Chapter Eighty-Six: Hunting
2014-12-01
Author: Floating Tower
“Hoo hoo hoo!”
Natalia was running desperately, the scenery around her flying past. When a rock appeared in front of her, she jumped onto it and awkwardly sat down. Blood dripped down her full chest from a deep knife wound that almost sliced her right breast in half. A scar ran across her beautiful face, extending from her lip to her jaw, both ruining her overall beauty and adding a touch of fierce heroism.
“Bastard!”
She unfastened her leather armor and cursed as she caught a glimpse of her chest: “This murderous maniac! Insane!”
The knife wound was perilously close to her ribs; if it went any deeper, it would injure her heart. Gritting her teeth, she took out a silver needle to stitch the wound, then raised her hand to cast a faint glow, rapidly regenerating the severed flesh. On her back and arms, there were many small cuts, her pale skin appearing as if cut by fine threads, all covered in dense bloodstains. A bloody mark remained on her ample backside, looking like she had been pierced by some short weapon.
Natalia let out a painful groan, hastily bandaging herself before standing up again. Her tenacious vitality kept her combat power intact. Looking back with a hint of fear, she continued to flee into the distance. As if empowered by some spell, her running speed was extremely fast, easily leaping over minor obstacles, the trees and rocks along the way swiftly receding behind her. She didn’t know how far she had run until her strength began to wane, at which point she tiredly stopped. “Tsk tsk.”
A voice filled with an eerie aura echoed, and a figure emerged from the shadowy mist, his face indistinguishable, save for his pale red eyes. He stood under a flourishing tree, playing with a small throwing knife in his fingers, and said with a playful tone, “My dear sister, why have you stopped running?”
“Is this not enough?”
A trace of fear appeared on Natalia’s slightly charming face as she instantly drew her twin swords from her waist. Her voice trembled slightly: “Who’s your sister! You pervert! Murderous maniac! Insane!”
The shadow in the darkness gradually approached, revealing a face that was hauntingly handsome. His skin appeared very pale, as if he greatly disliked sunlight. Stepping into the shade of a tree, he sighed, “Looks like you haven’t fully awakened yet! Truly a pathetic talent! The divine blood our father left in you hasn’t granted you real power yet?”
Natalia watched him with great vigilance, her hands trembling slightly as she gripped her swords. The previous battle had filled her with dread toward the enigmatic man before her, even though she was close to becoming a fourth-tier ranger and part-time bounty hunter. Yet she was still no match for him, and her teammates had all perished at his hands, despite there being no prior conflict between them. What was even more terrifying was his unimaginable tracking ability. Bounty hunters were already adept at pursuit among wanderers, let alone being a ranger, but she felt like mere prey before him. She couldn’t even detect his position, nor could she escape his pursuit.
“Yes! That’s the expression.”
A wicked smile crept onto the enigmatic man’s lips as he flicked the throwing knife in his hand, and in an instant, a blood mark appeared on Natalia’s charming face, only for the knife to immediately return to his grasp. He watched her with a sinister gaze and said slowly, “That’s right! This is the taste of fear!”
“You’re afraid! You’re terrified! My dear sister, can’t you awaken like this? Such a pitiful talent!”
“What about the bloodline power flowing through you? Has the slaughter and fear not awakened your latent soul?”
Tremble.
Natalia’s body shivered slightly. It seemed she could hardly bear the pressure he exerted upon her. Suddenly, she yelled and lunged forward, her swords slicing through the air, forming multiple cold glints that almost seemed to create afterimages. The swordlight fell upon him, but it was as if the air warped in an instant, and his figure split into three, only to merge back together right in front of the weary Natalia. A blood-red light flickered in his enigmatic eyes, and he touched her forehead with a finger, a strange glow emerging. He intoned, “Abyssal Fear Technique!”
Time seemed to freeze in that moment.
A look of sheer terror appeared on Natalia’s face as she gazed fearfully around. It was as if she saw something even more horrifying, and she trembled, crying out, “No! Stop! Go away! You ugly monsters! Demons!”
Her expression twisted more and more. Suddenly, the fear in her heart seemed to reach a critical point. Her pupils turned blood-red, the leather armor on her back shattered instantly, revealing her long, beautiful figure, and strange tattoos appeared on her skin. Her skin turned a dark blue, and a pair of demonic horns sprouted from her forehead. A pair of bat wings, around three meters long, unfurled from her back. Natalia let out a piercing scream, her voice ravaging like a shockwave.
All beasts within several kilometers that heard that sound fled in panic, as if driven by an immense fear from behind.
“Spirit of Fear!”
The enigmatic man’s lips revealed a pair of sharp fangs, and shadowy phantoms appeared behind him. He sighed, “Finally awakened! My dear sister, your will to resist fear is truly tenacious, much stronger than that of your brother before.”
“Then!”
“The hunt should begin!”
A pair of pitch-black daggers materialized in the enigmatic man’s hands. In an instant, he vanished, reappearing in mid-air, his daggers slicing through the profound darkness, directly stabbing toward Natalia’s heart.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Natalia’s twin swords became a flurry of afterimages, her pupils still a confused blood red, instinctively blocking the attack from behind.
“Such powerful combat instincts!”
The enigmatic man landed, small traces of blood left on his arms. He licked the wounds with his tongue as if savoring a supreme delicacy and said slowly, “If you had awakened a bit earlier, it would truly be difficult to say who the hunter is in this game!”
“Isn’t that right?”
“My dear sister?”
Natalia’s expression remained extremely perplexed. She seemed at a loss as she looked at herself, then slowly turned toward the man before her and said, “What exactly are you? Why have I become like this?”
The man’s figure vanished into thin air. Yet his deep voice still resonated from all directions, playful, “Who I am doesn’t matter! What matters is that I want the divine essence from your body!”
A figure appeared directly in front of her. The dagger turned into an afterimage and pierced toward her heart.
Natalia crossed her swords to block the attack, and then spun in a whirling dance that stirred up a gale, revealing yet another shadowy figure. The dagger pulsed with a malicious light, and the moment it struck Natalia, her body went rigid, plummeting from mid-air, the dagger twisting to shatter her heart. The enigmatic man swung the dagger horizontally, swiftly severing the head of her beautiful visage.
Strange lights flickered, resembling distorted phantoms.
Thud!
The enigmatic man lightly touched down. He appeared to breathe in a trance, invisible powers dissipating in shimmering rays from Natalia’s corpse, gradually merging into him. When all the light had faded, he coldly glanced at the lifeless body on the ground, crushing Natalia’s unyielding head with his foot. Dark flames flickered, and the headless corpse quickly turned to ashes. He coldly scanned the ground, murmuring, “So, who’s the next target?”…
“High Priest.”
“Why don’t you know where Father’s favorite youngest daughter, my dearest sister, the Fear Witch – Lilian, is?”
His figure gradually slipped into the shadows, soon vanishing without a trace.
………………
White Horse City.
In a spacious room lit by a row of candles, many trinkets were scattered across exquisite redwood furniture. Vivian, dressed in a pure white nightgown, was flipping through a thick book. She flipped pages rapidly, and after finishing about a third, she laid it down with boredom and said to herself, “The customs of the North are really strange!”
“Brother said we would go to the Frozen Kingdom one day. The nobles there seem quite exclusive, right? The book said it was very, very cold, and many places are inhabited by Frost Giants. I wonder what giants look like!”
“They must raise very large mammoths.”
“I wonder if I can reach its knee; riding such a huge creature must be very impressive!”
The little girl put down the book and began to daydream. Then, she pulled up the soft velvet blanket over herself, curling her petite body together. She sniffed lightly and murmured, “Although it’s very soft and warm, it doesn’t smell at all like brother’s. It’s still more comfortable to sleep beside brother.”
“Why hasn’t Sister Gloria come to tell a story today?”
“Her stories are told so slowly; when will the princess be captured by the giant dragon? Why am I not looking forward to the knight defeating the dragon, but rather hoping to see the dragon capture the princess?”【囧】
“Brother must be planning to leave, right? Sister Gloria is actually really nice; I’ll definitely miss her after she leaves.”
“What do elves really look like? Do they have pointy ears?”
“The book says you shouldn’t randomly touch an elf’s ears; that place is very special, but touching it once should be fine, right? I’m so cute; if I find a kind-tempered elf sister to touch her ears, she definitely won’t hit me, right? Hehe!”
Creak.
The door opened gently, and Gloria entered wearing a light blue robe, resembling a beautiful elf under the night sky. She had removed her veil before Vivian, her exquisite features stunningly beautiful, and she lightly sat at the corner of the bed. She bent down to pick up the book that Vivian had tossed aside, carefully folding a corner of the chapter she had been reading, and then gently placed it on the bookshelf next to the bed, straightening the disordered books one by one.
