Divination and Stitched Creature

Chapter 47: Divination and Stitched Creature

"Mm... ngh!"

Her Achilles tendon was severed by a sharp blade.

An ordinary person would have screamed in agony.

But Pasha Buhat, who had already experienced one Destiny Event, knew full well that screaming was pointless and might instead attract other ferocious insectoids and beasts from the Dark Moon Forest.

Therefore, the instant her body toppled over, she swiftly tore off a strip of cloth from her clothes, bit down on it, and stifled her cry.

That was the only thing she could do.

Healing such an injury was impossible. Pasha had only just begun studying mysticism and was helpless before a wound like this.

With her mobility completely gone, she would only hold Han Dong back in the current test.

When life and death were at stake, many people would choose to abandon their companions.

However, Han Dong did not.

It was not because he was especially merciful or kindhearted.

Han Dong simply had a particular reason why he had to bring Pasha Buhat along to complete this test.

Han Dong had packed a great deal of miscellaneous stuff in his backpack.

Among them was linen bought from a general store, which happened to be perfect for bandaging Pasha's injured ankle.

"Thank you..."

Pasha Buhat's eyes were filled with gratitude.

But she knew all too well that losing her mobility meant she could only wait to die... There was no way she could leave this open stretch of Dark Moon Forest.

"How about... you leave? In my condition, I definitely can't get out of this forest."

Han Dong crouched patiently in front of Pasha and laid out his plan.

"No need! I might not be able to get out on my own either.

"What just happened was enough to prove that you were right!

"Because of the directional divination, the Scissor Monster targeted you... Right now, it is hiding somewhere underground to recover.

"Perform another targeted divination and let the Scissor Monster lock onto you again.

"With the needle pinpointing it, I'll force it out of the ground next time... Let's see what kind of monster it really is."

"Mm..."

This was actually very dangerous. If Han Dong failed to act in time... Pasha might be 'scissored to death' by the blades.

But.

She had already lost her mobility, yet Han Dong had chosen to stay and even proposed such a plan.

She was too grateful to refuse.

As long as they could kill the monster, even with an injured ankle, she could slowly make her way out of the Dark Moon Forest.

With the plan settled.

Han Dong found a relatively short dead tree nearby and used the strength of the Ghoul Arm to drag himself up to its crown... quietly waiting for the target to appear.

Pasha sat against the dead tree, with the torch planted beside her, and continued using directional divination to locate the monster.

Crack, crack!

Before long, the sound of scissors rang out through the woods again, making Pasha tremble violently.

Concealed by the night, Han Dong stared intently at the situation below... clear green fluid flowed through the blood vessels in his right arm.

During the wait, tap... tap... tap!

The sound of the Clockwork Device's needle moving was especially distinct.

In what followed, even a one-second delay or a misjudgment of direction would cause the plan to fail and get Pasha killed.

A long three minutes passed.

The divination needle in Pasha's hand no longer pointed in a particular direction. Instead, it began spinning rapidly in small circles... indicating that the Scissor Monster had drawn completely near.

"Nicholas, it's here!"

Crack, crack!

The scissors broke through the soil, aiming for Pasha's waist and abdomen.

At that very moment, Han Dong above leaped down.

Though it was the shortest dead tree nearby, it was still around four meters tall.

With Han Dong's former physical condition, jumping from that height would inevitably have broken his legs.

But things were different now.

Part of Han Dong's body—his right arm—could withstand the impact from such a fall... and could even convert the gravitational potential energy generated by the descent into attack power.

"Disguise removed."

Han Dong's seemingly thin, withered yellow right arm.

As he fell, it rapidly transformed into a Ghoul Arm grossly disproportionate to his body.

Thick, with elastic green skin and five sharp, curved claws imbued with plague properties.

The scissors had already sliced through Pasha's waist and abdomen and were about to pierce her internal organs.

Using the force of his descent, Han Dong tore through the loosened soil with his claws.

He made contact with the Scissor Monster hidden underground.

Slash! The sensation of cutting into a soft solid entity came clearly through his fingertips.

The Ghoul Arm absorbed most of the impact from the fall, allowing Han Dong to land steadily.

"Come out..."

Since his claws had already pierced deep into the target's body.

Han Dong unleashed the Ghoul Arm's full strength and heaved upward with all his might!

The soil burst apart.

A monster was yanked from the ground...

Except.

While still in midair, the monster pulled the claws embedded in its body free, retreated to open some distance from Han Dong... and landed three meters away.

It was unlike the humanoid creature wielding scissors that Han Dong had imagined.

Its body was putrid and shriveled, its eye sockets empty, and obvious stitching marks lay between its Joints. It looked like a corpse long dead, reanimated through some evil sorcery.

It also had eight 'atrophied' arms, each less than thirty centimeters long and resembling a dwarf's arms... Yet these seemingly tiny arms had fingers and backs of hands covered in hard shells, allowing it to rapidly dig and crawl underground.

As for the scissors.

They were not held in any of its hands.

They were wrapped around its tongue.

A half-meter-long tongue dangled from its mouth, using its forked tip to curl around the scissors' handle and precisely cut at its target.

"What the hell is that!?"

Honestly.

This Scissor Monster was even more horrifying than the evil spirits in Destiny Space.

Especially that half-meter tongue hanging from its mouth, wrapping the scissors and swaying in the air... It felt like anyone who got close would be pierced by the blades.

There was another issue.

Han Dong's attack had not achieved the expected result.

Although the Scissor Monster's abdomen had been pierced by his claws, the fungal infection had not spread.

It seemed that because it was itself made of a corpse, the non-corrosive fungus had little effect.

"A product of stitching. Teachers in the mysterious departments who are proficient in stitching techniques can create this kind of controlled construct," Pasha suddenly explained the origin of the Scissor Monster.

"How do we deal with it?"

"The core. These stitched products are powered by a core, which sustains all their activities. As long as the core is destroyed, it can be killed."

"The core... like a cell nucleus?"

Han Dong had originally thought that once the massive Ghoul Arm claws pierced the enemy's flesh, the effects of Graveyard Fungus would end everything.

"Looks like I was thinking too simply... Do I have to fight it head-on?"

Han Dong tried his best to assume a reasonably proper fighting stance.

It was simple combat training he had learned at a gym when he was alive... He had no idea whether it would work against a stitched monster like this.