The severed head of the Level 11 Razorback Wolf hit the forest floor with a dull thud, its glowing yellow eyes slowly dimming into the void of death.
Lu Zhang didn't even pause to watch it die. He stepped over the decapitated carcass, flicking his wrist to shake the excess blood after his [Empty Fang].
The beast that had put Arthur's entire patrol on edge barely lasted two minutes against him. It wasn't weak, but it was predictable.
And it most definitely was not what he was looking for.
He continued deeper into the overgrown forest surrounding the city, leaving the camp miles behind him.
The deeper he walked into the darkness, the lighter his chest felt. The suffocating weight of the camp, the weeping survivors, the administration, the desperate remnants of civilization.
All of it faded away.
Out here, there were no expectations. There was no past, and there was no future.
There was only the hunter, the hunted, and the distance between them.
He needed to distance himself from civilization, falling deeper and deeper into an intoxicating mania of violence.
It was the only thing that kept the nightmares at bay. If his mind was entirely consumed by the need to survive, there was no room left to look back.
A sharp, unnatural clicking echoed through the dense canopy above.
Lu Zhang stopped. The air around him grew freezing cold, thick with the scent of rotting meat and potent acid. The shadows between the giant trees seemed to twist and elongate.
Above him, clinging effortlessly to the rough bark of a mutated tree, was a giant gray spider.
[Blight Weaver Lv 15]
It was massive, easily the size of a small bus, with eight multi-jointed legs ending in serrated bone-spikes.
Its bloated abdomen pulsed with a sickly green light, and a cluster of eight unblinking, crimson eyes locked onto Lu Zhang's small frame.
A Level 15 existence. A full three levels above him.
Lu Zhang felt his heartbeat speed up once more. His blood roared in his ears in a frantic rhythm.
The Weaver lunged, pushing off the tree with explosive force. It didn't simply fall, it spat a wide, sweeping net of shimmering green webbing designed to melt flesh upon contact.
Lu Zhang didn't retreat backwards. Instead-
[Sky Walk]
He stepped upward. Mana crystallized beneath his boot for a fraction of a second, providing a solid platform in thin air.
He launched himself diagonally, blurring out of the web's trajectory. The acidic silk hit the dirt below, instantly dissolving the ground into a bubbling crater of toxic sludge.
Lu Zhang formed a second platform, pivoting in mid-air to launch himself directly at the falling arachnid.
[Empty Fang]
Dual azure scythes erupted from his forearms as he spun, leveraging the momentum of his aerial dash.
He brought both blades down on the Weaver's front right leg. The leg detached instantly in a spray of black blood.
The Weaver shrieked and twisted its body. One of its remaining legs whipped out faster than Lu Zhang could activate the next [Sky Walk].
The sharp leg caught him across the ribs, tearing through his shirt and carving a deep, bloody gash into his side. The sheer kinetic force sent him rocketing toward the ground.
He slammed into the dirt, rolling to absorb the impact as sharp pain flared across his torso.
He bounced to his feet instantly, his eyes wide and dilated, as he charged right back at the colossal spider.
The Weaver spat another volley of acid, but Lu Zhang was simply too fast. He moved like a ghost, darting between the toxic projectiles. He slid under the beast's sweeping legs, the azure light of his blades flashing rhythmically in the darkness.
He systematically dismantled the beast's mobility, severing joints and cracking armor plates.
The Weaver thrashed in a blind panic, realizing too late what he was planning.
With three of its legs ruined, the Weaver collapsed heavily onto its abdomen.
Lu Zhang didn't hesitate. He vaulted off the beast's remaining limb, launching himself into the air directly above its cluster of crimson eyes.
He plunged both [Empty Fang] blades straight down, burying them to the hilt into the creature's brain.
[Devour]
He triggered the skill at point-blank range. The Weaver's massive vitality was forcefully ripped from its body, flooding into Lu Zhang's physique.
The arachnid spasmed violently, letting out one final, gurgling screech before its body completely deflated, collapsing into a hollow husk of protein.
[Blight Weaver Lv 15 killed!]
[Level Up!]
Lu Zhang stood atop the massive corpse, his chest heaving, his clothes soaked in a mixture of his own blood and the monster's black muck. The deep gash on his ribs was already beginning to visibly knit together, fueled by the massive influx of stolen vitality.
He stared down at his trembling, blood-soaked hands.
The fight was over. The high was fading.
And the cold, suffocating emptiness was waiting right at the edges of his mind, ready to creep back in.
He needed another target.
'Just one more before heading back,' Lu Zhang thought.
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At the outer perimeter of the camp, the night shift patrol was on high alert.
Arthur stood behind the scrap-metal barricade, watching the strangely peaceful night.
The forest beyond the warning flags was pitch black, a sea of shadows that seemed to actively crawl and shift, but that didn't concern him much.
"Movement," one of the lookouts hissed from the roof above, pointing toward the southern road.
It concerned him now.
Arthur stiffened, immediately alert. The four militia members beside him raised their crude spears, their hands trembling slightly.
Out of the darkness, a humanoid silhouette emerged.
It possessed a slow, stalking gait, its shoulders slumped.
In the pale moonlight, Arthur could see that the figure was completely drenched in blood and filth.
The stench of rotting arachnid and dried blood hit the patrol heavily on the wind.
'Just a zombie?' Arthur's thoughts immediately placed that strange gait.
The figure didn't stop at the outer boundary as expected. It just kept walking forward, dragging something heavy behind it.
Arthur looked briefly concerned as he activated [Inspect]. He had heard of the mutated zombie from Su Yao.
If this was one of them, and it could reach this deep into the scale's circle of influence, they had to be ready.
The figure finally stepped into the dim moonlight. Arthur froze, his breath catching in his throat.
[Lu Zhang Lv 13]
It was Lu Zhang.
His clothes were torn and dirty, soaked through with a mixture of red and black blood. A massive, jagged tear across his ribs exposed pale skin that was visibly stitching itself back together.
In his right hand, he was casually dragging a massive, severed spider leg that was easily as tall as he was.
He didn't look at Arthur. He didn't acknowledge the weapons pointed at him or the terrified gasps of the militia members.
"Move aside," Arthur ordered, his voice suddenly very quiet.
The militia scrambled to pull the heavy scrap metal aside. Lu Zhang walked right past them, stepping back into the safety of the village.
"Oh, Arthur." Lu Zhang finally acknowledged the other man's existence, his voice light and unbothered. "It's getting a bit colder out here, isn't it? I'll get some fireplaces made outside."
"Y-Yeah. That would be nice," Arthur said as he looked at the severed arachnid leg. "Su Yao was worried about you."
"Was she? My bad. I lost track of time," Lu Zhang brushed it off.
He patted Arthur's shoulder, smearing a bit of black blood onto Arthur's clothes.
"Anyway, I'm heading in for today. Good night."
He dragged his morbid trophy through the dirt, leaving a trail of blood behind him, while the people behind him watched.
"...night."
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[Name: Lu Zhang]
[Level: 13]
[Strength: 38 -> 42]
[Speed: 73 -> 76]
[Intelligence: 40 -> 42]
[Endurance: 39 -> 42]
[Stat Points: 30 -> 35]
[Mana: 420/420]
[Skills: Inspect lv 7, Empty Fang Lv 8, Sky Walk Lv 3, Mandate Lv 1, Devour Lv 6]