Chapter 87: Hunting (Third update, thank you everyone)

As soon as Lu Mi confirmed the situation, he immediately turned and sprinted away.

The environment here could not be utilized, and he lacked understanding of what abilities the "Blacksmith" monster possessed. If he didn't run, what else could he do?

He would wait until he escaped to the nearest natural trap, and if the opponent was still in hot pursuit, he would then consider a counterattack.

*Thump, thump, thump! *

Lu Mi did not run in a straight line; he ran in an "S" shape like a snake.

He was worried that the opponent might predict his movement trajectory and throw fireballs or long-range weapons.

In the past, Lu Mi could run in curves, but at certain moments, he needed to significantly reduce his speed to minimize inertia; otherwise, either his body couldn't withstand it, or he was very likely to fall.

But now it was different. His flexibility was extremely high, far exceeding that of a normal human. His muscles and ligaments pulled his body to turn a small half-circle quite easily, and the arc was quite smooth.

Relying on this, he felt that as long as the "Blacksmith" monster had no special abilities, he should be able to successfully leave the "City Wall" area and enter the building ruins, which were only seven or eight meters away.

Suddenly, his heart tightened, and he had an intense premonition of danger.

Without too much consideration or analysis, Lu Mi fell forward along the momentum of his run.

*Rip! * A sharp pain flared in his back as that evil silver-black dagger sliced a gash, and bright red blood flowed out.

That "Blacksmith" monster had chased to Lu Mi's back in just one step and swung the weapon in its hand.

It seemed to have condensed a distance of more than ten steps into less than one!

Enduring the pain, Lu Mi rolled twice and finally touched the edge of a semi-collapsed building.

He pushed off with both hands and *whooshed* inside, using the walls and furniture inside as cover to run out the back door.

Returning to this area, he was like a tiger in the deep mountains or a trout in a river, skillfully weaving through the ruins of various buildings, sometimes bypassing them, sometimes walking straight.

In just over ten seconds, he arrived at a natural trap he had observed earlier, hid his body behind a roof that had slid to the ground, and waited for the "Blacksmith" monster to arrive.

He didn't try to perform that sacrificial dance because he felt there wouldn't be enough time; the opponent clearly had some kind of unique chasing ability.

Time ticked away second by second. Lu Mi neither saw the figure of the "Blacksmith" monster nor heard any sound approaching, nor did he find any unclear footprints appearing around him.

"Didn't chase?" Lu Mi couldn't help but frown.

He was both relieved and felt that this situation was a bit strange.

After pondering for a while, he guessed that the "Blacksmith" monster could not leave the "City Wall" area, so as soon as he entered this area of building ruins, the opponent gave up the chase.

Considering that he had already suffered two injuries just now and had become exhausted himself, Lu Mi decided not to explore any further.

Relying on his terrifying flexibility, he treated the wound on his back and walked along the path he had come toward the edge of the ruins.

After walking for a long time, he looked at the familiar collapsed buildings around him and suddenly felt something was wrong:

"It's been... the time for a dinner, and the dream ruins aren't particularly large. Walking in a straight line, under these circumstances, how come... I still haven't gotten out?"

The more Lu Mi thought about it, the more wrong it felt. He even discovered that his thoughts were starting to become sluggish, becoming intermittent, as if he had fallen into extreme exhaustion or was about to fall asleep.

He hurriedly pulled himself together, relying on his "Hunter" abilities to discern the path, hoping to escape the ruins as quickly as possible.

However, during the walk, he would uncontrollably fall into a trance from time to time, to the point that in the end, he didn't even know what he was doing.

I don't know how much time passed, but suddenly, flickering orange-yellow firelight reflected in Lu Mi's eyes.

He had returned to the "City Wall" area, returned to the outside of the room where the "Blacksmith" monster was located.

"Not good..."

"Was I... influenced by it?"

"No wonder it... didn't... chase..."

"It seems... I can't forcibly... leave, I can only... find a way from... that monster..."

Lu Mi's thoughts became increasingly dull and stagnant.

While uncontrollably approaching that room, he struggled to perform the mysterious sacrificial dance.

Since he had to deal with the "Blacksmith" monster, his greatest reliance was the black thorn symbol on his chest; he had to trigger it immediately!

Amidst the clanging but intermittent movements, Lu Mi saw the door revealing the orange-yellow firelight being opened, and that monster wearing a black robe and holding a silver-black dagger and a hammer appeared at the doorway.

Unlike before, the signs of decay on its face had disappeared quite a bit, and fresh flesh and blood had grown from the wounds where bones were visible everywhere.

Its eyeballs had also become lively, and the gaze looking at Lu Mi carried undisguised greed and a smile.

This made "it" look more like a person than a living corpse.

At the same time, Lu Mi saw himself reflected in the glass window:

His face was pale with a greenish tint, his eyes were dull and sluggish, and parts of his skin showed signs of decay.

He looked more like a living corpse than a person.

In an instant, Lu Mi had an epiphany:

"I will... replace... that 'monster', and it will... walk out... in the identity of a human..."

Lu Mi, who didn't know what ability he had been influenced by and didn't know when he had encountered the anomaly, was left with only one thought: to finish the sacrificial dance, semi-trigger the black thorn symbol on his chest, and make one last desperate attempt.

He stepped out the dance steps slowly but firmly, yet the "Blacksmith" monster did not take the opportunity to launch an attack, seemingly waiting patiently for the final outcome, afraid that extra actions would affect the change of its own fate.

Approaching inch by inch, dancing section by section, Lu Mi's vision became increasingly blurred; he only knew that the "Blacksmith" monster's smile was becoming thicker, and it was becoming more and more like a person overall.

Moving forward another distance, Lu Mi's mind went "buzz."

He heard that terrifying sound that seemed to come from infinitely far away yet also seemed close at hand.

It wasn't clear enough, it was very illusory, it only caused a certain amount of chaos in his spirit and didn't bring a near-death experience.

It was amidst this chaos that Lu Mi's thoughts suddenly became clear, and his vision returned to normal.

He felt the scorching heat on his chest and knew that the black thorn symbol had been semi-triggered.

Almost at the same time, he saw the smile on the "Blacksmith" monster's face stiffen.

One after another, flesh tumors protruded on the monster's face, top of its head, and back of its hands, all with a silver-white base, stained with a little black.

The evil dagger in its hand buzzed and vibrated, as if it were trembling violently.

*Snap! *

Amidst the crisp metallic sound, a deep crack appeared on the surface of the silver-black dagger, which was engraved with evil patterns.

The "Blacksmith" monster collapsed along with it, turning into flesh tumors that were silver-white with black all over the ground and twisted worms crawling on the black robe.

The worms and tumors soon stopped expanding and contracting, returning to lumps of gray-white flesh.

Lu Mi looked at this scene in a daze, having a psychedelic feeling that when he was caught by the enemy with no ability to resist, the enemy suddenly committed suicide.

After more than ten seconds, he said to those lumps of flesh, both amused and puzzled:

"You brought me here just to have me perform a funeral ceremony for you?

"You should have said so earlier, no need to be so troublesome, I would definitely have shown up, and I would even have applauded!"

He walked a few steps to the side of the lumps of flesh that the "Blacksmith" monster had disintegrated into and began a serious inspection.

He didn't find any other anomalies, only noticing that the silver-black dagger, which had cracked slightly, was still trembling lightly, just like a small animal that had encountered a natural enemy and been injured.

Lu Mi's heart stirred, and he looked down at his left chest, as if he could see that black thorn symbol through his clothes.

He had an epiphany and directly reached out his right hand, grabbing that silver-black dagger.

The evil dagger trembled even more violently, but it showed no signs of struggling or resisting; it was very "docile."

As soon as he grasped the dagger, the scorching heat on Lu Mi's chest became significantly more intense.

He felt a little bit of something leaking out, resonating with that silver-black dagger.

Amidst the "buzzing" metallic vibration, some knowledge appeared in Lu Mi's mind, knowledge about the evil dagger in his hand:

This was an Extraordinary weapon that had suffered severe pollution, thereby gaining power and exhibiting some characteristics of being alive.

In other words, what Lu Mi encountered was not the "Blacksmith" monster, but this evil dagger; the "Blacksmith" monster belonged to its puppet, or rather, the "Wielder."

It could cause most living beings who touched it directly with their flesh and blood to gradually become living corpses, completely losing their sense of self, always holding it, and doing things according to its will.

And those who were scratched by it and bled would have a little bit of their fate hunted away by it using an exchange method.

During the process of exchanging those fates, it could no longer cause any harm to the target.

Just now, it had used the fate of the "Blacksmith" monster becoming a puppet to exchange for Lu Mi's fate of leaving the wilderness as a human.

If there was nothing available for exchange, it needed to completely kill the target to strip away a portion of their fate and store it in the blade.

This ability originated from Sequence 5 corresponding to "Dancer," the "Fate Hunter"!

Therefore, after the pollution in Lu Mi's body was semi-triggered, it resonated with this evil dagger through flesh-and-blood contact, seeping out a little bit of knowledge.

If it weren't for this, he would only be able to ask someone to identify the abilities and characteristics of this silver-black dagger using methods like divination or pattern recognition, or rely on his own repeated experiments to collect information.

Sorting out the extra knowledge in his mind, Lu Mi looked at the evil dagger still trembling in his hand and chuckled:

"I actually don't mind you taking away a portion of my fate, but you have to be able to withstand it!

"If you can exchange away my fate of being trapped in a time loop, I wouldn't mind kneeling down and kowtowing to you three times.

"Tsk, hunting every kind of fate will only harm you!"

That silver-black dagger only trembled, not daring to make any response.

Lu Mi now understood why "it" was so well-behaved:

One was the suppression of rank under the semi-triggered state of the black thorn symbol, and the other was that the encounter just now had left a psychological shadow on this Extraordinary weapon that had the characteristics of being alive.

Letting out a breath, Lu Mi said to this evil dagger:

"From today on, you shall be called 'Fate Hunter Blade,' how about it, simple and clear, right?"

That silver-black dagger shook up and down twice, as if nodding.

"It's a pity, you are only an Extraordinary weapon, your power will gradually fade. Originally, you could have been used for two years, but after being severely damaged for not keeping your eyes open this time, you can only last for half a year." Lu Mi said with quite a bit of regret.

Actually, he could completely utilize a ritual to extract power from the pollution in his body to replenish the "Fate Hunter Blade," but the prerequisite was that he could find someone to fix that crack.

As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Mi felt the scorching heat on his chest disappearing rapidly.

The one-minute time limit had arrived.

Without even thinking, he immediately threw the "Fate Hunter Blade" away, as if it were a burning piece of charcoal.

PS: Third update, seeking monthly votes~ Hmm, this wave of extra updates ends here. There should be another wave this month, but it's hard to say exactly when; it depends on the plot progress.

(End of chapter)