Reversal

The leader gripped his steel blade with his left hand, slowly approaching the "prey" bound to the cross ahead.

Although the target's limbs were tightly secured with barbed wire, an inexplicable sense of unease kept spreading through the leader's heart.

This was the danger intuition common to all Apocalypse Hunters; it was sometimes accurate, sometimes erratic, but it always grew stronger as one progressed through the stages.

By the time he was within ten meters of the target, the leader's pace had slowed to a crawl, and cold sweat streamed down his forehead. If he were to be stared at by those pitch-black eyes, he felt his heartbeat would be crushed by an immense sense of pressure in an instant!

"Damn it!! What the hell is wrong with me?!"

The closer he got, the stronger the pressure became, and his danger intuition made every hair on his body stand on end!

"Hey! You, come here, take this, and go cut him!"

In the end, the ever-cautious leader decided not to take the risk. He handed the steel blade to a nearby drifter, deciding to let these deformed wretches go up and test the waters instead.

Under the leader's coercion, a hideous, deformed drifter picked up the heavy steel blade and walked tremblingly toward the man bound to the cross.

Perhaps because these drifters were mere ordinary people with no sensitivity to danger, he reached Xia Leng's side very quickly.

"Cut him! Aim for the neck!"

The leader's gaze was cold as he issued the order to his subordinate. Even if the target was a mutated recovery-type warrior, he didn't believe that a Stage One could regrow a severed head!

Receiving the command, the drifter gripped the hilt with both hands and raised the steel blade high. Under the illumination of the blood-red moon, the smooth surface of the blade shimmered with an even more eerie, scarlet light.

"Urghhh!!!"

The scrawny drifter used every ounce of his strength, letting out a wheezing roar before squeezing his eyes shut and swinging the steel blade down hard toward the target's neck!!

Clang~

The drifter felt a jolt in the webbing of his hand as the blade struck something hard, emitting a crisp metallic ring. When he opened his eyes, he froze in place, his eyes widening instantly. It wasn't just him; everyone who witnessed this scene was stunned!

The blade had been caught firmly in Xia Leng's teeth, unable to inflict even the slightest injury!

Pitch-black pupils locked onto the deformed drifter, as if intending to swallow him into the black-hole-like depths of his eye sockets.

Pinned by that dark, gloomy gaze, the drifter's body went limp, beyond his control. Terrified, he dropped the hilt, desperate to flee from this demonic man!

Swish!

"Ah!!!!!"

However, before the drifter could run more than a few steps, Xia Leng casually spat out the steel blade he had been biting. It struck with such precision and force that it severed the fleeing drifter's right leg, leaving him to collapse on the ground and howl in agonizing, heart-wrenching pain...

This scene finally filled everyone with a profound sense of terror toward the man who was supposed to have been their food!

Dozens of deformed drifters ignored the leader's threats and scrambled back into their respective makeshift tents.

As for the drifter with the severed leg, he crawled desperately across the ground, trying to get as far away as possible from the demon bound to the cross!

Bang~ bang~ bang~ bang~

Just then, as Xia Leng exerted force throughout his body, he forcibly snapped the barbed wire that had been binding his limbs!

The moment his feet touched the ground, Xia Leng lifted one foot and stomped onto the back of the crawling, legless drifter, causing the man to shriek in pain.

He then turned his head, his pitch-black sockets fixing on the leader less than five meters away, his lips curling into an eerie, provocative smile.

"You bastard..."

The leader gritted his teeth, watching the man who was turning the tables. He wanted nothing more than to tear him to pieces, yet he didn't dare take a single step forward.

His biological instincts forbade it; this guy was radiating a danger aura far beyond his own!!

But he couldn't swallow his pride, so the two remained in a stalemate.

Crack~

Xia Leng stomped down hard with the foot that had been pinning the drifter's back, crushing the man's spine and ribcage instantly!

The unfortunate deformed drifter died on the spot, ending his miserable life, and just like the previous one, his body dissolved into a mass of blood that was absorbed directly into Xia Leng's body...

"What kind of monster are you?! Have you been playing the pig to eat the tiger this whole time?!"

Finally, the leader was driven to hysteria by this bizarre scene, his eyes bulging as he roared at the top of his lungs.

But there was no response. At this moment, Xia Leng was like a puppet without self-awareness, walking toward him with a blank expression.

As Xia Leng approached, the once-arrogant leader couldn't help but retreat; he had begun to feel genuine terror toward this inexplicable man...

"Damn you! Go to hell!!"

Suddenly! The leader pulled a powerful crossbow from behind his back and aimed it at the man's head. A bolt was already loaded, and as he pulled the trigger, it whistled through the air with a piercing shriek, striking its target!

Puff~

At a short distance of less than five meters, the sharp metal arrowhead struck with lightning speed, instantly piercing the center of Xia Leng's forehead, with only the tail end remaining visible.

The leader was overjoyed; his Hunter talent hadn't been wasted. Furthermore, the arrowhead was coated with a potent anesthetic poison. Even a massive Unicorn Elephant would collapse within three seconds if struck in the head!

However, the scene that followed made his eyes widen until they nearly split.

Xia Leng, with the poisoned bolt embedded in his forehead, continued to walk forward with the same steady pace, completely indifferent to the "extra part" protruding from his brow.

He reached up and pulled the bolt out, a trail of black blood following it.

The hole left in the center of his forehead looked like a third eye, yet it caused him no impairment whatsoever!

"Invader..."

"Invader..."

"Invader..."

Xia Leng seemed to have lost his original consciousness; his pitch-black pupils reflected the terrified expression of the leader before him, while his mouth incessantly repeated those words.

At the same time, the aperture in the center of his forehead finished regenerating once again.

Finally!! The leader was pushed to the brink of a mental breakdown by the incomprehensible scene before him; at this moment, his only thought was to flee!!

Pure biological instinct made him forget the "noble" dignity of a Baptized One, and forget about revenge!

Just as the leader finally realized the philosophy that while dignity is precious, life is worth even more, and turned to run away.

Xia Leng violently whipped the arrow he had pulled from his hand!

BIU!!

The arrow flew out at a speed faster than a bolt leaving a crossbow, instantly piercing the opponent's thigh and causing him to stumble and crash heavily to the ground!

When the leader tried to scramble up in terror to continue his escape, the paralytic poison coated on the arrowhead had already spread through his entire leg, making it impossible for him to stand up again, and that terrifying man was already standing behind him.

"Even if I die, I won't let you have it easy!"

The leader gritted his teeth, and while his upper body had not yet been paralyzed by the poison, he relied on his Tier 1 Hunter ability to whip out a triangular bayonet used for bloodletting from his bosom with his left hand, stabbing toward the heart of the man behind him at lightning speed!

Just as the bayonet was less than two centimeters away from the man's heart, it suddenly froze in mid-air; his wrist had been seized by Xia Leng with even greater speed...