Chapter 87

Sigh... Lumi An exhaled, gathered his thoughts, slung his hunting rifle over his shoulder, and secured his axe. He left the semi-underground two-story building standing at the edge of the wilderness and walked toward the ruins of the dream.

Crossing the wilderness, he followed the route he had explored several times before, carefully delving into the cluster of collapsed buildings, moving closer to the dark red "peak."

The mist was thick in the high sky, and no weeds grew on the ground. The entire world was gloomy and somber.

Before long, Lumi An left the familiar area and truly entered the depths of the ruins.

He observed the environment, identified traces, and constantly imagined what could be useful if a battle broke out.

This made his progress very slow.

Caution and prudence were always the first principles of hunting.

Finally, Lumi An found new footprints.

They appeared to belong to a human, on the edge of the "road," hidden by various collapsed buildings, making them very hard to spot.

"Very good at hiding... Can eliminate traces to some extent..." After observing for a while, Lumi An made an initial judgment.

He suspected this was a creature similar to the rifle monster, possibly with clues to the Sequence 8 "Hunter" pathway.

Based on his experience and Aurel's speculation, there should be three types of monsters in these ruins: the first type is endowed with blessings but lacks extraordinary characteristics, such as the "Noodle Man" and the mouthed monster, and they seem to come from the domain controlled by the hidden existence known as Fate; the second type has extraordinary characteristics but does not exhibit blessing abilities, the most typical example being the rifle monster, but they should also be suppressed by the black thorn symbol on Lumi An's chest, indicating that they have likely been polluted by the hidden existence, turning them into monsters; the third type has neither blessing abilities nor extraordinary characteristics, like ordinary humans or normal creatures that have been polluted, such as the skinless monster Lumi An first encountered.

As for whether there are monsters that have both extraordinary characteristics and blessings, both Aurel and Lumi An believe there should be, but there is no concrete evidence.

Therefore, a monster exhibiting "Hunter" characteristics likely has extraordinary characteristics!

During the process of tracking the footprints, Lumi An even discovered two traps, further confirming his suspicions.

If he hadn't been careful and was a "Hunter" himself, he might have already turned from the hunter into the hunted.

Soon, Lumi An found the footprints becoming fresher.

This indicated that he would likely encounter his target if he continued forward.

Without rushing to "greet" it, Lumi An circled around and found a good hiding spot.

Then, he began to dance.

In the无形的旋律中，他踏着铿锵有力的步伐，转着柔和舒缓的半圆，完整地再现了“面条人”那段怪异又神秘的祭舞。

这还不够熟练，甚至有些生疏，但凭借“舞蹈家”的能力，Lumi An还是顺利感受到了胸口变得灼热。

解开扣子，确认黑色荆棘符号已经凸显出来后，Lumi An攀爬至坍塌房屋的中段，进入选好的隐藏点。

他迅速望向远处，看见一道人影在那里挖陷阱。

那确实是一个“人”，只是全身焦黑，表面还有赤红的火焰在燃烧，始终没有熄灭。

不会是“纵火家”吧？抓到大鱼了……Lumi An既欣喜又烦恼。

他欣喜的是序列8“挑衅者”对应的主材料出现了，烦恼的是比自己预想的猎物要强很多。

“纵火家”可是“猎人”途径的序列7，按Aurel的说法是出现质变的一个序列，古称“火法师”。

Lumi An自忖以“猎人”、“舞蹈家”、黑色荆棘符号威慑三合一的实力，只要不疏忽大意，狩猎一个“挑衅者”怪物应该是没有问题的，但面对序列7的“纵火家”，他真的没有把握。

这怪物只要一直远程攻击，都未必会受到黑色荆棘符号的削弱！

想了想，Lumi An决定先撤退。

他打算制定出有效的方案，弄好针对性的陷阱后才尝试对付这火焰怪物。

他初步的想法是回家跳那段可以召唤周围区域怪异事物的舞蹈，看看让口器怪物残存的灵上身会有怎样的负面影响。

如果不严重，可以接受，那他之后就能借用对方一个能力，比如“隐身”。至于被附身后会不会出现后遗症，以及那怨灵成功上身后是否愿意离开等问题，Lumi An倒是不太担心。

反正这是在梦境废墟里，只要不当场死亡，回现实好好休息一下，什么都能恢复。

Lumi An刚有动作，那火焰怪物突然抬起脑袋，用烧焦的脸孔、凸出的眼珠望向这边。

“不好！”Lumi An暗道一声，顾不得攀爬往下，直接从躲藏的地方向地面跳去。

几乎是同时，一个硕大的、赤红的火球砸在他原本所在的位置，炸得砖石横飞，一层层焰浪往外。

Lumi An仓促躲避落地时几乎无法控制自己的身体，只能顺势倒下，翻滚消力。

要不是“舞蹈家”带来了超凡的柔韧性，他免不得会因这扭曲的动作撕裂肌肉、弄断韧带。

等Lumi An重新站起，那火焰怪物已是出现在了坍塌建筑的顶部，身周凸显出一只又一只火焰凝聚成的赤色乌鸦。

看到这一幕，Lumi An仿佛被一队士兵围住，眼中所见皆是枪口。

没有犹豫，他不逃反进，向火焰怪物屹立的坍塌建筑奔去。

面对这样的场景，他觉得反败为胜的唯一可能是利用胸口的黑色荆棘符号。

而这似乎需要拉近距离！

蹬蹬蹬！

Lumi An狂奔中，一半火鸦嗖嗖从天降，砸在他的后面，砸得热浪腾起，爆炸回荡。

剩余的虚幻火鸦随之改变了方向，视线全部锁定了奔跑中的目标。

就在这个时候，Lumi An来到了那坍塌建筑的底部，与火焰怪物直线距离不超过五米。

下一秒，包裹着赤色火焰的焦黑怪物完全僵住了，他周围残存的一只只火焰乌鸦瞬间熄灭。

有作用！Lumi An心中刚腾起喜悦的情绪，那火焰怪物就掉转身体，从另一个方向下了坍塌建筑，狂奔而逃。

“喂，不要跑啊！”Lumi An下意识喊了一句。

他蹭蹭绕过前方的废墟，追赶起那火焰怪物。

追了有两栋建筑，因为那怪物速度实在太快，Lumi An彻底失去了它的踪影。

而这个时候，Lumi An胸口的灼热感也消失了。

他不得不停下来，调整呼吸，准备等会追踪脚印并提防陷阱。

喘息间，Lumi An目光一扫，突然凝固。

他侧面不远处，一栋半坍塌建筑的门口，正站着一道人影。

那身影套着带风帽的黑色长袍，整体和正常人类没什么区别，只是唯一的脑袋上长了三张脸孔。

正面那张脸属于老者，眼眸浑浊，眉毛稀疏，皱纹非常多；左侧那张是壮年男子，轮廓深刻，蓝眸明亮，胡须浓密而深黑；右边那张则仿佛不到五岁的孩子，肌肤光滑细腻，蔚蓝的眼睛里透着天真和懵懂。

三脸怪物！那个三脸怪物！Lumi An着实被吓到。

他因为追赶那火焰怪物，明显地更深入了废墟，居然直接遇到了三脸怪物！

在成为“舞蹈家”，掌握了神秘祭舞，可以半激发胸口黑色荆棘符号后，Lumi An也完全没有拿三脸怪物作为试验目标的打算，他直觉地认为这家伙非常危险，按神秘女士的用词来说，就是位格可能比较高，即使被黑色荆棘符号削弱，依旧能轻松击杀弱小的“猎人”。

所以，Lumi An之前的计划是先绕过三脸怪物所在区域，用别的怪物练练手，确认半激发的黑色荆棘符号在面对不同强度的敌人时分别能发挥什么作用。

然后再考虑是狩猎三脸怪物还是彻底不去招惹。

谁知道这家伙竟然出了本身“领地”，来到这边，与Lumi An碰了个正着！

这个……要不，我给您跳段舞道歉怎么样？Lumi An一边在心里疯狂地嘀咕，一边本能地往后退了一步。

半坍塌的建筑门口，套着黑色长袍戴风帽的三脸怪物也往后退了一步。

Lumi An转过了身体。

三脸怪物也转过了身体。

Lumi An狂奔而逃。

三脸怪物也狂奔而逃。

原本打算拉开距离试着跳舞的Lumi An跑了几步，忽然感觉不对。

他停了下来，转身望向敌人所在那片区域，正好看见三脸怪物狂奔而去的背影。

“……”Lumi An一下愣住。

隔了一会儿，他隐约明白了点什么，抬手摸了摸自己的脸孔，低声自语道：“我有这么可怕吗？”三脸怪物刚才的表现让他联想到了第一次遇到对方时的场景：那个时候，他偷偷看了三脸怪物一眼，吓得缩回了身体，祈求“永恒烈阳”庇佑自己不要被发现，之后，三脸怪物明明有看向他藏身的地方，却似乎什么都没有察觉，反而主动拉开了距离，站到了更远的地方。

原来那次不是“永恒烈阳”庇佑我，也不是我运气非常好，而是三脸怪物看出或者感应到了我的“特殊”，自己吓跑了？Lumi An若有所思地点了点头，随即做出了一个猜测：“梦境废墟里，位格到了一定程度的怪物可以直接察觉到我的‘特殊’，不需要我半激发出黑色荆棘符号？”