Chapter Ninety-Nine: The Prisoner

In the game, Dawn had already witnessed the Prison Hunter’s power, and the might of its core weapon, the chain, was not to be underestimated.

The chain radiated a thick, searing heat.

In an instant, a crushing pressure rolled out from it, and he could feel that suffocating sensation of being bound.

Dawn drew a deep breath and shook off the discomfort.

Drip, drip.

Blood fell continuously.

Before his eyes, two men had been pierced by the chain and were pinned in midair.

The man in the suit did his best to stay calm and invoked the name of his boss, blurting out, “Prisoner, let us go. Have you lost your mind? Our boss still needs us, and you’re using us to recover your health...”

Bang!

A rough voice cut him off.

“What the boss needs are men willing to die for him, not a coward who backs down at the sight of a level-nine player.”

A giant stepped out through the gas station’s door. The narrow frame was too small to contain his massive body.

To squeeze through, he forcibly shattered the hard concrete wall with his own strength.

This bizarre way of making an entrance was a show of raw power.

In reality, the strangest-looking player Dawn had ever seen was the White Puppeteer, whose exquisite, flawless face was as delicate as a doll’s, beautiful to the point of seeming faintly eerie.

But the man before him had already surpassed the bounds of the human form, as exaggerated as a figure from a film.

He stood a full three meters tall. Corded, dark muscles bulged beneath a simple black garment. His body was hunched like a drawn bow, and flames kept spilling from his mouth.

Dawn cast a glance at him and confirmed his panel.

His codename was Prisoner. His aspects were Blade and Cup. His agility, mystic power, and intuition were all lower than Dawn’s.

What made him formidable was his physique and strength: his strength had reached an imposing fifty-six, and his constitution was as high as sixty. That meant a full one hundred and twenty health points.

Dawn’s long blade scraped across the ground. Behind him, the three players had already gone pale with fear.

The victims had compiled the intelligence they had gathered on the members of the Flesh Devourers.

This man was, aside from the one in white robes, the most dangerous person in their entire dossier.

In one underground furnace factory, a level-ten player from the Divine Forge Guild had gone there intending to equip himself with a set of steam gear, only to be ambushed by Prisoner and killed outright with two savage iron fists.

That Divine Forge Guild player had been wearing solid armor and had decent health, yet he still could not survive those two blows.

Health was Dawn’s current weakness...

But with Embers and Shadow Soul, he could make up for that weakness.

Dawn searched for a suitable position.

This time, they were the ones launching the ambush, and they held the greater informational advantage.

Cup-aspect players could gain small amounts of experience by eating, and they could also draw extra benefits from most food-related items. Compared with other aspects, they were far more likely to complete the body’s evolution.

Prisoner was among the best of them. According to intelligence gathered from other players, his Cup aspect had already broken past ten.

That meant danger, and power.

The reports said that although Prisoner was not especially agile, he excelled at driving enemies into a dead end and then finishing them with vicious, instantly fatal punches.

The three players’ legs trembled faintly, and they could not help stepping back. Though they had combat experience in reality, this was their first time seeing such a ferocious player.

If Dawn, standing before them in a mist-colored robe, had not been there, they would already have scattered and fled.

The fact that this level-nine player showed no fear gave the three of them a shred of confidence.

Dawn looked toward the owner of the chain.

The man before him was not even close to the true Prison Hunter.

Still, if he was careful, he could be fought.

Prisoner exhaled, his body turning red, his flesh like a blazing furnace.

Dawn took a deep breath and retreated several large steps.

He wanted a more worthy opponent. This enemy might be worth a real fight.

Then come.

Dawn looked at the three players behind him and said, “Everyone, don’t be afraid. Your speed probably won’t be able to outrun that chain. Running isn’t wise. Attack directly.”

The three players heard his order and immediately tightened their grips on their weapons, unleashing a volley of ranged fire.

Prisoner did not dodge. Instead, he cast an amused glance over those players.

He had only just mastered this weapon that exceeded his own level—the Prison Hunter’s Chain. Aside from the fellow in white and gray, the others looked like nothing more than a single strike would erase them.

Still, since they had not fled, that was indeed the sensible choice.

The Prison Hunter’s chain had been forged precisely to capture fugitives. Its pursuit ability was not something they could evade.

The three players’ ranged attacks all struck Prisoner’s massive body.

Not enough.

Prisoner thought to himself. Without bothering to resist those attacks, he swung the chain.

A scorching breath burst from the chain!

It shot out like a bolt of lightning.

In the blink of an eye, the player in front of him was pierced by the Prison Hunter’s chain, and his health dropped to rock bottom.

In the intelligence Prisoner had received earlier, there had been no mention of the Prison Hunter’s chain—only fists.

But this chain had raised Prisoner to an entirely new level.

The chain severely wounded the three players and hurtled toward Dawn.

Too fast. There was no room to dodge directly...

Shadow Soul, protect me!

With a thought, a dark figure coalesced in his hand, taking on a solid form that stood before the thunderous, flame-wreathed chain.

The searing chain passed through Shadow Soul and sliced across Dawn’s cheek, sending blood spraying.

The moment the chain flew past, it veered again to strike him!

He could not be hit by that Prison Hunter chain!

Dawn stepped back, raised his long blade horizontally before his chest, and forcibly blocked the chain while retreating in a great stagger.

It can split into a clone-like strike...

Prisoner exhaled a mouthful of heat and tightened his grip on the chain, studying the man opposite him.

This was a worthwhile opponent. There was a strong chance that, like himself, he possessed a rare talent.

His talent was called Flesh Stability. It allowed him to rapidly stabilize mutations in the flesh, while also granting him terrifying adaptability in the face of bodily transformations.

His enormous frame was the result of that talent alone. After successfully digesting vast amounts of food, he had grown into this body.

It was a pity that the Weaving Train in the game was too dangerous for him. If he could obtain help from those monsters, his strength would rise even further.

Prisoner manipulated the chain and launched that vicious attack once more.

Bang!

The chain’s tip shot out like a sharp blade, only to be blocked again by Dawn’s long sword.

The chain was fast, but its changes of direction were delayed by quite a bit...

Dawn had already seen that in the brief exchange.

Prisoner’s eyes flared with flame. That long blade was actually able to withstand the Prison Hunter’s chain; the material was excellent.

I like that blade.

Prisoner exhaled slowly. Even for him, the chain’s consumption was becoming far too heavy.

He was a pure combatant, and as he scanned Dawn’s attributes, he muttered inwardly.

The player before him might be lower level, but he was remarkably balanced. His mystic power and intuition were both exceptionally strong, comparable to some of the great mages of the Book aspect.

But his agility and strength were not low either.

The only flaw was his constitution, which was a mere sixteen. That meant the man before him was made of glass.

An extreme, brutal spell-blade assassin...

Prisoner tightened his grip on the chain, and the warrior’s fire inside him rose.

He had thought this would be some level-nine nobody, but it seemed he had found a genuinely valuable opponent.

Only an enemy like this was worthy of being his match.

“Fire...”

Dawn exhaled a plume of hot breath. Without the slightest hesitation, he prepared to ring the Mist Bell and activate the Black Fire Domain.

That Prison Hunter’s Chain was a true monster’s weapon, its speed so great that ordinary resistance was useless.

To deal with a monster’s weapon, one had to use a monster’s art.

Prisoner steadied his breathing.

The opponent was getting serious.

The black figure summoned by Dawn held a white bell in its hands and gave it a gentle shake.

A bell tone spread outward, and with it, mist began to seep and expand.

Mist?

Prisoner thought silently.

“It’s the Mist Bell of the white silhouette, but it won’t work on me.”

In the headquarters, the thing Prisoner loved most was finding his companions and fighting them.

He possessed a Bloodburst Body, which let him produce pain within his own flesh and use it to resist illusions.

Though the mist was useless to him, he still put on a vacant, glazed expression, pretending to be thrown into confusion by it.

From the fight just now, Prisoner had already analyzed the other man’s abilities. He was a sword user who relied on arts, and that long blade was his core weapon.

Once the opponent entered the range of his fists, it would take only two blows to kill him.

Prisoner shook his head, feigning the effects of the illusion and trying to lure the other man into his attack range.

Then he suddenly froze.

The other man was not attacking him.

Dawn gripped his long blade, focusing all his attention as intricate patterns began to flow over the blade’s surface.

Black Fire Domain...

Prisoner was shocked.

He had not been waiting for a surprise attack from the other side. What he received instead was something far more terrifying.

Black, icy flame surged from the tip of the blade like a flood, roaring straight toward him.