Reversal

The leader gripped his steel blade in his left hand and slowly approached the "prey" bound to the cross before him.

Although the man's limbs were tightly bound with barbed wire, an inexplicable unease spread through the leader's heart.

Apocalypse Hunters generally had a keen sense of danger. Sometimes it was accurate, sometimes it was unreliable, but it grew stronger as they advanced through the stages.

When he was about ten meters from his target, the leader had slowed until he was barely shuffling forward. Cold sweat ran down his forehead. A single glance from those pitch-black eyes made his heart feel as though it were being crushed!

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

The closer he got, the heavier the pressure became. His danger sense even made the hairs all over his body stand on end!

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

At last, the usually cautious leader decided not to take the risk. He handed his steel blade to a nearby drifter. Let one of those freaks go test the man.

Under the leader's pressure, an ugly, deformed drifter took the heavy blade and shakily approached the man bound to the cross.

Perhaps because these drifters were ordinary people with little sense of danger, he soon reached Xia Leng.

"Cut him! Aim for the neck!"

The leader gave his subordinate the order, his eyes cold. Even if Xia Leng was a mutated regenerative fighter, he refused to believe that someone at the first stage could grow a whole new head!

At the order, the drifter gripped the hilt with both hands and raised the blade high. Beneath the blood-red moonlight, its polished edge gleamed with an even more sinister crimson glow.

"Ughh!"

The scrawny drifter summoned all his strength and let out a hoarse, breathy roar. Eyes squeezed shut, he swung the steel blade down hard at his target's neck!

Clang—

The drifter felt a jolt in his palm as the blade struck something hard with a sharp ring. When he opened his eyes, they went wide, and he froze in place. He wasn't the only one; everyone who saw what happened stood there stunned!

Xia Leng had clamped his teeth around the blade. He hadn't been hurt at all!

His pitch-black eyes turned toward the deformed drifter beside him, as if they were about to swallow him into their bottomless sockets.

Under that dark gaze, the drifter's legs began to give way against his will. Terrified, he let go of the hilt and tried to flee from the devilish man!

Swish!

"Ahhh!!!!!"

But the drifter had barely taken a few steps when Xia Leng casually spat out the blade he'd been biting. It sliced cleanly through the fleeing man's right leg with deadly force. The man clutched his severed leg and collapsed, screaming in agony...

At last, the sight filled everyone with terror of the man who should have been their prey!

The dozens of deformed drifters ignored their leader's threats and hurried back into their ramshackle tents.

As for the drifter who'd lost a leg, he frantically crawled across the ground, trying to get away from the devil bound to the cross!

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Just then, Xia Leng flexed his body, and the barbed wire binding his limbs snapped apart!

The instant he dropped from the cross, Xia Leng lifted his foot and planted it on the back of the one-legged drifter desperately crawling beside him. The man howled beneath his weight.

Then Xia Leng turned his head toward the leader, who stood less than five meters away. His dark eye sockets fixed on him, and his lips curled into a strange, almost taunting smile.

"You bastard..."

The leader watched the man who had turned the tables, grinding his teeth. He wanted to tear him limb from limb, but this time he made no move to approach.

The animal instinct in his genes wouldn't let him. This man gave off a sense of danger far beyond his own!!

But he couldn't let go of the grudge over his severed arm, so the two sides remained locked in a standoff.

Crack—

Xia Leng stamped down hard on the drifter's back, crushing it inward.

The unlucky, deformed drifter died instantly, his miserable life at an end. Like the one before him, he became a mass of blood that was absorbed into Xia Leng's body...

"What the fuck are you?! Were you pretending to be weak this whole time?!"

At last, the leader was driven nearly to hysteria by the bizarre sight. He gaped at Xia Leng and shouted.

But Xia Leng didn't respond. Like a puppet with no will of his own, he walked toward the leader with an expressionless face.

As Xia Leng drew closer, the once-arrogant leader backed away despite himself. He was beginning to feel genuine fear of this incomprehensible man...

"Bastard! Go to hell!!"

Suddenly, the leader pulled a powerful crossbow from behind his back and aimed it at the man's head. A bolt already loaded in the weapon shot toward its target with a piercing whistle as he squeezed the trigger.

Thwack—

At less than five meters, the sharp metal bolt pierced the center of Xia Leng's forehead in the blink of an eye, leaving only half its shaft sticking out.

The leader was overjoyed. His Hunter Talent hadn't been wasted, and he'd even coated the bolt with a potent paralytic poison. Even a gigantic Unicorn Elephant would collapse within three seconds if struck in the head!

But the next sight made his eyes bulge with shock!

Though the poisoned bolt had struck him square in the forehead, Xia Leng kept walking at the same pace as before, not caring in the least about the new "feature" on his face.

He casually pulled the bolt out, dragging a trail of black blood with it.

The hole in the middle of his forehead was like a third eye, and it had no effect on him!

"Intruder..."

"Intruder..."

"Intruder..."

Xia Leng seemed to have lost his original consciousness. His pitch-black eyes reflected the leader's terrified expression as he repeated the same word over and over.

At the same time, the hole in the middle of his forehead healed completely.

At last, the sight of the incomprehensible drove the leader to the brink of collapse. There was only one thought in his mind now: escape!!

His raw animal instincts made him forget the "noble" dignity he held as a Baptized One. He forgot about revenge!

Just as the leader finally realized that dignity was precious, but life was worth more, and turned to run—

Xia Leng suddenly flung the bolt in his hand!

Whoosh!!

The bolt flew faster than it had from the crossbow, piercing the leader's thigh in an instant and sending him pitching to the ground!

When the leader tried to scramble up and flee again, the paralytic poison coating the bolt had already spread through his entire thigh. His leg could no longer support him, and the terrifying man was already standing behind him.

"Even if I die, I'll make sure you suffer!"

The leader clenched his teeth. Before the poison could paralyze his upper body, he drew on the abilities of a first-stage Hunter and swiftly pulled a triangular military dagger from his clothes with his left hand. He thrust it toward the man's heart!

The dagger was less than two centimeters from Xia Leng's heart when it suddenly stopped in midair. Xia Leng had caught the leader's wrist even faster...