Beastly Nature

Xiaowalus and Xiaowaluwen had relied on their keen senses and the powerful bodies honed by Nightmare to establish a connection with Abyss Matter. Chosen as its hosts, they had each grown an Abyss Core inside themselves, granting the brothers a degree of regenerative power.

However, the Abyss Cores possessed another trait that the brothers could neither discover through experimentation nor dare to investigate.

Once a host died, the Abyss Core would take over his brain and bring him back to life in an entirely new form.

And the Xiaowalus who now stood before Ye Chen was in precisely this monstrous state.

Of course, although one could call it a resurrection, Xiaowalus's consciousness had long since been replaced by the Abyss Core.

So, in truth, the Xiaowalus who came seeking revenge on Ye Chen at that very moment, clawing and shrieking, was nothing more than an Abyss Monster wearing his skin and hungering for flesh.

"Graaah!"

As he watched the terrifying figure draw closer and listened to its shrill, jubilant cries, Ye Chen's expression relaxed completely. He stilled the ripples and waves stirring within him until his heart was calm again.

Don't panic. Don't rush. Don't be afraid.

First, calm down. Then think. Then act.

A heart like still water.

That was the mindset a Hunter should have. That was the path I should strive for.

Because I'm a Hunter, and it's my prey!

In that brief moment, several of Lyle's past lessons echoed through Ye Chen's mind. He quickly steadied himself, regained his composure, and bravely met Xiaowalus's horrifying, inhuman face, watching its thick, twisted limbs.

The boy's pupils widened, his blue eyes opened wide. The next instant, the world around him began to slow, and Xiaowalus's every movement seemed to grow slower as well.

Everything became clear. Everything became slow enough to control.

Ye Chen knew that at such close range, he had no time to reload. He released the revolver with his right hand and instead dragged it hard across the bloodstained short sword strapped to his left hand.

Shhk.

A cut appeared in his right palm, and fresh blood flowed over the short sword's edge, making it look even redder and brighter in the darkness.

By the time Ye Chen had finished this brief action, the mutated Xiaowalus had already pounced in front of him. It opened its deep-black maw, lined with tentacles, and lunged straight for Ye Chen's head.

Without panic, the boy braced his right hand against his left arm. The instant Xiaowalus entered his range, he drove the blood-red short sword with all his might into its black maw.

Crack!

The sword tip pierced through layer upon layer of dark flesh and plunged toward the depths of Xiaowalus's throat.

But at the same time, Xiaowalus's pounce slammed Ye Chen to the ground.

The two bodies tangled together, rolling across the ground several times.

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud.

Ye Chen gritted his teeth against the world spinning around him and fought to drive the short sword toward the Abyss Core inside Xiaowalus.

But the creature had clamped its jaws around his arm, relentlessly preventing him from completing that crucial step.

The two struggled for a while before finally stopping their tumble.

In the end, the human, dazed and barely conscious, was inevitably overwhelmed by the monster's astonishing stamina.

His battered body was pinned to the ground beneath its powerful limbs.

"Wuuuu..."

Xiaowalus held Ye Chen down with all four limbs, its head moaning with excitement as it strained to get closer to his face.

Though Ye Chen had jammed the short sword into Xiaowalus's mouth, keeping it from opening or closing, the tentacles on either side of its tongue curled around Ye Chen's neck and face, trying to smother him to death.

"Urgh—!"

Ye Chen used his nearly useless left hand to shove the sword upward, keeping Xiaowalus's mouth away, while wedging his failing right arm between his neck and the tentacles to stop them from strangling him.

But maintaining this position, even temporarily, was already the limit of what the boy could manage.

His short sword simply couldn't reach any deeper into Xiaowalus, and his body and mind could no longer withstand the monster's brute strength.

At the same time, the eerie whispers flowing from the Abyss tentacles, like the voices of ghosts, echoed wildly through the boy's skull, assailing his heart and ravaging his mind.

"We're not your enemies."

"Accept us. Join us."

"Together, we'll devour every living thing in this world."

Ye Chen's face flushed as he stared into the blackness of Xiaowalus's open mouth and listened to the murmurs in its tentacles. His eyes grew distant, then dim.

It seemed only a matter of time before the Hunter was pinned down and killed by his prey.

Am I... going to fail?

Is there really no other way to fight back?

If my teacher were here, what advice would he give me?

Can I still turn this situation around? There must be nothing I can do...

It's over. I'm going to lose. It's all over.

I... I've already...

The sensation of suffocation gradually overtook the pain, beginning to consume Ye Chen's mind.

But just as his spirit was about to collapse completely, his teacher's words suddenly rang in his ears.

"As a Hunter, never lose your humanity."

"But more importantly, never lose your beastliness."

Beastliness?

As Ye Chen pondered the words, he suddenly grasped their deeper meaning. His tightly shut eyes flew open.

A Hunter used every means at his disposal to kill his prey.

And Ye Chen's Blood Spirit Art could do more than create high-damage ammunition. It could enhance the effectiveness of any sharp weapon, not just metal blades like knives and swords.

That meant Ye Chen, pinned down with all four limbs restrained, still had one weapon left unused.

The sharp weapon made of calcium in his mouth.

His blood-covered teeth!

"Raaah!"

The boy's face contorted as he opened his mouth, baring blood-red teeth, and bit down with all his might on one of the black tentacles wrapped around his throat.

At that moment, the Blood Spirit Art did everything in its power to support its master. His teeth instantly became dozens of razor-sharp blades, easily slicing through the black sludge and tearing into the Abyss's flesh.

Crack.

The sticky texture and revolting taste surged between Ye Chen's teeth and tongue like a tide, but he paid them no mind. Like a lion driven to the brink, he tore off the tentacle with a bite, then immediately went for the next.

Crack, crack, crack!

In less than ten seconds, the boy had bitten through a third of Xiaowalus's tentacles.

His frenzied, furious savagery revealed a wildness rooted deep in his bones.

And that was precisely the beastliness Lyle had spoken of: something that coexisted with humanity in Ye Chen's soul!

The Abyss Monster wearing Xiaowalus's skin froze instinctively at the unexpected sight.

Clearly, it hadn't expected Ye Chen to choose such an ancient, primal method of resistance—like a beast. Nor had it expected his teeth to be just as effective against its body as the sharp short sword in its mouth.

"Graaah!"

Xiaowalus let out a strange cry and quickly sent its remaining tentacles surging toward Ye Chen's mouth, trying to shut his jaws for good.

But Ye Chen had anticipated this. The moment the tentacles loosened their grip even slightly, his right hand seized the bases of the dozen or so tentacles beside Xiaowalus's mouth. Then he lunged forward and bit down, severing most of them at once.

"Eek?!"

Xiaowalus wavered visibly and jerked its head back.

But once Ye Chen had caught his prey, he wasn't about to let go. He immediately turned his bloody mouth, fresh from biting through the tentacles, toward Xiaowalus's black, slimy throat.

Then, like a lion pouncing on its prey, the boy clamped his jaws around its throat.

Black, filthy blood gushed from Xiaowalus's neck.

Ye Chen mercilessly tore away a thick strip of flesh with his bloodied teeth.

The next moment, a round stone embedded in Xiaowalus's windpipe was exposed to the air.

"Uwaaaaah!"

Sensing death approaching, the mutated Xiaowalus let out a wail and tried to flee.

But as its fangs loosened their grip on Ye Chen's left hand, the bloodstained short sword came free and pierced Xiaowalus's throat, shattering the Abyss Core.

Crack.

As the core crumbled, the mutated Xiaowalus abruptly stopped shrieking, stopped running, and stopped moving altogether.

Thud.

Then, at last, it collapsed helplessly onto the floor of the fountain courtyard.

The black sludge on its body gradually separated, crumbled, and dissolved.

In the end, the horrifying monster reverted to a headless corpse with only its lower jaw remaining. It became the dead Lord of Frost White City once more—the true form of Xiaowalus.