“Hey!”
“Get away! Don’t come any closer!”
This was Xia Nan’s first reaction.
He was in the middle of an intense battle; a second ago, his mind was still calculating his next move.
The sudden approach of a lean figure from the sidelines made him instinctively assume it was a resident of the nearby slums, prompting his warning.
While the figure wasn't as exaggerated as the barbarian Fugan—whose mere combat aftershocks could destroy half of Karanfor—this was still a professional-level fight. If an ordinary person were swept into it and accidentally grazed by something, they would be lucky to escape with just a lost limb.
And even a minor injury, if infected with Lycanthropy, would be no different from death for these impoverished slum-dwellers who struggled just to fill their bellies.
However, perhaps the figure hadn't heard him due to the beastly roars echoing across the field, or perhaps he was simply a drunkard.
The swaying figure continued to approach slowly. Though his steps were staggered, he did not stop.
As if locked onto Xia Nan’s position, he drew closer, step by step.
Xia Nan subconsciously frowned.
He had already decided to leave the man to his own fate.
Perhaps because of [Fang Hunt] and [Gravity Control], Xia Nan appeared exceptionally relaxed during the fight. But if he had to drag along a dead weight... he couldn't guarantee he could protect the man from the bear-beast's claws.
He had warned him. If the man insisted on ignoring it, then he could only...
His thoughts suddenly froze.
The soft, bright moonlight forced its way into the narrow gap between the dilapidated buildings.
The pale face of the elf, shrouded in shadow, became clear for an instant amidst the swaying.
A sense of familiarity intensified, and fragmented images surfaced in his mind.
In this moment, it felt as if he had returned to the Adventurers' Guild a few months ago, shortly after the start of the Hunting Day.
Behind him were the urging voices of "Green-Blood" Adeline and her teammate Abby; ahead was the high-ranking adventurer party descending from the guild's second floor.
A refined mage in blue robes, a crude and wild half-orc, a silent and determined heavy-armored warrior, and walking at the rear of the group...
A tall male elf with long golden hair.
*Is it him!?* Xia Nan wondered in surprise.
Having obtained a professional class, his perception had improved significantly; he knew the other party should be a high-level professional.
But at this time, in this place...
Was he sent by the guild to support him? Or was it just a coincidence?
Xia Nan’s gaze drifted over him, and the composure he had maintained since the start of the battle wavered slightly.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the field.
Buck, who had completely completed his lycanthropy, had transformed from a burly human into a brown bear on all fours, larger than an average bungalow.
He didn't care about the distractions.
The blade embedded in his body, the searing pain in his spine, and the thickening scent of blood in the air had long since allowed bestiality to devour his human reason. Buck had entered a state of near-total frenzy.
Within his bloodshot, crimson beast-eyes lay the bloodlust and violence unique to an enraged predator.
The faint but clear sound of footsteps from the edge of the field acted like an invisible fuse, completely detonating the rage simmering in his heart.
*Roar—*
Ignoring Xia Nan, who stood opposite him on guard, the bear shook his mane. His sturdy body, like a small meat-tank, charged toward the golden-haired elf amidst a thunderous roar.
Xia Nan’s mind raced.
Under normal circumstances, facing a reckless beast like this—one that even he, having just gained a professional level, could handle easily—a high-level professional like the golden-haired elf surely wouldn't find him troublesome.
Dealing with the opponent would likely take only a few rounds.
But right now, for some unknown reason, this high-level professional's state was clearly wrong.
He could, of course, take no action and simply watch the two clash. If the elf still retained some combat capability and finished Buck off, that would be ideal; it would save Xia Nan from risking lycanthropy infection in a close-quarters brawl.
And if the opponent lacked the ability to handle the brown bear, then he...
As his thoughts flowed, Xia Nan’s gaze suddenly snapped.
Not far ahead, the giant brown bear leaping toward the sidelines had, at some unknown point, come to a dead stop.
Not only that.
Like a frame of video suddenly paused, time and space seemed to freeze in that instant.
The brown bear that Buck had become remained in the posture of a roaring leap.
His hideous maw, filled with jagged teeth, was wide open; saliva dripped from the teeth, and his coarse long tongue curled and extended—one could even see the undulating throat deeper inside.
But the frenzied roar that should have erupted from his mouth, painful to the eardrums, was nowhere to be found.
In its place was the body of the brown bear, frozen mid-air with all four limbs off the ground, as if captured in a still frame.
The cause of this state was nothing more than a casual glance from a pair of unfocused, emerald eyes beneath swaying golden hair.
Seeing this, Xia Nan breathed a sigh of relief.
Clearly, despite appearing strange, the golden-haired elf who had abruptly appeared still possessed the combat capabilities of a high-level professional. An ordinary lycanthropy infectee like Buck could not possibly be his match.
Suspecting the other might be a powerful spellcaster, Xia Nan prepared to turn around and greet him.
Then he discovered that, at some point, he too had lost control of his body.
Like the brown bear suspended in mid-air like a specimen, his body was frozen in place.
*Tap.*
The faint, clear sound of footsteps continued in his ear.
With his vision fixed, he could only use his peripheral vision to glimpse the swaying figure slowly approaching.
*Sizzle—*
In the air, where it felt as if even the evening breeze had vanished, a strange sound suddenly rang out—one he had never heard before, yet one that made the hairs on his neck stand on end.
It was the chilling sound of thick, tough skin covered in dense brown mane being peeled away, inch by inch, from the flesh beneath.
In the center of his vision, the brown bear Buck, frozen in mid-air, suddenly shuddered.
Then, like some kind of animal costume from a previous life, a "zipper" was gently pulled open from the jaw to the chest and belly, and finally to the rump and tail.
A pelt of brown bear fur was peeled off entirely.
It floated gently to the ground.
Fat mixed with blood was drawn out in clumps; muscle fibers turned into ten thousand strands of flesh-colored silk, scattered by a mysterious breeze.
Internal organs, eyeballs, tongue... contrasting with the blood, various organs were neatly stacked on the ground.
In an instant.
The violent brown bear, transformed from a burly adventurer and the killer of many humans, was reduced to a pale, clean skeleton.
From start to finish, there were no screams of agony; not even an eyeball had twitched.
It was as if he truly were just a specimen.
Xia Nan felt a surge of horror.
Also frozen in place, the gruesome tragedy that befell Buck led him to an unstoppable association.
Though he felt no pain yet, was his own skin also being peeled away?
Fortunately, his frozen body was positioned against the light, and he still gripped his decapitation longsword.
The complete reflection cast by the moonlight and the fair back of his hand on the sword hilt at the edge of his vision allowed him to confirm that his body was intact.
*Something is wrong! Something is wrong! Something is wrong!*
*This level of precise manipulation is absolutely not something an ordinary professional could achieve.*
Even "Transcendent," or even "Legendary" beyond that, could not possibly be this exaggerated in Xia Nan's understanding.
Recalling the elf's soulless, vacant eyes and stiff limbs, a chill rose slowly from the depths of his heart.
*What... on earth is this thing!?*
Even the current state of rigidity and loss of bodily control was unlike anything he had encountered before.
It was completely different from a "Petrifying Gaze," nor was it the jelly-like enveloping sensation of [Human Immobilization Technique].
If he had to describe it, it was more like the feeling of his mind going blank and his whole person freezing in place when he first crossed into this world and witnessed his gnome teammate's head being crushed by a goblin, just as a goblin ambushed him from behind.
A reaction born of bodily instinct.
Xia Nan wanted to save himself.
But whether it was [Fang Hunt] or the [Coin of Fate], they could not be activated while he had completely lost control of his body.
He could only stand there motionless, listening to the slow footsteps drawing closer.
*Tap.*
Messy golden hair fell across his cheeks; dim emerald eyes reflected the black-haired figure before him.
It was as if he were not accustomed to the way this body moved.
The golden-haired elf maintained an exceptionally eerie and awkward standing posture: his left leg was bent, knee angled outward, ankle touching the ground, while his right leg was stretched straight, causing his entire body to tilt to the side.
Simultaneously, his shoulders were uneven and slumped; his slender arms were like two pieces of withered wood, hanging lifelessly and swinging irregularly as his body moved.
He stood just two paces away from Xia Nan.
A pair of vacant eyes stared into Xia Nan's eyes.
Stillness.
As if identifying something.
Then, he stiffly and slowly raised his left arm.
Deep tones of grey-black and blue-green, rustic textures as if carved by nature, a blurred upright human body, a vague sheep's head with an indiscernible expression, and two long, curving horns that extended and vanished...
Only then did Xia Nan finally see it.
The [Sheep-Deer Statue] held tightly in the elf's grip, almost embedded into the flesh of his palm.
And for some reason, with just one glance, he recognized it as the very one he had seen in the "Fairy Wind" general store.
*What does this mean?* Xia Nan was confused.
The shopkeeper had been very clear about the origin of the [Sheep-Deer Statue]; it came from Nyum.
And these statues, which had recently appeared out of nowhere in various corners of the city, were being sought after by the high-ranking elite of Nyum City due to their exquisite craftsmanship.
He had verified this over the past few days.
Back then, he hadn't even touched it; because of the eerie experience of it consuming his spirit like a hallucination and the vague description on the attribute panel, he had left immediately...
Wait!
As if suddenly remembering something, Xia Nan was startled.
*Could it be because of what I whispered halfway...*
*Gurgle—*
A strange sound suddenly came from ahead.
The elf, who had been motionless since raising his left hand to reveal the [Sheep-Deer Statue], saw that Xia Nan had not reacted.
His throat suddenly pulsed, and his dry, pale lips parted slightly.
Air surged, vocal cords vibrated and closed, and an indescribable sound escaped his mouth.
*Bang!*
It was as if even the physical constitution of a high-level professional, far exceeding that of an ordinary human, could not withstand the sound itself.
The elf's neck violently exploded!
Blood sprayed, carrying shredded flesh, staining the ground beneath his feet red.
The rotting flesh within his neck writhed and convulsed, and the pale cervical vertebrae were faintly visible in the depths.
This sound did not belong to any language in this world.
It was a heavy, slow pronunciation dominated by guttural sounds and repeated syllables, with irregular pauses.
It was like some kind of decree, or perhaps a curse from another world.
The sound itself contained an indescribable, strange power.
The high-quality chainmail—worth 50 gold coins, which the strongest goblin in the "Rock Hammer" smithy's entire nest could only leave a shallow scratch upon—along with the specialized leather armor used as a second layer of protection beneath it, turned into molten iron in an instant, melting and seeping into the ground.
Strangely, however, the fragile undershirt beneath the armor remained completely unaffected.
The two longswords on his body, the [Deathline] ring on his right index finger, and even the [Coin of Fate] hidden closest to his skin inside his shirt were all intact.
It was as if the effect targeted only the armor itself.
Accompanying the warm sensation of blood flowing into his ear canal was a needle-like, intense stinging pain.
Dizziness and ringing filled his skull.
Xia Nan was absolutely certain that neither his previous life nor his current body had ever heard this language.
But strangely, when that phrase—the one that blew half of the elf's neck apart—entered his ears, he instinctively understood its meaning.
It was as if he had "seen" the meaning of the sound through his ears, like some abstract form of hieroglyphics.
It was—
"Recite... His... True Name..."
His gaze instantly focused, his attention concentrating on the wooden carving ahead, and the attribute panel popped up once more.
...
[Sheep-Deer Statue] Type: Statue Level: / Description Annual rings and tides; you would not want to know the secrets hidden within those folds. Note “Ef'tisuuHai'lot'vhuVurahkia”
...
He had already lost control.
That voice, which did not belong to this world, forcibly drove Xia Nan's body.
It made him recite the "True Name" from the note on the attribute panel—the one he had whispered halfway in his heart dozens of days ago before stopping.
“Ef'tisuu Hai'lot'vhu Vurahkia”
Space suddenly distorted!
The soft moonlight trembled, overlapping into several blurred afterimages.
Xia Nan's body, standing rigid, became like a mirror image in water.
It swelled twice.
And vanished from the field.
(End of Chapter)