Chapter 98: Prey and Hunter (Third update, thank you Wutong)

The fire monster kept throwing out red fireballs while chasing, blowing up pits on the ground and knocking Lu Mian down several times in succession.

Many pieces of wood in the surrounding ruins were ignited by this, and there were red flames flickering everywhere.

Lu Mian couldn't care about dealing with the flames still burning his clothes. Enduring the indescribable pain, he was knocked flying by the shockwaves from the explosions again and again, stood up again and again, and sprinted toward the destination without any pattern, sometimes left, sometimes right, sometimes in arcs, sometimes straight.

Fortunately, the next location in his plan wasn't far. Just when he felt a mouthful of blood was about to spray out and his body was about to fall apart, that crumbling building appeared before his eyes.

*Boom! *

Lu Mian forcibly twisted his body to avoid a fireball, and that red object exploded not far in front of him, lifting up a fierce wave mixed with flames.

Lu Mian took the opportunity to fall to the ground, dodging the most violent wave of damage, and rolled forward into the house that hadn't completely collapsed yet, relying on the momentum.

The fire monster stopped its footsteps and didn't rush to chase into the place that might hide a fatal trap.

It looked at Lu Mian rolling forward inside the house and condensed red fire crows around its body.

Those fire crows flew out with a *whoosh*, half smashing toward the various support points of that building, and half thrown toward Lu Mian's back from all directions.

They seemed to be able to lock onto the target, and not a single one deviated, and they constantly adjusted their own trajectories according to Lu Mian's position.

At this moment, the fire monster seemed to have already seen the enemy being blown into a charred corpse.

A flock of fire crows wasn't as easy to dodge as fireballs pinched at will!

Suddenly, Lu Mian's figure disappeared from the fire monster's eyes.

He rolled into the basement that was still relatively well-preserved.

*Bang! *

Lu Mian threw the wooden door of the entrance shut urgently and pounced toward the side with the help of the rebound force.

*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh*, those red fire crows smashed onto the door.

*Boom! *

The heavy wooden door was blown into pieces, and every piece was ignited.

*Boom, boom, boom! *

The other half of the fire crows all hit the predetermined target, and this crumbling building completely collapsed.

Stones, wood, dust, and all kinds of debris intertwined and submerged this place, burying the basement tightly.

Lu Mian had long hidden in the corner, relying on the soil piled here and skillful rolling to extinguish the flames on his body.

But even so, he was already burned in many places and blown until his internal organs felt displaced. If he couldn't get timely treatment, he might not live for a day.

The fire monster's attack ability and explosive level seemed to be stronger than Ryan's without using "Light Storm"!

Lu Mian's original hope was to use "Invisibility" to initially shake off the fire monster, sneak into this basement, jump that mysterious sacrificial dance, half-trigger the black thorn symbol on his chest, directly scare the other party away, and wait peacefully for "Fallen Mercury" to complete the fate exchange. But the flames attached to his body made him unable to enter the "Invisibility" state at all, and he was chased until he almost lost his life.

Now, Lu Mian's only relief was that he had a contingency plan for not being able to shake off the fire monster's tracking and being unable to use the dance to pray peacefully.

He even thought about collapsing this building himself to bury the basement to buy time, but he didn't expect the fire monster to do this for him.

*Hoo... * Lu Mian exhaled and sat down cross-legged.

He took out the gray amber perfume from Aurora and placed it in front of him after unscrewing the cap.

Outside the completely collapsed house, the fire monster's gaze penetrated the dust permeating the air, searching for the enemy's tracks.

It believed that the cunning guy couldn't be buried alive so simply.

With his trap level and familiarity with this area of ruins, he must have left himself a way out!

The fire monster's thinking ability wasn't strong. Relying on the instinct of a "Hunter," it circled to the back of that collapsed building.

It searched this place inch by inch and only took ten seconds to find a hole slanting downward.

That hole was obscured by the part of the house that had collapsed earlier and wasn't affected by the subsequent overall collapse, making it hard to see at a glance, and the position was quite hidden.

The fire monster raised its right hand and condensed a white-hot fireball the size of a fist in its palm.

It took a step forward and swung its right arm, throwing the fireball into that passage.

The flame passed through a very short distance, entered the basement, and smashed against the opposite wall.

*Boom! *

The wave of the explosion didn't affect Lu Mian, who was specifically hiding in the other corner, only overturning the gray amber perfume bottle he had placed in front of him, making the whole basement shake.

*Gurgle, gurgle* liquid flowed out in large quantities from the uncapped bottle, and the elegant and sweet fragrance instantly became rich.

Lu Mian hadn't opened his eyes the whole time, sitting in the corner against the wall attentively.

He was meditating!

He had long outlined that red sun in his mind and maintained it for several seconds.

Soon, Lu Mian heard that terrifying sound that seemed to come from infinitely far away yet also seemed close at hand.

On his face, back of his hands, and neck, one after another, blue veins protruded, quickly stained with a bright red color close to fire.

At the same time, one after another, silver-black circular spots permeated the surface of his skin.

Lu Mian opened his mouth, but couldn't let out a scream, and the whole person fell down and curled up.

That "Fallen Mercury" left Lu Mian's left palm, but didn't dare to do anything, didn't dare to actively spring toward the face and right hand not covered by cloth, and try to create a puppet through contact.

It only trembled there, trembling violently.

Outside the basement, next to the entrance Lu Mian had dug, the monster that was about to condense a fireball froze.

It also couldn't help but tremble.

A few seconds later, it ran away, giving up the hunt.

Lu Mian fell into darkness where countless flames flickered, and his mind was filled with extreme pain and evil intentions.

At this moment, he had the feeling of wanting to die, and felt that something was growing rapidly deep in his heart, taking shape bit by bit.

That was a shadow composed of all negative personalities mixed with some kind of will. Once it was pieced together into a human shape, it would completely replace the original owner.

In the darkness where there was no end and only despair and pain, Lu Mian suddenly smelled a fragrance:

Elegant, sweet.

That was Aurora's scent, the scent she often had.

Aurora... Sister... Lu Mian gradually found back a bit of his thoughts, and the familiar melody seemed to ring in his ears again.

"I want to live!

"The loop hasn't been lifted yet!

"..."

Various thoughts returned rapidly, and Lu Mian finally defeated the pitch-black will and the darkness full of pain deep in his heart, opening his eyes.

The first thing that reflected in his eyes was the gray amber perfume bottle lying on the ground.

Fell? Lu Mian reached out his right hand with heartache.

He originally only wanted to imitate Aurora's behavior of using incense to curb signs of loss of control, relying on the naturally dispersed perfume scent to wake himself up, who knew that the liquid had poured out more than half.

The next second, he felt the trembling of his body, saw the charring and bloodstains on the back of his hand, and saw the silver-black round spots that hadn't completely disappeared.

Without needing anyone to remind him, Lu Mian himself could "smell" that there was a strange, hair-raising scent on him.

If he met Valentine now, he wouldn't need to deliberately express anything; he would be directly "purified" by the holy light summoned by the other party.

Lu Mian picked up the gray amber perfume that was still a little bit left, capped it, and put it away.

He then picked up "Fallen Mercury" which was still trembling violently and asked in Hermes:

"Is the fate exchange finished?"

"Fallen Mercury" immediately moved left and right, indicating it wasn't.

Lu Mian breathed a sigh of relief instantly.

He was afraid that after he woke up, the fate exchange would have been completed, and the state of being shocked would last at most one minute.

In that case, if he hadn't been able to find the fire monster in time, the pain and suffering he had just endured would have been meaningless.

*Hoo, inhale... * Lu Mian adjusted his very bad state and gathered his remaining strength, climbing out of the basement from the entrance he had dug in advance.

Every movement he made would pull on different wounds, making him, who had extremely strong endurance, unable to help but grit his teeth.

After getting out of the basement, Lu Mian searched for the fire monster's footprints and sighed with a low voice:

"Meditating while in a bad state is simply suicidal behavior...

"That is, I haven't done this since becoming a 'Hunter', so I could barely suppress the signs of loss of control by relying on the scent of gray amber. If I had done it a few more times before, and my body had shown slight alienation, I would have turned into a monster by now...

"For a long time to come, unless I want to die, I can't do this again..."

He chose to use meditation to completely trigger the black thorn symbol on his chest instead of half-triggering it by dancing the sacrificial dance because the situation was urgent and there was no time to complete the dance at all.

Relying on meditation, he could scare away the fire monster in at most five or six seconds, while that mysterious sacrificial dance required thirty or forty seconds, and that was already assuming Lu Mian was proficient.

In Lu Mian's hunting plan, this belonged to the final plan: when other methods couldn't shake off the fire monster's pursuit, try meditation!

Lu Mian just didn't expect that he would be seriously injured at the very beginning, almost losing control and becoming a monster during meditation.

Not long after, Lu Mian found the footprints left by the fire monster and chased after them with all his might.

A few minutes later, he saw that the footprints became fresh, so he slowed down his pace.

After waiting for a while, "Fallen Mercury" trembled on its own, telling Lu Mian that the fate exchange was finished.

Lu Mian didn't hesitate anymore, turned his hand to pull out that iron-black axe, and rushed toward the front along the fire monster's footprints.

In less than twenty seconds, he saw that prey, charred all over and burning with flames.

It was crawling in a corner surrounded by stones, shivering.

Lu Mian rushed over, dropped "Fallen Mercury," held the axe handle with both hands, and chopped down with all his strength.

Amidst the muffled sound, the fire monster's head and body separated.

Streams of bright red blood sprayed out violently, turning into clusters of red flames on the ground.

*Thump*, Lu Mian could no longer support himself and fell to the ground with the axe.

PS: Third update, thank you Wutong for the golden alliance reward after the completion of Lord of the Mysteries, and, asking for monthly tickets~

(End of chapter)