Since the moment Buck fell into the flood of spiders, a strong and resolute thought filled his mind: escape! This sudden, inexplicable war had nothing to do with him.


    He was neither interested in the dark entity hidden behind the spiders nor in the secrets behind the steel door guarded tightly by the steam knight. Any ordinary hunter would have perished by now, caught in the overwhelming webs and blazing infernos.


    However, Buck was still full of vitality, with 600,000 life energy remaining, meaning he had plenty of chances to escape this crisis.


    But the steam knight, who had locked onto him, seemed intent on not letting him go. This ancient knight followed some kind of established rule, never sparing any living being who dared approach the gate.


    A deafening explosion suddenly rang out behind him. As Buck was running, he felt a massive force push against his back, like an overwhelming avalanche.


    The sound of the explosion then thundered, ringing in his ears. The shockwave was so powerful that it sent Buck flying and crashing into a wall. The wall couldn’t withstand the impact and collapsed, and Buck was immediately hurled into another sewer tunnel.


    It turned out the force that broke the wall wasn’t Buck’s body, but a high-speed cannonball that, after intense friction with the air, had become a superheated fireball. The cannon shot was astonishingly powerful, breaking through countless walls as if it were going to pierce the entire sewer world.


    For a moment, bricks and stones rained down like hail, and sewage was sent into a towering wave. The shockwave created by the cannonball flying past was enough to instantly tear a human body apart.


    Buck, who had rolled several times in the sewage wave, was dizzy but gritted his teeth and forced himself to get up. His ears rang, as if a swarm of bees were buzzing inside them. He quickly checked his health bar, only to be horrified to see it drop by 50,000 points!


    The cannonball hadn’t even directly hit him—it had just grazed him—but the damage was already terrifying. Buck couldn''t help but shiver as he thought, If I had been directly hit, could I have survived? He had no intention of testing that theory. Taking advantage of the moment before the second shot came, Buck ran like a scared rabbit.


    In the distance, the steam knight raised its right arm. Surprisingly, its arm transformed into a giant cannon. The cannon’s barrel was large enough to fit a soccer ball, and it was glowing red from the intense heat, releasing steam. The knight’s gears and bearings whirred, as if it were loading a second cannonball.


    Clearly, using the cannon was no longer an option. The knight’s intelligence hadn’t sunk that low. It decisively raised its left arm, and from its outer side, a dozen hooked claws shot out, connected by steel wires. The claws glittered coldly, like a group of snakes poised to strike.


    By now, Buck had already escaped from the hole in the wall and should have been out of the steam knight’s sight. Yet, those claws seemed to have been given life, as if they had eyes.


    They slammed into the wall, ricocheted violently, and shot back and forth with incredible speed through the narrow sewer tunnel, leaving sparks in their wake. Even more astonishingly, the claws seemed to adjust their trajectories on their own through collision, finally covering Buck’s escape route.


    In the blink of an eye, Buck felt the pressure on his body tighten, as four or five claws simultaneously grabbed him. "Damn it! Is this some kind of magic trick?" Buck cursed in his heart. There was no time to think. He quickly swung out the Demon Creature''s Arm, and his claws clashed with the steel cables, creating bright sparks. He managed to sever one of the claws.


    But this brief moment wasn’t enough to deal with the other claws. From a distance, the knight exerted force, and the steel cables immediately tightened, pulling Buck back with tremendous force.


    “Enough of this! Do they really think I''m easy to mess with?” This time, Buck was thoroughly enraged, and his anger burned like fire. No matter what legendary creation this was, since it dared to grab him, he would show it the power of God''s Corpse''s Hand!


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    Just as he was consumed with rage, the claw pulling him back suddenly emitted an eerie high-frequency vibration. The strange wave was so powerful that it scattered all of Buck’s strength, leaving his brain numb for a moment. What is this? Resonance? His consciousness grew blurry, and blood uncontrollably sprayed from his five orifices. His eyes turned blood-red, and his vision was completely obscured.


    At the same time, his life energy dropped by another 50,000 points. It was then that Buck realized the true strength of the legendary creation had far surpassed his imagination. For the first time, he lost confidence in his God''s Corpse''s Hand.


    The claw dragged Buck through the shattered corner of the wall and brought him straight to the knight. Then, a thick steel nail suddenly shot out from the steam knight’s right arm. Its target was clear—it was to pin the returning Buck directly to the ground.


    In the critical moment, Buck''s Demon Creature''s Arm shot out like lightning, meeting the steel nail head-on. Time seemed to slow down as Buck watched the transformed Demon Creature''s Arm crumble before the powerful weapon.


    The steel nail pierced through it effortlessly, not merely penetrating, but completely crushing and shattering it. The recoil was like a heavy blow, slamming Buck forcefully into the ground, cracking the sturdy floor beneath him.


    Almost simultaneously, Buck’s Heretic’s Arm stretched out and grabbed the steam knight''s head just before the steel nail would have impaled his chest. For the briefest moment, a moment so fleeting, the steam knight’s movements seemed to freeze.


    Was it because Heretic''s Touch had activated, or had the knight’s brain become rigid after centuries of existence? That question, perhaps, would never be answered.


    In any case, Buck seized that moment of opportunity, gathering all his strength to unleash God''s Corpse''s Hand. He poured all 89,447 remaining mana and 279,884 life energy into his arm without reservation.


    This blow, totaling over 360,000 equivalent damage that ignored defenses, was a desperate gamble. In truth, Buck couldn’t even see the steam knight''s health bar; it seemed as if the knight had no life at all, or perhaps, with his low-tier "Watcher" spirit abilities, he couldn''t pierce the protective mystery surrounding the knight to get any structural information.


    But if this fatal strike, which sacrificed half of his remaining health, didn’t deal a single point of damage to the enemy, then Buck felt there would be no reason to resist any longer. He might as well just wait to die.


    The dark red God’s Corpse’s Hand clenched into a fist, exuding an unstoppable force, and struck the steam knight’s iron fist directly. As the two legendary punches collided, a silent but devastating shockwave exploded, scattering everything around them. Buck was once again sent flying like a kite with its string cut.


    He saw God’s Corpse’s Hand shatter under the intense impact, but at the same time, countless metal parts scattered in the explosion. The steam knight’s entire right arm, and even the shoulder, were obliterated in the collision. Buck’s body shot out like a cannonball, propelled at high speed.


    His mind was shaken, consciousness blurry. Just before he flew away, he thought he saw the steam knight’s health bar light up, losing about one-fifth of its total. This is ridiculous, was Buck’s last thought before he lost consciousness.


    Then, he was flung out of the massive hole created by the knight’s cannonball, landing heavily in the surging sewage. The rushing water quickly swept him into a vertical shaft, and along with the sewage waterfall, he fell into a deep ravine.


    The steam knight still stood firm, seemingly stunned by the damage inflicted on it. For a moment, it didn’t pursue. After all, its right arm had been completely destroyed, and the claw device was also broken—it was unable to continue the chase.


    Yes, this ancient knight had a brain. From the torn shell, it was clear that its body was not entirely made of metal. Some strong, living blood and flesh tissue tightly wrapped around a mass of mechanical cylinders and metallic bones.


    These tissues and bones were moving and growing in a regular pattern. The steam knight was, in fact, a perfect fusion of flesh and metal. Moreover, its metallic body possessed the ability to grow and heal like a living organism.


    At this moment, the shredded right arm of the steam knight was visibly regenerating. It wouldn’t take long before this legendary creation was restored to its former state.


    In the future, for a long time, the imposing figure of that legendary creation in the capital''s sewers would remain a lasting shadow in Buck’s heart. From that point on, he never dared to venture too deep into the sewers to hunt monsters—he had been thoroughly frightened.


    But that was a story for later. Right now, Buck lay in the sewage, weak and exhausted, with no strength left.


    When the sewer walls had been breached, Buck inadvertently found a way to escape the labyrinthine tunnels. Strangely, as he regained consciousness in the water, he was astonished to find himself being swept upstream by the flow of sewage.


    A strange and indescribable sensation flooded his body, as if the entire space around him was being twisted. When this reverse flow ended, he fell once more into a foul, dirty sewage river. At the same time, he was delighted to see light filtering into the dark sewer from outside.


    A warm and strong hand reached out, grasping his limp body, and slowly pulled him from the drainage exit that led toward the Lionheart River.