Chapter 39: The Demons' Maze (6)
When Hunter's life was in his parents' hands, he hated them for restraining him so much.
But… there was nothing more terrible than his mother bringing red roses to his hospital room.
His room was basically littered with them, for a red rose meant a long life in his country. People often brought them to the patients, and Hunter wasn't an exception.
However, blanketed in the pain no human had ever been, Hunter wanted them to wither and fly off. Those red roses always reminded him of his parents' selfish wish, which was for him to survive this hell to return to school and then take over the family company.
This selfishness and memories were now cramming Hunter's mind as he drowned in another agony under the beast woman's madness and grief.
'I never wanted… those roses… but… in this world… with so much freedom and prospect…'
"I want… that red rose… mother."
Those words were a prelude to Hunter's original skill.
As gears within him moved, the unknown feeling within him sprouted as well. It was heavily connected to the unusual claustrophobia, selfishness of people, and self-goals.
Hunter never knew what his fears were… but as he was stranded and imprisoned in the underground maze, he began to understand that his claustrophobia was directly related to the will in his inheritance.
And he translated it into his own language.
'I don't want to be trapped in the underground with no prospects and opportunities. I fear being locked in four walls with no room to leave.'
Where was the selfishness of people in that? And self-goals?
Hunter didn't have enough information to understand that, but as another gear within him turned on, he was confident that he read his unknown feeling well.
Which was no longer that unfamiliar.
-
The rivers of blood became colder and steamed, filling the underground with chilling mist.
Aware that Hunter wielded this unusual element and gathered it around his fist to kill off her little sister, Aza cleared her head of the grief and slammed her mace onto his mauled chest, pinning herself on him.
Which was a good move as Hunter was developing more and more strength to stand up!
Still, that was not the same move.
"Miss Aza! Something is rising!"
"What is this?!"
"B-blood?!"
Hearing shouts and confusion ringing from the aspiring hunters, Aza turned her attention to the side and nearly gasped in shock as red tendrils rose from the streaming rivers of blood, coalescing into… roses.
Which shot up in her direction, wanting to slither around her to take her off Hunter's body!
At the same time, Hunter gathered more force within himself, using it at once. He howled like a demon and raised his torso, his hands getting freedom, which he extended toward Aza's mace.
However, being a skillful hunter, Aza used her innate skill mixed with her lineage's heritage and growled as well. From her muscular curves, the beast's howl echoed, puncturing the red roses slithering around her.
Moreover, she used the other end of her long mace to smash Hunter's forehead, stopping his assault.
Understanding that this man was evolving under dire circumstances, Aza decided to finish him off. She changed the grip of her weapon and smashed Hunter's head from the side, separating his head off the neck.
His head flew and rolled on the ground…
Which could only mean one thing — death.
The killer of her little sister was finally dead.
"You can rest in peace, Little Oona. The bastard's dead."
Turning around to end the bastard's teammate, Aza was startled to see that the red roses were still up, their forms coiling around the aspiring hunters. Some of them had their heads hidden in the roses' crowns, getting devoured from the inside.
Some were trapped in the tight embrace of the roses, their limbs, torsos, and necks slashed by the thorny stems.
The same happened to the monsters.
Everyone apart from Aza was knotted in Hunter's Original Skill — Red Rose(SSS).
Which was shaped by his experience from Earth and the second exam, where Hunter was devoured by the monstrous flower and saw the entire land carpeted by the abundance of green flowers.
In that precious land, the vista of the red eagle domineering the entire scene had left the deepest impression on Hunter.
A role which he will fill in…
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Picking up the rubbles tumbling down something… or someone, Aza turned around, only to have her breath stolen and her beast body alarming her to… run, for in front of her stood an existence she had never seen in her life.
Shrouded in as black as darkness armor, with seemingly no joints or gaps in its polished steel, a hulking existence cast its shadow and pressure on her. He was headless, with a golden rocking soul in place of what would be… a head encased in a visor. The soul was long and lively, like a feather of an invisible helmet dancing alongside the wind.
His presence compelled the darkness of the cave to bow in his presence.
As he stood still, bathing in the imperious aura, the bloody garden rejoiced, savoring humans and their blood, turning their cacophony of screams and terror into their own sonata.
"Are you… a demon?" Aza skeptically asked for she had seen demons, and no one was like the existence before him.
Well, she couldn't be blamed.
No one could wield death like Hunter did.
No one had the power of death waiting for him to pick it up!
But one thing was sure.
With the newest skill stemming from his inheritance, Hunter became closer to death.
For the newest skill he received in his plight was Death's Honor(SSS).
Which allowed him to change his human body to races related to death.
And now, he was Dullahan: Mode — Death Knight.
"Don't ridicule me like that, woman," the headless spoke disdainfully. "I'm above demons."