95 An “Out in the Open” Ambush


    Lumian meticulously wrapped his left hand inyers of white bandages. He gathered his supplies: Fallen Mercury, his iron-ck axe, gray amber perfume, biscuits, cheese, bloodied mutton chops, rope for traps, and a bag of cooled boiled water. Slipping his shotgun over his shoulder, he left his semi-subterranean dwelling.


    Through the thin gray fog, he ventured into a barren wastnd, riddled with cracks. He entered the dreamlike ruins and strode toward the clearing where the ming monster often lurked.


    Hearing a distant noise, Lumian veered towards a path he anticipated the creature would take, arriving at a natural trap he’d discovered earlier.


    A deep pity beside the road, with copsed walls to the front and left. Stacked rocks bordered the right side, and behind it, a mostly copsed house loomed.


    Such a trap was difficult to spot. Lumian had found it only after scouring the area multiple times.


    He crouched behind the pit, tossing in a few sharpened wooden stakes. He covered it with a rope he’d woven earlier and camouged it with soil.


    With the simple trap set, he ced his bait: two blood-soakedmb chops, half on solid ground and half suspended above the pit.


    Lumian stepped back, assessing the precarious bnce. He retreated into the mostly copsed house, perching himself on the remains of an outer wall.


    He adjusted his position to watch the trap without being seen by passing monsters.


    Next, he took out the gray amber perfume and sprayed it on the wall.


    A delicate, sweet scent wafted through the air, carried by sporadic gusts of wind that blew through the ruins.


    The fragrance clung to the wall and to Lumian.


    Without hesitation, he leaped away, looping back to the path where the ming monster would appear, positioning himself closer to its hunting grounds.


    Once more, he changed direction, crossing the path and entering the ruins of a building opposite.


    Reaching the rear of the crumbling structure, he stopped, leaned against the wall, and waited.


    As with his strategy against the shotgun monster, Lumian never expected his trap to fool the ming monster or wound it severely.


    These decoys and rms targeted the creature’s keen senses, observation, and behavior.


    Only a Hunter knew how to exploit a Hunter’s strengths!


    Of course, all this relied on the target operating primarily on instinct, its intelligence limited tobat.


    Leaning against the wall, Lumian gripped Fallen Mercury in his bandaged left hand, tearing off the pitch-ck cloth shrouding its surface.


    He couldn’t know how long it would take for the ming monster to arrive; all he could do was be patient.


    Patience was his strong suit—a remnant from his vagrant days.


    Time crawled by. Unseen by Lumian, a charred, me-tinged monster entered the path.


    After walking over 20 meters, its nose twitched.


    It detected the faint scent of blood.


    The monster didn’t immediately turn. As it continued, it surreptitiously scanned the source of the smell.


    Passing the copsed wall, the bloodymb chops caught its eye.


    Tempting food, but the ming monster resisted its instincts, not devouring the bait.


    It pressed on, slowing its pace.


    Soon, an unusual fragrance filled its nostrils.


    It instantly deduced the meat was a trap and a Huntery in ambush nearby.


    This Hunter seemed different from the one who had previously observed it while invisible. Itcked sufficient knowledge of Hunters and hadn’t masked its scent beforehand.


    Taking a few more steps, the ming monster used the fragrance and subtle footprints to pinpoint the enemy hiding on the outer wall of the building behind the trap.


    Feigning ignorance, it increased its distance by another seven to eight meters.


    Suddenly, it whirled around, its scarlet mes rapidly condensing into a fireball tinged with white.


    Boom!


    With a flick of its right palm, the fireball hurtled towards Lumian’s ‘ambush’ location, copsing the outer wall and causing the house to shudder.


    Hearing the explosion from a distance, Lumian abandoned his hiding spot, darting into the clearing, his movements a wild, distorted dance.


    The explosion was like a signal re, a stark reminder for him to swiftly ready the second phase of the trap.


    Lumian and Aurore had devised this intricate n, luring their prey into sending out their own signal res.


    In the midst of his mesmerizing dance, Lumian detected the hazy forms of the mouth-orifice monster, the shotgun monster, and the skinless monster.


    By then, the ming monster had already approached the copsed wall, searching for any trace of its enemy.


    Lumian danced for another ten to twenty seconds, his movements growing more intense. He drew out the ritual silver dagger with his right hand, making a small incision on his left wrist.


    A single drop of blood emerged, congealing into a tiny sphere.


    Lumian stepped forward, pivoted, and snatched up the blood droplet, aiming it at the mouth-orifice monster.


    “I!”


    He uttered the word in ancient Hermes, his voice barely above a whisper.


    At that moment, the ming monster had discovered the faint footprints Lumian had left behind. Catching a whiff of a subtle scent, it started tracking him.


    Quickly shouting his follow-upmand, Lumian watched as the mouth-orifice monster swallowed the blood droplet from the tip of the silver dagger and entered his body.


    A wave of madness, bloodlust, cruel intent, and ravenous hunger washed over him.


    Lumian fought back the difort, hastily bandaging his insignificant wound with a white strip he’d brought along.


    Next, he popped a piece of cheese into his mouth, chewing and swallowing to make sure the residual gray amber scent on his body would mask any other mingled odors.


    Throughout this process, Lumian sprinted to the edge of the road and halted at an inconspicuous spot.


    He clenched his jaw tight and spun around, carefully retracing his steps along his previous path.


    ...


    Relying on a Hunter’s observation skills and Dancer’s exaggerated flexibility, Lumian made sure to leave only faint footprints and no additional marks.


    It wasn’t long before he reached the center of the road and stopped.


    Maintaining his invisibility, Lumian remained in in sight on the road.


    He waited, using shallow Cogitation and constant suspension to suppress any thoughts of attacking the ming monster, a rudimentary way to disrupt its danger premonition.


    His inspiration came from a Hunter’s keen self-awareness.


    Aurore had once written about the tactic of retracing one’s footsteps to lie in ambush mid-road in a novel.


    After seven or eight seconds, the ming monster’s pitch-ck form appeared in Lumian’s sight. Utilizing his uncanny flexibility, he twisted his body to observe the approaching target.


    The ming monster followed the faint footprints and scent left behind by its enemy. Uninterrupted, it continued its pursuit.


    Once back on the main road, it sniffed the air, unsurprised to detect a mild fragrance.


    It instinctively lowered its head and found the inconspicuous footprints.


    But it found no trace of traps in the vicinity.


    ...


    Without hesitation, the ming monster tracked the footprints to the other side of the road.


    The charred face and disced eyeballs loomedrger and clearer in Lumian’s sight.


    Holding his breath, Lumian didn’t disrupt his Cogitation again, striving to empty his mind.


    Five meters, three meters, one meter… He lunged at the target, raising the Fallen Mercury in his left hand for a swift sh!


    He didn’t wait to close the gap further, fearing that it would trigger the prey’s danger sense and prompt evasive maneuvers.


    The ming monster suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of danger.


    Without thinking, it leaped to the side.


    Simultaneously, its vision captured Lumian’s figure, attacking with a pewter-ck dirk in his bandaged left hand.


    They were so close that despite the ming monster’s reaction, evasion was impossible. Lumian collided with it.


    With a tearing sound, Fallen Mercury’s sharp de sank into the ming monster’s right chest.


    The fate extracted from Noodle Man infiltrated the target’s body as an illusory mercury bead.


    Meanwhile, a river of countless intricate mercury symbols briefly surfaced. Some of the destinies rapidly converged towards the pewter-ck de.


    Lumian didn’t bother selecting the destiny to exchange, letting Fallen Mercury do as it wished.


    Boom!


    The monster’s mes erupted.


    The forceful shockwave hurled Lumian and his Fallen Mercury away. Crimson mes ignited his clothes and scorched his facial skin.


    Lumian bore the searing pain, twisting his waist midair to alter his trajectory.


    As soon as hended, he sprang to his feet and fled.


    However, unable to re-enter the Invisibility state until the mes were extinguished, he remained visible.


    Boom!


    Despite his serpentine sprint, Lumian was still knocked off his feet by the fireball’s aftershock. His back throbbed with numbing pain.


    He struggled to his feet, scrambling away from the path and into the ruins where he had been hiding before.


    The ming monster pursued Lumian, who was unable to turn invisible once more.