America: The Cremator

Chapter 192 Meeting an Old Friend Again!

Late at night.

The night sky overhead was exceptionally clear, thanks to the absence of clouds, allowing starlight to shine directly onto the lake's surface.

The temperature around Rattlesnake Lake dropped very low, and the cold wind blowing across the lake carried a heavy moisture.

At the very front of the platform, extending into the water, Ivan Petrovich, the accountant of the Yurievich family, sat steadily in a folding fishing chair.

Sulong sat on a rock at the edge of the platform, his elbows propped on his knees, his gaze sweeping over the dark water below.

Dania sat down close to him, her long legs dangling in the air and swinging back and forth.

Today she was wearing a fitted black leather jacket, with a long knife hanging at her waist, exuding a murderous aura.

However, she was very relaxed at the moment, humming a little Russian tune she didn't know, in a lazy tone.

Thirty meters to their right, Ivan Petrovich sat like a stone statue in a folding chair, his gaze fixed on the glowing buoy on the water's surface, completely unaffected by their surroundings.

"That old man has a temper harder than a rock."

Dania stopped humming, took a piece of chewing gum out of her pocket, and popped it into her mouth.

"His wife died in this lake, and coming here to fish every month is the only thing he insists on doing."

She turned to look at Su Long: "So, we took advantage of this and simply laid out this piece of meat openly. Let's see if that guy dares to take the bait. He has been lingering on the outskirts for many days and has already lost three of our outposts."

"Tonight is the perfect time for him to make his move."

Su Long nodded and didn't ask any more questions. Since it was bait, they just had to wait for the prey to bite.

Then, he withdrew his gaze, and with a slight thought, summoned the system panel directly in his field of vision.

Today's deal in downtown Seattle has given his extraordinary resources a major reshuffle.

The resources extorted from the church were substantial, but the expenses to deal with the ensuing troubles were equally enormous.

Su Long quickly reviewed the accounts in his mind.

Of the four mithril coins given by the church, one was used in Kurt's underground workshop to enhance Hannah's Bible.

Four of the five high-purity soul crystals that were originally in hand were used to forge "Uriel".

After all this turmoil, he now has three mithril coins and one soul crystal left.

As for experience points, they've completely run out.

The huge amount of experience points gained from killing the fake crows had already been completely used up when I maxed out all my attributes and upgraded other stats.

Fortunately, for relic-type attributes, upgrading does not require consuming regular experience points. As long as enough high-level spiritual materials are provided as a medium, its level can be forcibly increased.

Moreover, he happens to have a surplus of mithril coins.

Surong directly selected 【Uriel's Contract☆☆】 on the system panel.

upgrade!

As soon as the thought was given, the mithril coin in his hand quickly became scorching hot, and then silently melted between his fingers.

A surge of pure spiritual energy flowed directly from his palm into the dark gold soft armor he wore close to his body.

The text on the system panel began to flicker and become blurry, then quickly reformed, and a brand new information box popped up.

【Uriel's Contract☆☆☆】

Category: Relic entry.

Description: It is made of titanium alloy with the highest physical defense and silver with the highest spiritual defense, combining the advantages of both. It has been tempered by fire and fused with mithril and soul crystal.

Now it has become an extremely powerful sacred object that can quickly repair damaged parts. Attacks that cannot penetrate it will be completely absorbed, and the first attack that breaks the armor will also be completely absorbed. Only the next hit will be able to injure the host!

Evaluation: Protects both the player and the armor!

Su Long scanned the new description word by word.

At the two-star stage, Uriel's focus is on both physical and spiritual defense, as well as basic healing abilities.

Now that we've entered the Samsung era, the core mechanism of the terms has undergone a qualitative leap.

Not to mention attacks that cannot be penetrated are directly absorbed.

Even more incredible things are yet to come.

An attack that can penetrate it will be neutralized after penetration, and only the next hit will be able to injure the host.

Su Long was well aware of the value of this mechanism.

When facing high-level monsters, the most deadly attacks are often the unreasonable first-encounter kills or the ultimate moves that exceed the limits of defense.

If facing an A-rank or even S-rank enemy, their full-force attack would be enough to pierce through this layer of armor.

But now, with the rule of this three-star attribute, no matter how brutal the opponent's attack is, as long as the first hit breaks the armor, the subsequent damage of that attack will be forcibly reset to zero by "Uriel".

The opponent must accurately hit the same damaged area before the soft armor completes its automatic repair in order to truly injure his flesh.

In this ever-changing battlefield, this is equivalent to directly adding an invincibility check, giving Su Long the ability to withstand a fatal attack.

Su Long felt the changes emanating from the close-fitting soft armor.

The dark gold scales were slightly warm beneath the jacket, seemingly absorbing the spiritual power provided by the mithril coins.

This deal was incredibly profitable, and Su Long expressed his strong approval of the upgrade's effectiveness.

Afterwards, I looked at the empty experience bar and realized there were no more relic modifiers that could be directly upgraded, so there wasn't much I could do now.

Sulong then turned his attention to Ivan Petrovich.

The old man's eyes remained fixed on the glowing buoy on the water's surface, dozens of meters away.

In this desolate lake without even streetlights, the buoy emitting a faint green glow was the only thing that stood out.

Even knowing that an extremely dangerous assassin could jump out of the darkness at any moment and slit his throat, the old man didn't even turn his head; all his attention was on fishing.

"This old man has a pretty good mental fortitude," Su Long said in a low voice, turning his head to Dania.

Dania snorted and explained, "The Yuri family doesn't have any special bloodlines; after all, they're all people who survived several major reshuffles."

Su Long nodded and looked back at the lake.

The green glow-in-the-dark buoy on the water suddenly stirred.

The float first lightly touched the surface of the water, creating a tiny ripple.

Immediately afterwards, the float sank sharply and was pulled directly into the black lake water.

"Got it!" Ivan shouted, gripping the rod tightly with both hands and jerking it upwards.

The carbon fiber fishing rod made a crisp sound, and the tip bent instantly.

Ivan's arm muscles tensed as he rapidly cranked the fishing reel.

Looking at the curve of the fishing rod and the speed at which the fishing line was pulled back, Su Long shook his head and sighed with a hint of regret, "Too little power, not a big catch."

Sure enough, as the fishing reel quickly reeled in the line, a small fish the size of a palm was pulled out of the water and landed with a splash on the rocks of the high platform.

Ivan put down his fishing rod, walked over and picked up the small fish. Looking at the little creature still struggling in his hand, he chuckled.

Looks like I'm having a bad day.

He shook his head, a hint of self-deprecation in his voice: "I caught such a tiny thing on my very first cast."

Then, he carefully removed the fishhook from the fish's mouth, pinched the fish's tail, and held it up in front of him.

"Let's go back."

Ivan said to the little fish, "Come find your parents."

After saying that, the old man waved his arm and threw the small fish back into the lake.

Su Long sat on the rock, watching the old man's practiced movements, and asked, "Is this effective?"

Ivan reattached a special bait with a fishy smell to the hook and cast the fishing rod out with force.

The fishing line, with its weight, glided through the air before falling back into the same body of water.

"Maybe."

Ivan sat back in his folding chair, staring at the green glowing buoy that had resurfaced on the water.

"That's how fishing is. You never know what will bite the hook at the bottom of the water next, but it never hurts to give it a try."

The lake has returned to calm.

Time passed second by second.

The cold wind was blowing harder and harder. Dania pulled up her collar and scanned the surrounding woods warily.

Ten minutes later.

The green glow-in-the-dark buoy on the water's surface swayed once more.

This time, the movement was completely different from before. The float did not sink directly, but began to slowly move horizontally on the water surface.

It swam close to the water's surface to the left for a short distance, then stopped, and then swam to the right.

The feeling was like something was dragging the fishing line underwater with its body.

Ivan gripped the fishing rod tightly, leaning slightly forward, ready to lift the rod at any moment.

Su Long sat in the back and immediately activated his spiritual vision.

The world in my field of vision changed instantly.

Under his spiritual vision, the black lake water became translucent, and all sorts of subtle spiritual fluctuations underwater were amplified.

About two meters below the surface, a huge dark shape was circling the fishing hook.

It was an incredibly large fish, estimated to be over 1.5 meters long. It was clever; it didn't bite the bait on the hook directly.

Instead, it cunningly uses its broad tail to sweep around the fishing line, creating ripples in the water, to test the bait.

"Don't rush," Su Long said, his voice very clear in the quiet environment.

Ivan's fingers were just about to exert force when he heard Su Long's words, and he stopped abruptly, asking without turning his head, "What?"

'

"It's just playing with you," Surong said, watching the large fish's movements underwater. "It's a big fish, very fat. Stay calm, it hasn't killed you yet."

Ivan nodded, relaxed his arm muscles, and let the buoy on the water continue to sway from side to side.

The large fish underwater are extremely cautious.

It circled the hook twice, then suddenly accelerated toward the bait, opened its mouth and made a feint to bite, but just before touching the bait, it abruptly turned and swam away.

The float on the water's surface was pulled down halfway by the current, and then quickly bounced back up.

Ivan was so fooled by this that he almost pulled up the fishing rod.

"Stay calm," Su Long continued to report on the underwater situation, "It's still testing the waters; what happened just now was an illusion created by the current."

The big fish swam some distance away, seemingly observing the reaction of the bait.

After confirming there was no danger, it slowly swam back and gently touched the edge of the bait with its mouth.

The float touched the surface of the water once.

"It hasn't bitten yet." Su Long's gaze was fixed on the dark figure underwater.

Another ten seconds or so passed.

The big fish finally lost patience. It opened its mouth wide and swallowed the entire bait along with the hook, then turned to dive into the deeper water.

"Lift him!" Su Long shouted sharply.

Ivan reacted extremely quickly. The instant Sulong spoke, he suddenly exerted force with both arms and pulled the fishing rod backward sharply.

"Buzz"

The fishing line taut to its limit instantly, producing an extremely piercing sound as it cut through the water.

The carbon fiber surf rod was pulled into an exaggerated full bow, with the rod tip almost touching the water's surface.

"It's in!" Ivan roared.

An extremely violent force came from underwater, almost dragging Ivan, who was sitting in a folding chair, directly into the lake.

The old man braced his legs firmly against the rocks at the edge of the platform, leaned back with all his might, and gripped the fishing reel tightly with both hands.

"Damn, that's some serious strength!" Ivan gritted his teeth, his face contorted with wrinkles.

The big fish struggled frantically underwater, trying to break the fishing line and escape back to deeper water.

Using the flexibility of his fishing rod, Ivan began a tug-of-war with the enormous creature underwater.

First, loosen the line slightly, and once the fish's initial surge subsides, immediately start reeling in the fishing reel a few meters more vigorously.

The two sides remained deadlocked for a full five minutes. Ivan was extremely exhausted, his breathing became heavy, and a fine layer of sweat appeared on his forehead.

But the big fish underwater had also exhausted most of its energy.

As Ivan continued to reel in the line, the massive black shadow was gradually pulled closer to the shore, causing huge splashes of water to rise on the surface.

"Quick!" Ivan shouted to Suron, his voice excited.

"Landing net! Use the landing net to bring it up! This bastard is too strong, the fishing line can't hold up!"

The fishing line rubs against the rough edges of the rocks and could break at any moment.

Su Long stood up, dusted off his pants, and didn't go looking for a net.

He walked directly to the edge of the platform and looked down at the large fish that was thrashing wildly near the water's surface.

Less than five meters from the shore, the large fish's broad dorsal fin sliced ​​through the water.

Su Long reached directly to his waist with his right hand, and the silver Colt Python revolver instantly fell into his palm.

He gripped the gun with one hand, pointing it directly at the giant fish head churning on the surface of the water, and pulled the trigger.

"Bang!"

A deafening burst of gunfire erupted over the silent Rattlesnake Lake, shattering the deathly stillness of the entire wilderness.

The water, mixed with dark red liquid, exploded instantly, splashing all over the edge of the platform.

The large fish, which had been struggling frantically in the water, suddenly became quiet.

Because of the extremely close proximity, most of the large fish's body was blasted apart and sank to the bottom of the black lake.

On the water's surface, only a mangled fish head remained, its white belly turned up and bobbing with the waves.

The gunshots echoed through the mountains for a long time before gradually subsiding.

Ivan, holding the fishing rod that had lost its pull, sat frozen in the folding chair.

Staring blankly at the fish head floating on the water, he turned his head to look at Su Long, who was slowly putting his revolver back into its holster. His facial muscles twitched violently a few times.

"What kind of method is this?"

The old man pointed to the water, waiting for Su Long's explanation.

Su Long flicked his wrist, giving the answer as a matter of course.

"American-style dipping net".

Ivan listened intently to Sulong's explanation, his eyes widening in disbelief.

"Hey, you're really something else. I've been fishing my whole life, and this is the first time I've ever seen someone do it like this."

Su Long pointed to the fish heads floating on the water.

"Even though only the head came up, at least it didn't escape."

Ivan smacked his lips, agreeing with Sulong's assessment.

"Yeah, that damn bastard dared to flirt with me, he's dead! Hahaha!"

However, before the old man's laughter had completely dissipated in the wind, a chilling wave swept across the high platform without warning.

Su Long's high mental attribute of 80 points instantly detected this anomaly.

It was a spiritual force, carrying a strong stench of blood and malice, rapidly approaching them along the ground.

Dania, who was sitting on the rock, reacted very quickly. She jumped off the rock and drew the silver-tungsten alloy longsword from her waist.

With a very slight cracking sound of bones shifting, black and yellow tiger stripes instantly appeared on her exposed skin. Her back arched slightly, and her pupils lengthened into wild, vertical pupils, instantly entering a half-beast battle state.

At the same time, their gazes locked onto a dark shadow in a corner of the lake.

"Danya".

Su Long stood up and placed his right hand directly on the revolver handle at his waist.

"You stay close to Ivan and don't do anything. I'll handle all the enemies."

Dania gripped her longsword tightly and nodded without hesitation: "Okay."

The next second, an extremely short black shadow suddenly darted out from the shadows.

It was like a cannonball flying close to the ground, incredibly fast, with a piercing whistling sound, heading straight for Su Long's face.

Suron drew his gun, raised his arm, and "Sirius" locked onto the charging black figure.

Just as the trigger was about to be pulled, the dark figure, several meters away from the muzzle, suddenly disintegrated, turning into a cloud of gray-black mist, thus avoiding the line of fire.

Immediately afterwards, the mist traversed a distance of more than ten meters and solidified again less than a meter in front of Su Long.

A thick arm with three sharp claws viciously reached for Su Long's throat.

Su Long didn't even try to dodge; a thought crossed his mind.

[Flame Mist Realm]! [Slowing Domain]!

boom!

The purplish-gold flames of destruction exploded with a deafening roar, transforming into countless extremely fine sparks that completely enveloped the space within a radius of several meters.

At the same time, a tyrannical force of rules descended directly.

The sharp claw that was about to sever Su Long's neck was forcibly slowed down by dozens of times, and its pouncing posture in mid-air was also turned into slow motion frame by frame.

Fine, purplish-gold fire mist immediately adhered to its body surface and began to burn wildly.

The thing opened its mouth in mid-air, trying to scream, but its voice was also delayed, and it could only produce an extremely distorted and muffled "hoho" sound.

Taking advantage of the opening, Su Long took two steps back and examined the attacker who was hanging in mid-air and roasting over fire.

This is a small, hairless canine monster.

Its body is covered with a layer of severely wrinkled, grayish-green skin, and a few sparse scales can still be seen on its back.

Its head was an extremely ugly, pointed cone shape, and its dark red eyes were filled with terror.

Its mouth protrudes outwards, with two pairs of sharp canines interlocking. Its limbs are exceptionally thick, especially its forelimbs with three sharp claws, which are sharp enough to easily slice through a human body.

Chupacabra.

Sulong immediately matched the information file that Dania had previously provided in his mind.

This is a bizarre bloodsucking creature unique to South America. It is extremely fast and prefers to suck the blood of livestock and humans.

It's indeed a good choice for assassinations.

But that's it.

Sulong gripped "Sirius" with both hands, pressed down on the hammer with his thumbs, and steadily aimed the muzzle at Chupacabra's ugly head.

The effects of lag domains are time-limited.

Just as the monster sensed the surrounding resistance beginning to disappear and prepared to force its way in,

[Fatal Rhythm] activated.

Bang bang bang bang!

The six gunshots rang out almost in a straight line, and the six bullets formed from the fire of destruction all struck Chupacabra's head.

A huge fireball exploded on the monster's head.

Half of the cone-shaped head was blasted into pieces, and dark red blood mixed with brain matter sprayed backward in a fan shape.

Chupacabra's mangled body tumbled backward for more than ten meters under the tremendous impact, crashing heavily onto the gravel beach.

On the retina, the system's information box pops up rapidly.

[The host gains the following statuses: Fearless, Armor Penetration, Berserk.]

[The enemy has gained the status: Wither.]

Three streams of power instantly flowed into Su Long's limbs and bones. His muscle fibers swelled slightly under the influence of the berserk state, and a sense of power filled his entire body.

Su Long shook the hot gun barrel and was about to walk over to collect the body.

On the distant pebble beach, the mangled body, missing most of its head, began to twitch.

At the broken neck bone, countless granulation tissues wriggled and intertwined as if alive, trying to reassemble the blasted flesh and blood.

In just a few seconds, a blurry budding tumor had already grown on his neck.

"Suron, watch out!"

Dania, standing behind, shouted a warning.

"The files clearly state that the Chupacabra absolutely does not possess this level of regenerative ability! Something's wrong with this thing!"

Surong looked at the convulsing mutilated body without any change in expression, and casually put "Sirius" back into the holster on his waist.

"It doesn't matter what's in it, as long as it's completely dead."

Although the monster was regenerating frantically, under the suppression of the [Wither] rule, its skin and flesh were also turning into gray-black ash on a large scale and dissipating in the cold wind.

New life and destruction are locked in a tug-of-war on its body.

Su Long had no intention of giving it a chance to recover. He bent his legs slightly and stomped out.

boom!

A visible ring of air exploded from beneath his feet, and the powerful reaction force propelled his body away like a heavy artillery shell.

A distance of more than ten meters can be covered in the blink of an eye.

During the sprint, Surong's weapon instantly changed from Sirius to Lucas.

Before Chupacabra's head could regenerate, Surong's right fist, accompanied by a piercing whistling sound, slammed solidly into its chest.

Bang-!

Accompanied by an extremely dull sound of flesh exploding.

This modified C-grade monster had its entire chest cavity, along with its internal organs, blasted into extremely fine pieces of flesh by this brutal punch.

The foul-smelling blood and bits of flesh covered the gravel beach behind them.

This time, it didn't even have a chance to twitch; only a few broken limbs lay on the ground, and it remained motionless.

Su Long straightened up, shook the blood off his knuckle duster, raised his left hand, and flicked a drop of purplish-gold spark from his fingertip.

The sparks landed on the scattered pieces of flesh, instantly turning into a raging fire that burned all the remains and blood to ashes.

On the retina, the system panel pops up with settlement information.

[Incinerate the remains of the C-level Mysterious Chupacabra.]

[Experience points gained: 30.]

[Acquired the entry: Fleeting Shadow!]

After scanning the brief description, Su Long closed the panel with satisfaction.

The function of this skill is quite obvious from its name: a movement skill that can instantly change your combat position, making it an absolute godsend in close combat.

With 30 experience points and a high-level affix, this escort mission has already recouped its costs.

Dania walked over from the side, carrying a long sword.

Her leather boots made a crisp sound as they stepped on the gravel, the tiger stripes on her body had not yet faded, and her vertical pupils remained in a state of extreme vigilance.

"Is it all taken care of?" Dania glanced at the charred mess on the ground, confirming that not even a bone of Chupacabra remained.

Su Long did not answer directly, but turned his head and looked across the wide pebble beach, locking his gaze directly onto the dark forest dozens of meters away.

The next moment, several crisp sounds of branches snapping echoed from the woods.

The steady footsteps came from the darkness, without any attempt at concealment.

A figure slowly emerged from the shadows of the forest, exposed to the starlight.

He was a young Slavic man.

He was wearing a finely crafted black turtleneck sweater, over which he wore a long, dark gray trench coat.

The man's face was sickly pale, his eyes were sunken, and the heavy dark circles under his eyes gave him an air of menacing malice.

He stopped twenty meters away from the two of them, glanced down at the ashes on the ground, and his lips twitched slightly.

"Viktor Kovalev."

When Dania saw the person who had arrived, a hint of murderous intent flashed in her vertical pupils.

Old man Ivan, sitting on the high platform at the back, also frowned.

"Miss Dania, it's been a long time."

Victor looked up at the platform and gave a charming smile: "And Uncle Ivan, your fishing habits are still so punctual, you've really been a great help."

"Victor, that Chupacabra is the strange creature you contracted, isn't it?"

"It's been burned to ashes now!"

Dania took a step forward and warned sternly, "Surrender immediately, come back with me, and face the family's judgment!"

Victor showed no panic in the face of Dania's ultimatum.

He burst out laughing when he saw Dania's alarmed expression.

"Trial?" Victor shook his head, pointed a pale finger at his temple, and looked at him with mockery.

"Dania, you're still so naive. Who told you I only contracted such a lowly beast?"

These words caused Dania to pause slightly.

Victor's expression suddenly turned fanatical.

The surrounding temperature began to drop sharply as he spoke, and a layer of white frost began to condense on the surface of the dead tree trunks on the lake shore.

"Thanks to that lord, the power I now possess is something you bunch of good-for-nothings who just loaf around in your families will never understand!"

boom!

An extremely cold and viscous spiritual pressure erupted from Victor's body without reservation.

This oppressive aura carried a strong sense of blasphemy and was definitely not the kind of aura that any C-level superhuman could possess.

Sulong stood still, watching the black mist that began to churn around Victor, and his thoughts stirred slightly.

The forced reconnaissance skill of the "Intelligence Master" attribute was directly applied.

The intelligence panel quickly unfolded in the field of vision.

[Target: Viktor Kovalev]

[Identity: Human/Contractor]

[Spiritual Level: Upper B]

[Contractual Mystery: B-Rank Mystery - Valak]