Book 5 Chapter 8.5 - Face of Darkness
The long whips of flame moved about like snakes, splitting into more and more whip tips, continuously striking down on Pandora's body, beating her until she continuously rolled about on the snowy ground. Her snow-white skin was immediately covered in burn marks, the criss-crossed traces extremely terrifying. While rolling on the ground, the scorched black skin would come off, replaced by tender new skin. As a result, Pandora's originally perfect body was now criss-crossed with interweaving scorched black and pink colors, in between large amounts of unharmed snow-white skin.
The whipping seemed like it would never end.
Pandora couldn't help but release a few muffled sounds in the beginning, but later on she began to groan, eventually crying from the pain. Only when she began to scream did the apostle's anger become quelled and he slowly withdrew the long flame whips.
The flames on the long whip were definitely extremely hot, with even Pandora's body immediately burned upon making contact. However, when the flames on the tip of the whip tips brushed against the snow on the ground, they unexpectedly didn't melt the accumulated snow at all.
While looking at Pandora who was slowly climbing up from the snow covered ground, the apostle said coldly, "Continue looking for that lamb until you find him. If you dare 'search' like you were just now, you won't be let off as easily as this time!"
Her humiliated appearance and respectful reply left the apostle extremely satisfied. With a hmph sound, he then coldly spat out, "Inferior insect!" His consciousness then turned into an undercurrent before rolling into the distance.
Pandora laid on the ground without moving, her beautiful face pressed against the snowy ground. Her eyes were still a bright black, quietly looking at the disorderly snow before her eyes, but it was unknown where her gaze truly fell.
Snow began to fall again.
Large amounts of snowflakes fell down one after another, covering her naked body. Only when the snow completely covered her body did Pandora's eyes move. She slowly supported her body, standing up from the snowland. Under the boundless snow, her body was sparkling and translucent, as if there was a faint haze surrounding it. The Black Flame Seal not only possessed powerful defensive strength, its recovery ability was also great.
She surveyed her surroundings. The clothes she was wearing had long been burned to pieces from the flame whip. The apostle purposely didn't leave her with any clothes, with humiliation being a part of the reason. Strictly speaking, the Black Flame Seal could only be considered a humanoid weapon, so once it left Pandora's soul, it would only be a walking corpse. However, for Pandora, the Black Flame Seal wasn't just a weapon.
She didn't give the ruined clothes on the ground a single look, instead, with her body completely naked, she faced the wind and snow as she disappeared into the boundless northern country.
At the edge of a vast forest were a few wooden houses. The scale was too small, small to the extent where it couldn't even be called a village. There were five men that took residence within these wooden houses, their ages all different, but their occupations the same: all of them were mutated creature hunters. They hundred rare mutated creatures within the primitive forest and then sold them to the Holy Crusaders, thus obtaining their livelihood. When it became difficult to find mutated creatures, they would hunt a few tastier beasts and similarly offer them for sale to exchange for necessities and ammunition. A hundred kilometers or so from this place was a Holy Crusaders outpost, the guards and officers there extremely fond of the wild game they brought. As for mutated creature specimens, each time they handed one over, they would obtain great rewards.
The life of a hunter was lonesome and quiet, but they had freedom, and they didn't have to constantly struggle for food. In reality, the environment in the snow country's primitive forest was far more vile than in the wilderness, so despite having rich natural resources, those with slightly weaker abilities couldn't survive here at all. During the severe winter seasons, even the warmest time of day would be lower than negative fifty degrees. Meanwhile, there were some rare mutated creatures that would only appear during this time. As such, hunters who could survive under these conditions were definitely not simple.
It hasn't been long since winter began, so it was the most idle time of the year. An older hunter pushed open the door of a wooden house and casually walked out, eyes clearly still a bit sleepy. A strong alcohol smell was released from his body. Even though his half grizzled hair was terribly messy, every single strand was hard like steel wiring. He stretched out his body in a relaxed manner, and when the cold winds landed on his chest, he actually felt rather comfortable. The temperature was already negative thirty degrees, yet the middle-aged hunter only wore a leather jacket, his hair-covered chest completely exposed. His stature wasn't all that well-built, but the lines were fine and full of rigidity. In the eyes of experienced individuals, these muscles represented at least three levels of power and three levels of defensive strength. If he was placed in the Black Dragonriders, he would barely meet the standard for a formal dragonrider private. However, if one thought about it, it wasn't all that strange. If one wanted to live in this blasted place and live a life that wasn't bad, they had to have a bit of strength.
This was a territory with freedom, and even the cold air was full of a smell of freedom. The only regret was that this place lacked women. Normal women couldn't survive under this type of conditions at all. Right at this moment, the middle-aged hunter's eyes suddenly narrowed. He almost couldn't believe what he saw.
Woman? It was a woman! Moreover, an exceptional beauty who wasn't wearing any clothes! She seemed to show no intentions of covering up her sensitive parts, walking over naturally just like that. Her long black hair hung down in front of her chest, but they didn't block the two captivating points of redness that were sticking out.
The middle-aged hunter thought that something was wrong with his eyes. Only after forcefully rubbing them did he gaze over once again. He saw that beautiful naked young lady again. However, this time, he even more so couldn't believe his own eyes. When he first saw her, she was still a kilometer away, but in the time it took for him to rub his eyes, why did this black-haired young lady appear before his face? She was so close he could almost touch her if he just stretched out his hand!
The middle-aged hunter didn't know if he should thank god for this gift or be on guard for the devil's trap. The black-haired beauty immediately made his mind completely blank, to the extent where he didn't even display any physiological reaction! The middle-aged hunter saw the black-haired young lady purse her small mouth, as if blowing a breath of air towards him. Then, the world before his eyes grew dim, and his eyes already became blind. Before the middle-aged hunter could understand what happened, his life quickly left him just like the light before his eyes.
The weather gradually became a bit warmer.
Pandora left this small hunter's camp. He didn't spend long here, but she obtained clothes and supplies, even eating until she was half full. Six corpses were left behind, the waste products after her meal.