Who hid My Corpse!

Vic, who heard this question, was indeed distracted and said in a slight daze, "Oh, is that so, why is that?"

"Being able to hold back until now to ask, you're really quite dull," Rella couldn't help but tease from the side, and then she asked Ryan, "I'm more curious about if only this land has those strange things, why don't we move to another land to live? The world is so big, even if the outside lands belong to other Churches, but since there are Hunters, there's no need to be afraid, right?"

"Why only this land has corpse creatures, and why we don't leave are essentially the same question," Ryan said slowly, "The answer is simple, because that thing comes from... the God of Senluo."

Vic and Rella were both stunned.

"Surprised?" Ryan said faintly, "Actually, this answer isn't hard to think of, the only thing that can make a Divine fight personally would be another Divine itself."

"...when you put it that way, it makes some sense." Rella scratched her head, "But what exactly is that thing? Is the God of Senluo battling with its own hands?"

"No." Ryan shook his head, "It's... death."

"...huh?"

Vic and Rella showed a puzzled expression.

"What death?"

"The death of the God of Senluo," Ryan said, "The death of a god is not instantaneous, it has a long process, like..."

He stretched out his hand and grabbed a burning stick from the fire pit in front of him.

The flames licked the stick, turning it into ashes bit by bit.

"The God of Senluo at that time was like this stick," Ryan said, "It was dying, death was consuming its body like flames, but it wasn't willing to accept its fate, so it wanted to fight against death."

Vic opened his mouth, "Can death be fought against?"

"For mortals, no. But for gods... who knows." Ryan said solemnly, "In any case, that's what the God of Senluo did. Those corpse creatures are the embodiment of death, devouring the vitality of the God of Senluo. So, the God of Senluo created Hunters to fight against its own death."

Rella's lips moved slightly, "Then... what happened after?"

"It was still defeated by death."

Rella: "..."

Seeing Rella's expression, Ryan couldn't help but smile, though it was quite a grim smile.

"You might be curious about why I speak so disrespectfully of the God of Senluo, even though Hunters are its last believers on this land," Ryan said, "But it's not my problem, it's... all Hunters are like this. Because the God of Senluo never intended to hide the fact that it was dying, it was different from other Gods. It treated death as an enemy and was eager to defeat it."

After hearing Ryan's description, Vic, who originally had no impression of the God of Senluo, suddenly imagined the God of Senluo in his mind.

It's not the stiff statues in those dilapidated temples.

But a living... Hunter?

Its stature rivaled mountains, its power as magnificent as thunder.

Vic tried his best to look up, but he could only see its shoulders hidden among the clouds.

Then with a "boom," he saw the God of Senluo mobilize supreme power, with a world-shaking roar, sending out an exalted battle intent in the direction it faced.

Even he was infected by that battle intent.

But... who could make the God of Senluo raise battle intent?

Vic instinctively turned to look.

Then he saw a small, thin figure standing firm above the sky.

Who is that...?

Vic didn't know.

But the other party cast their gaze upon him.

In an instant.

The fantasy world shattered, and he suddenly opened his eyes, seeing Ryan still holding that burning stick, all that had happened before seemed like an illusion.

"What happened to you?" Rella noticed Vic's peculiarity, "Why are you suddenly drenched in sweat? Are you thinking of your little dog again?"

Vic answered weakly, "Ade is a wolf."

"Oh, oh, oh." Rella waved dismissively, "Whether it's a wolf or a dog, isn't it up to you to say?"

Vic didn't know how to explain anymore, he felt very tired.

"That's all I know," Ryan said faintly, "What happened further back, only the Hunters of that generation knew, as for the current Hunters, they are just the last embers after the fire has gone out."

As he spoke, he poked at the nearly extinguished fire pit with the stick, only a few sparks came out of the burned-through firewood.

The three of them didn't speak for a long time afterwards.

For Vic, the amount of information he got from Ryan was simply overwhelming, which also indirectly confirmed the authenticity of Ryan's identity as a hunter.

At least Vic couldn't obtain this information from that old hunter.

But then again, apart from letting Vic know he was deceived, the information Ryan provided was useless.

He still didn't know what had happened to him, nor did he know what lay in the lost Sacrificial Arena.

All he knew was that it was all a conspiracy of the Wildfire believers.

Yet even so, he still needed to go there.

With this realization, Vic bid farewell to Ryan, who didn't say a word but merely nodded in response.

But as Vic and Rella were walking to the door, Ryan suddenly spoke up.

"Vic, why do you want to become a hunter?"

Vic instinctively turned his head, seeing Ryan still sitting quietly on that little stool, gazing at him.

"...Why become a hunter?"

"Yes," Ryan said, "The God of Senluo is already dead, and the era of hunters has passed. Whether you accept it or not, this land will be renamed Wildfire in the future. If you want to join them now, I don't think they would refuse... The future belongs to them, have you never thought about it?"

"I..."

Vic opened his mouth, instinctively wanting to voice the reason, but the words stopped at his lips.

Indeed, why did he want to become a hunter?

Why did he suddenly forget?

"It seems you haven't found the answer yet." Ryan lowered his head again, as if ready to fall asleep, "Leave here, and it's best to act as if you never met me."

Before Vic could respond, Rella directly pulled him away by the hand.

Ryan watched the two figures disappear into the distance, sighed lightly, and then prepared to return indoors to rest.

However, as he stood up, he suddenly sensed something, and his weary eyes instantly became sharp.

This dark night was not quite right.

...

"I didn't expect you to have so many stories." On the way back, Rella walked lazily with her hands behind her head, "You're indeed much more interesting than that Priest of Rhein. By the way, what exactly is he... Hmm?"

Rella walked a few steps ahead, only to find that Vic hadn't followed. She turned around, puzzled, and saw Vic standing still, clutching his head tightly, his whole body trembling.

"Hey..." Rella felt something was wrong, "What's going on with you?"

She wanted to approach Vic, but after taking two steps forward she saw something and instinctively stepped back, her eyes full of terror.

Because half of Vic's face had already turned into a wolf's.

"You..."

Suddenly, a dense sound of footsteps echoed from the alley.

Rella instinctively turned her head, immediately embraced by a shadowy figure rushing towards her.

It was... Ryan!

She didn't even have time to react to what was going on before a terrifying wolf howl echoed from behind.

"Swoosh!"

Rella was thrown to the ground by Ryan.

At the same time, warm blood splattered onto Rella's face.

Rella jerked her head up, seeing half of Ryan's body already torn apart.

And behind Ryan, was a tall figure, identical to Vic... half-human, half-wolf.

And there wasn't just one.

Soon, a second, a third emerged from the darkness.

Some stood right next to Vic, like monsters emerging from the Abyss.

Rella instantly understood something, and she stared intently at Vic.

"You... deceived me!"