Dark King

Dudian opened a bag and folded the gunpowder boxes so that it could protect them in case of a rain. He held onto two gunpowder boxes and gently stepped on the weeds as he walked into the ruins.

As there was no one to clean the roads the ground outside was full of grass. There were some places which were mud pits. Dudian was very careful as he made every step. In the absence of information and maps he could only rely on his own groping and gut-feeling. Other consortia would send a scout to sweep the unknown areas and gather intelligence.

After all, the hunters were limited in consortiums. Even if they sent seven or eight intermediate hunters they wouldn't be able to protect themselves from a herd of beasts.

Occasionally he would see some objects bulge in the grass. He knew that some places were not covered in stones but rotten bones of some monsters.

As he was carefully going through the grass he felt a very small rustling sound. It was as if the wind scratched. Chill rose up in his heart as he dropped the gunpowder boxes and turned back.

At the same time a slender green shadow jumped from the grass toward Dudian.

Dudian quickly pulled out his dagger and made a wave.

This slender green shadow was blocked by the dagger. It's body flashed as it disappeared into the bushes without a trace.

Dudian's face changed. Although he wasn't able to see the complete body of the beast but he was able to see something similar to snake's tail as it disappeared within the bushed. It had green scales which were extremely similar to the color of weeds. It was a bit bright colored. From the look it seemed to be a poisonous snake.

The most important thing was that he couldn't detect its odor.

"Fortunately its speed isn't very fast. It should not be a high level monster." Dudian was glad as he secretly thought about the monster. He slowly moved the gunpowder box aside. He picked up gunpowder from the box and threw it over the bushes.

He inserted the dagger once more, picked out gunpowder and spilled the surrounding weeds. Suddenly smell of gunpowder emerged.

Dudian eyes were cold as he looked around the area. His nose quickly identified all the smell in the surroundings. Soon he sensed the smell of gunpowder slowly moving. He put back his dagger and took out his bow. He acted as fast as lightning. He pulled the string and shot the arrow towards the predetermined location in grass.

puff!

Suddenly violent waves began to surge within the grass.

The grass that was half a meter high suddenly split as a monster's body moved as if it was a sharp wind.

Dudian saw the body of a four or five meter long phyton quickly twist and move. An arrow had pierced into its body. Because of its bright green scales it was easy to confuse it with the grass.

Dudian aimed and went for the second shot.

puff!

The green scaled phython had swirled for 50 meters when the second arrow shot it behind its head and crucified it to the ground.

Dudian was relieved as he put back the bow and pulled out the dagger. He slowly walked over. The poisonous phyton's body wasn't able to move forward but its tail was still twisting around.

Dudian's attention was in the surrounding area to be sure that there was no other monster waiting for an opportunity to attack. Although he could smell most of the monsters but some of them were good at hiding and attacking as they knew how to cover their body odor.

Dudian cut off the low-level monster's head. It's fangs were highly toxic. The normal adult phython would be a level 12 beast but this one was something in between level four to six. It was slightly stronger than an undead.

Dudian squatted down as he pierced its body and quickly peeled its skin. Then he cuts its head and removed its fangs. He used tweezers to pick the fangs and put them into his storage bag.

Afterwards he rolled the snake's skin and put it away. He picked up two boxes of gunpowder and carefully continued forward. He sensed the smell of an undead.

There were weeds growing from the cracks of the asphalt. The street was in ruins. Dudian looked at a car covered in moss, staggered over the roadside. The smell of undead came over from the car. The moss and plants had crawled into car.

Dudian put away the gunpowder boxes and looked around. Even though he couldn't pinpoint the location of the undead by smell but his vision was good enough to see it. He took out box and arrow and aimed at car's driver seat. He rapidly pulled the string and made the shot.

Kacha! The sound of broken glass echoed out.

Although it was hard to see inside the car because of darkness but Dudian's vision was enhanced. He could clearly see the middle-aged undead seating at driver's position. It seemed to be in sleeping state. His arrow hit its throat but didn't kill it.

He once again made another shot.

The middle-aged undead was struggling to wake up but the second shot hit its head and it died on spot.

Dudian quickly stepped forward and pulled out the arrows. He cut and dissected the undead's head.

After the cold crystal was taken out the flesh and blood of the undead was affected by the temperature and it began to decay at a very slow rate.

Dudian pulled out the cold crystal and looked at his left hand. Because of the excessive absorption of the cold crystals last time his arm had lost the nerves to feel the pain. He didn't know if he should continue to absorb the crystals directly.

He thought about it for a time. He decided to absorb small amounts every time.

Although there was some risk in direct absorbtion of cold crystal but it was better than using 'blessings' as it promoted his strength much greaterly.

He used another clean dagger to make a small cut in his left hand. He put the cold crystal inside his palm. As if snow and water had met the crystal gradually melt and turned into liquid which infiltrated through the wound.

Dudian felt no difference as he made the slice because his left hand had lost consciousness. However he felt more vigorous as if the energy was powering up his body.

He was relieved. The left had stopped bleeding. However he turned to look back to see another undead slowly came out from the corner of the street. It seems that fragmentation of the glass had attracted the undead from another area. He pulled out his bow and an arrow. Dudian was about to shoot but suddenly his face slightly changed.

The body of the undead was extremely tall. Its height was about three meters. It had very long arms while its body was thing. It waist looked similar to a camels. He couldn't see its eyes as it seemed they were pure black. Moreover there was a large sickle which looked like shark's dorsal fin that raised from its palm to the elbow.

It seemed that undead was a young man but the skin on its skull was stretched out.

"A skeleton? No, a skeleton's body isn't so high and it shouldn't have a scythe." Dudian's face slightly changed as he saw the beasts attention turn to him.

Distance was a weapon!

Whoosh!

The arrow flew out.

This enermous skeleton's face was expressionless. Puff! The arrow pierced its face as it shot into its cheek but got stock in the bones. It slowly raised its hand to seize the arrow. The monster pulled it out. Its body shook and it opened its mouth. The upper and lower jaw teared apart as if it belonged to a snake as its mouth made one hundred and eighty degree curve.