The intense threat of death completely shattered Buck’s psychological defenses.
【Escape】!
The power of his Source Essence instantly strengthened Buck’s body.
His movement speed forcefully surged upward once again.
Run! He had to escape immediately!
Only by getting far away from this inhuman monster would he have a chance to survive.
As long as he preserved his life today, he could completely flee to another town, conceal his identity, and start over from scratch. Once he became powerful enough, he could always return later for revenge.
Buck suddenly sprinted sideways and vaulted over the courtyard wall.
【Temporary Agility Attribute increased by 1.5 (Current Total: 15.5)】
Purely in terms of straight-line sprinting speed, Lance currently could not outrun a veteran Thief desperately fleeing for his life.
However, there was one thing Buck could never possibly imagine.
At this moment, the one controlling this body was combat instinct existing in a state of absolute rationality.
Lance’s right leg suddenly bent at the knee while every muscle fiber in his body tightened completely like a fully drawn war bow.
He selected the most violent technique within the Azure Dragon Ultimate Flow.
【Dragon-Leaping Tail】.
The Aether Energy Pool inside his body was violently drained dry in an instant, all of it pouring into his right leg.
Lance viciously smashed his foot into the ground. The solid stone pavement beneath him exploded apart, forming a deep spiderweb-shaped crater.
Borrowing this terrifying explosive force stacked to its absolute limit—
Lance’s body resembled a heavy siege crossbow bolt tearing through the air, directly streaking across the sky as a dark-red afterimage.
Under Buck’s horrified gaze, that scorching-hot figure crossed the enormous distance in an instant and firmly “bit” onto his back.
There was no escaping anymore.
The final trace of luck in Buck’s heart was completely crushed.
That scorching and violent aura behind him had already sealed off every possible route of retreat.
His scar-covered face twisted entirely from overwhelming despair.
Since he was destined to die in this unknown courtyard—
then he would drag this monster down to hell together with him!
While running at high speed, Buck suddenly turned around.
He decisively threw away the two short blades in his hands.
His right hand flashed toward his waist and directly drew a small dagger containing a sophisticated mechanism.
Inside this weapon was an extremely potent poison that he normally could not bear to use.
Like a crazed beast, Buck faced that terrifying dark-red figure and thrust the dagger directly toward Lance’s abdomen.
He had already completely abandoned all defense.
Since the opponent refused to leave him any path to survive—
then the only thought left in his mind now was trading his own life for the opponent’s.
If the opponent chose to evade his dagger, there might still be a chance to exploit the brief stagnation after the opponent’s explosive movement and escape.
Faced with this desperate counterattack, any normal person holding such an overwhelming advantage would definitely choose to dodge.
Yet Lance made a movement that completely violated biological instinct.
Under Dragon Form, not a single emotional fluctuation existed on his face.
He completely ignored the fatal dagger stabbing toward his abdomen.
Lance tightly pressed the five fingers of his right hand together, while the muscles at his fingertips instantly tightened to their limit.
Facing Buck’s attack head-on, his entire right arm resembled a heavy war spear, violently thrusting forward without mercy.
“Pshhk!”
That poisoned dagger pierced through the tough muscle fibers of Lance’s abdomen only with extreme difficulty.
As the mechanism within the handle triggered open, a crisp “click” sounded.
Deadly toxic fluid was instantly injected into Lance’s body under high pressure.
At that very same second—
Lance’s steel-like fingertips also made contact with Buck’s chest.
There was not the slightest obstruction.
The dark-red fingers effortlessly pierced through the opponent’s coarse skin, brutally tore open the muscles in his chest, and drove straight inward through the gaps between his ribs.
In a single instant, his fingertips completely penetrated the heart that was still beating frantically.
Expressionless, Lance twisted his wrist slightly.
A heavy sound of internal organs and muscle tissue being violently shredded immediately echoed from inside the chest cavity.
Buck opened his mouth wide, yet failed to even release a final scream.
The madness and bloodshot color rapidly faded from his eyes, while both arms hung limply downward.
That fatal mechanism dagger still remained lodged firmly inside Lance’s abdomen.
Lance maintained his cold forward-thrusting posture.
His entire right arm had pierced completely through Buck’s torso, forcefully suspending the heavy corpse in midair.
Blood continuously dripped down Lance’s arm.
Then Lance violently pulled his arm backward.
Without support, the corpse crashed heavily onto the stone pavement like a broken sack, kicking up a small cloud of gray-white dust.
Lance slightly lowered his head and looked toward his continuously bleeding abdomen.
Within those dark-golden slit pupils remained only absolute indifference.
He reached out and gripped the dagger’s handle, directly ripping it out of his flesh with brute force.
Foul-smelling black blood flowed down along the blade.
As those poisonous blood droplets landed upon the stone pavement, they actually emitted harsh corrosive sounds and even released strands of pungent white smoke.
The wound on Lance’s abdomen had already completely rotted away.
Several seconds later—
as his health fell below 1%, Lance was suddenly forcibly expelled from that terrifying Dragon Form state.
His originally cold face immediately turned pale as paper.
Although his talents reduced his sensitivity toward pain, the agony still crashed against the nerves that had just regained human emotions like endless ocean waves.
What exactly had Buck mixed into that poison for it to hurt this much?
His current state had officially entered the combat continuation countdown granted by his Legacy.
After only three short minutes, this body would completely embrace death.
Lance gasped heavily for breath.
This Dragon Form state truly was terrifyingly powerful in actual combat.
There was no denying it—
he had just directly killed a Professional Rank Thief in the most straightforward manner using this form.
Although the opponent seemed to have already suffered extremely serious injuries before coming here.
But the most infuriating aspect of this entire system was hidden within the absolute rationality judgment mechanism of Combat Stance.
Why had he made absolutely no attempt to dodge the dagger while in Dragon Form just now?
Because that absolute rationality which abandoned humanity had directly incorporated the resurrection effect of the 【Ouroboros Ring】 into tactical calculations as well.
In that split-second judgment—
receiving a fatal wound to kill Buck, then using death to refresh his status and fully restore all injuries—
according to the System, this entire process represented the tactical choice with the lowest cost and highest fault tolerance.
And his body, taken over by instinct, had executed that calculation result with complete loyalty.
Looking at the mangled corpse on the ground—
Lance slowly crouched down while enduring the severe pain from his abdomen.
He searched through Buck’s clothes for a moment and successfully pulled out the bizarrely shaped compass from the other party’s pocket.
Afterward, Lance skillfully opened the Codex function on the panel.
He quickly browsed through Buck’s exclusive secrets.
Through those lines of text, he finally understood the exact tracking ability of this Curious Object of Fire Theft.
The effect of this thing truly was incredibly powerful—
practically impossible to guard against.
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