96 Prey and Hunter
The flaming monster pursued relentlessly, hurling crimson fireballs that blasted craters in the earth. Lumian was thrown off balance multiple times.
Flames licked at the charred logs that littered the desolate landscape, casting flickering red light in every direction.
Lumian barely spared a thought for the fire still consuming his clothes. Gritting his teeth against the searing pain, he was sent sprawling by the shockwaves of detonation after detonation. He staggered to his feet and careened wildly towards his destination—veering left, then right, arcing and darting straight ahead.
Mercifully, he didn’t have far to go based on his plan. Just as he felt the taste of blood in his mouth and his body threatened to give out, a dilapidated building loomed before him.
Boom!
Lumian contorted his body mid-stride, narrowly avoiding a fireball. The scarlet projectile exploded just ahead, unleashing a hellish maelstrom of flames.
Seizing the moment, Lumian dropped to the ground and rolled beneath the worst of the conflagration. With the momentum, he tumbled into the partially collapsed structure.
The flaming monster halted and hesitated, wary of pursuing its prey into a potential death trap.
It watched as Lumian rolled deeper into the building, summoning a swarm of red Fire Ravens around it.
Their screeches filled the air as they took flight. Half of them dove towards the building’s support beams, while the others bore down on Lumian from all sides.
These avian flames were unerring, constantly adjusting their trajectories to match Lumian’s movements.
In that instant, the flaming monster could almost see its enemy’s charred remains.
Fire Ravens were far more difficult to dodge than mere fireballs!
And then, Lumian disappeared from the monster’s view.
He had rolled into a well-preserved basement.
Bang!
Lumian slammed the wooden door shut and leaped aside, using the force of the impact.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! The scarlet Fire Ravens slammed into the door.
Boom!
The heavy door disintegrated into flaming splinters.
Rumble!
The remaining Fire Ravens struck their intended targets, bringing down the decaying structure in a torrent of debris.
Stone, wood, and dust engulfed the area, entombing the basement.
Lumian had already taken refuge in a corner, using the accumulated dirt to smother the flames that clung to him.
But he was still badly burned, his internal organs battered by the force of the explosions. Without swift medical attention, he wouldn’t last another day.
The flaming monster’s attack had been devastating, even more potent than Ryan sans his Hurricane of Light!
Lumian had intended to use Invisibility to elude the flaming monster, slipping into the basement to perform his enigmatic sacrificial dance, activating the black thorn symbol on his chest to terrify his foe. He’d planned to bide his time for Fallen Mercury to complete the exchange of fate. But the persistent fire had thwarted his Invisibility, nearly costing him his life.
The one consolation was that he had a backup plan in the event he couldn’t escape the monster’s pursuit, nor could he perform his sacrificial dance in peace.
He’d even considered collapsing the building to bury the basement and buy time, but the flaming monster had done the job for him.
Phew… Exhaling deeply, Lumian sat cross-legged.
He retrieved the bottle of gray amber perfume from Aurore, unscrewed the cap, and placed it before him.
Outside the demolished building, the flaming monster’s gaze cut through the swirling dust, searching for any trace of its quarry.
It was certain that the cunning intruder wouldn’t have been buried alive so easily.
Given the complexity of the traps he’d laid and his intimate knowledge of the ruins, he must have left himself an escape route!
The flaming monster wasn’t particularly intelligent, but its Hunter’s instincts led it to circle the collapsed building.
In less than ten seconds, it discovered a hidden cave entrance angling downward.
The opening was concealed by debris from the fallen structure, sheltered from the ensuing collapse. It was difficult to spot and tucked away in a discreet location.
The monster raised its right hand, conjuring a fist-sized white fireball in its palm.
With a sudden lunge, it hurled the fireball down the passageway.
The flames streaked through the air, penetrated the basement, and collided with the far wall.
Boom!
The blast wave didn’t affect Lumian, who was deliberately hiding in another corner. It only overturned the bottle of gray amber perfume in front of him and quaked the entire basement.
The gurgle of liquid flowed from the open bottle, its elegant and sweet fragrance intensifying instantly.
Lumian leaned against the wall, eyes closed, lost in Cogitation.
His mind conjured a crimson sun, holding it steady for a few seconds.
Suddenly, a terrifying sound reached Lumian’s ears, as if from an infinite distance yet unnervingly close.
Blue veins bulged across his face, hands, and neck, quickly turning red.
Simultaneously, silver-black spots seeped from his skin.
He opened his mouth to scream, but collapsed and curled up before a sound could escape.
Fallen Mercury slipped from Lumian’s left palm, but it dared not make a move. It didn’t even attempt to approach his exposed face or right hand to create a marionette through contact.
It just quivered there, violently.
Outside the basement, the monster poised to conjure a fireball froze beside the entrance Lumian had excavated.
It couldn’t help but shudder.
A few seconds later, it fled, abandoning the hunt.
...
Lumian plunged into a darkness teeming with flickering flames. His mind was overwhelmed with excruciating pain and malevolent thoughts.
In that moment, death seemed preferable. He sensed something deep within him rapidly growing and taking form.
It appeared to be a trauma—composed of all negative personalities and a particular will. Once assembled into human shape, it would utterly supplant the original him.
Amid the unending darkness of despair and pain, Lumian caught a whiff of a scent.
Elegant and sweet.
It was Aurore’s fragrance, a familiar aroma.
Aurore… Grande Soeur… Lumian slowly regained his composure, as if hearing the comforting melody once more.
I want to live!
The loop hasn’t ended yet!
…
A rush of thoughts flooded back to him. Lumian finally vanquished the pitch-black will and the agony-laced darkness within his heart and opened his eyes.
...
The first thing in his sight was the toppled bottle of gray amber perfume on the ground.
It toppled? Lumian’s heart ached as he reached out his right hand.
Initially, he’d only intended to mimic Aurore’s use of incense to control his symptoms and rely on the natural perfume as a wake-up call. Unexpectedly, more than half the bottle had spilled.
In the next instant, his body quivered. He saw the charred, bloodstained back of his hand and the silver-black circular spots that had yet to fade.
Without needing a reminder, Lumian could “smell” the unfamiliar, hair-raising scent on himself.
If he crossed paths with Valentine now, he’d be “purified” by his Holy Light Summoning without revealing a thing.
Lumian scooped up the remaining half of the gray amber perfume, tightened the cap, and stowed it away.
He then picked up Fallen Mercury, still trembling violently, and asked in Hermes, “Is the fate exchange over?”
Fallen Mercury swiftly shook left and right, signaling it wasn’t.
Lumian exhaled in relief.
He feared that by the time he awoke, the fate exchange would’ve been completed—the shock would last no more than a minute.
If he couldn’t locate the flaming monster in time, his recent torment would be futile.
Breathe in, breathe out… Lumian adjusted his dreadful condition and mustered his remaining strength before crawling out of the basement through the hole he had dug earlier.
Each motion tugged at various wounds, making him wince in pain.
Upon exiting the basement, Lumian searched for the flaming monster’s tracks and sighed inwardly.
Using Cogitation in such a state and fully activating the thorn symbol on my chest is downright suicidal…
I haven’t done it since becoming a Hunter, barely repressing the symptoms with gray amber’s scent. Had I done it a few times before, my body might have mutated slightly, turning me into a monster…
I can’t risk this for a while unless I have a death wish…
He opted for Cogitation to fully activate the black thorn symbol on his chest rather than the sacrificial dance’s partial activation, as time was of the essence and he couldn’t perform the dance.
With Cogitation, he could frighten off the flaming monster in five or six seconds. The enigmatic sacrificial dance, however, took 30 to 40 seconds—even with his familiarity.
In Lumian’s hunting strategy, this was his last resort. If he couldn’t evade the flaming monster’s pursuit by other means, he’d attempt Cogitation!
Lumian hadn’t anticipated that Cogitation would leave him gravely injured from the start and on the brink of losing control, turning into a monster.
Before long, Lumian discovered the flaming monster’s tracks and pursued them.
A few minutes later, the prints appeared fresher, so he slowed his pace.
Soon after, Fallen Mercury shuddered on its own, notifying Lumian that the fate exchange was complete.
Without hesitation, Lumian brandished the iron-black axe and charged forward, following the flaming monster’s footprints.
In under twenty seconds, he spotted the scorched and smoldering prey.
It cowered in a rock-encircled corner, quaking.
Lumian dashed over, cast aside Fallen Mercury, and seized the axe with both hands, cleaving down with all his might.
With a dull thud, the flaming monster’s head and body separated.
Bright red blood spurted out violently, igniting into scarlet flame clusters on the ground.
Lumian, unable to hold on any longer, collapsed to the ground with his axe.