Lin Han's pupils shrank as his instincts kicked in. He twisted his body just in time—the dagger barely missed his chest, a cold aura seeping through his damp clothes.
"Shit!" Noya reacted instantly, her gun already drawn. Bang! The gunshot echoed through the cavern, the bullet piercing the attacker's wrist. The dagger clattered to the ground.
Lin Han pushed himself up, his karmic threads in turmoil. His gaze locked onto the assailant—
A robed man wearing a half-bronze demon mask, his left eye glowing with an unnatural purple hue.
"Who the hell are you?" Lin Han demanded, suppressing the unease crawling up his spine.
The man remained silent. Instead, he tilted his head slightly as if listening to an unheard voice. Then, without warning, he raised his left hand.
A black flame ignited in his palm, forming an eerie, ancient sigil.
Boom!
A violent force erupted from his hand, sending shockwaves through the cavern. Moss peeled off the damp stone walls. The firelight flickered wildly.
Lin Han staggered backward, his spine slamming into the jagged rock behind him.
His right eye seared with pain, and through his vision, a web of karmic threads twisted chaotically around the masked man—an unsolvable tangle of fate.
"Lin Han, watch out!" Noya shouted.
The masked man flicked his wrist. The fallen dagger levitated, hovering in mid-air, its eerie green glow intensifying.
Lin Han's chest tightened. This blade was cursed.
The storm had subsided, but the air remained thick with a damp, musty scent, mixed with a faint trace of blood. Lin Han stared at the floating dagger, an inexplicable sense of unease bubbling in his chest. His right eye burned with searing pain, the karmic threads twisting and distorting in front of him, as if struggling against an invisible force.
This was no ordinary weapon… It was alive.
Buzz—
The dagger emitted a low hum, its blade shimmering with an eerie blue glow. A cold aura radiated from its hilt, sending a sharp chill through the air. Lin Han could see his own breath fogging in the sudden drop in temperature.
"Walau eh, this thing can move on its own?" Lin Han muttered, taking an involuntary step back.
Noya's gun was still trained on the robed man, but her expression had grown even more grim.
"Lin Han… That dagger… it's not normal," her voice had lost its usual playfulness, replaced with a heavy seriousness.
"Yeah, I figured," Lin Han muttered, trying to steady his breathing.
Then, things took an even more terrifying turn.
Lin Han watched as the karmic threads around the dagger snapped, reformed, and twisted again, as if resisting some kind of preordained fate. Meanwhile, the robed man's karmic threads were… fading?
"You cannot escape," the robed figure finally spoke. His voice was hoarse, rasping, like someone whose throat had been shredded.
Lin Han's stomach churned as he snapped his gaze back toward the shadowy figure—only to see the man's body rapidly disintegrating, turning into wisps of black mist!
"Shit!" Lin Han swore under his breath. This guy wasn't human.
Noya had already reacted. With a sharp, calculated motion, she adjusted her aim, finger tightening around the trigger.
"Freeze!" she barked, before firing a round straight at the robed figure's chest.
Bang!
The bullet hit its mark—but instead of blood, the figure burst apart into black smoke.
"What the hell?" Lin Han felt a cold sweat trickle down his back. Was this some kind of spirit?
But Noya didn't even flinch. It was as if she had expected this outcome. She muttered under her breath, "Lin Han, get ready to run."
Lin Han frowned, about to question her, but then—
The dagger trembled violently, its blade tilting upward, like a predator locking onto its prey.
A split second later—
It shot forward like a streak of blue lightning, aiming straight for Lin Han's forehead!
"Watch out!" Noya's sharp cry rang out. She lunged forward, grabbing Lin Han's arm and yanking him back with all her strength.
The dagger whizzed past his face, slicing through the air so close that Lin Han could feel the icy aura brushing against his skin.
"Shit!" Lin Han barely regained his footing before realizing—the dagger was coming back around for another strike!
Without thinking, he dove to the side, rolling across the wet ground. The blade barely missed him, but he wasn't unscathed—a sharp pain seared across his shoulder.
He glanced down. A jagged cut had torn through his sleeve, revealing a strange, dark-blue mark seeping with blackened blood.
His stomach dropped. Was the dagger poisoned?
Noya's expression darkened. She knelt beside him, inspecting the wound. "That's not just a normal injury… There's a curse in this cut."
"Great," Lin Han gritted his teeth, wincing. "Anything else you wanna tell me? Maybe I'm also doomed to die in the next five minutes?"
"Shut up." Noya didn't hesitate. She reached into her tactical belt, pulling out a small, intricately carved talisman and shoved it into Lin Han's hand.
"Hold this," she ordered.
Lin Han didn't know what she was planning, but his instincts screamed at him to listen to her. He gripped the talisman tightly.
The dagger struck again.
This time, just inches away from Lin Han's chest—it stopped.
Hanging mid-air, the blade trembled violently, unable to move forward.
A second later, it let out a strange, ghostly wail—a cry of pain.
Then, as if repelled by some unseen force, it flung itself backward, stabbing into the ground, shuddering.
Lin Han panted, his hands trembling as he turned to Noya. "What just happened?"