Chapter 87 Young Man

Duncan never stayed in one place. He moved from one place to another. One moment, he would be in front of the cannibal attacking its thigh, the next moment he would disappear and reappear behind it and slash its back. Duncan's relentless assault made the cannibal unable to mount any comeback. It tried desperately to protect its vitals with its remaining arm.

However all its efforts were moot, as once Duncan incapacitated its other arm, he truly went in for the kill without pausing to even give the cannibal a breather. Duncan appeared behind the cannibal and swung his sword in a savage manner, not holding back even an ounce of his strength, aiming for the back of its neck.

The cannibal's instincts screamed at him to duck and move, but it was too late. The cannibal had already lost a lot of blood from the several wounds Duncan had inflicted upon it. Its both arms were incapacitated and its entire body was in a world of pain.

Apart from roaring unwillingly, the cannibal couldn't do anything else.

Duncan's sword cut through halfway into its neck causing its roar to come to a halt. Duncan jerked his sword back and kicked the cannibal to fall downwards. To be safe, Duncan swung his sword downwards and chopped off the little bit of head that was hanging on with the body.

Seeing the head roll away, Duncan smiled satisfactorily. Taking a look around, Duncan vanished from the place into one of the tunnels.

*****

A few minutes after Duncan escaped into one of the tunnels, a young man with deformed features arrived at the location.

The young man's eyes were red and his right arm looked like a bird's claw. There were warts all over his face and his ears looked oddly bent in different directions. Apart from that, there were green patches all over his body.

The truly strange thing about him was that he was clothed unlike other cannibals inside the cave. If Duncan was here, he would have felt a tremendous pressure the young man was exuding. Luckily, he had already escaped far away.

The young man looked at the dead cannibal and snorted. He bent down and ripped off one of the arms from the dead body and started snacking on it as if it was a chicken leg that had been prepared with delicious herbs.

The young man leisurely walked around the area as if looking for something in particular. He didn't hurry. He just walked around snacking on the arm of the dead cannibal leisurely, without any care in the world.

As he examined the area, he stopped at one particular spot and sniffed twice, trying to get a sense of the smell that was exuding from there. He frowned slightly as he felt the smell a little familiar, but couldn't put the smell to the face he felt he should remember.

Scratching his chin idly and chewing on the arm, the young man thought deeply for a moment.

Suddenly, he stopped chewing and trembled all over. Green sweat drops started forming on his face as his hand shook involuntarily. The arm he was chewing on fell to the floor as the young man's eyes shrunk in fear.

This lasted only for a few moments before the young man frowned and shook his head. He tentatively sniffed the place again to ascertain whether he had smelled correct. But the smell remained the same.

The young man had a confused look on his face as if he couldn't believe what he smelled. He got down on his knees and put his face close to the ground and sniffed once more.

"Same smell, but different," the young man mumbled in a garbled tongue. "Is her? But not same?" the young man scratched his head in confusion.

A few strands of hair came off and fell beside him. But, the young man didn't pay any attention to it. He was fully immersed in decoding the mystery behind the smell.

"Ah, like that and I," the young man said after a while looking at the corpse. "So different. Also same," the young man reasoned out and nodded to himself. "I hunt different. Eat different."

The young man suddenly said loudly and stood up in a hurry.

"Her pain. I give pain different."

The young man stated in a firm tone and started sniffing again. He soon found the trail of the smell he was searching for and looked at the tunnel in front of him.  Smiling savagely, the young man started walking towards the tunnel in a hurried manner.

It was the same tunnel through which Duncan had escaped several minutes ago.

*****

Duncan felt increasingly frustrated as he roamed the tunnels not knowing which direction the entrance was in.

He felt his mood sour due to multiple reasons as he searched for the entrance. It was not just the confusing maze of pathways that was irritating him, he was also feeling hunger pangs. Not to mention the several cannibals he had come across so far.

Duncan felt as if these tunnels were teeming with cannibals as of late. It was not just their number that had increased now; their strength had also increased as well. He was constantly running into cannibals as strong as the one that attacked him while he was cultivating.

He didn't know why this place was teeming with so many powerful cannibals, but he knew what they were all searching for. It was him. That meant that the cannibals have somehow gotten wind of his presence and were now actively hunting him.

For now, he was able to kill these cannibals in a one-on-one fight with relative ease. Sure, he had to take some time to do that, but they didn't pose much trouble to him in an overall sense.

What irritated him the most was that these cannibals always popped up around the corners when he least expected them. If not for him remaining vigilant, they would have gotten to him easily. These new cannibals were not making any noises and they were also adept at keeping their rotten stench in check.

This meant the cannibals were able to sneak up on him easily. Their eyesight in this environment was better and they were also able to move soundlessly in these pathways. This made it ideal for them to sneak up on him.

But, it didn't mean that Duncan was truly helpless though. His instincts were now working overtime and they always warned him before any attack happened. Once he evaded their attack, he would then fall on the attacking cannibal with much more ferocity and finish them off quickly.

While these cannibals were smart and powerful, they didn't have the necessary battle experience. They always engaged him head-on and didn't use any kind of martial arts or tactics. This allowed Duncan to dance around them and kill them using the same trick he used on the cannibal that attacked him while he was cultivating.

But, Duncan also realized the hidden danger in that.

While he was able to take care of them with ease when it was one on one, Duncan wasn't sure how he would fare if he had to go against more than one of them. His strategy worked well until he wasn't bogged down by numbers. But, the moment he got bogged down, their greater strength will come into play and it would leave him at a disadvantage.

So, Duncan had been extra careful to finish all his fights as soon as possible. He was also vigilant of his surroundings so that he didn't get bogged down by them like he was some time ago.

However, this also made sure that Duncan wasn't able to freely roam through the pathways as he wished. He had to avoid a few areas that were filled with these cannibals.

If he spied more than one in the vicinity, Duncan always fled without engaging them. He didn't want to start a fight and then find out that he couldn't kill them quickly.

As Duncan was taking out his frustration on yet another lone cannibal that he had come across, his instincts started screaming at him to flee all of a sudden. Duncan stopped playing with the cannibal and beheaded and put the sword through its head, preparing to flee.

But, the next moment he knew that his chance to escape was over.

Duncan felt a dreadful aura emanating from his behind and turned around. He came across a lean young man who had warts all over his face and red eyes. The young man was clothed, unlike any other cannibal, he had seen before.

Duncan gulped as he felt the pressure emanating from the young man. Seeing the young man looking at him with madness in his eyes, Duncan knew that this wasn't a fight he could run away from.

Before Duncan could even get himself together, the young man spoke in garbled words.

"You! Found! I Pain You!" the young man shouted at Duncan and started advancing towards him.

*****

A/N: Hey folks!

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