The fire monster kept throwing red fireballs while chasing, causing holes to appear on the ground and knocking Lumian over several times.
As a result, many pieces of wood in the surrounding ruins were ignited, and red flames were flickering everywhere.
Lumian didn't bother to deal with the flames that were still burning his clothes. He endured the unspeakable pain and was blown away by the shock waves of the explosion again and again. He stood up again and again, running wildly towards his destination, sometimes left, sometimes right, sometimes in an arc, sometimes in a straight line, with no rhythm.
Fortunately, the next location in his plan was not far away. Just when he felt that a mouthful of blood was about to spurt out and his body was about to be torn into pieces, the crumbling building appeared before his eyes.
Boom!
Lumian twisted his body forcefully to avoid a ball of fire, but the red object exploded not far in front of him, creating a fierce wave of flames.
Lumian fell to the ground, avoiding the most severe wave of damage, and used the force to roll into the house in front that had not yet completely collapsed.
The fire monster stopped and did not rush into the place where a deadly trap might be hidden.
He watched Lumian tumbling inside the house, with red fire crows condensing around him.
The fire crows flew out with a roar, half of them smashed into the various supporting points of the building, and the other half flew towards Lumian's back from all directions.
They seemed to be able to lock onto their target without any deviation, and they constantly adjusted their trajectory according to Lumian's position.
At this moment, the fire monster seemed to be able to see the enemy being blown into charred corpses.
A flock of fire crows is not as easy to dodge as a random fireball!
Suddenly, Lumian's figure disappeared from the eyes of the fire monster.
He rolled into the basement which was still relatively well preserved.
boom!
Lumian eagerly slammed the wooden entrance door shut and used the rebound force to leap to the side.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, the red fire crows slammed into the door.
Boom!
The heavy wooden door was blown to pieces, and every fragment caught fire.
Boom!
The other half of the fire crows all hit their intended targets, and the ramshackle house collapsed completely.
Stones, wood, dust and all kinds of debris mixed together and flooded the place, burying the basement tightly.
Lumian had already hidden in the corner, and with the help of the mud piled there and his skillful rolling, he was able to put out the flames on his body.
But even so, he still suffered multiple burns and his internal organs seemed to be displaced by the explosion. If he did not receive timely treatment, he might not survive more than a day.
The fire monster's attack ability and burst level seem to be stronger than Ryan before he used "Light Storm"!
Lumian had originally hoped to rely on "invisibility" to get rid of the fire monster, sneak into this basement, perform the mysterious sacrificial dance, half-activate the black thorn symbol on his chest, scare the monster away, and wait for "Corrupted Mercury" to complete the exchange of fate. However, the flames that had previously attached to him made it impossible for him to enter the "invisibility" state, and he was chased and almost died.
The only thing Lumian could be thankful for now was that he had prepared for the possibility that he would not be able to escape the fire monster's pursuit and would not be able to perform the ritual dance and pray with peace of mind.
He even thought about collapsing the house and burying the basement to buy time, but he didn't expect the fire monster to help him do it.
Huh… Lumian exhaled and sat down cross-legged.
He took out the bottle of gray amber perfume from Aurore, unscrewed the cap, and placed it in front of him.
Outside the completely collapsed house, the fire monster's eyes penetrated the dust in the air, searching for traces of the enemy.
It believed that the treacherous guy could not be buried alive so easily.
Judging from the level of trap-setting skills he just demonstrated and his familiarity with this area of ruins, he must have left himself a way out!
The fire monster's thinking ability was not strong, and it relied on its "hunter" instinct to go around behind the collapsed house.
It searched the area inch by inch, and in just a dozen seconds it found a hole that sloped downward. The hole was covered by the collapsed part of the house, and was not affected by the subsequent overall collapse. It was difficult to see at a glance, and the location was quite hidden.
The fire monster raised his right hand and condensed a fist-sized white fireball in his palm.
It took a sudden step forward, swung its right arm, and threw the fireball into the passage.
The flames traveled a short distance into the basement and hit the opposite wall.
Boom!
The explosion did not affect Lumian who was hiding in another corner, but it overturned the bottle of gray amber perfume in front of him, causing the entire basement to shake.
Liquid then flowed out from the uncovered bottle mouth, and the elegant and sweet fragrance instantly became strong.
Lumian didn't open his eyes and sat against the wall with concentration.
He is meditating!
The red sun had already been outlined in his mind and lasted for several seconds.
Soon, Lumian heard a terrifying sound that seemed to come from infinitely far away yet was right next to his ear.
On his face, back of his hands, and neck, blue veins stood out and quickly turned a bright red.
At the same time, silver-black circular spots appeared on the surface of his skin one after another.
Lumian opened his mouth, but no scream came out. He fell to the ground and curled up.
The "Fallen Mercury" left his left palm, but he didn't dare to do anything. He didn't dare to actively bounce it towards his face and right hand that were not covered with cloth, trying to create a puppet by contact.
It just trembled there, trembling violently.
Outside the basement, next to the entrance that Lumian dug, the monster that was about to condense a fireball suddenly froze.
It also began to tremble uncontrollably.
After a few seconds, it bolted away, abandoning the hunt.
Lumian fell into darkness with countless flickering flames, and his mind was filled with extreme pain and evil thoughts.
At this moment, he felt as if he were dead and felt that something was growing rapidly in the depths of his soul, taking shape bit by bit.
It was as if a shadow composed of all negative traits mixed with a certain will. Once it was pieced together into a human form, it would completely replace the original owner.
In the darkness with no end in sight and only despair and pain, Lumian suddenly smelled a fragrance: elegant and sweet.
That was the smell of Aurore, a smell that was always there.
Aurore... Sister... Lumian gradually regained some of his thoughts, and he seemed to hear the gentle and soothing melody again.
"I want to live!"
"The cycle has not been broken yet!"
All these thoughts quickly returned to his mind, and Lumian finally overcame the dark will and the darkness full of pain in the depths of his heart, and opened his eyes.
The first thing that caught his eye was the bottle of gray-amber perfume lying on the ground.
Fell? Lumian stretched out his right hand distressedly.
He had originally just wanted to imitate Aurore's use of incense to curb signs of loss of control, relying on the natural scent of the perfume to wake himself up, but he hadn't expected that most of the liquid in the bottle would spill out at once.
The next second, he felt his body trembling, saw the charred and bloody spots on the back of his hand, and saw the silver-black round spots that had not yet completely disappeared.
Without anyone reminding him, Lumian could "smell" a strange, creepy odor on his body.
If he meets Valentine now, he doesn't need to show any intention, he will be directly "purified" by the holy light summoned by the other party.
Lumian picked up the half-full bottle of gray-amber perfume, capped the bottle, and put it away.
He then picked up the "Fallen Mercury" that was still shaking violently, and asked in Hermetic language: "Is the exchange of fate completed?" The "Fallen Mercury" immediately moved left and right, indicating that it had not yet been completed.
Lumian heaved a sigh of relief.
He was afraid that when he woke up, his fate would have been exchanged, and the shocked state would only last for a minute at most.
In that case, if he hadn't found the fire monster in time, all the pain and suffering he had just endured would have been meaningless.
Breathe in, breathe out... Lumian adjusted his very bad condition, mustered up his remaining strength, and climbed out of the basement through the hole he had dug in advance.
Every movement he made would pull on different wounds, and the pain was so severe that even he, who had a very high tolerance for pain, couldn't help but grimace.
After leaving the basement, Lumian searched for the traces of the flame monster and sighed to himself: "Meditating when you are not in good condition and fully activating the thorn symbol on your chest is simply a suicidal act..." It was only after I became a 'Hunter' that I stopped doing this. I could only rely on the scent of gray amber to barely suppress the signs of losing control. If it had happened a few more times before, my body would have been slightly distorted and now I have turned into a monster...
"For a long time afterwards, I couldn't do this again unless I wanted to die..."
He chose to use meditation to fully activate the black thorn symbol on his chest instead of half-activating it through a sacrificial dance because the situation was urgent and he had no time to complete the dance.
Relying on meditation, it only took him five or six seconds at most to scare away the fire monster, and the mysterious sacrificial dance would take thirty or forty seconds, and that was when Lumian was already proficient.
In Lumian's hunting plan, this is the last plan: when other methods cannot escape the pursuit of the fire monster, try meditation!
Lumian just didn't expect that he would be seriously injured at the beginning, and he almost lost control and turned into a monster during meditation.
Soon, Lumian found the footprints left by the fire monster and forced himself to chase after it.
After a few minutes, he saw that the trail was getting fresher and slowed down.
After a while, the "Fallen Mercury" trembled on its own, telling Lumian that the fate had been exchanged.
Lumian did not hesitate any longer. He drew out the iron-black axe and rushed forward along the footprints of the fire monster. In less than twenty seconds, he saw the prey, whose body was charred and flaming.
It was crawling in a corner surrounded by stones, shivering.
Lumian ran over, dropped Corrupted Mercury, grabbed the axe with both hands, and chopped it down with all his strength.
With a dull sound, the head and body of the fire monster separated without any resistance.
Streams of bright red blood spurted out violently, transforming into clusters of red flames on the ground.
With a thud, Lumian could no longer hold on and fell to the ground with the axe.
PS: For the third update, I would like to thank Wutong for the reward from the Golden Alliance after the book of Guimi was completed, and for the monthly votes~