Infinite Hunter

The ruins are small, and it's fair to say the church was originally small. It's unclear when it was abandoned – looking at the darkened remains, it's likely abandoned after a fire. The once tall, pointed roof is completely gone, and half of the church's walls have collapsed. The cross and statue of the Virgin Mary are either gone or incomplete.

The sermon table and the rows of chairs below it were long gone. The platform itself was broken, but overall it was still relatively intact. The stained glass was long gone, but the relief carvings at the bottom of the burnt-blackened walls still had some color.

Cheng Yijiu walked slowly through the church. Rotten and broken wooden planks were placed on the ruins. Not much floor remained, and underneath was rammed earth. The church had a foundation, and at the four corners, Cheng Yijiu saw the remains of stone pillars.

The traces and scent of the female vampire disappeared here - of course, her scent was everywhere here, and there were several different scents with the same scent of perfume and corruption, proving that this was definitely the center of activity for the vampire brides. They set out from here to hunt, and finally returned here to disappear in "this world."

Cheng Yijiu looked at the walls of the entire church seriously. The sky was covered with dark clouds. Even at dawn, the pale sun could not be seen here. Only the sunlight shining through the clouds made the whole world look gray.

Behind the church was a very small cemetery, with what looked like only thirty or forty tombstones scattered about, broken and empty. Even if some important figure had been buried there, his coffin had long since been dragged out and the contents stolen. Cheng Yijiu heard the sound of rolling stones, and then, not surprisingly, saw pale, thin, short, strange human figures crawling out from beneath the empty tombs... in groups.

Chapter Fourteen

There were not just one or two human figures crawling out of the ground. Upon closer inspection, they were all zombies that Cheng Yijiu was very familiar with - they had dirty and rotten appearances, tanned skin tightly attached to the bones, sparse and dry yellow hair on their heads, and some of the clothes that were used when the human corpses were buried were still on their bodies, but they were almost all so dirty and tattered that they were difficult to distinguish.

"Wow, they're in droves!" Ghouls are probably dark creatures that even vampires look down upon. At least if they look like this, there's no place for them in Demon City. Cheng Yijiu didn't care about anything else. He first looked up at the sky. The pale sunlight seemed to have limited lethality to the ghouls - although these monsters' skin blistered after being exposed to the light, their movement was not affected at all.

This was actually stronger than vampires—in fact, werewolves didn't seem to be afraid of the sun either, they were just forced to transform under the full moon. And the evil giants he'd encountered before didn't seem to be afraid of the sun either. Instead, it was the strongest and most supernatural vampires among them who were most afraid of the sun.

Another powerful witch in the darkness who doesn't know what to fear?

Cheng Yijiu opened the cloth bag and put on the lion skin. He had already greased his body and even his sword, and now he was dressed in the most "Greek" way. He swept the sword across, easily severing the head of the leading ghoul - these dark creatures rarely regenerate their heads or remain active after being decapitated.

The only monsters who can do this are those who are particularly strong and unique - at least vampires are not among them.

Ghouls will attack living people, but they only eat rotten corpses. Now these monsters are rushing towards Cheng Yijiu - as long as you are not afraid of these things, their combat effectiveness is actually very average. Just be careful not to get your skin scratched or bitten, otherwise you will definitely get septicemia.

Cheng Yijiu didn't let these monsters get close to him. He chopped them into pieces within the reach of his sword - without even exerting any effort. Did these ghouls really deserve his real kung fu? After killing all the ghouls, watching their limbs scattered on the ground and rapidly decaying, Cheng Yijiu became interested in the scattered tombstones.

"Is this Cyrillic?" It looked a bit similar, and Cheng Yijiu took a long time to vaguely recognize one or two names, "It doesn't mean anything, just like John and the like." Vampires are divided into clans, Cheng Yijiu knew this very well. The so-called eight clans are a large category of vampires, which are relatively weak but numerous.

This type of vampire was definitely not what he was facing. Besides being much stronger and faster than ordinary humans, and possessing immense healing abilities, they lacked the ability to transform into mist, wolves, bats, or cast spells. So, they could only band together. Truly powerful vampires didn't need titles to distinguish them; their names reflected their class.

Dracula is the most obvious example.

This world... Cheng Yijiu walked back into the church and searched carefully inch by inch. It was around 2:00 in the afternoon when he said, "I found it. This should be magic, right?" This was the first time Cheng Yijiu had witnessed magic in the true sense - it was an inconspicuous relief in the corner, the surface of which was scorched black by smoke.

He could vaguely make out a relief of St. George slaying the dragon. As Cheng Yijiu's fingers brushed across it, the black marks faded, the original vibrant colors reappearing as if after dozens or hundreds of years. The beast writhed beneath the spear, its blood soon covering the entire relief floor.

The next moment, a door appeared. Cheng Yijiu pushed it open and found himself in eternal night—eternal night, wasn't it? The moon before him was surprisingly large and complete, even tinged with a reddish glow. In the center of the moon, the silhouette of a massive black castle stood tall, like the skeleton of a giant.

"This Castlevania really has a Wallachian feel." The door behind Cheng Yijiu vanished, transforming into an invisible boundary. Forests surrounded him, branches casting shadows in the moonlight. The temperature was low, and the air was thick with mist. Cheng Yijiu spotted a road, a wide dirt path leading from outside the barrier, straight ahead to the cliff.

There stood a massive, porous stone bridge, its pillars ablaze with blue lights. Cheng Yijiu carefully adjusted his clothing and equipment, tightening the lionskin's claws across his chest, donning his lion-jaw helmet, taking a few gulps of water from the water bag at his waist, adjusting his belt, and then, greatsword in hand, he set out on the road.

He crossed the stone bridge in front of him and saw the huge main gate of the castle. Looking back, even the stone bridge deck disappeared in the white mist. Instead, the churning glacier hundreds of meters below the cliff was clearly visible. Cheng Yijiu stared at the doorway in front of him and walked in without hesitation.

As soon as he stepped in, the iron gate behind him suddenly dropped from above, sealing the doorway. "Is this Dracula's Castle?" Cheng Yijiu was also very curious. "Could it be that my prey is Dracula? Shouldn't this be done by the Belmondo family and the rebellious son Alucard?"

Just as the thought had left his mind, the enormous castle before him suddenly shrank—transforming into a three-story Victorian-style building that occupied a considerable area. This place was most likely not Dracula's castle, but perhaps a replica of it built by one of Dracula's descendants.

This type of vampires are rare in number, but very powerful.

The first place they had to pass through was a garden, and wandering within it were giant wolves, very weak ones. They were probably undead creatures formed from the fur and bones of dead giant wolves imbued with magical energy. Cheng Yijiu could inflict fatal damage to them with his crossbow. Each wolves that were destroyed would howl before crumbling into mud.

"Well, it's worse than I thought." He quickly passed through the garden and entered the house directly through the main gate.

The interior of Eternal Night's house wasn't particularly dark, as candles lit the room. "What a beautiful building!" he thought, looking at the dome above the hall. The walls were decorated with exquisite carvings, and there were murals overhead. However, these decorations were full of traces of time, with a sad, old-fashioned luxury. This was the traditional style of this lineage of vampires.

Chapter 15

What lay before him could only be described as a demonic hall. Swarms of zombies swarmed the hall, crawling out of the dirt on several floorless areas and charging directly at Cheng Yijiu. "Magic puppets," Cheng Yijiu casually struck with the blade of his sword, shattering the "zombies" instantly. The hall was quite large, with corridors extending out on either side and a winding staircase in the front. A large mural hung on the wall of a small platform in the center.

The figure in the mural was a full-length portrait of a young nobleman, standing beside a small round table. "This must be a vampire," Cheng Yijiu thought. "The man in this portrait also has a mysterious charm and looks quite handsome." Cheng Yijiu himself was not a handsome man, but he had become brighter and more resolute because of Apollo's blessing.

The monsters here are the zombies that keep appearing. It wasn't until Cheng Yijiu stepped onto the stairs that all the clay figurines disappeared. "Hmm, the eyes of this portrait..." It really is a very good oil painting. Cheng Yijiu found that no matter from which angle you look at it, the eyes of this portrait are looking at you. Even with the change of time and angle, you can see that the corners of the portrait's mouth and expression will change.

This thing definitely had some kind of "magic," but that wasn't Cheng Yijiu's concern. He descended the stairs once more, crushing the zombies before heading toward the corridor to the left of the entrance. The corridor was decorated with various murals, along with numerous decorative tables and jars. Of course, the monsters here were also the usual skeletons, armed with various weapons, yet equally fragile and useless. These monsters could only slightly waste Cheng Yijiu's time, not harm him at all.

His defense was extremely strong with the help of the lion skin, and these monsters' attacks could not break his defense at all. Cheng Yijiu was not so reckless as to give it a try, he was just looking for traces of vampires. Since this is where vampires live, there must be vampires, right? Anyway, Cheng Yijiu thought about searching every floor. This place looked like it had three floors from the outside, and if you counted from inside, there should be four floors above ground, but there was obviously a basement, but he didn't know how many floors there were in the basement.

The first floor was also quite vast, and it looked like a U-shaped building. Cheng Yijiu encountered not only skeletons, but also some short but extremely capable deformed individuals, each armed with a large axe, leaping high and swinging down with a single blow. Along with them were tall figures in armor, and it was unknown if there were any humans within the full-body armor—each one was over two and a half meters tall, wielding everything from axes to giant swords and halberds.

The armor's movements were dramatic and powerful, yet Cheng Yijiu saw them as less threatening than the mutated dwarf. "The sway time is too long. If I just approached and stabbed it, its entire armor would fall apart." Cheng Yijiu slashed at the armor with his sword. It truly contained a mummy, and after being struck, it burned and turned to ash. Time itself quickly overtook the armor, leaving it as a pool of decaying metal fragments on the ground.

Without magical reshaping, these things would be nothing more than scrap metal. The monsters here are soulless, created purely by magic for combat. Cheng Yijiu had already discovered this while slaying zombies: "This should be the Great Ritual Magic—Demon City... let's call it that for now." This demon city provides a constant flow of magic, constantly regenerating the monsters within, maintaining its own strength, and even providing support for the vampires.

The reason why the magic city exists is because of vampires, so as long as the vampires are killed, the house will naturally collapse and disappear.

A strange, demonic flower sprouted from the ground, its thick vines supporting a bud over a meter tall. The flower blossomed for a fleeting moment. Cheng Yijiu watched as the pistil revealed a truly stunning beauty, beneath bright red petals and emitting an intoxicating fragrance. "Is this an illusion? A mimic of a predatory plant?" Cheng Yijiu wouldn't fall for it. He ducked low, facing the opponent with his lion's pelt, slid in at high speed, and with a single stroke of his sword, severed the flower from the thick vine.

The woman let out a piercing scream, her entire body visibly "separated." This was actually a five-petaled mouth filled with barbed fangs, disguised as a beautiful woman. The pistil was like a crusher. This was a carnivorous plant; anyone else would have been fooled... "How is that possible? No one in their right mind would be fooled," Cheng Yijiu muttered.

Turning ninety degrees, it looked like a church chapel. The ceiling was so high, the entire third floor seemed to have become a single floor. Beneath the massive stained glass window, a suit of armor stood over four meters tall. In the right hand of this black and red suit of armor, a greatsword towered taller than Cheng Yijiu. The heavy plate armor was adorned with skulls, carved metal skulls.

The helmet of this armor is shaped like the skull of an alien half-human, half-beast with thorns, and there are two horns above the ears that curve forward. "The armor master must have worked very hard to create a helmet with this shape." The metal covering under the helmet is a huge human skull face with two red lights in the eye sockets, which should be the eyes of the monster in the armor.

The armor also included a cape, black on the outside and red on the inside. The greatsword in his right hand was the most prominent, but in his left hand, he also held a shield, over a meter tall, adorned with a skull relief. "A full metal shield? Not likely... probably more like a thick wooden board covered in iron." Cheng Yijiu flexed his wrist and tightened his grip on the hilt. A tough fight was about to begin. The doors on both sides of the chapel had spontaneously closed, transforming this roughly four hundred square meter space into the arena for the duel.

Facing this giant-like opponent, Cheng Yijiu took the initiative to attack. As the lion's skin fluttered, a warm golden light suddenly erupted. The armored figure raised his shield and half-crouched, concealing himself behind it. The light shone on the shield, even emitting a small amount of black smoke. Cheng Yijiu had already reached the armored figure, aiming directly at the gap between the helmet and the neck—although it was completely dark there, he launched a thrust there.

The armored giant raised his right hand, blocking Cheng Yijiu's blow with the flat of his broadsword. His body shifted slightly, almost as if he were about to lose his balance. "It's much lighter than I thought. Is this armor hollow?" Cheng Yijiu quickly sensed this. He then quickly retreated, dodging the heavy sweep of the opponent's left shield.

Chapter 16

"Aha, the technique is simple. It relies entirely on strength." Cheng Yijiu quickly understood the armored giant's abilities. The problem was, understanding the armor didn't mean he could defeat him. The armor was thick, at least a centimeter thick, and the entire armor might weigh 150 kilograms. Although the Soul-Breaking Greatsword was extremely sharp, it was not easy to penetrate such armor. He had to find weak gaps.

And that big, thick shield—it would take quite a while to even break it. As for the greatsword, that was Cheng Yijiu's least concern. So what if it was long and wide? With the skill and speed of swinging the sword in that armor, it was a miracle he could even hit Cheng Yijiu. The combined attack of sword and shield was so powerful, coupled with the heavy armor, Cheng Yijiu couldn't find a way to penetrate it for a while.

Which part should I attack to kill with one blow?

This huge skeleton knight was indeed difficult to deal with. Cheng Yijiu moved forward, backward, left, and right, dodging attack after attack. He would occasionally counterattack, also to test the opponent's weaknesses. As for using the lion skin to block it, now was not the time.

"The problem is definitely with its joints. It's such a large thing, and now we can only dismantle it piece by piece." Cheng Yijiu made a decision. The lion hide began to tremble. The room was already illuminated by warm sunlight, which came from the lion hide. After being illuminated, a faint black smoke permeated the entire room. The room itself, including the decorations, was rapidly aging, as if time had finally caught up with them.

Cheng Yijiu took the initiative to attack. For a moment, the empty chapel was filled with the roar of a lion. The giant's armor was also covered in a faint black smoke, and his movements became a little stiffer. Cheng Yijiu rushed in low to the ground. The giant raised his shield and smashed it down hard, aiming for Cheng Yijiu's back. But now it looked more like a lion pouncing on the giant.

Not surprisingly, the shield struck the lion hide with absolutely no effect. The heavy force merely caused Cheng Yijiu to sink slightly, the armor's impact doing the job. Cheng Yijiu's body, already exceeding the strength of a mortal, combined with the lion hide's defensive mitigation, was able to withstand the blow. The lion hide dispersed the force originally concentrated by the shield's edge across his entire back, making it much easier for Cheng Yijiu to withstand the blow.

He aimed at the opponent's knee joint. Cheng Yijiu ducked and charged forward, his left leg striding forward firmly, his right leg pushing hard to accelerate. The sword, merging with the body, pierced the edge of the knee armor directly and accurately into the junction of the leg armor and shin. These were originally thick plates, relying entirely on the attached plates to block the joints. Now that the plates had slipped away, the remaining parts were directly pierced. The sword pierced the entire knee from the front and exited from behind the knee.

Cheng Yijiu quickly pried the sword blade, and now it was the turn of his left leg to exert force. He moved his body quickly, and like a golden lion, he passed directly with the giant. The big sword was like a lion's tooth, dragging and pulling, and knocked the entire part of the giant below the knee away.

The greaves and metal boots rolled on the ground, and the giant suddenly lost his balance and almost fell down. He used his giant sword to support himself on the ground and then he stood up.

Cheng Yijiu had already passed through. He thrust his sword through the opening of the shin armor, then slid downward, the sharp blade severing all the buckles. With a flick of his wrist, he untied the entire armor, revealing dust, dirt, and bones. Under the demon-breaking sword and the ointment of the God of Light, the dirt quickly turned to dust, and the thick bones quickly yellowed, dried, and withered, finally turning to pale ashes.

Cheng Yijiu stood up straight, stretching his limbs with a clacking sound. Without the support of one leg, the giant armored monster before him, even if it was undead, had basically lost its combat capability. This was true for Cheng Yijiu, but for others, it was still terrifying. This monster could use one hand to hold the shield to maintain balance on the ground, while the other hand wielded a greatsword with equally terrifying lethality.

Cheng Yijiu easily attacked from behind. The loss of a leg slowed the monster's turning speed considerably. This time, the lion-skinned swordsman didn't even need the lion's skin for protection. With a single upward thrust, he completely severed the monster's right arm beneath the armpit. The force was so great that even the monster, which likely weighed over two tons, was lifted and lifted. Of course, the severed arm quickly weathered under the power of light.

Afterwards, Cheng Yijiu turned his wrist and found a gap to stab. The tip of the sword pierced into the place below the mask where the neck should be. With a twist, the skull mask fell off, and the face inside was the face of a mummy.

Cheng Yijiu smiled, looking at the bearded corpse's face and the red light in its eye sockets. "Scared? Strange, I thought undead creatures didn't feel fear." He truly felt the other party's fear, perhaps because he was the Chosen One of the Gods of Light? If he killed this monster, its soul would be truly scattered, and the world would never be raised again. Probably.

He slashed with his sword, and the giant in front of him fell to the ground, just in time to behead him.

The lion's roar within the chapel ceased, and finally a sigh faded into silence. The two red lights had gone out, the giant's armor scattered to the ground, and the huge, dried corpse quickly decayed. Of course, the doors on both sides were open—could they still be sealed?

No treasures or props were revealed. The giant's armor was gone, gone forever... The heavy armor weathered and decayed, becoming a scattered, rusted mess of iron. However, the shield and sword still gleamed with a cold light, showing no signs of decay. Cheng Yijiu gestured over and said, "The shield is huge and heavy. It must weigh at least 300 kilograms. It could be used as a city wall. It's completely unusable by a normal human."

Thinking that he had just blocked the attack, he felt a little proud. He could now lift the giant shield with one hand, but it was just too large to use it smoothly. He grabbed the giant sword again. The height from the tip to the hilt of this sword was higher than Cheng Yijiu's, and it was very, very difficult to use. "I'm not Guts. This sword is equivalent to a dragon-slaying sword." The hilt was very thick, and Cheng Yijiu couldn't fully grasp it. It was suitable for the giant's hand.

This sword weighs more than fifty kilograms. Cheng Yijiu thinks it would be better if the handle was thinner. He can play with it without any problem, but it is too long and really difficult to handle.

Chapter 17

Continuing forward on the first floor, there wasn't much change, except for the high number and density of enemies. Unfortunately, they were useless against Cheng Yijiu, who had entered the Chosen of Light mode. Weaker dark monsters like the Carrion Crows and the Flying Head of Medusa struggled to get close to him, and were "purified" by the light emanating from him and the lion's hide.

Cheng Yijiu was curious about how a head could actually fly, but unfortunately, he didn't have any samples to analyze. The heads would quickly disintegrate into ash in the light within about three meters of him. The weaker zombies were no different from skeletons, and were completely useless against Cheng Yijiu.

The only thing that could hinder Cheng Yijiu's progress was the terrain. The house was undoubtedly distorted in space, and the corridor he saw before him looked like an "endless corridor." Cheng Yijiu walked leisurely through the corridor, sometimes even resting on a chair. He had brought high-calorie dry food and water, so he wasn't worried about logistics for the time being.

"Trying to stall for time?" Cheng Yijiu looked out the window. The sky was always dark, as if there was no distinction between day and night. The moonlight was surprisingly bright, and with the numerous candles and lamps, the corridor wasn't dark at all. However, the light emanating from Cheng Yijiu was even brighter, and as he moved, the corridor became increasingly dilapidated and worn, as if it had been there for hundreds of years.

Finally, unable to hold on any longer, Cheng Yijiu saw a completely different scene before his eyes—this must be the courtyard garden. He saw a large fountain and tall, continuous decorative stone arches. Standing there, the sky suddenly grew darker. "Every place has a completely different sky and climate. A vampire with such abilities is certainly worthy of its own faction—far superior to any clan."

Cheng Yijiu walked into this place, which was a world of strange cats that could blend into the surrounding darkness. At least Cheng Yijiu saw the flaws of these monsters in the light emitted by the lion skin - "Black panther?" He looked at the animal roaring and howling in front of him. It was definitely a leopard, but it had an extra pair of forelimbs, and the tail that swung back and forth was long and forked, like a two-headed snake.

This black leopard moves very fast and can become invisible - because once it leaves the range of Cheng Yijiu's light, it will blend into the darkness and shadows, making it impossible to detect. There are also cavalry here, half of the horse dragging its intestines, and a soldier sitting on the horse like a skeleton, waving his scimitar or spear to attack. "It's getting more and more out of the original meaning of hunting." Cheng Yijiu muttered, "There was a time when I wasn't a sword master at all."

Shouldn't one normally hold a shotgun, place bait, wait carefully, and finally finish the prey with a single shot? When did it become so troublesome? It's detached from the true meaning of hunting. "This is a job for demon hunters, or at least for the Belmondo family," Cheng Yijiu muttered. He didn't have a holy whip, but he did have a demon-slaying greatsword and a sacred lion skin.

He'd chopped down candles before, but there were no hearts inside. Besides, he didn't seem to have any secondary weapons—he hadn't brought any crossbows. As for magic, he had none, just this muscular body and a greatsword. "Very tough!"

The good thing about the live-action Castlevania is that it doesn't require jumping, or rather, the movement methods don't include high jumps, long jumps, or double jumps. If such a scene really came up, Cheng Yijiu really had no choice but to bring his flying claws.

The black, six-legged leopards in this courtyard were difficult to deal with. Their invisibility was crucial, and their speed was exceptionally fast. They seemed to have a natural ability to "flash" over short distances, at least that was how Cheng Yijiu felt. Fortunately, as a hunter, he was quite familiar with the attack patterns of cats. As long as they weren't attacking in pairs or three at once, the sword master was confident he could fend them off.

Originally, this monster was supposed to be invisible and flash, but in Cheng Yijiu's Field of Light, it was forced to reveal itself. And if it flashed, it couldn't turn - so it was easy to deal with. After determining the direction and distance, wouldn't it be a waste for Cheng Yijiu to use flash? As a warrior accustomed to using a sword, Cheng Yijiu figured all this out during the enemy's first surprise attack.

The black leopard approached again, its poisonous head spitting out its tongue, its six legs moving in a staggered manner, and suddenly its body blurred. Cheng Yijiu took a small step back and took advantage of the situation to strike hard with his sword.

The leopard responded perfectly, emerging just in time to catch the weak sword's edge, sparking a flash of blood. "Huh? This thing's actually alive?" Even Cheng Yijiu was surprised by the feel and sight of it. He'd assumed all the monsters here were magically shaped from inanimate objects, but he hadn't expected one to actually be alive. Cheng Yijiu was also able to control the sword's impact as it fell—with his strength at that level, he naturally had complete control over his attacks. Otherwise, he wouldn't be called the Lion Sword Saint.

A single strike of the sword pierced the leopard's neck and shoulder, nearly bisecting its front half like a pig. This was a 100% fatal wound, and it was doomed to fail. Blood gushed out, transforming into rising black smoke as it hit the ground. "It's a living creature, but it's ultimately controlled by the magical power of this place. It's half-dead, you could say." Cheng Yijiu swiftly slashed back, decapitating the leopard.

The half-horse cavalry were even weaker. Cheng Yijiu could simply hold his sword in place, and the monster's lance would naturally slide along the blade, and the half-horse and itself would collide headfirst into Cheng Yijiu's sword tip. As long as the hunter held the sword steady, the monster would be forced to its own death. Similarly, if the half-horse was penetrated by the sword, it would be instantly reduced to ash in the flames along with the half-horse.

On the other hand, the six-legged leopards would leave behind carcasses, but they would be visibly shrunken, reduced to skin and bones. Such fur was simply not worth collecting, as it lacked any luster and was extremely filthy, a very low-quality hide. Here were enemies, monsters that ruled the entire garden—marble lions rising from the fountain. There were three of these lions, twice the size of an average lion, and seemingly no smaller than the one Cheng Yijiu had strangled.

These pale, smooth marble lions had been revived by the infusion of evil magic. They roared and slowly approached Cheng Yijiu. Behind them, there were at least four six-legged black panthers...

Chapter 18

"This is a tough fight." Cheng Yijiu smacked his lips in bewilderment as he looked at the marble lions closing in from both sides. Now he could only hope that his sword's magic-breaking ability was strong enough, that his own strength was great enough, and that the lion skin he was wrapped in was strong enough for protection. This battle also increased Cheng Yijiu's blood flow, pumping more blood to his swollen muscles.

The white lion slowly approached Cheng Yijiu from the left, but it was the lion on the right that attacked. While Cheng Yijiu was focusing on the left, the white marble lion with gray streaks in its mane sped up and pounced. Cheng Yijiu suddenly stepped back, dodging the lion's attack with extraordinary reflexes, and at the same time, he grabbed the greatsword and stabbed it briefly.

The sword felt remarkably tough—not hard, but rather sturdy, like a layer of iron coated with solid old cowhide beneath. The blade must have penetrated the hard layer, but it only penetrated about two or three centimeters, not much deeper. Cheng Yijiu immediately used the hilt's weight to strike the stone lion hard on the cheek. The blow was quite effective, visibly shattering a little-finger-sized chunk of stone from the lion's cheek.

The lion roared in agony. From such close proximity, Cheng Yijiu could clearly see that the monster had no throat, and certainly no esophagus. In other words, it couldn't possibly eat. It was just a ferocious attacker, so surely it couldn't feel pain? The pain was probably due to the greatsword's demon-breaking power.

At this moment, the marble lions on the left and front took the opportunity to rush over, and the flashing six-legged black panther also approached very cunningly, trying to find an opportunity.

Cheng Yijiu's lion skin flew. Now he had to enter group combat mode, relying entirely on his instinctively engraved greatsword combat skills and instant reactions. Only a martial god could think strategically. And as the Chosen of the Light God, Cheng Yijiu did have this high-speed thinking ability. So he moved his body and used the first attacking marble lion as cover, blocking the attack from the marble lion coming from the front. He only had to face the lion in front of him that he had injured and the marble lion to the side.

Cheng Yijiu swung around, using the lion skin to block the slightly injured lion. "If I had known this would happen, I should have brought that big club. That stone club would definitely be very effective against these marble lions!" Fortunately, the cold iron sword was strong enough, just not heavy enough. If you really don't care about the blade, you can use it as an iron bar. The cold iron blade has good durability, so Cheng Yijiu simply didn't think about it and just faced the lion head-on.

The lion's claws opened wide, lunging forward, and Cheng Yijiu half-spun, his sword wielding with all its might. Cheng Yijiu tensed his wrists, gripping the hilt tightly—he was ready to unleash his full power. The lion's claws from behind him smacked his shoulder, the lion's hide blocking the sharp claws. Cheng Yijiu directly used the weight and power of the marble lion to strike.

The power of Apollo, the god of light, merged with Cheng Yijiu's at this moment. The sharp blade slashed heavily on the lion's cheek, almost at the eye socket. The lion's claws had already landed on Cheng Yijiu's shoulders, and the powerful swordsman withstood the power of the two lions in front and behind. At this moment, the lion's hide gleamed, and Cheng Yijiu's exposed upper body, as well as the muscles in his thighs, calves, and arms, were all bulging.

He is now no more than a marble statue...

This time, the heavy sword blade made a loud sound when it collided with the marble. Under the powerful interaction of force, the sword cut deeply into the lion's head. Marble was not much better than butter under such force and hardness. The sword cut diagonally from the eye socket to the lower jaw and the ear on the other side, just about cutting the lion's head into two pieces and completely separating one part of it from the body.

There were still high temperatures on both sides of the split, caused by the intense friction between the cold iron sword and the marble. Due to the sheer force and speed of the strike, the lion's head, though nearly broken in two, remained uncracked. The real, most intensive cracking occurred at the back, along the neck and shoulders, and this was practically fatal damage to a marble sculpture—the slightest force would have shattered the entire sculpture into a heap of stone.

The lion could still make sounds, and Cheng Yijiu swung his sword left and right, while simultaneously slamming his knee into the lion, knocking it away. The lion behind him had already put its weight on him, and he could feel the lion's fangs exerting force on his shoulders and back, but it couldn't bite through the lion's hide, and a lot of the force was also being taken away. This weight must have been a ton, and Cheng Yijiu half-bent over to bear it, using the lion's hide as a cushion, and with his arms raised, he forcibly lifted the marble lion halfway up.

At this moment, Cheng Yijiu was like Hercules descending to the earth. The man in the lion skin exhaled and shouted, his muscles swelled and exerted force, and he forcibly threw the marble lion weighing more than two tons over his shoulders. With a heavy over-the-shoulder throw, he threw the lion onto the severely injured lion - Cheng Yijiu's sword was still embedded in the other's head.

The crash of the two lions shook the earth, and the severely injured lion, as Cheng Yijiu had predicted, shattered. The cracks widened and spread under the impact, even causing half of its head to fall off. Cheng Yijiu's sword also fell to the ground. The cracks continued to widen, and soon the entire lion was shattered into at least a dozen pieces. At this point, the lion had indeed disappeared from the battle.

"I don't know when it will be awakened and reset, but it's unlikely," Cheng Yijiu muttered. The impact was mutual, and the severely injured lion was reduced to rubble. The lion, which had already had a minor injury, now had a major crack. The impact point was on the shoulder, from which a spiderweb-like crack pattern spread. "Alas," Cheng Yijiu sighed as he faced the last lion.

The lion that had been thrown out couldn't get up for a while, and one of its front legs might be broken. This last lion seemed to have found its chance and pounced, and Cheng Yijiu wrestled with the lion—his hands grasped the lion's claws, a wrestling match between man and marble lion. The six-legged black panthers kept approaching, but Cheng Yijiu's radiant light was making the monsters feel very uncomfortable—as they got closer...

Chapter 19

Cheng Yijiu pressed his head firmly against the lion's jaw, the lion's head on the lion's hide holding the lion's jaw in place. A lion's shoulder, back, and neck muscles weren't as flexible; after all, they weren't saber-toothed tigers, who relied on their neck muscles to stab and cut with their saber teeth. Cheng Yijiu was like a god descending from heaven, grabbing the lion's paw with both hands. He was cunning, grabbing the back of the paw and bending it downwards. This way, the lion's forearm might not even be able to exert 30% of its full strength, otherwise his wrist would be broken.

But this weight is not a lie, and the marble lion has no bones at all. But it is also true that it is difficult to exert force with this wrist posture. At this time, Cheng Yijiu can still be regarded as a superman. Cheng Yijiu, wearing a lion skin, seems to be possessed by Hercules, and he is holding the marble lion tightly, and is turning it over little by little.

His center of gravity gradually lowered, Cheng Yijiu searched for an opportunity, intently sensing the changes in the marble lion's power—this wasn't his area of ​​expertise; he was a swordsman, and what was needed now was a wrestling expert. Fortunately, sensing changes in power was also a skill used by swordsmen—a similar technique existed in sword-fighting techniques and spear-fighting techniques.

Seizing an opportunity, Cheng Yijiu suddenly exerted force to divert the opponent's force to one side, then turned his feet and went directly to the back of the lion. His arms passed through the lion's armpits and clasped them in front of the chest. With a force, the lion was half-lifted up. Even the six-legged leopard seemed to be frightened by this sudden situation, and its steps became unsteady.

As Cheng Yijiu had expected, the other marble lion already had one forelimb and half of its torso broken, making its movements somewhat unbalanced, and it couldn't pounce for a while. Cheng Yijiu suddenly lowered his body and arched downward, separating his left and right hands and moving them along the lion's smooth marble chest and abdomen, directly to its belly.

The lion-skinned hunter exerted his strength and lifted the huge marble lion onto his shoulders. With both hands, one on the chest and the other on the abdomen, he locked the lion so that its four legs were upside down and scratching around, leaving it completely helpless.

This was definitely the work of Hercules. At this moment, Cheng Yijiu's image was no less impressive than that of Hercules. His overall appearance was undoubtedly as magnificent as a marble sculpture. This action was frozen for a moment, and then tilted the next second - Cheng Yijiu heavily hit the lion's head as the contact point, knocking it down and easily cracking its head.

The earth shook, and the marble lion fell heavily to the ground. Cheng Yijiu let go of his hands and picked up the big sword on the ground. He turned around and struck the marble lion with all his strength from a high position, breaking it into two large pieces in front and back, and at least five or six smaller pieces in the hit part.