The Cycle of Fate

Chapter 42: Sudden Encounter

Lumière exhaled deeply, gathering his thoughts. He slung his hunting rifle over his back, secured his axe, and stepped out of the partially underground two-story building that stood at the edge of the wilderness, heading toward the dreamlike ruins.

Carefully, he traversed the wilderness, following the same route he had scouted several times before. Cautiously, he delved deeper into the clusters of collapsed buildings, making his way toward the dark red "mountain peak."

The air here was thick with fog, the ground was barren, and the entire world seemed shrouded in gloom and desolation.

Before long, Lumière left the familiar area and truly entered the depths of the ruins.

He observed his surroundings, identifying traces and imagining how the objects he encountered could be useful in case of a fight.

This careful approach significantly slowed his progress.

Caution and vigilance are always the first principles of hunting.

Finally, Lumière discovered fresh footprints.

They appeared to belong to a human, hidden on the edge of the "road" and concealed by various collapsed buildings, making them very difficult to spot.

"They know how to hide... and partially erase their tracks..." Lumière observed for a while and made a preliminary judgment.

He suspected that this was a creature similar to the shotgun monster, possibly with clues to the Hunter pathway's Sequence 8.

Based on his experience and Aurél's conjecture, there should be three types of monsters in these ruins: the first type is those who have received a gift but possess no extraordinary characteristics, like the "noodle man" and the creature with the mouthparts, seemingly from the domain controlled by the hidden entity known as Fate; the second type has extraordinary characteristics but no gifting abilities, the most typical being the shotgun monster, but they are likely suppressed by the black thorn symbol on Lumière's chest, indicating they might have also been polluted by the hidden entity and thus turned into monsters; the third type has neither gifting abilities nor extraordinary characteristics, resembling ordinary humans or normal creatures who have been corrupted—Lumière's first encounter with the skinned monster falls into this category.

As for whether there are monsters with both extraordinary characteristics and gifts, Aurél and Lumière both believed there probably were, but they lacked concrete evidence.

Thus, a monster displaying Hunter traits was very likely to have extraordinary characteristics!

While tracking the footprints, Lumière even discovered two traps, further confirming his suspicion.

If he hadn't been cautious enough, and if he weren't a Hunter himself, he might have gone from being the hunter to becoming the hunted.

Soon, Lumière noticed that the footprints were fresher.

This indicated that he was likely close to encountering his target.

Instead of rushing to greet it, Lumière circled around and found a good hiding spot.

Then, he began to dance.

To an invisible melody, he stepped with firm and powerful strides, turning gracefully in smooth half-circles, perfectly recreating the strange and mysterious ritual dance of the "noodle man."

He wasn't very proficient, even somewhat rusty, but with the Dancer's ability, Lumière still managed to feel a burning sensation in his chest.

Unbuttoning his shirt and confirming that the black thorn symbol had surfaced, Lumière climbed to the middle section of the collapsed building and entered the chosen hiding spot.