A fountain of blood.
Hookdick widened his eyes as his seductive smile slowly turned into pure hatred.
“You... a*s...” He could no longer speak well when a stream of blood was escaping from his mouth.
Fox and Froggy were also astonished to see Angor’s sudden act of brutality. But their initial shock was soon replaced by excitement and admiration.
“Oh my, Lord Shava, to play the enemy around her fingers[1]... just like the queen,” Froggy commented.
Fox nodded as she felt greatly satisfied by the display. “I once heard that Lord Shava has a unique ‘finesse’ when maiming enemies. Did you see that? I believe we both have lessons to learn.”
Angor looked at Hookdick’s bleeding form and showed a face-splitting grin. “Do you really think I’m as stupid as you?”
Hookdick’s eyes had turned red as his body showed a powerful energy signature.
Angor quickly stepped back while fully preparing his gravity power. It seemed that Hookdick was going to use some kind of last-ditch move. There was no point taking him on directly.
From afar, Angor controlled several energy blades made out of gravity power and used them to cut at Hookdick’s body.
The painful screaming hastened his blood loss.
“I’m... going to... KILL YOU! Even after I’m dead!” Hookdick glared at Angor with all the malice he could muster.
But Angor wasn’t concerned about his threat at all.
“By the way... Do you know why I already knew about your bloodline and your new look?” Angor revealed a name which further surprised Hookdick. “It was Saka, the other student of Ness, who told me.”
While speaking, Angor did not stop his blades from torturing Hookdick’s remaining organs because he fully knew that one shouldn’t let their enemies breathe when they had the chance to finish them.
Hookdick revealed a bitter smile.
“Death is only the beginning. I will let you know the true horror brought by a Soul Manipulator...”
Following his final yelp, his body exploded as broken organ parts and body fluid of different colors washed the floor, during which a single parasite was blasted away.
Angor gazed at the miserable sight with a cold look. He knew about Soul Manipulators. Just as Hookdick said, death was not the end for them. Soul Manipulators usually knew how to abandon their bodies and let their souls free. Without a physical limitation, their souls might even gain new levels of strength in this way.
Something suddenly shrieked inside the bloody aftershock of the explosion.
The strange sound wave instantly traveled into the surrounding areas, while any creature who heard it was stunned for a brief moment.
Several weak mortals immediately broke down and began to tumble in pain.
Toby lost balance in the air and dropped the oil lamp he was carrying, which accidentally ignited a wooden house and created a blazing light source at the dark street.
A semi-transparent figure covered in violent soul energy dived out of the bloody remains of Hookdick and lunged at Angor.
It was Hookdick’s soul. However, the soul possessed Hookdick’s original physique—a bulky tribesman who looked 100% male.
Hookdick was smirking uncontrollably because he believed his plan had finally succeeded.
“Die!!!”
Yet before his charge attack could connect with Angor, Angor stepped aside and avoided it.
“What—you can move? Why isn’t my Soul Howling working?!”
“You should go and ask Saka about it. That soul of him, Silvia, is it? Her Soul Howling had zero effect on me, if you haven’t known.”
Hookdick was so confident in his attack that he did not put any effort into his defense. After his attack missed, he had left his backside wide open in front of Angor.
But he did not care. He knew his soul form was immune to most cantrips Angor could possibly use.
He was wrong.
When the gray energy wielded by Angor struck his soul, he immediately earned a large gash that penetrated his soul form from back to front.
Hookdick found himself being slammed to the ground by the terrible power.
But my soul form is immune to common cantrips! I could have used my soul spells to humiliate Angor! Why aren’t things going as planned??!
“What did you do? How? How can you touch my soul?!” Hookdick yelled hysterically.
“You are a Soul Manipulator, right? You just said that.” Angor shook his head and asked, “Did you even notice that I’m in my soul form as well?”
Hookdick showed a look of disbelief when he looked at Angor more carefully.
But how can his soul look as solid as a real body?! It means his soul is as powerful as wizards! How could he?! Hookdick sensed another voice yelling inside his mind. That bastard is an Illusionist! Why does a freaking Illusionist possess a soul better than a Soul Manipulator?
How could he use such powerful soul attacks? How could he shrug off my Soul Howling like it was nothing? We joined Brute Cavern as fresh talents at the same time! How could he be so strong?!
How???
Hookdick felt his soul energy rapidly escaping from the giant wound inflicted by Angor. If nothing saved him soon, he would undoubtedly die, for sure this time.
And he could not accept it!
An ominous aura suddenly appeared around him and began to seep into his soul, slowly tainting him.
Hookdick’s eyes glowed in red. His hands gradually became skinny claws. His soul was releasing dark mist into the surrounding area, which covered him up like a cocoon.
Angor narrowed his eyes while he watched Hookdick “change” without doing anything.
Fox walked in the air on soft steps and landed beside Angor. “Lord Shava, that soul will soon become an undead wraith. Shall I make it easy for you by eliminating it first?”
Angor quickly sensed the hidden meaning behind those words. It seemed that Fox just suggested that “undead Hookdick” was difficult for him to handle.
Surely the real “Shava” from Nightmare Realm needed only to lift a finger to utterly destroy Hookdick no matter what the man tried to do. So why did Fox offer to help?
Earlier, Hookdick attempted to alienate Angor from Fox and Froggy by openly pointing out that Angor was human. Hookdick’s plan didn’t work out as the monsters didn’t respond to his call at all.
However, the unusual unresponsiveness had told Angor that Fox and Froggy knew for a fact that he was human, so they didn’t need Hookdick to remind them of it.
Fox’s offer to kill Hookdick just proved this.
Judging from their previous actions and speeches, Angor was sure that these two monsters detested humans. So why were they regarding him as Shava?
Angor gave Fox a meaningful look before saying, “There is no need. Allowing others to help me does not fit with my... finesse.”
He just heard Fox mentioning this word, might as well put it to use.
Fox’s eyes twinkled as she lowered her head. “I apologize, Lord Shava. It seems I have abused my rights.”
The fox monster silently retreated behind Angor.
Froggy came and joined them while sending Fox a secret message with a special spell. “What are you doing? How can Lord Shava deal with a mutated undead in her current condition?”
Fox looked at Angor with admiration in her eyes. “Such is her finesse, such is her creed. We shall not overstep our boundaries.”
Froggy didn’t say anything further. He observed Hookdick’s condition carefully while secretly preparing for an attack.
The “black cocoon” around Hookdick burst open.
“Angoooor!!! I’ll get you, and nobody’s going to stop me!”
That was the only coherent phrase Hookdick managed to say. After that, there was only endless killing intent left in him.
Hookdick’s soul had fallen.
[1] At this point, Shava’s gender is not mentioned explicitly by the author, but to avoid confusion, we will consider Shava as female for now.