The Hunted Regressor: My Heretic Saint System

Chapter 206: Hungry Eyes

BOOM!

The impact was seismic.

Ignotus, propelled by Aur’s wind and Mer’s fire, slammed into Letum with the force of a falling meteorite. His fist, wrapped in a dense purple field of Gravity, connected squarely with the bastard’s crossed arms.

Letum was launched backward, his boots carving deep trenches into the stone floor.

Crucially, his grip failed.

Eris, looking like a very ruffled ball of black fluff, tumbled through the air.

She didn’t wait for gravity to do its job; she twisted mid-fall, landed on her paws, and bolted.

’G-Great job, Ignotus!’

The Goddess scrambled up a pile of rubble and squeezed into a small crack in the cavern wall.

’It’s only of course.’

Landing heavily, Ignotus didn’t give Letum time to breathe.

"Let’s see if your head bounces as well as it shines!"

He charged as his [Living Ligature] hummed, increasing his weight.

Letum lowered his arms, shaking off the numbness.

"You are a pest."

The annoyed assassin moved fast—terrifyingly fast for a man built like a house.

He stepped inside Ignotus’s heavy swing, delivering a palm strike to Ignotus’s chest.

The blow bypassed the gravity shield’s outer layer, rattling Ignotus’s ribs, forcing him back in a coughing fit.

"Come here, tank!"

Ulv was already moving.

"On it!"

[Glacial Glide] activated, making him slide past Ignotus like a battering ram.

Ice coated Ulv’s body, thickening his bulk before he slammed right into Letum.

Letum, instead of dodging, punched the charging wolf.

CRACK!

Ulv’s ice armor fractured instantly, and he slid backward ten feet, his boots smoking from the friction. But he held the line.

"Now!"

From the backline, the artillery opened up.

Lykos’s [Twin Frostblades] spun forward, slashing at Letum’s legs, while a volley of [Ice Arrows] rained down from above.

Letum swatted the frostblades away with his bare hands—his skin hardening into a dark, metallic sheen—but the distraction worked.

Nora flashed into existence behind him.

She drove two Lightning-imbued daggers toward his kidneys, wanting to gut him dead.

Yet she was denied. Letum spun just in time, catching Nora’s wrist mid-strike.

"You’re too slow."

Nora’s eyes widened as she released a burst of lightning point-blank.

Letum flinched, his grip loosening just enough for her to wrench free and backflip away.

"He’s a monster."

Nora hissed, landing beside Gaia.

"We’ll bury him then."

Gaia slammed her staff down.

The ground beneath Letum liquefied, sinking him to his knees.

Instantly, Gaia clenched her fist, and the stone hardened again, locking him in place.

"Aur! Mer!"

Ignotus yelled.

"Hit him!"

Aur was already in the air.

She used [Air Dash] to circle the trapped assassin, creating three [Zephyr Mirages] to confuse his tracking before snapping her whip, detonating pockets of air all around him.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Explosions battered Letum’s entire body, but that wasn’t all.

Mer followed up, her hands glowing white-hot, focusing the heat into a piercing beam.

The beam struck Letum’s chest, searing the black cloak and burning the skin beneath.

"GRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Letum roared in pain.

Using all of his brute strength, he flexed his legs, and the hardened earth around his knees shattered. Finally, he exploded out of the trap, ignoring the burns, and lunged at Aurelia, who was hovering too close.

"No."

Aur blasted wind to dodge at the last moment, Letum’s fingers missing her ankle by an inch.

Letum was left alone and surrounded, but despite his strength, the fight wasn’t just against him.

ROOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAR!

Behind them, the Greater Demon was feeding.

Its wounds were knitting together, magma bubbling over the cuts Ignotus had made earlier.

"It’s regenerating!"

Lykos shouted while firing an arrow at a snake’s head that was getting too close to Mer.

"Dammit."

Ignotus cursed.

"Multitasking. I hate multitasking."

He turned his back on Letum for a split second.

[Wise Fool] triggered on his clothes, greatly increasing his strength.

Ignotus quickly dropped to the floor, just as a massive snake head lunged over him, snapping its jaws where he had been.

From his prone position, he pulsed his field.

A pillar of purple gravity shot downward, catching the snake’s head under the chin and slamming it through his entire body like a stake, right into the ground.

"Lykos! Mer! Keep the big Demon down!"

Ignotus scrambled out of the flesh hole.

"The rest of us take Baldy!"

"Got it!"

Mer spun around, launching a barrage of [Fireballs] at the Greater Demon’s regenerating torso to cauterize the wounds and stop the healing. While at the same time, Lykos focused on creating more of such ’wounds.’

The battle on the other side of it all turned chaotic.

Letum was a juggernaut.

He waded through Nora’s lightning and Ulv’s ice like they were nothing.

Focusing only on Ignotus, he charged again, his fist glowing with Divinity.

Ignotus stood his ground and raised his sword.

[Wise Fool].

He swung too early.

An overhead chop that looked like it would miss by a mile.

Letum sneered, stepping inside the guard to deliver a killing blow.

But Ignotus’s "miss" attack caused all the stalactites hanging from the ceiling above them to snap and fall.

And thanks to his luck, each fell directly at Letum.

Absorbing the hits with raised arms, Letum stumbled, momentarily dazed.

"Get him!"

Ulv hit him low with [Frostbound Grasp], rooting his feet again. Nora hit him high with [Lightning Burst], stunning his nerves. Gaia hit him from the side with [Earth Spear], slamming him into the wall.

And Ignotus stabbed him center mass.

Leaving his sword deep in Letum, Ignotus grabbed him by the throat with both hands and slammed him into the wall, cracking the stone.

"DOWN!"

At the same time, he increased the gravity upon Letum tenfold.

The bastard choked, his eyes bulging as the great weight crushed his chest.

"You... little..."

Ignotus didn’t let him speak, tightening his grip.

It looked like they had him; the assassin was pinned.

The Greater Demon was being suppressed by the backline.

Victory was inches away.

Shiff... shiff...

But of course, a sound broke through the noise of battle.

It was the sound of dragging feet.

Ignotus’s ears twitched.

He looked past Letum, toward the dark tunnel entrance they had come from.

Letum, despite being crushed, started to smile. Blood stained his teeth.

"You... are... too late."

From the shadows, a figure emerged.

It was a Lesser Demon, but it looked wrong.

It was missing an arm. Half its face was melted off.

It was dragging its leg, leaving a trail of black sludge.

Indeed, it was one of the ones they thought they had killed.

Or maybe one they entirely missed. It didn’t matter.

What mattered was what it was holding.

In its remaining hand, clutched tight, was a tattered banner made of pale skin, painted with black blood.

A sealing Arcane.

The Demon stumbled into the room and casually walked toward the Greater Demon.

"No..."

Aur whispered, freezing midair.

"Stop it!"

Ignotus immediately let go of Letum to lunge at the new threat.

But the falling Letum grabbed at Ignotus’s ankle.

"I don’t think so."

The crippled Demon reached the center of the room, and with its last ounce of strength, it tore the banner right in front of the Greater Demon.

THUMP.

"..."

"..."

"..."

For one heartbeat, the entire dungeon went dead silent.

Then, the ink on the torn banner slowly began to dim.

The Greater Demon’s hundred eyes snapped open.

And they weren’t groggy anymore.

They were hungry.

Eris felt it.

There was no escaping this. It had happened.

The one they had fought so hard to keep dormant was now enraged.