Chapter 177: A Strangely Familiar Aberration

The thing before Vivi had already surpassed her understanding of what could be called a living creature. The scraps of cloth stretched and torn across its body were barely recognizable as the remains of the leather armor it had worn before. It had a chest like carved stone, muscles bulging in hard ridges, yet its belly was grotesquely distended like the gluttonous, idle swine from the slums of Veli City, the massive gut rising and falling with each heavy breath. The sharply conflicting traits of a bodybuilder and an oily fat man coexisted within the same body in a way so jarringly unnatural it felt like an open mockery of creation itself; if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, Vivi would never have believed such contradictions could exist in a single being.

What the hell is that thing? she cursed inwardly. It wasn’t that she had never seen monsters before, but this vaguely humanoid creature—so utterly different from any normal human—radiated a twisted, sinister aura that made her stomach churn.

The “creature” slowly raised its right arm and lifted the massive cross-shaped greatsword. Earlier, Vivi had already thought the weapon absurdly oversized, its width and length far beyond what an adult man could reasonably wield, but now, seeing the monster’s three-meter-tall frame, she finally understood: the weapon had been made for it. This was clearly a close-combat, strength-based monster, and trying to fight it head-on would be suicidal.

Create distance!

Vivi made her decision instantly, yanking the reins without hesitation and urging her warhorse backward to widen the gap. At the same time, her Night Owl was already reloaded, releasing another deadly volley. A series of bolts sliced through the air with sharp whistling sounds, aimed at the pig-headed monster’s face and chest.

The creature neither dodged nor bothered to move, standing there as if rooted, allowing the bolts to come. It merely swung its massive sword casually, as if swatting at something trivial.

Clang! Clang!

Two crisp metallic sounds rang out as the bolts aimed at its face were precisely deflected by the broad blade and sent flying into the distance. The remaining bolt struck its swollen belly squarely—only to bounce off. It was as if the bolt had hit a padded cushion, layers of fat absorbing the impact so that it barely left a shallow mark before dropping uselessly to the ground.

Vivi’s heart sank along with that bolt. Her Night Owl had been personally enhanced by Master Leus and paired with specialized arrowheads provided by Nolan; at this distance, even a knight in full plate armor would have been pierced clean through. And yet now, it couldn’t even penetrate this creature’s fat?

Just what level of defense was this?

That casual parry earlier likely hadn’t even been out of concern—it probably just found the incoming bolts annoying.

While Vivi was still reeling, Kost, who had been watching with his usual gentle smile from not far away, finally spoke again. “Go,” he said lightly. “Bring her back as a hostage. Alive.” After a moment’s thought, he added in a tone like he was scolding a dog, “Be careful. Don’t end up like last time—if she can’t speak properly, she’s useless. I know that’s difficult for you, but it’s an order.”

The pig-headed monster gave no reply. It simply tightened its grip on the greatsword, then kicked off the ground with its thick legs.

Boom!

Soil and stones exploded backward under the sheer force as its massive body shot forward like a battering ram, hurtling toward Vivi. The terrifying burst of speed was completely at odds with its bloated form—it hadn’t been slow, it had simply been waiting for the command to strike.

Too fast.

The oppressive presence of that enormous body was suffocating. In the blink of an eye, the monster had already closed the distance.

It leapt high, its bulk blotting out the light, raising the greatsword overhead before bringing it down toward Vivi with crushing force. That single strike was enough to cleave both her and her horse in two.

But Vivi was a top-tier Nightingale who had broken through to the Gold rank, and in that life-or-death instant, her reaction speed reached its peak. She twisted sharply, rolling off the saddle, and the moment she hit the ground, she pushed off and shot away, her entire body blending into the air as her figure vanished before the eye.

A Nightingale’s signature technique—Day Shadow—a method of manipulating light and movement to achieve face-to-face invisibility.

Rumble!

A deafening crash followed. The monster’s downward strike was both heavy and swift. Vivi had escaped, but her warhorse was not so fortunate.

Splurt!

With a sickening tear of flesh, the horse that had accompanied her day and night was split cleanly in two at the waist before it could even cry out. Scalding blood and viscera spilled across the ground as the greatsword slammed down with a wet, nauseating impact, leaving behind a massive crater. Dirt, stones, and the horse’s blood sprayed wildly in all directions.

Though the strike had missed its intended target, the monster showed no frustration; instead, all four of its eyes gleamed with heightened excitement and brutality. Its gaze suddenly snapped to the left—where there was nothing.

And yet, if one looked closely, a few drops of the horse’s warm blood were strangely suspended in midair.

“Hey! Take it easy, you fool!” Kost shouted in irritation from a distance. “I said alive! What if you kill her?”

The monster ignored him completely. The scent of blood seemed to have driven it into a frenzy, and with an unintelligible growl, it lunged once more toward those floating droplets. Though it could not see Vivi, those insignificant drops of blood had betrayed her position.

Dragging the greatsword along the ground and sending up a trail of sparks, it brought the blade down with full force toward the seemingly empty space.

Rrip!

The sharp sound of tearing cloth rang out as a spray of blood blossomed in the air.

A few steps away, Vivi reappeared mid-backflip, landing unsteadily and stumbling. She clutched her left arm tightly, gasping for breath; her black bodysuit had been torn open, and a deep wound bled heavily, staining her arm red. If not for her Gold-rank physique and sharp reflexes, it wouldn’t have been her arm that was torn open—but her entire chest.

But she hadn’t been completely on the defensive. Not all of that blood in the air was hers. Her right hand gripped a black dagger, also dripping with blood; during that split-second exchange, she had carved a deep gash into the left side of the monster’s neck.

In that brief clash, both sides had been wounded.

“Hah… hah…”

Vivi panted, cold sweat forming on her forehead as pain made her grip tremble involuntarily.

Then, in the next moment, she sucked in a sharp breath.

The wound on the monster’s neck, though still pouring blood, began to writhe and regenerate at a speed visible to the naked eye. Muscle fibers rapidly proliferated, blood vessels reconnected, and in just two or three seconds, the gruesome injury that would have been fatal to any normal person was reduced to a crude scar—before even that disappeared entirely.

Damn it. What kind of monster… is this?

Even more troublesome than the undead.