A Shot to Settle It

"Little one, I'm going to swallow your bones—no, your clothes, your gun, your knife, everything you have—into my belly, to show my gratitude to it!"

Goda burst into mad laughter. His towering body immediately charged at Ye Chen like a boulder, his terrifying momentum blasting the snow beneath his feet outward in waves.

Sensing the incoming killing intent, Ye Chen instinctively flicked the revolver's cylinder with his fingers, aligning a Blood Bullet with the barrel, ready to fire.

However, when he saw Goda protecting his vital areas with arms wrapped in chains as he charged at full speed, Ye Chen immediately realized this was not the best time to use his trump card. He stepped back to the side instead, intending to maneuver around Goda.

"Haah!"

Goda laughed wildly, swung his thick arm with all his strength, and the chain in his hand lashed vertically toward Ye Chen with a savage howl through the air.

The boy swiftly rolled to one side, nimbly evading the chain. The next second, it smashed hard into the snow, sending the white powder surging up like a tidal wave and making the ground visibly tremble.

What destructive power!

Ye Chen ducked and dodged while observing the force of his opponent's attacks.

His gaze quickly swept over the two chains wrapped around Goda's arms, and he discovered that they had somehow fused with Goda's arm hair. Half bronze-colored, half hair-colored, they looked exceedingly bizarre.

"Heehee, don't run! Didn't you come all this way to kill me—?!"

Seeing the boy evade him, Goda's expression became even more feverish. He wildly swung both arms, sending the two chains crazily striking at the boy from either side like starving pythons hunting prey.

Boom boom boom boom boom!

Ye Chen neither fired his gun nor drew his blade. He simply moved with nimble footwork, constantly dodging left and right amid the erupting waves of snow.

Though Goda's chains were fast and vicious, Ye Chen used even nimbler movements to evade every one of his chain lashes. Goda could only whip up gusts of wind over the snowfield, unable to bring down Ye Chen's figure within it.

After Goda missed another swing, Ye Chen immediately circled behind the cabin where Goda had been hiding, seemingly intending to use it as cover while repeatedly maneuvering around Goda in search of an opportunity.

"Heh!"

Seeing Ye Chen circle to the other side of the cabin, Goda merely sneered, with no intention whatsoever of playing ring-around-the-rosy with him.

He forcefully flung both hands out, and the two chains slammed furiously down ahead. They instantly blasted the entire small cabin apart, turning the only building in the village that could shelter one from wind and rain into a pile of ruins.

Boom—!

Watching dust rise from the shattered cabin, Ye Chen swiftly reached a conclusion in his mind.

The arm hair fused with those chains should be the medium this fugitive used to cast his Spirit Art. Judging from the scene before him, the effect of his Spirit Art was likely the ability to freely control the chains' trajectories and greatly enhance their destructive power.

Still, although Goda's Spirit Art was simple and straightforward, the power it displayed was extraordinarily formidable. Even with Ye Chen's body tempered by the First Nightmare Realm, taking a direct hit would certainly leave him severely injured.

Defense was not Ye Chen's strong suit, so naturally, he had to avoid the enemy's edge. He absolutely could not clash head-on with his prey.

Within the spreading smoke, a massive figure slowly emerged, stepping over the cabin's wreckage.

Goda, who had effortlessly destroyed an entire house, wore a mocking, ravenous smile as he stared fixedly at the boy ahead.

To his surprise, Ye Chen turned and ran again without a word, like a rabbit trying to flee a wolf's jaws.

"Haha, you're running for your life already? Seriously?!"

Seeing his opponent expose his back in a gesture of cowardice, Goda's inner savagery immediately erupted, driving him to madly pursue Ye Chen at once.

Although Ye Chen continuously weaved and shifted with agile movements, the open snowfield allowed Goda to leverage his longer arms and legs to steadily close the distance. Before long, he was right behind Ye Chen.

Once he confirmed his target had entered his attack range, Goda immediately raised his arm, intending to fiercely lash the chain wrapped around it at Ye Chen's head, end this farce, and finally enjoy a satisfying feast.

However, at that very moment, his bare foot suddenly stepped into an extremely inconspicuous shallow pit in the snow.

The next instant, the sound of a mechanism activating abruptly rang out.

Click!

Goda looked down in surprise and discovered that his right foot had stepped into a Beast Trap hidden beneath the snow. Ye Chen must have set it up beforehand.

Heh, the brat is pretty sneaky. Too bad a trick like this won't do anything to me!

Goda curled his lip indifferently. He had absolute confidence in his powerful body. Even bullets and gunpowder could not tear through his current skin, so how could an ordinary Beast Trap possibly affect him?

Yet just as Goda weighed this in his mind and tried to turn his attention back to the boy in front of him, a burst of agonizing pain instantly flooded his brain, making his entire body shudder.

"Huh?"

Goda lowered his eyes toward his right leg, following the source of the pain. He found that the Beast Trap, which was clearly made of ordinary iron, had not only pierced his sturdy flesh but had directly twisted the bones in his foot out of shape.

Countless streams of bright red liquid sprayed from the serrated blades. In that brief instant, Goda's right leg had been mangled by the Beast Trap's sharp teeth as easily as any ordinary person's.

"What?!"

Seeing the sudden state of affairs beneath his feet, Goda was shocked, his features twisting together in agony.

At the same time, Ye Chen, who had been fleeing, stopped where he was and calmly raised his Silver Revolver.

Several minutes before Ye Chen officially launched his attack on the cabin, he had already considered the possibility that the assault might fail and the prey might turn around to hunt him instead. That was why he had set this Beast Trap nearby in advance, then waited for an opportunity to lure his target into triggering it.

Of course, as one of Those Who Hear Its Song who had undergone the First Nightmare Realm just like Goda, Ye Chen naturally understood that an ordinary Beast Trap would most likely have no effect on the target.

But once it was stained with Ye Chen's blood, the enhancement of his Spirit Art meant that this trap would no longer be ordinary.

This was precisely the information Ye Chen had obtained through experiments yesterday: his blood could enhance the cutting power of all sharp objects. This blood-stained Beast Trap was an important contingency prepared specifically for Goda.

Then, as the fugitive lowered his head and reached down, preparing to forcibly pry the Beast Trap apart with brute strength, the revolver in the boy's hand fired first.

A blood-red bullet burst forth amid an explosion of sparks.

Goda's mind completely froze, and his body became stiff and sluggish under the Beast Trap's restraint, leaving him full of openings.

Whether it was instinct at the brink of death or simply sheer luck, he inadvertently shifted his upper body at the exact moment Ye Chen fired. The Blood Bullet, originally aimed at Goda's heart, veered directly into his left shoulder instead, failing to kill him on the spot.

However, even so, Goda's situation did not improve by much.

Because the instant the Blood Bullet seeped into his skin, it exploded like a stone striking water, sending a ring of crimson blood bursting outward.

Bang!

Amid the spray of blood, Goda's left shoulder exploded.

His entire left arm was blasted into the air like a flying fish leaping from the water.

In that brief instant, Goda's upper body had become a bloody mess, the bone visible beneath the ruined flesh.