David seemed to have fallen into a tough battle.
No helping it—the gap in skill between the two was just too huge.
In the hunter's eyes, that enemy claw was no different from a kid throwing wild punches...
The monster claw slammed into the dirt wall with a boom, leaving deep scratches, but it rarely forced the enemy to block with his sword.
The hunter seemed to have figured out the Hand of Monster's 2.5-second cooldown and would always attack during those gaps.
David was like a boss whose patterns had been completely figured out, slowly getting whittled down by a hunter with way less health using flames and blade...
The battle reached a heated stage, and the flames on Videns's sword went out.
That ability seemed to require continuous burning of psychic energy or life energy—even he couldn't maintain it for long.
The hunter went all out, suddenly retreating, once again dodging David's monster claw attack and backing away to a distance.
He sneered and pulled a red injection vial from his waist, jamming it into his neck.
David recognized that thing—it was a potion unique to hunters for recovering life energy. Watching the opponent's health bar rapidly recover under the potion's effect, David's eyes flashed, and he quickly closed in.
"I don't have any way to heal during combat..."
"But if you dare chug a potion right in front of me, that's your problem!"
The just-cooled-down Hand of Monster whooshed out with a stab.
Videns, face calm, raised his left hand's short gun and coolly pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The bullet gained unimaginable kinetic energy burning with hunter's blood. Blood light shot out. That pinpoint accurate shot hit at the most perfect timing, striking the Hand of Monster's power point.
David felt a powerful force break through the Hand of Monster's skin, blasting a huge hole in it. His life value plummeted another 300-plus, dropping to just 935 points!
Pulled by that tremendous force, he also lost his balance and couldn't help but stagger backward.
Hiss—!
The gun in the hunter's hand suddenly let out a soft sound. A silver needle protruding from the gun handle jabbed into the hunter's blood vessel, rapidly extracting a large amount of fresh blood from his body.
A crimson bullet condensed and formed in the gun barrel in the blink of an eye!
"It can rapid-fire!?" David's eyes widened.
Bang!
The gun barrel spewed blood light again. This shot hit David right in the heart, blowing away half of it!
His health plummeted another 400-plus!
After firing two shots in succession, Videns's face had also become even paler. These blood bullets required consuming his own life energy, which was why he had to use that precious recovery potion—his only one.
But these two shots were enough.
From David's increasingly frantic and panicked attacks, he could tell the opponent was at the end of his rope, his life energy nearly bottomed out.
"Now, let me finish you off..."
Videns flashed and closed in on the retreating David. He first raised the gun in his hand, pointing it at the opponent's forehead at close range.
Sure enough, the terrified noble young master activated that bizarre ability, using the monster claw extending from his back to desperately grab the now-bulletless gun.
Then Videns sneered and raised his silver sword, thrusting toward the opponent's eyes...
"In the end, just a weakling with no combat experience."
"Heh, finally showing an opening. Perfect timing."
Whoosh—!
A dark red hand suddenly appeared and grabbed Videns's head.
"Huh???"
Splat...
The sword didn't pierce David's skull—the hunter's head exploded first.
The terrified expression quickly faded from David's face, as if it had never appeared.
I was faking it, hehe...
The red Hand of Divine Corpse released, and the hunter's headless corpse dropped to the ground... From the very start of the battle, he'd already foreseen this moment's arrival.
He had to make the enemy let his guard down. He had to make the enemy think he was out of options. He had to create the illusion that he was slowly being driven into a desperate situation.
The identity of hunter and prey would only be decided in the battle's final moment.
Videns had to die here. He couldn't let him escape. It had to be a one-hit kill.
The only thing unexpected in this battle was those two immensely powerful blood bullets.
But no matter what, David held the absolute advantage. Even after eating those two shots, he still had more life energy than the hunter at full strength.
While continuously using the Hand of Monster, his psychic energy had long since been depleted. To ensure absolute certainty, he'd consumed a full 400 points of life value in one go to crush the opponent.
Now he had 84 health points left. No, 83... 82, 81...
His life value kept dropping uncontrollably. Losing half a heart would be a fatal injury for an ordinary person, but for a supernatural being still protected by life energy, it was a severe wound that continuously drained health.
This would kill him soon too.
David turned his cold gaze to the hunter's corpse, to Videns's sword-wielding arm...
[Heretic's arm discovered. Initiate Limb Grafting Ritual?]
Another ritual...
This meant a new evil spirit, a new curse...
But he seemed to have no other choice.
Those "villagers'" deaths had nothing to do with him. The Limb Grafting Ritual showed no reaction to other corpses—he couldn't devour their life energy.
And this hunter's arm didn't fall into the "monster" category. To absorb his life energy, he had to perform an additional Limb Grafting Ritual...
"In for a penny, in for a pound..."
David somewhat numbly reached out and grabbed the hunter's arm...
[Devoured heretic's arm, absorbed life energy, limit +400.]
[Limb Grafting Ritual complete. Acquired arm: Heretic's Arm]
[Heretic's Arm I: Can aconsume 100 points of psychic energy or life energy to activate ability "Touch of Folly." Cooldown: 5 minutes.]
[Life Energy: 479/3920]
[Psychic Energy: 0/100]
Life energy flooded into his body, rapidly healing his fatal injuries. But with psychic energy depleted, he once again fell into the predicament of being madly tormented by two evil spirits.
Not only that, a new evil spirit silently emerged from the void—a black shadow emanating dark energy that slowly sank into his shadow on the ground...
[Ritual Evil Spirit Possession: Heretic's Shadow]
David felt his whole body turn cold, his body couldn't help but tremble...
But the torment of hunger was even worse!
That roaring Devourer was urging him, forcing him to rush into those "villager" houses not yet swallowed by the sea of flames, searching the kitchens for anything that could serve as food.
He no longer had the mood to think about whether food prepared by monsters was actually edible.
He was going crazy...
"Someone... can someone save me..."
David painfully swallowed those plant roots covered in dirt, his shoulders trembling uncontrollably.
After a long while, that terrible hunger was finally slowly suppressed. David, lying on the ground, once again pulled through from the edge of near-collapse.
But how many more times could he hold on?
He crawled to the water tank and stared blankly at his reflection in the water. Pale face, high-bridged nose, light eyebrows, thin lips, wide eyes—somewhat hollow, somewhat terrifying. This was David Frank's face...
Even with the same head of black hair and pair of black pupils, he felt no sense of familiarity looking at it right now.
Suddenly, that face smiled bizarrely and spoke in a heart-stopping voice: "I can help you..."
David closed his eyes. He knew this was the new evil spirit that had latched onto him—Heretic's Shadow.
When he opened his eyes again, the face in the water had returned to cold indifference and haggardness.
"You can't help me... Only I can help myself."
David forcefully suppressed his chaotic thoughts, stood up, walked out of the house, picked up the hunter's silver sword and gun from the burning street, and turned north to leave the village.
He'd remembered everything and naturally realized what a stupid mistake he'd made.
Actually, these plains weren't within the Goliath Empire's borders. They belonged outside the frontier—the "Dark Lands" that frontier nobles spoke of.
The north was where the human empire was. He'd run in completely the wrong direction... He should've been moving away from that giant "moon"... He should return to his viscount father's territory and look for ways to lessen the curse on him.
This world had supernatural beings like hunters. They also used various mysterious powers. There had to be a way for him to get rid of those evil spirits...
The first thing he thought of was the Church that the noble young master despised.
Perhaps a divine being truly existed in the Church...
Otherwise, why would that dark red arm be called the "Hand of Divine Corpse"?
Would God help him... He didn't know, but it was worth trying.
Most importantly, the viscount's territory had vast resources he could mobilize. He wanted to become stronger. If he wanted to survive well in this unfamiliar and sinister world, he had to become stronger!
David walked all night and finally returned in the sunrise to that valley leading into the empire's territory. As he expected, the viscount had already cleaned up everything in the valley, including that tent and other corpses.
Also as expected, he ran head-on into Viscount Frank, who was leading a massive knight legion and preparing to cross the gorge to search for his only son.
The frontier viscount Hein Frank, mounted on a tall horse, looked imposing and majestic. This noble who'd led legions to guard the frontier year-round had long since won the respect of all his soldiers.
At this moment, when Hein Frank saw David Frank appear in the gorge in tattered clothes, there was no joy of "finding his lost son" in his eyes.
David only read three parts disappointment, three parts vexation, and the rest pure indifference from his gaze...