Chapter 21: Starting Point, End Point!

“Ha! Ha!”Neo gasped heavily, like a bellows, staggering almost to the ground. He grabbed some snow and stuffed it into his mouth, but felt his tongue and lips so numb that even the snow couldn’t melt. His lips remained dry—extremely parched. The pain and exhaustion in his body were beyond description. If he could,Neo would just collapse somewhere and sleep for half a year.

If there was still something inNeo’s body that hadn’t been exhausted, it was his mental strength. The power drawn from the necromancer Fatack had significantly boosted his mental strength. In this chase, mental strength was crucial—it kept him alert and clear-minded. His unsteady movements were mostly pretense, meant to give his pursuers hope, making them subconsciously believe they had a good chance of revenge.

Bang! The magic-powered pistol, always strapped to his waist, came in handy again. It saved energy and was easy to use. Its once underestimated attack power had become highly threatening due to the target’s severely reduced overall strength.

Yet,Neo still used the pistol mainly to injure enemies rather than targeting vital points. He pretended to be weakening, but actually had bigger plans.

The pursuers wanted to killNeo completely, whileNeo wanted to eliminate them all. Thus, his actions were part of staging another act of the Death Plague: either die, or keep moving forward without stopping!

To repeat this scenario with the demonized ones,Neo had to control the severity of the damage and the pace of attacks. After all, the demonized ones weren’t as stupid and irritable as those demon dogs.

Additionally, deciding who to attack and under what circumstances required careful thought. Only then could he ensure that by the time the demonized ones realized danger, death would already be just half a step away from each of them.

Meanwhile, Datha realized the traps here. He understood that, just like that damned pistol, those once laughable traps might now be extremely threatening.

“Be careful of the traps!” Datha warned his subordinates loudly, his voice filled with undisguised anger and panic.

His anger stemmed from realizing that from the start of the chase, he had lost not only control over the demon dogs but also control over the situation. Along the jungle edge, in the sub-forests, the primeval forests, and the trap zones, he and his subordinates had been led by the target, competing in their strongest domain while letting the target take the initiative and even control the pace.

For Datha, today’s experience would be etched in his memory forever!

“Damn it! I’ve learned my lesson. I swear, this is the first and last time I make such a mistake!” Having awakened among so many dark minions, Datha possessed a spiritual side unmatched by ordinary people.

Glaring darkly atNeo, who was about ten meters ahead, Datha gritted his teeth silently. “You… must die here today!”

The chase continued. The only changes were that the terrain was much easier to navigate now, and both sides were severely exhausted, no longer at their peak strength.

But these factors did not make the battle less intense or skillful; on the contrary, it became even more brutal. All tentative attacks were unnecessary—everyone went all out from the start. Even the demonized ones, determined to kill Neo, no longer cared whether they would be injured or die in the process; they were truly risking their lives. In terms of combat strength, Neo was not much better than any of the demonized ones. In terms of numbers, even if more than 20 demon dogs died, Neo was still at a severe disadvantage. In the trap-filled area, the advantages of the jungle no longer stood out. Moreover, Neo’s stamina declined, making him much clumsier. Meanwhile, the demonized ones, who were physically strong, adapted quickly to moving through the mountains and forests. Neo’s only advantage was the traps he had set earlier. Run, jump, take big steps! Neo’s unusual movements were observed by a demonized one who was closely pursuing him and ready to attack at any moment. He had listened to Datha’s advice and kept a close eye on Neo’s actions. Seeing the situation now, he thought to himself, “Traps? I’ll move just as you do…” Run, jump! He didn’t jump! The spot where he tried to jump turned out to be a simple pit, supported below by a board that had been sawed in half. After Neo stepped on it, it wasn’t high enough for his pursuer to step on and gain leverage. His body plunged downward, but the demonized one wasn’t too panicked. He was one of the more mentally resilient among the demonized ones, and his strength was considerable—such a pit wasn’t enough to stop him. Reacting quickly, he lunged forward with all his strength, shifting his center of gravity. At that critical moment, he remembered that Neo would take a big step after jumping. Realizing this was a series of pits—where a mistake led to falling into the truly deadly one—he didn’t repeat the same error. Utilizing his animal-like agility, he made a huge leap that caught up with Neo’s landing point. Indeed, it was a series of pits, but not a double series—rather, a triple series. The key was that both the first and third pits were sawed in a way that couldn’t withstand another step. If it were a fool, the first pit would be fatal; if it were a somewhat capable fool, the second pit would do the trick; only if someone was capable and calm enough would the third pit be deadly. Dust flew as the fake board collapsed, and the demonized one plunged into the large pit. This kind of trap required high skill from the setter—Neo had to control the force of stepping just right so that he could pass over it without damaging it, yet not enough to allow him to step on it again. Another factor was psychological manipulation—people often got deceived by their own cleverness. Moreover, extreme fatigue greatly affected the demonized ones’ judgment and reaction speed. Of course, there were other factors as well. Had this same pit been used at the beginning of the chase, even if the demonized one made the mistakes mentioned earlier, he might have survived with injuries. He could have quickly gathered his strength to make his body more resilient, and his sense of perception would have been much sharper than now, increasing his chances of acting in time to grab the wooden pole and avoid disaster.

But now, these are all luxuries. The countless actions during the pursuit through the dense forest had already exhausted the strength stored in their bodies. As Datha had warned, what was not threatening before didn’t necessarily mean it still wasn’t so now. Unfortunately, Datha only had the talent of a warrior and could only react instinctively; he couldn’t and wouldn’t explain to his subordinates what a weakened state was or what minimum combat standards meant at such a time. As an experienced veteran from the arena, Neo, however, had rich experience in surviving in harsh conditions. Being a warrior born in a cruel environment, his military skills were far beyond those of the corrupted. The corrupted, coming from various backgrounds—soldiers, farmers, artisans, merchants—were amateurs with no professional training. They had no clear concept of controlling strength or even fighting. Though they possessed great power, their ability to use it was extremely poor. This was even now. Back when they first gained their corrupted powers, they often broke chairs and beds in their excitement. At that time, the joy of suddenly having power overshadowed the implications of it, and they focused more on the benefits it brought. It was like a poor person suddenly getting 1,000 dirhams with no obligation to repay it. Later, the corrupted gradually adapted to this power and began to feel more confident using it. But their meager knowledge didn’t allow them to understand that this confidence was merely relative and still far from true mastery. Moreover, their motivation to join the dark forces meant that most of them had no interest in learning theoretical combat knowledge or even basic common sense. They only thought about squandering, indulging, and reveling… As the necromancer Eirus said after witnessing the arrogance of the corrupted, “Pigs remain pigs no matter how much is given to them. What truly determines strength is character. In our group, even the best talent is useless without excellent character.” Now, Neo would use more harsh realities to show these corrupted that fighting is a highly professional and serious matter—it’s not funny at all… The tragic death of one of these corrupted made Datha and the others more vigilant. Yet their understanding of the horrors of traps remained shallow; at least, they still looked down on traps like tripwires and splintered wood. It didn’t take long before Neo demonstrated how to use tripwires and splintered wood. First, it was the tripwire. Neo actually stopped moving and engaged in a direct fight with one of the corrupted. Even Datha and the others were on the verge of tears—how easy was it to get such a chance? Needless to say, they all attacked him together, with ferocious expressions. Just as Datha, the most threatening one, prepared to strike, Neo suddenly used the tripwire—not against his opponent, but on himself! A sudden swing of the wooden pole not only saved Neo from certain death but also sent him swiftly to the other side of several large trees, where he beheaded a corrupted who had attacked from there in shock.

Not long after, Neo cut the ropes of the high-hung beam that Datha had once mocked, changed its direction as it swung, and used it as a fast boat to fly down upon one of the corrupted, finishing by stabbing it with his sword!
Soon after that, there were two more similar traps: one threw the target into Neo’s blade; the other sent both Neo and the target flying off the cliff, with the target being flung away while Neo landed safely thanks to the rope’s rotation, avoiding what seemed like no other escape but a plunge to death.
The corrupted finally realized their narrow-mindedness and shallow understanding of traps, but it was too late. With so few traps, Neo seemed to have an army of hidden helpers. None of the corrupted could predict whether the next move would be Neo’s unconventional escape or attack, or yet another deadly trap, nor did anyone know how many more traps there were. This sparsely wooded area suddenly became extremely difficult to navigate, even harder than the primeval forest!
By now, almost all the corrupted had taken the fourth potion, with some even taking the fifth.
However, the purpose of taking energy potions had essentially changed unnoticed—previously to ensure powerful attacks, now to ensure the ability to cope in emergencies.
Maintaining a relatively sufficient level of strength was the utmost they could do at this point, yet they still couldn’t avoid dying in Neo’s traps. The only difference was that Neo needed to strike again more or less often to kill his enemies, which often put him in greater danger, adding three new wounds to his body, two of them left by Datha.
But not many left—death spread like a plague, relentless from the start, with few hunters remaining!
“Huff! Huff!” Datha hunched over, supporting himself on a tree with one hand, panting heavily.
Neo was less than ten meters away, but neither Neo nor the seven people on Datha’s side moved; they all just breathed heavily.
The hunters and their targets looked astonishingly disheveled and pitiful, yet their eyes were fierce and cold, sending chills down one’s spine. Together, they created something called shock—a phenomenon often seen on battlefields littered with corpses and smoke cleared.
Neo stood there, his gaze icy. He neither leaned on a tree or rock like Datha and the others nor stood straight like a spear. He looked ordinary, with a hint of relaxation, just as Datha had seen him the first time.
Muscles developed without knowing when to relax are dead muscles, and strength exerted without control is useless strength. This isn’t some secret—any stonecutter knows how to use wrist strength to swing a hammer easily and powerfully. But Datha and the others couldn’t, or never thought to, apply this principle—or a similar one—to combat. All sorts of intense emotions blinded their eyes. Degenerates—who would bother to learn and improve day by day?
Looking into Neo’s ice-piercing gaze, Datha understood that it was no longer a matter of whether they wanted to fight, but whether Neo would agree to let them avoid fighting. The roles of prey and hunter had quietly switched.

“Almost there…” Nio spoke for the first time in front of the corrupted beings, with a sentence that made no sense.
Just a few seconds later…
“Ugh, gag!” One of the corrupted beings suddenly vomited violently, not food, but blood and torn internal organs.
“Ah!” Another corrupted being screamed in agony as his flesh and fur began to peel off piece by piece.
Datha and the other corrupted beings stared in shock at this scene.
Following the principle of avoiding the worst, Nio had previously used traps to kill those corrupted beings who had resisted taking the fifth energy potion. Perhaps due to innate intuition or heightened awareness, these beings instinctively realized that taking the fifth potion would lead to serious consequences.
Indeed, the limit for each person was five potions—neither four nor six. Why?
Make the best use of resources: too few and it’s not enough; too many and it’s a waste. This was the Devil’s usual approach toward expendable beings.
The excessive physical strain, along with Nio’s repeated commands for sudden sprints and stops, combined with the fierce chase ahead, was essentially testing the endurance of their bodies in the cruelest possible way. In this regard, Nio would be well-suited to be recruited by the Dark Alchemists to develop clinical testing plans for potions.
Another corrupted being collapsed, dying from a burst of blood mist, followed by another… Once they took the fifth potion, death was inevitable—no matter how full of energy their bodies were.
The dark forces were no welfare institution, nor a nursing home—they did not accept failures. They were merely good at disguising and covering up cruelty. So when they first informed these corrupted beings about the precautions, it was just a casual remark: “Supplies are limited—use them carefully.”
In less than 30 seconds, all six corrupted beings were dead, each death more gruesome than the last. The one whose flesh had peeled off eventually became a pile of smoldering bones and a mess of flesh.
All madness, obsession, and recklessness vanished under the sight of such horror.
Datha remembered what his father, who had died working in the fields, had said: “Son! Don’t expect to get something for nothing—there’s no such thing in this world! Our family used to be free people… It’s my fault for being too greedy back then…”
Thud!
His thoughts were interrupted. With a dazed gaze, he looked down and saw a blade piercing through his chest—right at his heart.
Confused and puzzled, he raised his head and saw Nio, who had thrown away his sword after delivering a strike and leaped several meters away.
Datha couldn’t understand how he had been successfully ambushed by such a “little guy.” He was bewildered—why wasn’t the feeling of dying as painful as he had imagined?
Nio looked at Datha, his eyes filled with a hint of sadness. He spoke in a low voice, “It’s over. Dies like this… quickly.”
Indeed, it was quick. Datha’s last thought was that it had gotten dark early…
To lose courage at the worst possible time, to lose vigilance at the most inopportune moment—such a death was somewhat humiliating for someone as strong as Datha. But he wasn’t a warrior; he didn’t have to take responsibility for his unprofessional performance. Besides, how many people could die in a way befitting their status?
Nio felt little resentment toward Datha or those corrupted beings.

Dathi is just a pitiful man whose mind is clouded by negative emotions and exploited by darkness.
Pitiful people often have their faults; conversely, those who are detestable also have their pitiable sides.
Those who have been corrupted were once his fellow villagers. Perhaps they weren’t good people, but they still had a chance to change. To die in such a tragic way—Neo truly couldn’t feel joy; he only felt heaviness.
But if given another chance, Neo would still without hesitation put these corrupted ones to death, even more cruelly than he treated his opponents in the arena. He couldn’t forgive these degenerates who killed countless innocents for their own selfish desires. Of course, this made Neo hate the source of evil even more—those who sincerely commit evil deserve no forgiveness!
Reasonful hatred is the hardest to erase. For Neo, killing demons might have been just an empty slogan before, but not anymore. He silently vowed that for the rest of his life, he would be utterly hostile to demons, sworn enemies.