Well, well, well, did I just run into a major boss right out of the gate!
Derick didn't know if he was lucky or unlucky.
The Flame Reaver looked like just a tall, thin swordsman, his hooded clothes somewhat tattered, his face embedded with a mask. From his appearance, he was even less terrifying than Derick's little black man avatar.
However, after picking up his weapon, his demeanor changed completely.
The moment Derick spotted him, the Flame Reaver also saw him.
"Eh?"
The Flame Reaver made a puzzled sound. Then he raised the longsword in his hand and charged at Derick's avatar.
Slash!
He swiftly delivered a strike.
Fortunately, Derick's avatar was no ordinary being. Upon seeing the Flame Reaver's attack, it immediately reacted as it should—by raising the scythe, lest the Flame Reaver cut the scythe in half when bisecting him at the waist.
The Flame Reaver's avatar flashed, and Derick's avatar was split in two at the waist. He instantly felt his line of sight drop.
He also saw a moment of hesitation and confusion in the Flame Reaver's figure opposite him.
He could roughly guess the Flame Reaver's thoughts. Such a novel, mysterious thing, yet it died with a single cut. It was indeed perplexing.
Your strength really doesn't match your mysterious appearance.
...
On the Earth Beast, Derick covered his eyes.
It wasn't because of pain; his avatar had no nerves or similar parts, so there was no such sensation as pain. But the image of the Flame Reaver's sword strike was genuinely engraved in his mind.
That sharp, strange sword technique, severing the opponent's body before they could even react, and the fact that his main body felt no injury, still caused Derick to feel a phantom pain of being cut in the abdomen.
"This was probably just a probing attack from the Flame Reaver. When will I ever possess such strength?"
Derick thought to himself, rubbing his eyes.
Being cut by the Flame Reaver, Derick had actually grasped some basic information and special abilities about his avatar.
Currently, the avatar's strength was about ten times that of Derick's own body, roughly a bit stronger than the guards in Derick's current merchant caravan. It could barely handle ordinary soldiers or minor monsters; slightly more elite enemies could easily overpower the avatar.
But while its current stats were lacking, in terms of mechanics, Derick's avatar could be considered god-tier.
First was its immortality.
Although the current avatar had been bisected by the Flame Reaver, in reality, once the Flame Reaver left, the avatar would silently recover, its strength undiminished. Unless Derick's main body also suffered a fatal injury, the avatar would not disappear.
If this level of immortality wasn't surprising enough, what made Derick ecstatic was that this immortality wasn't limited to his avatar. It also manifested in his main body.
As long as Derick's main body and avatar weren't destroyed simultaneously, then no matter what damage his main body suffered, even if it was dismembered into more than a thousand pieces, he still wouldn't die. His health would be locked at 1 point, and he would slowly recover.
Those lethal curses were completely ineffective on him. Just don't get poisoned. If poisoned, Derick would suffer, constantly enduring the agony of poisoning but unable to die. Also, if he fell into the hands of a sadist and was variously tortured, he wouldn't die from the pain.
Both the avatar and the main body had to be eliminated to completely finish off Derick.
Derick also knew that this wasn't the only avatar he could create. In the future, he might have a second, even a third avatar. By then, his life security would be further enhanced.
And the second ability, besides immortality, was the avatar's ability to devour and grow.
After all, even with immortality, being constantly cut down and waiting to revive was not a great game experience.
The avatar could devour the corpses of recently deceased enemies and still-active energy. After devouring, the avatar could obtain all their abilities and a portion of their energy.
For example, if the avatar devoured a Condemnation Hunter, the hunter's archery skills could be acquired by Derick's avatar. However, of its power energy, Derick's avatar could only obtain a part.
At the same time, Derick's main body would also benefit from a portion of the avatar's energy and all its abilities.
Currently, the rough ratio was: if the devoured creature's energy was 100, the avatar would gain about 10, and Derick's main body would receive about 3.
This acquisition rate would increase as Derick's avatar's strength increased.
This amount of energy was a bit low, but devouring a few more would catch up.
"I wonder when I'll be able to grow to the point where I can even devour Titans."
Derick thought to himself.
Having arrived in this chaotic, apocalyptic world, if he wanted to survive, he had to become stronger.
Devouring Titans, even swallowing all the Emanators of Amphoreus, and becoming an Emanator himself might give him some sense of security.
"Could my avatar be related to the Aeon of Voracity?" Derick speculated.
While thinking, he lay resting on the Earth Beast. At this time, the avatar had also moved to a safe area and begun to rest.
As Derick was lying down resting, Jason, who was walking in front of the Earth Beast, suddenly shouted.
"Be careful, enemies are attacking."
What's happening!? There's still danger here!?
Although surprised by Jason's words, Derick, having just endured several hours of long-distance escape and his avatar having faced an attack from the Flame Reaver, reacted quickly. He rolled off the Earth Beast's back, using its body to block attacks.
The moment Derick landed, he saw an arrow fly past not far above his head.
So dangerous!
As Derick dodged the arrow, the Earth Beast's body was clearly also hit by arrows. The Earth Beast cried out in pain, its thick limbs pacing left and right. Seeing this, Derick knew he couldn't stay too close to the Earth Beast, or he could easily be trampled to death.
Spotting an opportunity, he quickly ran to Jason's side and asked in a low voice, "What exactly is going on?"
"I don't know either, why is our luck so bad today," Jason complained. "We were doing fine just now, almost at Okhema, and then two minions of Nikador, the Titan of Discord, appeared ahead. Hopefully, the caravan guards are strong enough, or our luck is good, and Okhema's patrol team can see us."
Following Jason's gaze, Derick looked ahead and saw two monsters, each taller than a man, standing on the path before them.
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