The silence in the darkness was quickly shattered.
Li Dan had an extra card in his hand.
"Containment object detected: Evil Spirit Incarnation Wendigo."
Unlike the traces of those previous Wendigos, this description alone showed that this one was no ordinary creature. It had the words Evil Spirit Incarnation added to it.
Thinking back to the appearance of that Wendigo just now, it truly differed from the other scrawny-looking Wendigos.
"Illustration of Evil Spirit Incarnation Wendigo."
Its limbs were powerful, and its entire body was covered in crimson blood that even concealed its original bluish-black skin. Its long ears resembled a bat's, while its fangs were stained with thick blood.
The surrounding Wendigos were not even half its size.
Their cautious movements showed that even these Wendigos feared it.
Li Dan was not sure whether he and the two Deformed Person brothers could defeat this Wendigo, so he sensibly chose to remain hidden.
Of course, the many surviving Wendigos around them were another reason.
Aside from the few Wendigos closest to the grenade blast that had already died, the rest were basically half-dead.
This showed just how tenacious these things were. Compared to Mutated Ogres, they were no weaker, perhaps even stronger.
That strongest Wendigo did not remain at the scene for long. After sniffing the air, it crawled into one of the caves.
Only one or two Wendigos remained at the scene.
The rest had been severely injured by the fragmentation grenade and could not move.
Li Dan waited another five minutes or so. Only after all sound had ceased did he slowly approach the severely wounded Wendigos.
He took out the Two of Diamonds.
"Name: Wendigo."
"Status: Near death. Can be contained."
"Contain."
Li Dan noticed a detail. It only said Wendigo, rather than Evil Spirit Incarnation, without that prefix.
It seemed that Wendigo really was different from the others.
These were nothing more than minor monsters now.
Still, Li Dan chose to contain them. Even ordinary Wendigos were stronger than most humans.
Besides, they would make decent cannon fodder.
Once the Twos of Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs were all filled with containments, the entire third sequence would be unlocked.
That meant the Three of Spades, Three of Hearts, Three of Diamonds, Three of Clubs...
Based on this, Li Dan felt that the earlier Ghost Card probably had no special unlocking requirements, as long as he had enough containment objects.
Of course, he would still have to test it on site.
Li Dan selected four more of the strongest Wendigos at the scene for containment, only to discover that advancing to Sequence Four actually required any containment object of the ghost or evil spirit type.
He had been planning to contain all the Wendigos here, which would have directly unlocked Sequence Five.
It seemed he had been thinking too simply.
Still, the harvest had been plentiful.
His number of underlings had reached eight, and Li Dan's courage rose with it.
The remaining Wendigos that could not be contained were finished off with arrows by the second Mutated Ogre brother.
While his two underlings delivered the finishing blows,
Li Dan examined the abilities that could be extracted from a Wendigo.
"Containment object: Wendigo."
"Extractable abilities: Evil Spirit Possession (chance-based), Limb Enhancement, Hearing Enhancement, Bloodlust, Intelligence Weakening, Pain Deprivation."
Most of the abilities were normal. Only Evil Spirit Possession seemed somewhat different.
Evil Spirit Possession?
These monsters were called Wendigos, which probably meant they could be possessed.
Rather than being explicitly identified as Evil Spirit Incarnations like that one just now.
Li Dan could have stopped here, but he was truly interested in that Evil Spirit Incarnation Wendigo. With eight underlings, a rifle, and one final grenade, he wanted to give it a try...
If he handled it properly, he could not only contain an evil spirit, but also unlock Sequence Five.
The temptation was extraordinary...
Having made up his mind, Li Dan did not waste any words and directly performed Ability Extraction.
"Containment object: Wendigo."
"Abilities available for Fusion: Limb Enhancement, Evil Spirit Possession (chance-based), Bloodlust, Intelligence Weakening, Bloodlust, Hearing Enhancement."
There were six abilities available for Fusion, with Bloodlust appearing twice.
Bloodlust: Devouring raw flesh could speed up recovery, but would also make one sensitive to and crave blood and flesh.
This ability was useless to Li Dan. Bloodlust was a little like vampirism, and among the rest, only Limb Enhancement and Hearing Enhancement looked worthwhile.
Evil Spirit Possession sounded uncontrollable.
Li Dan chose to discard Bloodlust, Intelligence Weakening, and Evil Spirit Possession, instead fusing Limb Enhancement and Hearing Enhancement.
At the very bottom of the cave.
Juno lay there, not dead. She had merely been blown away by the grenade, and she had the Wendigo on her body to thank for blocking most of the damage. Otherwise, she would have been dead or crippled by now.
She groggily climbed to her feet.
Seeing the Wendigo beside her still breathing gave her a fright, but she did not scream. Instead, she clamped a hand tightly over her mouth.
The gun Li Dan had given Juno had vanished somewhere, and only an iron pickaxe remained in her backpack.
Juno had been terrified at first, but when she realized the monster was even more seriously injured than she was, courage rose from her fear.
A minute later.
Blood splattered.
The monster collapsed in a pool of blood, its head smashed into pulp, all manner of brain matter spilling across the ground.
Juno held the iron pickaxe, her expression dazed. Monster blood stained her face, yet she felt nothing.
"Juno."
Upon hearing the voice, Juno almost instinctively raised the iron pickaxe in her hand. When she saw it was Li Dan, she let out a breath of relief.
She had experienced such enormous changes in such a short time.
Juno's mental state was now extremely unstable. She was on the verge of collapse.
It was obvious from how she had just used the iron pickaxe to smash the monster's head with all her strength.
She was nearly insane.
Li Dan walked up to Juno with a rifle in one hand and raised his other hand.
Juno silently accepted the pistol Li Dan handed her. She noticed the rifle in his hands. She did not know how he had brought it in, and she did not want to know or ask.
She only wanted to know, "Where are Sarah and the others?"
"We got separated. Beth and Sarah went after Rebecca and Sam. I don't know where they ran off to."
"Then... Holly..."
"You should have seen it yourself."
Juno had been there as well. When Holly was being devoured by the monsters, she had even reached out to Juno for help. Juno asked again only because she could not accept the truth.
Li Dan remembered that Juno had been an exceptionally fierce woman in the movie, killing several Wendigos with weapons.
In his eyes, she counted as combat power.
Since he had decided to take on that Evil Spirit Incarnation Wendigo, how could he not bring along more cannon fodder... Well, he could not exactly call her cannon fodder.
Even if Juno and the others did not go looking for Wendigos, the creatures would eventually find Juno, Beth, and the others.
Juno raised her head to look at Li Dan, madness gleaming in her eyes.
"What should we do now?"
Li Dan turned around and walked ahead. Six Wendigos moved through the darkness with Shadow Step, guarding him.
"We're going to save Beth and the others. If we're late, they'll be torn apart and devoured like Holly."
Li Dan had no feelings for this group, but Juno did. His words gave Juno tremendous motivation and hatred toward the monsters.
The image of Holly's miserable death remained vivid before her eyes.
Before you continue