Chapter 179 Pursuit and Moonlight

"Get back!"

The edge of the blade caught the firelight, reflecting a cold, iron-gray gleam tinged with orange. Short black hair swayed slightly as a warm, fetid wind blew through the sewers and brushed his cheeks.

Xia Nan tightened his grip on the Decapitating Longsword and shouted without looking back.

Ironhead, already backing away on instinct after witnessing the gruesome scene before them, quickened his pace.

Looking dazed and panicked, he hastily dropped a few words of warning before darting into the deep shadows of the tunnel they had arrived through.

"Mr. Xia Nan, be careful not to get scratched by his claws or teeth!"

"He has 'Lycanthropy'! Don't get infected!"

Nodding faintly, Xia Nan stared at the burly figure standing against a backdrop of swirling flames with countless corpses littering the ground at his feet. His expression grew increasingly solemn.

He had just found a crucial clue, deducing from the "Iron-Scab Moss" that the target was highly likely hiding in the sewers.

He had planned to use the Gray Badger Gang, who frequently operated underground, to track down the man's hideout.

Now...

In a way, it had saved him some trouble.

But the price was the complete annihilation of the Gray Badger Gang, including their leader, Eight-Fingers.

"Buck?"

Xia Nan called out to him tentatively.

There was no response.

The only things echoing in the air were the crackle of burning wood, the distant roar of rushing water, and a low, guttural growl thick with warning.

He keenly sensed the violent, bestial nature rapidly expanding in those animalistic eyes, fueled by the slaughter and blood.

He knew there was no longer any chance of communication.

Xia Nan suddenly let out a long breath.

His scorching breath condensed in the air, forming an arrow-like stream of white mist.

The rise and fall of his chest abruptly smoothed out, his breathing becoming steady and drawn out.

Yet the boiling battle intent deep within him caused his heart to pump faster, surging powerful, hot blood to every corner of his body.

His mind raced.

Effective attack methods, the impact of the sewer environment, the enemy's fighting style, the things he needed to be wary of...

All these details gathered in his head, and in less than a second, he converted the combat information into practical action.

It drove Xia Nan to take his first step forward since arriving.

"Thud."

His thick, tough leather boots sank deep into the sludge on the sewer floor. The viscous mud squelched aside, faintly revealing rotten leaves and unidentifiable filth hidden within.

But strangely, after the boot landed, there was no arduous process of pulling it back out of the muck.

The very second his sole touched the ground, the boot itself and the lower leg above it vanished in an instant.

In their place were chunks of mud blasted apart by the explosive step, suddenly stagnant humid air, and...

A distant, soaring, and savage wolf howl!

The highly compressed, piercing gale churned up mud, blood, and scattered severed limbs, condensing into a roaring, lunging, ferocious Wolf Head with a trailing mane.

The gap of dozens of meters was crossed in the blink of an eye, leaving a long trail of blood along the ground.

With no intention of holding back, the iron-gray wolf fangs suddenly clamped down. Beneath the razor-sharp blade, it was as if even the air had been cleaved apart, shrieking and wailing mournfully.

In this instant transition from extreme stillness to extreme motion, Xia Nan could even see the folds of the burly man's hood blowing back in the gale, the hair on his cheeks—distinctly thicker than an ordinary person's—and those bestial pupils contracting in surprise.

[Spinning Slash]!

The iron-gray metallic arc carved a crescent-like semicircle through the air. Transmitted from the hilt in his palm was the familiar, sluggish resistance of a sharp blade slicing through flesh.

The fragile robes offered no defense whatsoever. The moment they touched the blade, they were shredded into ragged scraps by the howling gale.

Severed thick brown fur, sliced tough skin, writhing and bulging solid muscle...

Accompanied by a massive spray of crimson blood was a slanted, dripping wound that stretched from the right shoulder near the scapula all the way down to the left side of his waist.

If the burly man hadn't caught the scent of lethal danger amid the wolf howl and instinctively stepped back and to the side...

...he would have suffered far more than just a single wound. The iron-gray longsword would have cleaved through his cervical vertebrae and sliced his head clean off.

Just as Buck thought his opponent's volley of attacks was over and sought to take the opportunity to counterattack...

...he suddenly realized that his body—which had become much stronger since his beastification that night—felt as if it had been burdened with an invisible, crushing weight.

From his toes to the top of his head, every inch of his skin abruptly grew heavier.

His joints felt as though they had rusted, making it difficult to exert any strength.

[Gravity Control]!

A deadly crimson light radiating extreme danger suddenly reflected in his beast-like eyes.

He watched as the young, black-haired adventurer before him, having just finished one cleave, completed the preparation for his next attack in an incredibly short span of time.

Both feet planted firmly on the ground, knees bent to support his body, arm muscles bulging as they gathered power, the Decapitating Longsword pointed straight ahead.

The surface of the blade was coated in an unstable, ochre-red stream of light, resembling some complex, constantly shifting rune.

[Gravity Etching]!

'I'm going to die!'

Under this suffocatingly dense barrage, Buck had no time to think, relying purely on his body's instinctual reactions.

Standing in place, the solid muscles beneath his thick skin suddenly expanded. His already burly frame instantly swelled two sizes larger.

Throwing his head back, he roared into the sky, the beastly noise nearly forming a tangible soundwave in the air.

The robes on his upper half, already reduced to a few rags by the enemy's piercing gale, were completely blown off.

This revealed his exceptionally massive body, covered in rough, dense fur like that of a wild beast.

And beneath his skin, as if brewing and accumulating something, was a bizarre, unnatural blood-red hue.

Xia Nan raised an eyebrow slightly, sensing that something was wrong.

The Decapitating Longsword, which had been aimed squarely at his opponent's heart, abruptly retracted its force.

As his feet shifted, the wolf howl rang out once again.

In the blink of an eye, the power of [Fang Hunt] threw his entire body over a dozen meters backward.

At the same time, the blood-red hue beneath Buck's skin finished brewing.

It erupted!

Transforming into tiny, dense blood arrows, they shot out from his pores, blanketing the small area around him like a torrential rain.

Naturally, this posed no threat to Xia Nan, who had already retreated a dozen meters away in an instant.

Staring at the ring of steaming blood pooling on the ground beside Buck...

Xia Nan narrowed his eyes and angled the tip of his sword upward.

Fortunately, his reflexes were quick, and he had dodged in time. If he had forcefully thrust that fully charged strike just now...

Even if he managed to kill his opponent in one hit, he would have suffered the ensuing barrage of blood arrows.

And if he got injured, letting the enemy's blood touch his wounds...

"Lycanthropy" was no joke.

Xia Nan was very satisfied with his current body. Although being furry might not be too bad, he had no desire to live the rest of his life under the wary gazes of everyone around him.

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Buck, who had used his blood eruption to temporarily force Xia Nan back, stood in place, panting heavily, his face slightly pale.

Clearly, that move had taken a massive toll on him as well.

Within his wild, beastly eyes, human rationality once again gained the upper hand under the threat of death.

The gaze locked onto Xia Nan now carried a deep sense of dread.

Without a doubt, this young man who had suddenly appeared in the sewers to attack him possessed strength far beyond what he could handle in his current state.

'Is he a Class Holder?'

Buck guessed in his heart.

That absurd movement speed and mobility, along with the spell-like effect that had just pinned him in place, were absolutely not things an ordinary Adventurer could master.

'This is bad...'

In his memory, aside from their chance encounter this morning, he had never seen the man before, so naturally, there was no question of having offended him.

'Could he be connected to the Gray Badger Gang?'

'No, probably not.'

Buck rejected his own thought.

A small-to-medium organization like that couldn't even rank in the Slums. Even someone of Big Ben's caliber ignored them; how could they possibly be associated with a Class Holder?

'Then it must be...'

'The Adventurers' Association!?'

Buck's expression sank further; he felt that the situation had completely spiraled out of his control.

'Judging by how relaxed and at ease he was just now, who knows how much strength he actually used? He definitely has tricks left up his sleeve.'

'At least here in the sewers, I'm definitely no match for him.'

He made a prompt decision in his mind:

'I need to get out!'

'If I want to live, I have to get outside!'

Thoughts raced through his mind, but only a few fleeting seconds had passed in the real world.

Seeing the fierce look in the distant black-haired youth's eyes and his longsword poised as if to strike at his neck the very next second...

Buck instantly flexed his chest and abdomen.

"Roar!!!"

The wild, beastly roar sent ripples across the pools of blood on the ground, radiating ferocious momentum.

Yet, just as Xia Nan's body tensed in alert, expecting his opponent to launch a counterattack...

...the burly figure before him abruptly turned around, dug his feet in, and dashed deep into the tunnel behind him.

With his mission target right in front of him, how could Xia Nan be willing to let him go?

His feet moved as he immediately gave chase.

The Nym Sewers were massive and complex, filled with countless branching paths and corners, utterly devoid of any pattern.

Even though Xia Nan possessed speed far exceeding his opponent's thanks to [Fang Hunt] and [Gravity Control], he couldn't fully utilize it in such unfamiliar territory.

He could rely on his speed advantage to gradually close the distance between them.

But it would take some time.

Moreover, because he had yet to fully grasp his opponent's strength and the potential danger of "Lycanthropy," he didn't dare to rush in too recklessly.

If the enemy suddenly turned around for a counter-thrust, even setting aside how severe the injury might be, a single scratch from his claws or bite from his teeth would make things extremely troublesome.

But he also didn't dare trail too far behind. After all, the terrain was complex and unfamiliar; if he fell back even a little, it would be very easy to lose him.

And if he lost track of his target, catching up again would be incredibly difficult.

Pursuing in this manner, roughly ten minutes passed.

They rounded another near-ninety-degree corner.

The footsteps echoing in the corridor vanished, replaced by an open manhole in the sewer ceiling ahead, and the shadow of the burly figure cast by the shining moonlight.

Without a moment's hesitation, Xia Nan stepped forward quickly and followed him up the iron ladder.

At the same time, he couldn't help but keep his guard up, wary that his opponent might be ambushing him at the manhole, waiting for the moment he climbed out to attack.

A flash of gray light darted through his pitch-black eyes as [Heart-Guided Vision] silently activated.

The originally dim and blurry environment instantly transformed into clear black and white.

Countless lines intertwined and collided like ripples in water.

Suppressing the slight dizziness in his head, Xia Nan tilted his head up, catching sight of a massive figure on the surface rapidly moving away from the manhole.

Feeling slightly relieved, he deactivated [Heart-Guided Vision]—which consumed a tremendous amount of mental energy—while pushing with his arms and legs, nearly leaving twisted indentations on the iron ladder as he instantly launched himself out of the hole.

He landed lightly.

As the surrounding scene entered his vision, his brows furrowed slightly.

Having followed him in the sewers for so long, he had no idea what the corresponding location above ground was.

It was definitely still within Nym City—it seemed to be an empty lot somewhere in the Slums of the Lower District.

About the size of a basketball court, it was flanked on both sides by the thatched shacks and mud houses typical of the Slums.

But it appeared to have been abandoned for a long time. Even though it was night, there were no lights visible inside the shacks, and no traces of human life.

On the other side, across the clearing.

Buck was no longer running.

He simply stood there quietly, facing Xia Nan.

A low, beastly growl, sounding much like a revving engine, echoed through the frigid, night-shrouded air.

The dark red, crystalline dust of the Iron-Scab Moss drifted gently from the surface of his skin.

The bloody wound stretching from his shoulder blade down to his waist quietly healed as the flesh squirmed and knitted back together.

His already massive frame ballooned outward like an inflating balloon. His skin split under the pressure of his bulging muscles, seeping blood as brown mane fur rapidly multiplied and grew.

Razor-sharp fangs naturally protruded from the upper jaw of his gradually elongating skull, thick saliva drooling from the corners of his mouth.

A silver-white brilliance flashed in the corner of Xia Nan's eye.

It was a layer of shimmering moonlight that gently draped around Buck like a thin veil.

As if absorbing nutrients from it, motes of starlight drifted down and seeped into his body.

Subconsciously, Xia Nan lifted his head and looked up.

What met his eyes was not the filthy stone ceiling of the sewer, coated in mold and fungus.

It was the pitch-black, fathomless night sky, the brilliantly vast sea of stars, and at the center of it all, blooming with an unparalleled, pristine radiance...

...a perfectly flawless, crystal-clear full moon.

...

...

Reflected in his pupils was the bright silver moon, while the Divine Eye Holy Symbol surrounded by stars swayed gently against his chest.

Isidore withdrew his gaze, his expression peaceful and serene.

"It is about time. Are you ready?"

Behind him, Cornell, still wearing his indigo mage robes, nodded absentmindedly.

"I've been preparing for so many days. Let's just begin."

Although he said that, his eyes were not looking at the Cleric, nor at the blonde Elf corpse lying quietly on the altar ahead, awaiting resurrection.

Instead, his head was lowered, his unblinking gaze fixed upon the bizarre, greenish-black figurine in his hand—an effigy that resembled a cross between a goat and a deer.