Lumian performed a dance that attracted strange creatures. His purpose was to sneak closer by "hiding", observe the activities and daily performance of the fire monsters, and collect enough intelligence for the subsequent hunt.
It only took him thirty or forty seconds to use the ancient Hermetic language to make the mouthpart monster attach itself to him again.
The intense feeling of hunger swept over him, and Lumian opened his mouth uncontrollably, as if he had grown a mouthpart with teeth distributed in a spiral shape.
He hurriedly suppressed the bloodthirsty and crazy thoughts that filled his body, took out a small biscuit and some cut square cheese, stuffed them into his mouth, chewed and swallowed them.
At the same time, he amplified the mouthpart monster's stealth instinct and disappeared on the spot.
After slightly suppressing the feeling of hunger, Lumian tried hard to close his mouth to prevent the smell of biscuits and cheese from escaping.
Then, he followed the trail of the fire monster directly along the edge of the road.
Soon, Lumian saw the monster whose body was charred and burning everywhere.
It was setting a new trap in the same empty space as last time.
Even though he's become a monster, he's still so dedicated? Lumian mocked silently.
Of course, he knew very well that this was actually a manifestation of the monster acting on instinct.
Lumian didn't dare to get too close and stopped next to a broken wall at the edge of the open space.
He looked at the fire monster for a few seconds, then looked back at the road he came from, and found that although his footprints were very shallow and not obvious, and hidden in places that were not easily found, they still existed.
Looking down at his current location, Lumian had some ideas.
He watched the monster's movements closely, and when the monster picked up a larger stone and threw it to the side, he immediately pressed the broken wall with his right hand, jumped up, and landed steadily on the top of the wall.
Bang! The noise Lumian made was completely covered by the sound of the stone hitting the ground.
After changing the observation point, Lumian felt much more at ease. While paying attention to the consumption of his own spiritual energy, he looked at the fire monster seriously.
He discovered that the traps set by the fire monster this time were not the type that were very hidden and difficult to find, and they did not target the thinking loopholes or behavioral inertia of the targets. They were simple and did not conceal themselves at all.
The simplest example: the fire monster pulled a rope between two collapsed buildings on the other side of the open space, at a height slightly above the ankles.
Any human or monster with normal vision can discover this trap.
Lumian didn't quite understand what this meant at first, but after putting himself into the situation, he gradually discovered its possible meaning:
The purpose of this type of trap is not to directly harm or trap the enemy, but to create an environment that is more suitable for the hunter to perform.
In fierce battles, targets who are not good at observing the environment and paying attention to the surroundings need to constantly distract themselves to consider the various restrictions here, and sometimes have to slow down or change their posture to jump over traps. The characteristic of "Hunter" is to pay attention to the surroundings at all times and make full use of the environment.
In this way, the strength of both sides will increase and decrease.
In Aurore's words, it was an open conspiracy... Lumian nodded with understanding.
At this moment, he felt that the fire monster was like a strict teacher, imparting certain experiences about "hunter" to him in this way.
Almost at the same time, he remembered what was written in a book by Aurora: Those who steal skills will be beaten to death!
After a while, the fire monster stopped moving and looked around instinctively with its charred face.
Then, with flames coming out of its body, it walked towards the edge of the open space near Lumian's side.
"Follow the fixed route and go to the next place?" Lumian muttered to himself thoughtfully and excitedly.
For hunters, knowing the movement paths of their prey is extremely valuable.
Most of the traps are buried on this type of route!
The fire monster kept looking around and checking the ground as it walked, appearing to be very vigilant.
This made Lumian frown, and he felt that high-sequence "Hunters" were really difficult to deal with.
The people or things that are most capable of restraining Beyonders are often those at a higher order on the same path, even if they are only one or two orders higher.
I am better than you at what you are good at, and you may not have what I have!
If it weren't for the "Dancer" related abilities and the "Fallen Mercury" dagger, Lumian would never have dared to attack this fire monster.
Seven or eight seconds later, the fire monster came to the edge of the open space, about five or six meters away from the broken wall.
Just like before, the fire monster's gaze instinctively turned over here.
Its gaze paused, as if it was looking at footprints on the edge of the broken wall that seemed to be where someone had stood.
Thump, thump, Lumian's heartbeat involuntarily quickened a little.
He wasn't ready to hunt the fire monster just yet.
Not to mention that the two sides were five or six meters apart, the fact that "Corrupted Mercury" had not yet stored the fate for exchange made Lumian have no confidence in killing the opponent.
If a fight really breaks out now, he will be the one being hunted because he won't have time to half-activate the black thorn symbol!
Lumian tried hard to control his heartbeat and breathing, and placed his right hand on the black cloth strips wrapped around the surface of the "Corrupted Mercury" blade, ready to tear them off at any time.
Within the current distance, if he jumped hard, he would have a chance to get next to the fire monster and avoid the long-range battle where the gap between the two sides was the largest.
Two or three seconds passed as if time almost froze, the fire monster withdrew its gaze and continued moving forward.
It didn't seem to have found Lumian's footprints.
After walking more than ten meters, the fire monster suddenly turned around.
The flames that emerged from its body instantly condensed and turned into a huge, bright white fireball.
The fireball was like a cannonball, blasting towards the edge of the broken wall where Lumian was originally standing.
Lumian, who was squatting on the wall, didn't think at all. He followed his instinct and jumped directly to the other side of the broken wall, which was the open space where the fire monster had set the trap just now.
Boom!
The fire wave exploded, and the already shaky broken wall collapsed on the spot.
After landing, Lumien did two consecutive rolls to avoid the falling bricks and the shock waves mixed with flames.
Then he jumped up, maintaining his "invisible" state, passed through the various traps left by the fire monster, and ran towards another exit of the open space.
The fire monster failed to find the enemy at the first time, so it had to concentrate on looking for traces.
Finally, it saw a series of tiny footprints.
At this time, Lumian had already reached the rope between the two collapsed buildings, jumped over it easily, and escaped from the open space.
Running all the way back to a natural trap, he completely got rid of the fire monster.
After reviewing what happened just now, Lumian, who had already lifted the "invisibility" state, cursed bitterly:
"Too treacherous, too treacherous!
"These monsters' brains are more useful than Pons's." After they found my footprints, they considered that we were too close and might be counterattacked, so they pretended not to see anything and naturally distanced themselves from me!"
While Lumian cursed, he felt that he had learned something.
Of course, this approach also has obvious drawbacks:
The increased distance gave Lumian room to escape.
Plus, he was invisible, so the fire monster couldn't
If we can lock onto his trail as soon as possible, it will be highly likely that we can escape from that area successfully.
After taking a breath and regaining some consciousness, Lumian grumbled while eating biscuits and cheese:
"Based on the situation just now, as long as I arrange it properly and stab that guy, I may have the opportunity to use 'invisibility' to increase the distance, freeze to a farther place, and wait for the exchange of fate to be completed.
-When launching an attack, the "Invisibility" status will be released, but as long as Lumian breaks contact, he can use it again.
This was his biggest gain from this reconnaissance.
At the same time, he also discovered a problem:
“As a hunter, I went hunting in the mountains without bringing any water!
"I'm so thirsty!"
Whether it's cheese or biscuits, you need to drink water to mix them.
The jerky that Lumian wanted to make later also belonged to this category.
After resting for a while, he decided to hunt the "Noodle Man", strip off some of its bad fate, and store it in the "Fallen Mercury", so that he would not be completely helpless when encountering an emergency like he did just now.
—The fate of the puppet also belongs to "Corrupted Mercury" and can be used for exchange, but Lumian is not a "knife-wielder" and cannot exchange his own fate for the fate of others. Otherwise, he would be happy to give away the bomb on his body.
About half an hour later, Lumian found the "noodle man" with his limbs and facial features jumbled together.
He had performed the sacrificial dance in advance and walked over openly. He saw that the "noodle man" had, as expected, crawled down and lay on the ground.
“Very well behaved...” Lumian praised.
He held the iron-black axe in his right hand, and his left palm was holding the "Fallen Mercury" with a silver-black blade.
After holding this evil dagger for a long time, Lumian found that even without direct flesh-and-blood contact, he would gradually absorb the slight contamination it emitted. For most Beyonders, this might slowly induce signs of loss of control, but Lumian had long been accustomed to it and had a certain degree of resistance.
After looking at the trembling Noodle Man for a few seconds, Lumian withdrew his gaze from its mouth on its forehead and sighed:
"According to Aurore, in your condition, death is the same as liberation. The sooner you die, the sooner you will be at peace."
As he spoke, he knelt down on one knee and thrust the silver-black dagger into the back of the "noodle man's" neck, burying it deeply.
The "noodle man" trembled even more violently, but did not resist or struggle.
Lumian then retracted his left hand, and together with his right palm, grasped the handle of the iron-black axe and swung it down with force.
Amid the dull sound of knives and axes entering flesh, the head of the "noodle man" with the "corrupted mercury" separated from his body and rolled to one side.
A large amount of blood spurted out and spilled all over the ground.
The "noodle man's" body twitched a few times and then became completely quiet.
Lumian took a big step to the head of the "Noodle Man", stretched out his left hand, and grasped the "Corrupted Mercury".
The next second, he saw an illusory river with ripples of light.
The river seemed to be made up of complex mercury symbols, and each symbol was like a river winding around itself.
At this time, at the end of the illusory river, all the tributaries have disappeared, leaving only the main trunk. It is broken in the middle and bends as if it wants to return to the starting point but cannot succeed for the time being.