Hunter 96: Wamuu 

"You stay back, I'll take care of this."

Lin Jiu said, holding the [Dawn Shadow] sword, as he slowly walked forward. He knew that the probability of getting a treasure chest drop would be significantly reduced if he relied too much on others to kill the target in this derived world. If he didn't put in enough effort, even if a treasure chest dropped, it would be of low quality.

"Be careful!"

Caesar heightened his vigilance, keeping a close watch on the surroundings to prevent any sudden attacks.

As Lin Jiu advanced cautiously, he suddenly stomped heavily and lunged in a certain direction. The [Dawn Shadow] sword in his hand didn't carry any soul energy. Since they were still outside the castle, as long as he could prevent Wamuu from retreating inside, he could defeat him without the need for a soul strike.

"Hmm?"

Caesar didn't know what Lin Jiu had detected, but he realized that an enemy had appeared.

A strong gust of wind slightly deflected Lin Jiu's sword slash as Wamuu quickly dodged, allowing the sword to narrowly miss him.

Wamuu had no intention of fighting Lin Jiu. Though he was a battle-hungry individual, he wasn't foolish. He had only been using the airflow to hide in the sunlight; he wasn't yet invulnerable to it.

At this moment, lingering in battle was no different from courting death. For Wamuu, he could only truly enjoy a fight after returning to the castle.

However, for Lin Jiu, whether the fight was enjoyable wasn't important—what mattered was eliminating the target. He blocked Wamuu's path to the castle entrance and, sensing Wamuu's position, thrust his sword forward!

Wamuu was forced to retreat. If Lin Jiu disrupted the airflow surrounding Wamuu, he would be exposed to the sunlight.

Under Caesar's focused observation, he also saw the faintly visible figure in the sunlight that Lin Jiu was targeting. It was clear that Kars wasn't the only one in this castle.

Wamuu was only two meters from the door, but there was no way he could bypass Lin Jiu to enter the castle.

Boom!

A stone fell. Hearing the noise, Lin Jiu immediately moved away from the castle entrance, returning to the snow-covered ground.

Just as he left, the spot where he had been standing was smashed into a pit by an attack from Wamuu, who had launched the strike from inside the castle.

Wamuu was not a rigid warrior; when he couldn't enter through the door and couldn't afford to delay any longer, he decisively smashed a hole in the wall and entered the castle.

As he entered, he immediately launched an attack at Lin Jiu from behind the door, but unfortunately, Lin Jiu dodged it.

"You managed to detect my presence so quickly. I'm even more eager to fight you!"

Wamuu's figure leaned against the door, still surrounded by swirling air currents.

"So that's it! Wamuu has air ducts extending from his body, wrapping the air he breathes around him. The moisture in this air creates a vortex of water vapor, which acts like a shield, refracting sunlight away!"

Caesar understood the reason why Wamuu could move briefly in the sunlight by observing the air currents around him.

This was also why Lin Jiu had detected Wamuu's position so quickly.

Wamuu controls the flow of the wind, and the essence of wind is the movement of air currents. Before awakening his soul sense, Lin Jiu's primary means of perception was his acute sensitivity to changes in the surrounding air currents. Now that he had soul sense, it didn't mean he had lost this ability.

Seeing Wamuu reveal himself, Lin Jiu immediately used [Black Scout] to analyze his data.

[You used Night Vision and obtained 85% of the opponent's data through an attribute check.]

[Pillar Men: Wamuu]

HP: 100%

Strength: 27

Agility: 25

Stamina: 32

Intelligence: 16

Charisma: 9

[Skills:]

[Undead Max (Passive)]: Extremely resilient, recovery speed increased by 500%. Immune to most physical attacks weaker than himself.

[Muscle Control Max (Passive)]: Can freely control about 80% of his muscles, enabling him to perform actions impossible for ordinary people.

[Combat Genius Lv.?? (Passive)]: Increases melee damage by 10%, enhances perception by 15%.

[???]

[???]

[Ultimate Technique - Atmospheric Rift (Active)]: Reverses the airflow used for transparency, sucking in a large amount of wind into the body, then ultra-compresses it in the lungs, and finally releases it as a razor-sharp gust through a tiny gap, known as the Violent Wind Scalpel! (Has severe side effects)

...

Based on the data alone, Wamuu might not be as strong as ACDC, whom Lin Jiu hadn't met yet, but that one passive skill, Combat Genius, made Lin Jiu envious. It was almost like mastering a specialized technique.

Rustle, rustle...

Lin Jiu quickly moved through the snow, rushing toward Wamuu at the castle entrance.

"Good timing!"

Wamuu stood upright, his fist wrapped in swirling air currents, ready to strike down at the right moment.

Seeing the massive fist hurtling toward his head, Lin Jiu suddenly halted, causing Wamuu's fist to miss. He slashed his sword toward Wamuu's chest.

The best option would have been to sever one of Wamuu's arms, weakening his combat strength. But Lin Jiu knew that Wamuu's combat talent was incredibly high, making it likely that he would dodge a smaller target.

"Hiss—"

Wamuu sidestepped to avoid a fatal hit to his chest but was still grazed by Lin Jiu's sword. In this indoor battle, Lin Jiu's sword was infused with soul energy. Even with Wamuu's warrior mentality, the soul-severing pain from the strike was enough to stun him.

Lin Jiu didn't immediately follow up with another attack because his ankle was slightly injured from the sudden stop. If he hastily launched another attack, Wamuu would likely exploit the opening.

He knew that this kind of cost was necessary to catch Wamuu off guard. After adjusting to the pain in his ankle, Lin Jiu focused his gaze, entering a state of extreme concentration. With his current physique, he could maintain this state for about twenty minutes.

"I acknowledge you as the strongest human I've ever encountered!" Wamuu keenly sensed the change in Lin Jiu's aura, which became even more dangerous.

A smirk appeared on Wamuu's lips, and his eyes seemed to burn with flames. Suddenly, a wind blade formed in front of him without warning, swiftly flying toward Lin Jiu.

Lin Jiu immediately retreated out of the doorway, reappearing in the snow in front of the castle, crouching to dodge the incoming wind blade.

In the next moment, Lin Jiu kicked up a large amount of snow to obscure Wamuu's vision and then rushed forward, aiming a sidekick at Wamuu's kidney.

The air currents around Wamuu surged, instantly blowing away the snowflakes in front of him. However, the wind couldn't stop Lin Jiu's incoming kick, which landed hard on his kidney.

Debris behind Wamuu was shattered as his body flew back, crashing into a stone pillar, stopping his momentum.

Wamuu's expression grew more excited. He longed to fight powerful enemies, and now he had found one. As he landed, he immediately assumed a combat stance.

Seeing that Wamuu was about to use his ultimate attack, the Divine Sandstorm, Lin Jiu knew that his body's current toughness couldn't withstand that level of damage. Without hesitation, he pulled out the [Flame Sun] and fired two shots at Wamuu!

"What kind of weapon is this!"

Wamuu's pupils contracted sharply. He felt a deadly, instinctual danger from the incoming bullets. He immediately stopped his attack and threw himself to the side.

The exploding bullets destroyed part of the building, blasting open a corner of the castle. Sunlight streamed through the opening, illuminating the interior.

"Red, are you okay?"

Caesar heard the commotion and prepared to enter the castle.

"You should be asking if Wamuu is okay!"

Lin Jiu's words made Caesar slow his steps, realizing that their side currently had the upper hand.

"This explosion contains the power of sunlight!"

Wamuu said gravely as he examined the injuries caused by the explosion.

Taking advantage of the situation, Lin Jiu approached Wamuu before the dust from the explosion had settled.

"Divine Sandstorm!"

Wamuu was indeed a combat genius, quickly regaining his composure and shouting the name of his attack.

But Lin Jiu didn't sense any changes in the air currents, realizing that this was a diversion tactic. Amid the dust, he heard the sound of something heavy being lifted and then leaping into the air.

Boom!

With a loud crash, a thick stone pillar smashed into the ground, creating a large crater and dispersing the dust.

Lin Jiu, who had leaped into the air, landed on the tip of the stone pillar, while the other end was held tightly by Wamuu.

"Ha!"

Wamuu, holding the stone pillar, tried to smash Lin Jiu to the side.

Lin Jiu pushed off in the opposite direction, adding extra force to the end of the pillar. Anyone who has studied basic physics knows the principles of leverage and inertia. The force applied at the end would affect Wamuu's balance and control.

Seizing this opportunity, Lin Jiu closed in and slashed at Wamuu's throat.

Wamuu increased the force with which he swung the pillar, causing his body to rotate as he used his back to take Lin Jiu's slash. As the price for enduring the sword strike, Wamuu completed a full rotation of the pillar, bringing it down with immense force toward Lin Jiu.