Volume 2 Chapter 33: The Serial Killer Emerges

“Argh!” Frank’s ugly face twisted into a mess. His triangular eyes bulged out, and his arms spread open, actually pulling the witch into a tight embrace. If an uninformed outsider saw this pose, they would surely think it was an ugly-looking couple with genuine feelings.

“Good chance!” Qin Lun raised his eyebrows.

Seeing the hunchbacked servant suffer a fatal injury, his first reaction was not anger or grief, but great joy. The witch’s physical strength far exceeded that of ordinary people, but compared to Frank, her advantage was not very obvious. After all, she didn’t rely on brute force for a living.

Now, her extremely sharp longsword was also restricted by the hunchbacked servant’s body. It was the perfect opportunity to kill her. Just like the fight with the gargoyle that night, the hunchbacked servant’s self-sacrifice once again gave Qin Lun a chance to turn the tables.

A cold gleam flashed in Qin Lun’s eyes. His right hand flipped, and the Dagger of Sin jumped in his palm, changing from a reverse grip to a forward grip. The doctor crouched low and, using Frank’s huge body as cover, silently appeared on the witch’s right side.

“Thud!” The Dagger of Sin stabbed upward from below, entering through the witch’s right armpit and completely piercing through her right chest. What surprised Qin Lun was that the witch’s body, which was as hard as wood and stone, turned out to be easier to cut through than cheese in front of the Dagger of Sin. It didn’t require much effort from him at all.

“Prompt: Life-Taking Relic—Dagger of Sin. Faction: Chaotic Evil. Pierced the witch’s Heart Core, contacted same-faction attribute power, activated Life-Taking Relic’s autonomous devouring ability. Beginning to plunder the current creature’s physical strength and soul power.”

“Warning: This creature’s level surpasses the Dagger of Sin’s Ten-Slaying rank. Devouring ability resisted. Beginning to seize control of the Life-Taking Relic. Apostle, quickly weaken this creature’s physical strength to ensure successful devouring by the Life-Taking Relic.”

“Ah!” Feeling her physical and soul power surging like a tide toward the foreign object that pierced her Heart Core, the witch was terrified. She let out a high-pitched scream, struggled with her arms, and finally broke free from the hunchbacked servant’s embrace.

But the longsword in her hand failed to pull out from Frank’s hunchback, as if firmly fused to the bones of the hunchback. Furious and shocked, a flash of blood-red light suddenly appeared on the witch’s body surface, directly flinging the hunchbacked servant away.

“Snap!” The knight’s longsword broke in the middle. Most of it remained embedded in Frank, with less than ten centimeters of broken blade still connected to the hilt. It turned from a longsword into a rather strange-looking dagger.

The witch twisted her body and swung the sword. At the same time, her hair grew wildly, attacking Qin Lun like countless sharp spikes, just like when she severely injured Odo initially.

Qin Lun narrowed his eyes, a disdainful smile hanging on his lips. He simply slightly retracted his abdomen and chest, avoiding the stab of the sword-dagger, but paid no attention to the countless spike-like hairs. At the same time, he exerted force in his hand, twisting the Dagger of Sin.

“Ssshh!” A stream of dark green blood spurted from the wound under the witch’s right rib, splashing all over Qin Lun’s head and face.

In fact, it proved Qin Lun’s judgment was correct. Most of the methods the witch used in her panic had no effect on him.

That blood-red light could fling Frank away, but it was ineffective against Qin Lun. The spike-like hairs went limp and drooped as soon as they touched the layer of white light on his body surface.

“Clink!” When the broken sword-dagger missed his chest by a hair’s breadth, a faint metallic sound caught Qin Lun’s attention. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flat yellow object fall out from his torn coat pocket, shattering into pieces on the ground.

“Huh, this is…” Qin Lun only glanced out of the corner of his eye, but couldn’t help looking down. All his attention seemed captivated by this shattered flat object, as if he was seeing the most incredible and marvelous thing in the world. He even forgot about the Witch Maiar beside him.

“…Frank really had no money to prepare a coffin for you!”

In the silent forest graveyard, a sickly hunchbacked man in ragged clothes was trembling in the cold night wind, hunched over his hump, shoveling scoop by scoop to dig a grave for his young master.

“Young master’s pocket watch… I pawned it!”

The guilty ugly servant secretly glanced at his master’s tombstone, answering his master’s question with a ashamed look in his eyes.

“I used the money the young master gave me to redeem it…”

The hunchbacked servant handed a somewhat worn brass pocket watch to his master.

“Young master, run!”

Even though he had already started to doubt, was he still betting his life for that last shred of possibility?

Qin Lun lowered his head, his bangs hanging over his forehead. A restless heat seemed to be slowly rising within his body.

The enemy’s inexplicable pause made the witch overjoyed. She struggled to flip her body over and stabbed the dagger viciously into the demon hunter’s right chest. The young man was on her right side, so the broken longsword couldn’t directly attack the left chest and heart. The right lung was her best target.

Qin Lun’s body trembled slightly, as if snapping back from the pain. A terrifying aura of icy cruelty suddenly erupted from him.

“Die!” An inexplicable fear gripped the witch’s heart. She raised her arm and suddenly clawed at the demon hunter’s face.

Qin Lun let go of the Dagger of Sin, allowing it to remain stabbed in the witch’s right chest. He raised his right palm to block the witch’s claw.

“Thud!” The witch’s sharp nails pierced through Qin Lun’s palm, entering from the front and exiting from the back, like knives stabbing into a steak. Blood dripped from the tips of the nails.

“You gave me a brand new experience!”

Qin Lun’s pierced palm suddenly clenched tight, firmly gripping the witch’s claw. He slowly raised his head and pulled her violently toward him. Their chests pressed tightly together, face to face. The serial killer’s blood-red pupils emitted a cold, cruel ferocity, staring fixedly into the witch’s green eyes.

“But I don’t like this feeling!” The serial killer opened his mouth, revealing a set of white teeth that gleamed coldly. “Crunch!” With a sound, he bit down on the witch’s hooked nose and began chewing madly.

“Ah…” The witch screamed miserably. The blood-red pupils so close to her radiated endless madness and nightmare. Accompanied by the chewing sound in her ears, these bloody eyes seemed to be mockingly observing her expression as well.

The witch shivered uncontrollably all over. Fear from the depths of her heart surged out uncontrollably. As if sensing the witch’s cowardice, the Dagger of Sin stabbed in her right chest suddenly increased its devouring force. For a moment, it actually made her feel paralyzed all over, unable to move.

“Rip!” Qin Lun pulled the witch’s claw out of his right palm, clenched his fist, and violently punched the witch’s armpit. After a few punches, he dislocated her arm. Only when both of the witch’s arms hung limply did he stop.

“Ptooey, your flesh stinks!” Qin Lun spat out the residue in his mouth and elegantly took out a silk handkerchief to wipe the corners of his lips.

Qin Lun pressed the silk handkerchief against the broken sword hilt and expressionlessly pulled out the broken sword inch by inch. Watching the silk handkerchief quickly stain with blood, he flipped his right hand, held the broken sword in a reverse grip, and suddenly stabbed it into the witch’s thigh root…

“Those medical knowledge made me feel, for the first time, that they were useful, not just for killing time!” Looking at the witch convulsing all over but paralyzed in all four limbs and unable to move, Qin Lun’s face broke into an evil smile. The bloody light in his eyes slowly faded.

“Prompt: This creature’s willpower has decreased, physical strength has dropped below the devouring threshold. The Dagger of Sin has gained the initiative in devouring. Complete devouring of target’s life force and attached Remnant Souls will require 12 minutes and 36 seconds.”

“Enjoy it well. I’ll be back later to continue this game!” Qin Lun showed a gentle smile, softly stroking the witch’s ugly, withered, and cracked face, as if gazing at a deeply beloved lover.

Turning around, Qin Lun put away the smile on his face. His eyes flickered as he picked up the fragments of the brass pocket watch and walked toward the distant hunchbacked servant who was already on the verge of death.

“Frank, Frank!” Qin Lun sat on the ground, gently helping the hunchbacked servant up and letting him lean against himself.

“Young Master Wellington…” The hunchbacked servant’s face was pale. He slowly opened his triangular eyes, looked at Qin Lun, and a trace of relief showed in his eyes.

“You should already know, I’m not Wei…” Qin Lun fell silent for a moment, then spoke softly.

“No, you are, you are! It’s just that the young master has become brave, so old Frank couldn’t recognize you! Cough, cough!” The hunchbacked servant abruptly interrupted Qin Lun, stubbornly refuting, though the light in his eyes grew even dimmer.

“Frank is right. From now on, I am your young master, Wellington Stan!” Qin Lun said with a smile. “We still have to revive the Stan family together! I remember Frank, you don’t have a surname yet, right? From now on, use the Stan family name. I’ll call you Frank Stan!”

“Frank Stan? Frank likes this name. Ugh!” The hunchbacked servant vomited a surge of blood from his mouth. “But Frank is tired. He can’t accompany the young master anymore in the future.”

“Heh heh, I won’t let you die. Without the young master’s permission, no matter how tired you are, you have to hang on for me!” A cold light flashed in Qin Lun’s eyes. He took out a thumb-sized bottle from his bosom and poured the last drop of World Tree Dew into the hunchbacked servant’s mouth.

“Young master, you’re too wasteful. This time you can’t save Frank!” The hunchbacked servant looked at the broken blade in his chest, a bitter smile appearing on his ugly face.

He had been pierced through by the knight’s longsword. Moreover, he felt his heart seemed damaged as well. That he could hold on until now could be considered a miracle. This body was completely beyond saving.

“I will definitely save you, just give your young master a little time!” Qin Lun’s eyes flashed. He took out the fragments of the brass pocket watch from his bosom and stuffed them into Frank’s big hand. “The young master’s family heirloom is entrusted to you for now. You must hold on until I return, then give it back to me!”

“Young master! This…” The World Tree Dew slowly took effect, and the hunchbacked servant’s spirits improved somewhat. However, Qin Lun knew this was only a temporary measure, at best delaying Frank’s time of death. It didn’t change anything.

Qin Lun laid Frank’s body flat, stood up, and walked back toward the witch.

“I’m back, dear baby! Master Joey wants to thank you. If it weren’t for you, when would he ever be so generous as to let me come out twice in one day! As a reward, Master Joey will let you know why people call me the ‘Dissector’!”

Joey, liberated once again, his eyes shining strangely, eagerly stuck out his tongue to lick his lips. He bent down, grabbed one of the witch’s ankles, and dragged her toward the woods.

“No…” The witch wriggled her body in terror, struggling desperately. But under the Dagger of Sin’s devouring, she was already so weak she was on the verge of death. Plus, with all four limbs paralyzed, she was powerless to resist Joey.

“Whistle, whistle…” Joey’s cheerful whistling sound rose among the trees.