Due to the significant distance, Lin could not check the stats of this creature. But by its appearance, he could roughly determine something, although he didn't know whether his assumptions were correct or not.
Lin squinted and looked closely at the creature, trying to assess:
"He is quite tall: definitely about two meters. His body is completely covered in black clothing, except for his face, where he has some kind of iron mask? No matter what kind of mask, but he has one. He is definitely human, but is he distorted? In this environment, where these purple flowers are present, it's hard not to get infected. So he is a human who became a Distorted creature because of the flowers and came to me after I killed all the mice?"
Having reached a possible truth, Lin gripped his sword tighter and took a special stance.
"Turning your back to a wild beast is the worst idea. Especially if you don't know the beast's abilities." Lin looked at the silhouette in the distance. "Therefore, I can only stand on defense!"
He noticed the silhouette slowly moving toward him. At first, its speed was quite low, but after a few seconds, it was already running at full speed toward Lin!
"I have two chances to use the skill. But it would be better if I used it only once against him since it's unknown who else inhabits this place. And I still have to find Yulan."
"But there's one problem — Forgetfulness, if I can't kill him immediately, the chances of survival drop rapidly, as forgetfulness simply won't let me think properly!"
Annoyed by this fact, Lin exhaled and looked at the approaching silhouette.
His mind was completely focused on the figure. In his vision, there were many other images of it, trying to attack him differently — from other angles and movements. Lin calculated many different attacks of the opponent and was fully prepared.
When the black figure was five meters away from Lin, he smiled and prepared to use the skill to slow time, when he noticed orange light starting to seep from the iron mask of the opponent!
"What th-!"
Bewildered, Lin saw pillars of orange flames coming out of all the openings of the black figure!
The black figure's clothes instantly ignited and turned to ashes, and its body became completely engulfed in orange fire. The surrounding air began to catch fire, and the temperature rose at a furious speed!
If Lin didn't leave, he would turn into grilled chicken!
But it was already too late to escape, and he had no choice but to use the skill to slow the burning speed.
Lin instantly used the skill: "Slow Motion Perception"!
The five meters around Lin slowed down. The fiery figure slowly burned, its fire particles moving at a low speed, the surrounding air ignited more slowly, giving Lin time to run!
Lin didn't even swing his sword, as its blade turned completely red from the heat! And he felt incredible heat, as if he would get third-degree burns at any moment!
Before turning away, Lin checked the stats of the fiery figure:
[Distorted Creature: Infected Awakened.]
[Rank: Beast.]
[Abilities:
— "Self-Ignition (Lv.2)".]
[Description: An ordinary Awakened exposed to the purple flower, who became a Distorted creature.]
Glancing at the stats, Lin sighed as his assumptions turned out correct, but he did not relax. He ran back and in a few seconds exited the area of slowed time while the Distorted creature remained inside.
He still had a few seconds before the area completely stopped its effect. Therefore, without wasting a second, Lin ran forward and reaching an intersection, turned right, hiding from the creature's view.
While running, Lin decided to check what skill the Infected Awakened had:
[Skill Name: Self-Ignition(Lv.2).]
[Skill Type: Active.]
[Description: At the user's simple will, he can completely ignite himself and burn everything in his path.]
"Truly unusual..."
Looking at the skill, Lin was amazed by its uniqueness.
"He basically needs to constantly burn himself. I wonder if he felt pain when using the skill?"
Lin pondered, then stopped.
"I need to find a safe place quickly."
"Wait! Where am I?!"
...
Inside an old and broken house, on the second floor, Lin stood and watched the view of half the village.
Ten minutes ago, he encountered the Infected Awakened and managed to escape safely. All this time, he observed him and tried to come up with the best plan to kill him. But so far — unsuccessfully.
Soon, on the road appeared a completely orange figure, emitting strong heat that even Lin could feel inside the house. Everything around the orange figure caught fire and melted; there was nothing that could stop it.
Lin thought for a moment:
"During this observation, I realized that he is quite disoriented. He moves purely by instinct and relies on his sight and hearing, so it shouldn't be hard to trap him."
"There are things he can't burn. For example, stone. But I need dense stone and in large quantities..."
Lin looked at the city and noticed the stone church. It was located in the center of the village and was quite tall, the only building in the village that remained intact and undamaged.
The most distinctive feature of the church was that it was made of gray stone blocks, which should withstand the fire of the Distorted creature.
"The church's stone blocks are perfect."
Lin smiled and quietly left the house.
He passed through several houses and was already at a significant distance from the Distorted creature. Lin smiled and shouted:
"Hey you! Infected, kill me if you can!"
His voice attracted not only the fiery figure but also the purple mice, which crawled out of various houses and headed toward Lin.
He paid no attention to them and only turned and ran toward the village square where the church was located.
When he reached it, he went inside and saw a large number of purple flowers growing everywhere they could. They surrounded the entire view, creating a scent that could be inhaled forever.
But Lin held his nose and walked over the flowers, stepping on them. He felt that even without directly inhaling the flowers, he could still become Distorted, as the concentration of the scent was off the charts, and it was obviously a very dangerous place.
Lin approached the wall and swung his sword.
Chzzz!
A sharp sound rang out, but the sword still managed to cut the stone, leaving a decent slice.
"This is definitely not bad, but can I manage to do this everywhere?"
Lin's plan was simple. He wanted to lure the fiery figure inside and then, in one moment, collapse the entire building on him. That's why he was making these cuts.
"It would've been easier if I still had the Dangerous Bananas,"
he sighed and continued striking the walls.
...
The fiery figure slowly approached the entrance to the church. It was like a bright torch; upon entering the relatively dark church, it instantly illuminated it, revealing Lin standing at the main pulpit with his sword.
The fiery figure roared and ran at Lin, burning everything in its path. The purple flowers melted along with the benches and human skeletons.
Lin slightly smiled and ran toward the right wall. Using his body, he jumped and reached the stained glass mosaics, smiling, he shouted:
"Rest in peace!"
He broke the glass and landed outside, crouching down, he looked at the stone blocks, which were so damaged that there was not a single intact spot. Lin smiled and swung his sword at one block.
Chzzz!
The sword pierced the stone and started cutting it. Soon after finishing, Lin kicked the wall with all his strength!
Bang!
He lifted his leg again and struck!
Bang!
Once more!
Bang!
After about ten strikes, the wall finally began to collapse!
Boom!
The right wall of the church, along with part of the roof, completely fell inward!
"Ha-ha-ha! Now that's what I call a spectacle!"
"Lin! I found you!" a female voice sounded.
"What? Yulan!"