Infinite Hunter

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Wild animals are very sensitive, even hunters. So Cheng Yijiu could sense the malice emanating from those behind him. When he turned to look at them, he saw a peaceful smile... The man at the counter handed him a key. Cheng Yijiu climbed the wooden stairs to the second floor. There were six rooms on the second floor. Cheng Yijiu opened a room according to the number on the key—he suspected that using wire might be easier than using a key.

The room was sparsely furnished, consisting of a bed, a table, a chair, and a cabinet. The only light was a portable oil lamp hanging from a hook dangling from the beam. Cheng Yijiu tossed his luggage onto the bed, sending a cloud of dust billowing. "It's been a while since anyone's stayed here. This place seems a bit impatient." It seemed this shady place wouldn't even let guests stay overnight; they'd start fighting the moment they walked in.

Cheng Yijiu casually grabbed the sword, and then, as expected, his feet suddenly slipped and he fell. The second floor had sliding doors; it looked like this place was built as a black market from the beginning... Cats don't "fall to death," and Cheng Yijiu adjusted his center of gravity the moment his feet slipped, landing very steadily. Of course, his dynamic vision clearly saw him passing the first floor and falling into the basement.

The man immediately thrust his sword through the floorboards. A twist of his wrist caught the blade, leaving him suspended from the "ceiling." He looked down. "Ha, how cruel! Even the pit and the stakes are there." This shady place probably doesn't want its victims fully clothed. A normal person falling like that would be impaled. Surrounding the pit were several men and a plump woman—the same ones we'd seen earlier, along with the proprietress.

Cheng Yijiu laughed, then swung his body and landed directly on the ground. He landed just outside the pit. The bandits were armed with hooks and knives, no match for his greatsword. As he landed, Cheng Yijiu swung back, slashing back. The two bandits, armed with hooks and knives, were easily cut through like two piles of straw. Their bodies slid to the ground, blood gushing out and filling the basement with a bloody stench.

Cheng Yijiu's footsteps were swift, and as he split the two men apart, he didn't even bother to see what was happening. He simply stepped around the corner, slashing his greatsword from below, slashing the chubby proprietress's chest open. She knelt on the ground, wailing and trying to stuff her entrails back in. The last two bandits didn't even have time to get scared or flee before Cheng Yijiu's lightning-fast two thrusts pierced their throats and chests. He withdrew his greatsword, flicking his wrist to let the blood and fat slide off the blade.

By this time, the woman had already died, her butt raised high, sprawled over her own entrails. Cheng Yijiu casually ripped off some dead man's clothes to clean his sword, his eyes fixed on the stairs. As he cleaned his sword, he climbed the stairs. When he kicked open the door, he already knew the boss was outside—his breathing betrayed him. He saw the boss holding an axe. Before the axe could strike, Cheng Yijiu chopped off the boss's head with his sword.

He rushed upstairs and found the boss's daughter, portly, clutching his luggage—yes, the lion skin had been discovered. This girl must have been mesmerized by the gorgeous lion skin, which was why she'd just left the house carrying it. Cheng Yijiu smiled, stepped forward, and with the same sword swing, chopped off her head. The gushing blood dyed the lion skin red, but the next moment it vanished without a trace, leaving it still gleaming golden.

Cheng Yijiu took the lion skin from the standing headless corpse, and then the corpse leaned against the wall and slumped down. He packed his luggage and went straight back to the first floor. "Sure enough, why waste time preparing food for the dead?" He cursed. There was a lot of food in the kitchen, but it was all raw and cold, with no signs of cooking. Cheng Yijiu kicked the boss's body into the basement, and kicked the rolling head down with it. After closing the door, there was nothing left.

He let the body upstairs go, and Cheng Yijiu simply washed the bloodstains on the ground floor with a few buckets of water. He went to the kitchen and began preparing food: bread to bake, soup to cook, and vegetables to simmer. Finally, he found a nice ham to cut and eat. "I have to say, running a black market business on the road is really profitable. It's a good life," Cheng Yijiu exclaimed. While baking bread, he stopped by the stables behind to feed the horses.

These people had robbed numerous caravans and pedestrians, and their accumulated treasures must have been in the basement or a secret room, but Cheng Yijiu had no interest in searching. That night, he lit all the lights on the first floor and had a hearty meal. He then locked the front door, spread out the table, and spread out the sheets for bed. Of course, he covered himself with the lion skin; Cheng Yijiu slept soundly. The moon passed the zenith.

A creaking sound came from the second floor of the hotel, followed by a low puffing sound. A similar sound could be heard from the basement door. Cheng Yijiu opened his eyes in the darkness. "How annoying! I knew it." He sat up, took out a small silver box, opened it, and applied the fragrant ointment inside. He applied it quickly, covering his entire body in less than a minute, and then put the box away.

Cheng Yijiu threw on the lion skin with a flick of his hand, pulled on his boots, grabbed his broadsword, and tucked his musket at his waist. He turned on the light and saw a headless corpse holding its own head as it walked down the stairs, slapping the wall with its hands. Its movements were very stiff. The basement door was also knocked open, and several similar corpses walked up stiffly. Two of them made Cheng Yijiu laugh out loud—because these two guys were pulling themselves forward slowly with one arm, and half of their bodies were pulling their hair to help.

"I wasn't afraid when I was alive, and I'm even less afraid when I'm dead." Cheng Yijiu stood in the middle of the hall, too lazy to fight these people. He kicked the door open and walked outside, then picked up a torch and threw it in. Before the flames started, these people had already reached the door, but they still couldn't be Cheng Yijiu's opponent - even though they were now extremely powerful and "immortal".

Cheng Yijiu simply chopped them into even smaller pieces. "As long as you're not afraid, just chop them up again and they'll really die. Isn't that right?" Cheng Yijiu said, looking at the enormous, crow-like black shadow that had appeared on the rooftop. Amidst the strange caws, the shadow spread its wings and circled in the night sky. Its wingspan was probably over ten meters, and after landing, the monster was over three meters tall.

The wings folded and then seemed to turn into a cloak. From the cloak, four strange arms stretched out - like a human, a wolf, a leopard, and an eagle.

Chapter 31: Repel

It was undoubtedly an apostle. Otherwise, how could a monster appear in this world's ordinary realm? Furthermore, this ability to reanimate the dead was probably only achievable by an apostle who had gained the power of the netherworld. Cheng Yijiu looked at the strange skull before him, a combination of a crow's head and a human face. "It's truly a tangle of cause and effect. It seems I'm destined to receive a Behelet." He straightened his body, let out a long breath, and once again tightened his grip on the greatsword.

The apostles were all crazy, rarely capable of normal thinking. This was true of every apostle Cheng Yijiu had encountered, and the one before him was no exception. The monster spoke a few words in a strange voice, and Cheng Yijiu didn't understand a word of it. The language of the Yoda Empire and the Mitlan Kingdom was actually French, which Cheng Yijiu could understand and speak. However, he didn't understand the monster's language at all, but that didn't prevent them from understanding each other.

The other party wanted to tear him to pieces.

The blazing flames illuminated the area dozens of meters in a fairly bright manner. The interlaced shadows made the monster seem to rise infinitely higher. Then he launched an attack. The monster's attack was incredibly fast, and Cheng Yijiu's dynamic vision only saw a flash of black light. After that, he swung the sword purely relying on his intuition, and at the same time, his body quickly contracted, covering as much of the surface as possible with the lion skin.

As expected, Cheng Yijiu was struck repeatedly, but fortunately, he kept his footing and didn't lose his balance. The lion's hide once again demonstrated its remarkable defensive power. The apostle's claws couldn't penetrate the hide, and the original 100% force was reduced to only 30% or 40% after passing through the hide. Cheng Yijiu's strength was fully able to withstand it. Of course, his sword strike missed, failing to effectively strike the target.

"Hmm? That's a bit odd!" Cheng Yijiu didn't rush to launch a counterattack. Instead, he slowly retreated while using the lion skin to protect himself. "The rhythm of this monster's attacks is completely inconsistent with its movement speed! Given its attack frequency, it shouldn't be moving that fast!" Cheng Yijiu wrapped himself in the lion skin, feeling the opponent's attack. Then he stretched out his right hand and stabbed with his greatsword. With a roar, his sword clearly pierced something.

"Sure enough! This is an illusion created by the interweaving of shadows and light created by the flames. This guy's true speed isn't that fast at all!" Now that Cheng Yijiu understood this, he naturally knew how to break it. Cheng Yijiu hadn't mastered the blind combat technique of counterattacking based on the sound, so he could only resort to counter-sword attacks. "If I had known this would happen, I should have switched to the Lapi. It's much faster and more powerful than a greatsword, making it perfect for counter-sword attacks."

If he really had a swift sword, he would have probably already pierced the apostle's body with five, six, seven, or eight holes by now—it was hard to say how much damage he had done, after all, no one knew what the apostle's internal organs looked like, or whether the heavy bleeding would stop on its own. If it were a human, the body would have been collected by now. Cheng Yijiu needed an opportunity, so his left hand, which had been holding the lion's skin, reached for the gun handle at his waist. After another attack, Cheng Yijiu raised the shotgun in his hand.

The eruption of flames was so long that for a moment, it even illuminated the apostle's face as he lunged at him. This time, Cheng Yijiu decisively activated his spiritual power, firing two bullets simultaneously, seemingly hitting the apostle accurately. The apostle, emitting a strange scream, stumbled back, his shriek shattering the surrounding trees and rocks. Cheng Yijiu, protected by the lion skin and ointment, still bled from his ears.

Cheng Yijiu ignored the blood and temporary deafness he was experiencing. The noise did throw him off balance at first, but he recovered quickly. Laughing wildly, he retracted his pistol, then, grasping his greatsword with both hands, charged directly at the apostle. Perhaps due to Cheng Yijiu's high morale, his entire lion hide glowed with warmth, a light unlike the flames in the darkness that illuminated the roaring apostle.

Cheng Yijiu saw the bleeding, festering wounds on his body, two wounds as big as washbasins. The damage caused by the demon-breaking bullets seemed to be enough to at least disable the apostle's self-healing ability. Now Cheng Yijiu had already kept up with the opponent's speed. That's right, after losing the illusion of shadow under the true light, the monster's true speed had already fallen into Cheng Yijiu's eyes.

The monster flailed its long arms in an attempt to resist, but Cheng Yijiu dodged and swung his sword. The first strike cut off the eagle claw, and then the second strike sent the wolf claw flying into the air. The apostle let out a hoarse cry and retreated rapidly, spreading his cloak like giant wings. Cheng Yijiu's sword flashed again, and this time the leopard claw also fell to the ground, but the monster finally closed the distance and leaped into the air.

Blood fell from the sky. A huge black crow flew, shedding filthy blood. It circled over the burning inn and finally fled with a curse-like cry. Cheng Yijiu looked at the direction it flew away, "Damn it! My horse!"

Cheng Yijiu quickly rushed to the burning inn. He walked around the main house and cut the stakes from the fence next to it. He saw the stable that had not yet burned. His horse was so scared that it neighed and tried to break the stall. Cheng Yijiu led the horse out and came outside. He did not rush to leave, but instead watched the fire from the side. "There is still some time before dawn. Maybe I can take advantage of the heat here to rest for a while."

Cheng Yijiu let the horse lie down. He propped up a piece of leather and spread another piece of leather on the ground. He sat on it and leaned against the tree to rest. Not long after, he fell asleep again. He was very calm. After all, the apostle was seriously injured and it was impossible for him to return and attack for a while. On the contrary, the apostle should worry about whether he would follow the trail and hunt the apostle. Taking this opportunity to escape was the most important thing.

Cheng Yijiu didn't find it unusual that he could face off against an apostle head-on. Guts in the comics had already slain countless apostles, and his current strength and skill were even superior to Guts's. So, what was so strange about fighting a few apostles? However, he was currently at the ceiling of human combat power... especially after being anointed with oil and covered in the lion skin, his true divine power had yet to be fully unleashed.

This is a world where divine power can erupt more easily. It is more easily affected than other modern hunting mission worlds. In those worlds, it would be extremely difficult for the divine power from Apollo to penetrate even a little bit.

Chapter 32: Pursuit

By daybreak, the main structure of the hostel had been completely consumed. "It's not completely burned, after all. Although the main structure has collapsed, most of the wood is still black charcoal, and the appearance is very intact. There are even some that haven't been burned." Cheng Yijiu wandered among the ruins, and sparks would occasionally fly. The broken bodies must have been burned. Cheng Yijiu could see the body parts that were pitch black, but with a knock, the skulls would be exposed.

"The temperature isn't high enough to burn bones. It needs to be over 1,500 degrees. Burning wood in a vast space won't work." Cheng Yijiu wasn't stressed at all, and even thought so. The house above ground had burned down, but the basement was perfectly fine. It was just that the air was extremely bad, so it had to be ventilated. The contents were sealed and baked, and the wooden structure had been dry-distilled into charcoal. The ground was still sticky with black tar.

The basement was filled with a foul odor, and Cheng Yijiu didn't seem to have any loot at first glance—he didn't even want to look at the weapons. That was until he pushed down a shelf, revealing a tattered bag behind it. Although the bag looked dusty, Cheng Yijiu picked it up and wiped it, revealing a golden and silver glow. This must be the ill-gotten gains made by this gang running a black market.

Carrying the coins, Cheng Yijiu left the area, following the bloodstains on the ground in search of the apostle. "We could give this dog a try," Cheng Yijiu tossed out the wooden sculpture, and a black dog appeared, wagging its tail cheerfully. "It's just as good as a bloodhound," Cheng Yijiu said, pleased. When he signaled the dog to follow the bloodstains, it immediately led the way. The apostle flew through the air, his blood dripping all the way.

Even when there were no traces of blood, the black dog could still find its way by raising its head and sniffing the air. This was much easier than tracking Cheng Yijiu himself. He followed slowly on horseback, pulled out his double-barreled shotgun, and began loading it—all silver bullets, no doubt. "It's a shame this world doesn't support metal-cased fixed-load ammunition. Otherwise, the power would be much greater, even rifled." Black powder, even granular black powder, still has limited power.

Furthermore, oil-paper cartridges are more susceptible to moisture. Once loaded, the bullet can only wait for firing, as the paper casing has been broken and the gunpowder has leaked out. The leaked gunpowder is also susceptible to moisture, so it is important to reload just before the battle begins. Cheng Yijiu wore a lion skin, and although he applied ointment this time, he also covered it with chain mail—otherwise it would be somewhat indecent.

The mounted hunter galloped along the forest path, Black Dog leading the way, a run that lasted two hours. Before them lay a deserted town, and it was hard to tell if anyone lived there. "I don't think so, just look at the growth of creepers and the encroaching undergrowth." Black Dog rushed into the town, pretending to be there. Cheng Yijiu dismounted—the horse was left outside; going in would likely mean death.

Cheng Yijiu, sword in hand, strode into the abandoned town. It had been looted, its doors and windows broken, and even some houses showing signs of burning. Cheng Yijiu wasn't being particularly cautious, moving about as he usually did. "There are no bodies. Did someone clean up afterward? Or were they actually looting people? Could such a thing happen within the Mitlan Kingdom?" He wasn't currently on the front lines of a war between two nations, so logically, such a situation shouldn't be happening.

The black dog in front of him began to crouch down and barked threateningly. Then Cheng Yijiu saw the "person" crawling out of the dilapidated house in front of him. He breathed a sigh of relief, "It's just as I thought."

The people emerging from the houses wore tattered clothes and decayed bodies, the kind of zombies that walked upright. However, their movements weren't clumsy and were comparable to those of ordinary people—roughly the speed of an eight or nine-year-old child. After the first one appeared, more zombies crawled out of the other houses. "Are their eyes still working?" Cheng Yijiu found it quite amusing.

Before him, the zombies suddenly transformed, their bodies swelling as if inflated. Their once blackened, rotten skin and muscles transformed into the appearance of living people, as if time had turned back. Their faces also showed color. Soon, one "living person" after another appeared before Cheng Yijiu. There was nothing that could be done about the tattered clothes, but the zombies had become living people. These people suddenly became full of energy, directly pulling out weapons from the ruins and charging towards Cheng Yijiu.

Cheng Yijiu didn't spot any apostles among them. "False life, how can the dead still have reason?" Cheng Yijiu saw only mad "people." Perhaps they had a moment of sanity when they were "revived," but it vanished in a flash. He could sense their utter hatred for the living and their own suffering. So he swung his sword to relieve their suffering.

These "people" were incredibly fragile, their combat skills at the level of ordinary humans. They relied solely on their fearlessness, their ability to heal, and their insensitivity to pain. Ordinary soldiers would likely struggle to deal with such monsters. But Cheng Yijiu was different. His lion skin and his own anointed body emitted a faint glow. Once within the range of this glow, these "people" instantly revealed their true form. Their flesh rotted and shrank to the bones, forming a distinct circle with the plump skin behind them, marking the effective range around Cheng Yijiu.

The glow alone wouldn't "kill" these monsters, but Cheng Yijiu's greatsword would. The cold iron sword was too easy to deal with these people. These unarmored wretches were no match for Cheng Yijiu's European swordsmanship. He could easily rip them apart with a single blow—not to mention that the weapons they held were relatively short, either daggers or axes. Cheng Yijiu slashed his sword, decapitating a "person." With a flash of light from the sword, the body, which had been flailing and flailing with its head removed, suddenly stopped, then collapsed into its original, decaying corpse.

After falling, the rotten corpses quickly turned into dry bones. This time, they must have been freed - "Perhaps they have sunk into the deepest abyss long ago? I always feel that these people are likely to be the 'sacrifice' when they become apostles." This is what Cheng Yijiu thought. After killing more than ten such "people", he saw the guy who should be an apostle...

Chapter 33

Among the "people" who hadn't fallen yet, a young man appeared. He looked like an ordinary errand boy, like someone who ran errands at a blacksmith's shop or bakery. He held a dagger in his hand and looked at Cheng Yijiu. "You are the Apostle, right?" Cheng Yijiu looked at the guy, but he didn't see any injuries on his body. How could he heal so quickly? Cheng Yijiu strode forward, and the zombies couldn't stop him at all.

With a simple swing of his sword, he reduced the zombies blocking his path to skeletal remains. He then reached the apostle, wrenching the useless man's dagger with his first strike, nearly severing his skull, leaving a long wound on his arm. The wound looked like it had been burned, leaving behind black specks of blood. The flesh had shrunk and curled inward, turning black. The man screamed and instantly changed.

"It should have changed from the beginning!" Although surrounded by trees, this place had not yet been engulfed by the forest. Under the sunlight, Cheng Yijiu's spirits were high, and he immediately chased and killed the transforming monster in front of him. It was a huge crow, more than a meter tall, with a dense array of fangs in its open mouth. Naturally, it had two pairs of eyes, and as for wings, there seemed to be a pair of small wings on each leg.

It was quite bizarre. The monster let out a hoarse cry and was about to take flight. Cheng Yijiu flung out the chains he had prepared—the kind he'd scavenged from the basement of the burned-out inn, used to tie up hostages or other purposes. They were about the thickness of a thumb, more than enough to trap someone. The chains wrapped directly around the monster's legs, and its flapping wings naturally carried Cheng Yijiu a dozen centimeters off the ground.

Cheng Yijiu thrust his sword into the ground, swung out a second chain, and wrapped it around a nearby tree—all it needed was a brief boost. He exerted force with his arms, his muscles flexing as the lion's skin seemed to come alive. The hunter roared furiously, forcibly grabbing the apostle. Landing on his feet again, Cheng Yijiu bent his waist and exerted force, forcing himself back a few steps to wrap the chain around a second tree.

Using the tree as a anchor, Cheng Yijiu began to exert force with his legs and arms, pulling the bizarre crow down bit by bit. The crow's flapping wings created a massive wind, blowing away even the still-moving zombies and knocking down some buildings. The monster continued to scream, and the sonic waves were quite lethal. Cheng Yijiu held onto the gradually deforming chain with his right hand, and quickly pulled out a spray gun with his left.

In this world, after activating his spiritual power, he felt less sleepy. Perhaps it was Apollo's divine power that aided him. The muzzle flame stretched half a meter, and the silver bullet accurately struck the monster. Then, the creature plummeted to the ground, transforming into a slender creature with a crow-wing cloak, struggling to rise. "In the daytime, it looked surprisingly weak," Cheng Yijiu said with a smile.

He strode forward, greatsword in hand, flexing his arms as he went. "It was quite a struggle pulling you down. I guess you strained your arm muscles." This apostle was indeed very weak. The two basin-sized holes in its body had been inflicted by the silver bullets, energized by its spiritual power. The edges of the wounds glowed, slowly eroding the monster's flesh. "It seems this world is truly hopeless!" Cheng Yijiu cursed.

The fact that this world's creation could be so severely damaged by the bullet he'd used to destroy the dark monster once again proved that the planet's underworld was filled with malice. Cheng Yijiu chopped off each of the monster's claws, each struggling to reach out. With a final blow, he also severed the monster's apostle's head. Cheng Yijiu watched the underworld unfold again, and the dead apostle returned to his original appearance—a truly ordinary young man.

His soul was being pulled by countless dead bodies, being pulled deeper into the netherworld. Cheng Yijiu could easily tell that many of these dead bodies resembled the zombies he had just chopped to ash in their original state. "Did this guy really sacrifice someone from this place?" Cheng Yijiu confirmed his suspicions. This apostle was also from this place. He didn't know why he was able to sacrifice his hometown, only to become such a weak apostle.

The powerful hunter pulled a Behelet from the withered corpse. He tossed it, "Is it fate?" and stuffed it back into the leather bag. And so, things were back to square one. He still had to find a way to obtain an Overlord Egg. It seemed Griffith's Overlord Egg was the only hope—so Cheng Yijiu decided to wait in the capital of the Mitlan Kingdom. After all, this guy was going to be recruited into the new nobility.

I just don't know if Cheng Yijiu still has enough time...

Cheng Yijiu changed into ordinary clothes, placed the lion skin in his bag, and rode his warhorse slowly towards the capital of the Mitlan Kingdom. The closer he got to the capital, the better the security became, and Cheng Yijiu rarely drew his sword to kill. "There are too many black shops and highway robbers in this damn place, right? Was it like this in medieval Europe?" Cheng Yijiu vaguely remembered visiting the Middle Ages. At least the security in Ice and Fire wasn't that bad.

The capital of the Mitlan Kingdom has a rather magnificent royal palace and of course a considerable population. Cheng Yijiu originally thought that he would see a city of dung, but he discovered that this city actually had a complete sewer system. He recalled the rural areas he passed by, "I really didn't pay much attention to it. This place has already had composting agricultural technology." As a famous mercenary, he was very wary of the city defense soldiers.

Especially since he had previously served the Yoda Empire—however, after so many years of warfare, the "immunity" of mercenaries had long become the default rule, especially for a lone mercenary king like Cheng Yijiu. So, after consulting the baron in charge of the city defense, the other party warned Cheng Yijiu and then let him into the city. The main reason was that Cheng Yijiu showed proof of his entry—sufficient money, which at least guaranteed that he wouldn't commit crimes within the city due to financial constraints.

Cheng Yijiu had plenty of money, enough to live here for a long time. He had originally planned to stay at an inn, but was stopped by a carriage and someone who looked like a nobleman's butler. "Excuse me, are you the Lion Sword Saint? My master wants to invite you to be his swordsmanship instructor." Cheng Yijiu thought for a moment and said, "Well, then, lead the way." Before the Eagle Group was incorporated, he thought it would be nice to have a legitimate job here as a cover.

Chapter 34: Death Journey

The enthusiasm of the recruits was directly proportional to the cold reception they received upon arrival. Cheng Yijiu arrived at a manor and was led to a side building. This was probably the training ground, as Cheng Yijiu saw wooden planks on the ground, dummies, and weapons and armor on the weapon racks. No one greeted him, as if he had been thrown here. Cheng Yijiu's face was expressionless. He found a chair and sat down, his package and weapons at his feet.

He had plenty of patience. If no one came out, he would leave at night anyway. As for whether the other party would bear a grudge, Cheng Yijiu didn't care at all. Because according to the comics, when Griffith ascended to the noble White Phoenix General, he also assassinated many nobles who opposed him. "I originally wanted to teach them something, but now I have to just mess around," Cheng Yijiu thought.

Fortunately, he only had to wait about an hour. A door opened at the other end of the room, and in walked a middle-aged man with a typical aristocratic hairstyle and a rather burly build. Cheng Yijiu knew at first glance that he was no match for a fighter. He was followed by a young man—this family wasn't the king's brother who was later assassinated by Guts in the comics. This guy was quite arrogant, but maybe that was a sign of politeness, wasn't it?

In short, he offered to hire Cheng Yijiu as a swordsmanship instructor, offering him a gold coin a month. "Since you could have intercepted me upon entering the city, why humiliate me with such a cheap hire?" Cheng Yijiu was curious. "Isn't this a test?" Testing what? Perhaps testing whether he could win him over? Or was there some other plan? Cheng Yijiu had no intention of getting involved.

The attempt failed, as the other party immediately changed their tone and offered ten gold coins a month, which was a pretty good price. Cheng Yijiu then nodded in agreement and signed the contract with the earl. For some reason, the earl's attitude suddenly warmed up during the signing, and he even casually asked Cheng Yijiu if he was willing to become a knight of the country. Of course, Cheng Yijiu still declined.

This place was not only safe and prosperous, but also well-informed. Cheng Yijiu also felt that his choice here was indeed a good one - he was just waiting for Griffith to take the bait. Hunting requires patience, and Cheng Yijiu has patience now, but he doesn't know if the mission will give him time.

It seemed like there was still time until Griffith was knighted, but it was already quite tight. Cheng Yijiu had no desire to see what the punishment would be if he failed this mission. Based on past experience, he would most likely be thrown into this world as an "apostle" or something similar. Cheng Yijiu had absolutely no desire to be an apostle.

This young man was the heir apparent. Cheng Yijiu's opinion was that he was indeed undertrained, or perhaps simply born weak. He wasn't suited to wielding a standard half-sword or greatsword. "I don't usually need to go into battle, so this will do." He had the blacksmith forge a small sword—a cage-like guard and a slender, flexible blade, significantly lighter than a typical sword.

Because the sword Cheng Yijiu designed for this young man was also a reduced version. The strong back half of the blade had a gradually transitioning square cross-section, while the weak front half had a double-edged, sharp tip with a diamond-shaped cross-section. The blade was about the thickness of the young man's middle finger, and the length including the handle was only 105 cm. Cheng Yijiu taught him the Lapi dueling style. "This is a saber fighting method specifically designed for dueling," Cheng Yijiu said.

"The Supreme Art!" Cheng Yijiu said to the young man, "You seem quite intelligent, perfect for learning the Supreme Art." This thing is really hard to learn without a good brain, it's all about the various tangents. Cheng Yijiu himself, as a swordsman, didn't master it at first, but later, with enough experience in chopping people, he did make some progress in this area. He couldn't say he was now an expert in dueling, but at least he had learned it.

It can be used to teach this young man, "Pierre, next is sparring..."

The Eagles were attacking the fortress this time, and Cheng Yijiu believed they were likely recruited after the battle. Sure enough, the final news was that Griffith had led the Eagles to capture the fortress, the Governor-General himself had died, and General Bosco was defeated. "Not dead?" Cheng Yijiu was a little surprised at the time. Logically, this should have been the battle where Guts, after completing the Hundred Killings, would become famous again.

They'd only captured the fortress, but hadn't killed General Bosco. Well, anyway, this century-long war was coming to an end. After losing the fortress, the Yoda Empire couldn't gain a foothold and was forced to withdraw from this area—interestingly, this area didn't belong to the Mitlan Kingdom. A hundred years ago, it was an earldom independent of the two major powers... "It's just dog-eat-dog," Cheng Yijiu commented.

He was in a good mood, as the meritorious Eagle Order had been confirmed to be incorporated into the White Eagle Knights. The officers within the Eagle Order would also receive official status, with the lowest ranking receiving a knighthood. So, his chance had arrived. He only needed to kill Griffith—"The question is, does he still have the Overlord Egg? I vaguely remember not having it." Regardless, he had to kill Griffith first.

This guy is not a good guy, that's how it is in the comics.

During this time, Pierre had become quite good at swordplay—he had no problem competing for favors in the capital, even going so far as to call himself the "Duel King." He was therefore quite grateful to Cheng Yijiu, and his hiring fee was increased to fifteen gold coins. Of course, the people here also saw Cheng Yijiu draped in a lion skin. The magnificent, gleaming skin was so gorgeous that it sparkled greed in his eyes.

No one asked about the price because they knew the importance.

When White Eagle Griffith and his men entered the city, Cheng Yijiu didn't go to see them—he didn't want to draw their attention. If he wanted information, he could just ask his employer—it seemed the nobles in the capital looked down on these "upstarts." If he showed his willingness to kill these "upstarts," naturally, someone would help him. When Cheng Yijiu returned to his residence, he saw a large scroll on his desk, revealing the information.

The banquets that Griffith and other members will attend, the activities they will participate in, and even their daily schedules are all listed in great detail, and the malice is already evident on the paper.

Chapter 35 Destiny

Cheng Yijiu didn't mind making a sword, because that was exactly what he wanted to achieve. He only needed to seize the Overlord's Egg to successfully complete his mission. Then he could leave and leave, so why would he care about the consequences of this broken world? The right thing to do was to cleanse this rotten world with fire. Cheng Yijiu prepared his weapons again, this time applying ointment, putting on a coat of chain mail, and then covering himself with a lion skin, and shoving the musket at his waist.

After being fully armed, Cheng Yijiu put on a large piece of gray cloth over the lion skin, and then prepared to ambush according to the markings on the map.

Before he even left the house, he saw a masked man wielding a sword as tall as a man climbing over the wall... Of course, Cheng Yijiu recognized him; it was Guts, the man who did the dirty work. "I never thought Griffith was such a decisive guy," Cheng Yijiu muttered, undecided about whether to proactively confront Guts. On second thought, the nobles weren't exactly good-for-nothings, even if giving him money was a pleasant experience. Forget it, completing his mission was more important.

He silently passed through the gate and scurried towards the mansions granted to the White Eagle Knights in the darkness. According to the information provided by the other party, Griffith should be present at least now—he had been invited to the ball and couldn't miss it. However, several of his subordinates, especially the rude stormtrooper Sir Gus, were absent, having been invited but declined.

"So you're here to assassinate me?" Cheng Yijiu felt a little guilty, but he was a coach, not a guard, so this reason was enough to convince himself. He recalled Guts's swordsmanship. Even with Guts's increased combat experience, it seemed he could only escape among the guards. Never mind, just go in and kill Griffith. The ball was held in a palace. Cheng Yijiu passed through the outer guards like a big cat in the shadows.

He stood in front of the French window, watching the people dancing inside, until he recognized Griffith and the three men and one woman guarding him. Cheng Yijiu only remembered the woman's name, Cassia. One of the three men was tall and broad, like a wall, but he had forgotten his name. Cheng Yijiu threw off his gray robe, drew his sword, and leaped directly, shattering the glass of the French window and rushing into the ballroom.

The golden lion hide gleamed in the candlelight, roaring like a resurrected lion. The warriors below, like lightning, rushed to General Griffith, the White Phoenix, and stabbed him with swords. Only ceremonial weapons were allowed at the ball, usually just an ornate dagger. However, Griffith and his men were indeed mercenaries. As the others screamed, the burly man stepped in front of Griffith, drawing a saber from his back.

The strong man was wearing chain mail.

Beneath his noble robes, the man wore chain mail. Cheng Yijiu didn't care if the other members of the Eagle Corps were good people—there weren't any good people among the mercenaries. He charged straight in, not planning any detours. The burly man must have hidden other people's weapons, as the others quickly pulled their own weapons from him. The only thing the burly man was used to was the heavy weapons he couldn't bring in.

He swung his fists, but they were no match for Cheng Yijiu. After thrusting his sword forward, Cheng Yijiu straightened his back and kicked the burly man, retreating while drawing his sword. He struck to the left, engaging the man who was thrusting with his longsword. The man's sword was relatively long and slender, but the guard was a cross, and the blade resembled a rapier. Cheng Yijiu ignored his thrusts and simply engaged him, using the strong blade and guard to deflect his attacks.

As the swords exchanged, Cheng Yijiu moved swiftly. After a fleeting moment, he swung his sword back into a forehand grip, while the man, blood gushing from his throat, began to fall. The European swordsman's technique was so dangerous, a single strike could mean the difference between life and death. Cheng Yijiu's eyes remained fixed on Griffith, and the silver-haired man didn't flee—perhaps believing he couldn't escape. The people in the ballroom, seemingly intentionally or unintentionally, blocked the main door and French windows, which you could interpret as a desperate attempt to escape.

As Cheng Yijiu rushed toward Griffith, his footing suddenly slipped again, likely due to a hard gemstone dropped by a woman. Fortunately, Cheng Yijiu quickly steadied his footing, though he was forced to parry and deflect the opponent's slash. Another man and Kaska both charged forward, but Cheng Yijiu shook his lion hide to ignore them—an attack from behind wouldn't have been able to penetrate the defenses of his hide.

The battle with Griffith was swift, and Cheng Yijiu was delighted to discover the Overlord's Egg dangling from his neck. He immediately intensified his attack—Griffith's one-handed saber, combined with his agility, was indeed a bit more formidable than the average mercenary. "His skill is at least superior to Guts's at the time, but there's a gap in strength," Remirette concluded after several exchanges. Their attack and defense were so rapid that the two men behind him only had time to launch a single attack.

Cheng Yijiu came within a hair's breadth of victory several times, always experiencing inexplicable interference that deflected his sword's momentum. On one occasion, his blade was even blocked by a soaring Overlord Egg as he dodged, only causing Griffith to stumble. Fortunately, fate couldn't create miracles out of thin air. After saving Griffith at least three times—in just three seconds—the chain of cause and effect finally seemed to be unable to continue.

Cheng Yijiu's cross-cutting move easily deflected another slash from Griffith. This time, there was no resistance. The blade pierced Griffith's right shoulder, then slashed diagonally down his body, exiting from his left waist. A massive wound about ten centimeters deep was left. Cheng Yijiu knew from the feel of his hand that Griffith's ribs had been completely ruptured, and his lungs had also been fatally damaged. Without the drastic treatment of modern medicine, General Bai Feng would have been dead.

The burly man on the other side was nearing death, and the man with the rapier was already dead. The other two men rushed towards Griffith, attempting to save him. Cheng Yijiu simply parried their blades—no need to kill anymore. He reached out to grab Griffith's Overlord Egg. It dangled from Griffith's horrific, gaping wound, already stained with blood...

Chapter 36: Fierce Battle

The bloodstained Overlord Egg's facial features began to stir, tears streaming from its eyes. Just then, a hand grabbed the stone egg and pulled it down. But it kept dancing in Cheng Yijiu's palm. It was unknown how this stone egg, without arms or legs, could move. It even made sounds. Space quickly began to overlap around it—the nobles who hadn't managed to escape were in dire straits.

"About twenty people? Is that enough for the sacrifice?" Cheng Yijiu realized the area of ​​the space shift was unexpectedly small. "Maybe it's because I pulled out the Overlord Egg just in time?" He wasn't sure. But Griffith wasn't dead yet, still struggling. Cheng Yijiu could even see the light in his eyes, the light of someone determined to capture something, no matter the cost—mostly the light of others, of course.

He grabbed Kasjia beside him. Cheng Yijiu noticed that the quest completion message hadn't popped up. "Do we still need to fight the boss?" The hunter had sensed something. Sure enough, strange faces appeared everywhere in the transformed space. Rising mounds of earth and trees sprouted facial features, observing the people running around with indifference and emotionlessness. Then, hideous monsters appeared out of thin air. "It's interesting. They all resemble human or animal skulls." Cheng Yijiu was quite impressed by this aesthetic.

There was a pond outside, and the water was churning. Something larger than the pond itself had emerged from it, and no one knew how it had gotten inside. The pond was only about twenty square meters, but the blood-red skeleton occupied almost fifty square meters, not counting its tentacles. It was a massive skeleton, without a mandible, but instead with a dozen thick tentacles.

There were many more monsters of this type. Cheng Yijiu spotted one with a goat-like skull, four arms, and two mouths revealing teeth and jawbones. "Deformity!" Cheng Yijiu's lion skin began to glow, even in the dark. These monsters appeared, wielding weapons that might have grown from their bones. They were terrifying and enormous.

The house was warped and deformed, its original architectural style transformed into something resembling a castle in the castle. Most importantly, it was disgustingly covered in flesh and blood. Casca and the others didn't know what to do, but Griffith seemed to be doing much better. His blood had stopped flowing, and a monster the size of a pig, with a large mouth, a small tail, and two thick legs, rushed over. Casca and the others had no choice but to fight the two monsters.

Cheng Yijiu swung his sword, splitting the clay figurine-like monster that rushed in front of him. After the split, the monster turned into a puddle of mud, lifeless. The sword shone with a cold light, and under the stimulation of the environment, the power of demon-breaking fully erupted. Cheng Yijiu also felt a burst of warmth, and his fatigue was swept away. He was invigorated and had a strong spirit and strength constantly flowing into his body.