"Cough… cough…!"
Elsa coughed up a large mouthful of blood, her seductive face contorted by the intense pain.
She instinctively tried to get up, but found her body pinned like a butterfly on a specimen board, utterly unable to move.
A sharp piece of rubble had pierced her abdomen, nailing the notorious Bowel Hunter firmly into the ruins.
"Heh heh, truly… how interesting…"
Elsa's tongue lightly licked the blood at the corner of her mouth, a morbid excitement flickering in her dark pupils.
As the infamous Bowel Hunter of the assassination world, she had almost never tasted defeat.
Even when occasionally facing powerful enemies, she always managed to escape death thanks to her special constitution as a cursed puppet.
But this was the first time she had been critically wounded in a single blow, without even time to react, as she was today.
"What secret is this young man hiding?"
In Elsa's mind, scenes of her three clashes with Natsuki Subaru couldn't help but surface.
The first time was in the Royal Capital warehouse, where he was merely a frail youth who needed to hide behind Reinhard, the Sword Saint.
The second time in the forest, though he showed astonishing growth and slew hundreds of Magic Beasts, he was still driven to a desperate situation by her.
And this time…
"Just one strike, a movement even I couldn't track… too fast, that young man."
Thinking of this, Elsa's breathing involuntarily quickened.
Less than a month had passed since her last encounter with Natsuki Subaru, and his growth rate was completely beyond common sense.
As an assassin who pursued the ultimate art of killing, it had been too long since she encountered an opponent that made her blood boil like this.
"What a brutal yet captivating fighting style~" Elsa's blood-stained lips curved into a crazed smile, her voice trembling slightly from excitement, "It's been so long… so long since I've encountered such a thrilling prey… your intestines must be breathtakingly beautiful, right?"
Accompanied by a chilling "rip" sound, Elsa forcibly pulled herself out of the rubble, tearing away flesh and blood clinging to the stones without a care.
As a modified cursed puppet, her powerful self-healing ability began to take effect, and her wounds visibly mending and closing.
It's worth noting that Elsa was not a natural demi-vampire, but a cursed puppet modified by an assassination organization through forbidden rituals.
This modification granted her a nearly undying nature—she could even regenerate after being dismembered.
But the cost was that most modified individuals would become mere walking corpses; only Elsa retained her conscious mind and could perfectly control this cursed power.
To this day, the opponents who could force her to use her revival ability were few and far between.
"Tap, tap—"
Steady footsteps approached from afar.
"......"
Elsa lifted her bloodied face, seeing Natsuki Subaru slowly walking towards her.
The panic and fear he had shown when first encountering her were gone from the young man's eyes, replaced by a chilling calmness and resolve.
"Such eyes, such an opponent, how captivating!"
Elsa's fingertips traced her cheek, trembling slightly from exhilaration.
As an assassin who pursued the ultimate art of killing, there was nothing more enjoyable than conquering such a rapidly growing prey.
And now, Natsuki Subaru was such a prey—no, perhaps now, he was the hunter.
At a distance of twenty meters, Natsuki Subaru stopped, his gaze suddenly sharp, eyes like blades piercing Elsa:
"It's time to end this, Bowel Hunter Elsa."
Natsuki Subaru didn't answer, but his gaze said it all.
—He certainly could.
Because he understood Elsa's weaknesses better than anyone.
One must know, ordinary methods simply couldn't kill Elsa.
Slashing, piercing, blunt force trauma, even explosions… damage that would instantly kill a normal person was merely brief pain for Elsa.
One must know, Elsa's undying nature allowed her to recover in an extremely short time, as if she had never been injured.
But… what if it was burning?
What if Elsa's body was completely carbonized by raging flames, given no chance to regenerate?
Just like in the original story, after Elsa was severely wounded by Garfiel, her consciousness gradually faded, and she was ultimately incinerated into ash in the raging inferno of the mansion, thoroughly ending her twisted life.
Of course, this wasn't the only method.
Although Elsa possessed immortality and could regenerate through the special ability of a cursed puppet even when dismembered, this ability was not infinite.
Each revival consumed her cursed power; by repeatedly killing her, there would eventually be a time when she could be completely eliminated.
However, it was simply impossible for an ordinary person to kill Elsa multiple times consecutively.
And the Natsuki Subaru standing before her now not only understood her weaknesses better than Garfiel in the original story, but his strength had also long surpassed what it once was.
This battle, from the very beginning, had a predetermined outcome.
"Heh heh…"
Elsa chuckled, lifting her black skirt, and slowly drew two brand new kukri curved blades from the sides of her smooth thighs.
Her previous kukri curved blade had already been crushed by Natsuki Subaru, but as a top assassin, how could she carry only one weapon?
"Come, young man…"
The twin blades gleamed coldly in the dim light. Elsa spun the blades in her hands, her voice soft as a lover's whisper, yet filled with bone-chilling killing intent, "Let me cut open your stomach… and thoroughly admire your intestines."
"That depends on whether you have the ability."
Facing Elsa's death threat, Natsuki Subaru's expression didn't waver in the slightest.
Then, with a slight flick of his right hand, the Kasaka's Poisoned Dagger instantly appeared in his palm, its sharp edge reflecting cold light.
This simple action, however, caused Elsa's pupils to slightly contract.
She hadn't even seen how Natsuki Subaru had drawn his weapon.
The air seemed to freeze in that instant.
The next moment—
The battle erupted!
"Boom!"
Elsa's figure suddenly blurred, leaving only an afterimage in her place.
Her first step broke the sound barrier, an ear-splitting boom echoing in the air.
Yet, facing this fatal assault, Natsuki Subaru stood unmoving like a mountain.
His feet were firmly rooted to the ground, not even the hem of his uniform trembled in the slightest.
Only his terrifyingly calm eyes remained locked onto Elsa's every movement.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The crisp sounds of metal clashing continuously exploded throughout the hall, each collision sending out dazzling sparks.
The dagger in Natsuki Subaru's hand transformed into a silver lightning bolt, weaving an impenetrable web of blades before him, neutralizing Elsa's torrential assault.
"Too slow."
In the fierce clash, Natsuki Subaru's gaze was sharp as an eagle's, precisely capturing Elsa's every subtle movement.
"From muscle exertion to blade path changes, I can see your every move clearly."
This was not a bluff.
At this moment, Natsuki Subaru had reached Level 60, and coupled with the transformation brought by his job change to Shadow Monarch, his physical capabilities had long broken through human limits, and his five senses had reached an inconceivable level.
He could hear Elsa's lungs contracting with every breath, could clearly see every flutter of her eyelashes, and could even predict her next move through the subtle changes in her muscles.
After all, each level-up brought not only increases in strength, speed, and spirit, but also comprehensive enhancements such as reaction ability.
Although the enhancement from a single level-up seemed minor, the accumulation of 60 transformations had already brought Natsuki Subaru to a completely new height.
Now, in terms of pure physical capabilities, he had already surpassed most humans and demi-humans in this world, steadily advancing towards a non-human realm.
Moreover, as his level continued to rise, this gap would only widen.
This was the terrifying aspect of the "Solo Leveling" system.
Growth that others needed decades of arduous cultivation to achieve, Natsuki Subaru could quickly attain simply by fighting monsters.
"......"
A morbid flush suddenly appeared on Elsa's face, her breathing quickened, and her fingers gripping the twin blades unconsciously tightened.
This was a situation she had never encountered.
The young man before her could not only fully see through all her attacks, but also block them all with such ease.
Even more terrifying, in such a high-intensity clash, the opponent's breathing showed no sign of disorder, as if this were just a casual warm-up.
"Excellent! Excellent!" Elsa's voice trembled with excitement, and the speed of her twin blades increased once more, the blade-light weaving a net of death in the air, "This is truly the prey I've always dreamed of!"
Clang—!
A deafening sound of metal colliding abruptly rang out!
Natsuki Subaru suddenly changed his move, his dagger drawing a perfect upward arc.
This strike precisely hit the weak point of the twin blades, and the immense impact nearly made Elsa drop her weapons.
"What?!"
Amidst the splashing sparks, Elsa showed a shocked expression for the first time.
Her hand was numb from the shock, forcing her to retreat two steps to regain her stance, her eyes, usually full of mockery, now filled with disbelief.
This young man… the strength he just displayed far exceeded her expectations.
In just a few seconds of engagement, she had launched hundreds of fatal attacks, each enough to kill an ordinary strong individual.
Yet Natsuki Subaru not only blocked them all, but also sought opportunities for counterattack even while defending.
Even more terrifying—
From beginning to end, his breathing showed no signs of disorder, and his eyes remained terrifyingly calm.
This was not a battle of equals at all, but rather… a one-sided domination.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh—
Ear-splitting swishing sounds echoed through the mansion corridor, Elsa's figure flickering like a blood-colored ghost in the dim light.
Suddenly, her slender legs pushed off forcefully, and she flipped backward in a manner defying physical laws.
Her slender shoe soles left fine cracks on the vertical wall. Using this momentum, Elsa actually sprinted along the wall.
The two curved blades spun in her hands, drawing deadly arcs, aiming directly for Natsuki Subaru's unguarded nape.
"Child's play."
Natsuki Subaru didn't even raise an eyelid. The dagger in his hand seemed to have eyes as it precisely blocked with a backhand strike.
With a crisp clang, sparks burst between them.
Using this recoil force, Natsuki Subaru's body spun like a top, and his right leg whipped towards Elsa's waist and abdomen with a whooshing sound.
"Bang!"
With a dull impact, Elsa flew backward like a broken kite, crashing heavily into a thick stone pillar.
"—CRASH!"
The entire stone pillar snapped in response, sending rubble and dust flying everywhere.
But before the dust could settle, the black figure returned from an incredible angle, her twin blades crossing to unleash a crimson cross-slash, the blade-aura tearing through the air with a grating, rasping sound.
"Too slow."
Natsuki Subaru's counterattack was as swift as lightning. With just a slight shift of his body, the Kasaka's Poisoned Dagger darted out like a serpent's tongue.
With a "thud", it precisely pierced Elsa's right shoulder.
Blood immediately gushed out, staining her black dress with a shocking dark crimson.
"Ah—"
Elsa stumbled back, but recovered her stance with a backflip. Her charming face showed no trace of pain; instead, a flush of almost intoxicated pleasure appeared.
Her slender fingers gently traced the wound, bringing her blood-stained fingertips to her lips and lightly licking them, a morbid light flickering in her dark eyes, "This pain… it's truly intoxicating."
"This woman is a complete pervert…"
Natsuki Subaru cursed inwardly.
He knew this twisted woman's past well.
Elsa was an orphan from the northern Gusteko Holy Kingdom, a wild child who survived by drinking muddy water in the ice and snow.
It wasn't until that cold winter night, when a blood-stained glass shard cut open the abdomen of her tormentor, when warm intestines coiled around Elsa's frozen fingers, that this twisted soul felt warmth for the first time.
From then on, dissecting others' abdomens became Elsa's ritual in pursuit of warmth, giving birth to the Bowel Hunter, whose name struck fear throughout the entire kingdom.
Did Elsa's plight deserve sympathy?
Perhaps.
But the Kasaka's Poisoned Dagger in Natsuki Subaru's hand remained as steady as a mountain, without the slightest waver.
In this cruel world where the strong survive and the weak perish, cheap sympathy is often more fatal than a sword.
It makes the hand holding the sword hesitate, and lets the moment of decision slip away.
Moreover…
This woman, lost in the ecstasy of slaughter, had already taken too many innocent lives with her blood-stained hands.
Of all the victims whose abdomens she had dissected, who among them had shown her mercy?
"Young man you truly are… making me more and more excited"
Before her words finished, Elsa twisted her waist at an anatomically impossible angle, completely disregarding her tearing wounds, spraying even more blood.
Bang!
Two curved blades tore through the air, whistling shrilly as they shot straight for Natsuki Subaru's throat.
"The same trick won't work on me."
The Kasaka's Poisoned Dagger in Natsuki Subaru's hand precisely parried the incoming twin blades, with a crisp clang and a shower of sparks.
______
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