yes, a Martial Beast or Soul-Beast differs from a mindless Demonic Beast since it had a beast core and that beast core is like any other medicinal herb. As long as the host had a beast core of sufficient levels, they can be turned into either Soul Points or Experience Points, without the host needing to perform the killing blow.]"
Ace's eyes shone with elation. 'Martial beast and Soul beasts, huh? So, they fall into different categories. But didn't this mean every beast on the Beast Continent is a martial beast or soul beast? Then why are they in fifth place? Whatever, I should just focus on…'
Ace's trails of thoughts abruptly came to a halt when his eyes suddenly fell on the Live Fate Map and dilated with shock!
'How is this…'
On the Live Fate Map, not only did Santos's fate point lose its glittering color, but a glittering silver area had flashed in the dark swamp direction!
"Moira, what just happened?" He quickly asked Moira.
Moira explained ambiguously, with a hint of elation. "It seemed the demon with silver fate point had served his purpose, and that soul beast's death had revealed this glittering silver area. We can assume this demon was supposed to kill this beast and leave this area, with no investigating the space and gaining the treasure.
"But since Sir Ace was following the Fate Live Map, the glittering silver area was revealed. This is probably the chance Sir Ace has been waiting for, and this demon had served his purpose perfectly. Congratulation, Sir Ace, it seemed your patience and hard work had paid off."
Ace couldn't help but smile in rapture. He had also had the same theory in mind, 'So, this is how this Live Fate Map works. Since this guy had served his purpose, I should reward him…'
Ace's eyes turned cold as he vanished from his hiding spot.
Santos was still filled with confusion about Blazing Soul Crocodile's sudden death, but couldn't come out with any proper explanation.
"No one can enter or leave this barrier without being at the peak of the soul realm, nor they can enter it. But I don't think anyone will be daring enough to come here now or those old guys wouldn't sit around silently, which means its death might be natural."
Just as his voice trailed off, a jeering voice sounded, which frightened him.
"Hehe, as expected of Second Prince Santos, but the death wasn't natural at all…"
Santos yelped in shock before he turned around and saw an ordinary bronze skin demon coldly smiling at him from 15 meters away.
'How did appear behind me? No… how did he remain in this barrier without being effective by Blazing Soul Crocodile soul attack or both of our detection? I can only feel peak river realm aura on him… no, something is not right… he even knows who I am!'
Santos felt a deathly cold sensation, and he instantly wanted to take out his life-saving treasure and flee without revealing his cultivation.
But he was shocked when his storage ring didn't react to his will at all, and the Mist Lance Talisman had also vanished from his hand!
He instinctively looked at his ring finger, and it was when he gave the biggest shock of his life because his ring finger was replaced by an imprint of an owl!
An astonishing name appeared in his mind and when he looked toward the demon with absolute horror, he found out the demon had vanished!
At this moment, an innuendo voice rang a few inches away from his ear. "Now, now, we can't let you cause too much commotion or alert those old men. Won't you agree?"
This was also the last sentence he heard in his life because the very next moment a green sharp light flashed past Santos's neck from behind and the last thing he saw was his own body and the same demon smiling at him with a bloody sword in his hand before everything turned dark!
This also marked the tragic death of the second prince of the Mist Domain!
Ace didn't want to give Santos any chances of retaliation at all, especially since he didn't want him to release his cultivation, or things might've turned unpleasant for him soon. He didn't want any interference before he explored the glittering silver area.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThat was why he first startled Santos before quickly finishing him, and it was only getting easier after his fight with Blazing Soul Crocodile.
Two successive notifications rang at this moment.
======
[Pick Pocket succeed]
[Host steal]
…
[Reward(s)]
-Rewards: 73,400 Thief Points
[Thief Point(s): 13,653,400]
[Killed a Silver Soul River Core Stage, Mist Demon]
[Reward: 5,000 SP]
[Martial Cultivation: Heavenly Dark Sea [Stage-7]]
[EXP: 76,845/1,000,000]
[Soul Cultivation: Orange Wind Soul Core [Stage-7]]
[SP: 29,575/1,000,000]
=====
Without further delay, he pick-pocketed and then killed the nine mist demons while they were still unconscious, without any mercy.
They were here to hunt him down as well and leaving them alive would bring trouble if they report this soul beast's presence to Mist Demon King, she will defiantly investigate it and when she found the soul beast was gone, she would naturally suspect someone had killed both Santos and soul beast.
This would not be good for Ace because he knew many unknown things can reveal many clues if just from the corpse or locations of death.
But now no one would ever know the exact place where the second prince died or how they died, and it would take a long time to find any trace of them in this vast forest, or they can simply think they died under some demonic beast.
Besides, no one from the mist domain would dare to openly search or release this news, unless they want to reveal their schemes!