The quiet in the darkness was broken quickly.
A new card appeared in Dan’s hand.
[Detected Containment Target: Avatar of the Evil Spirit · Wendigo] Unlike the previous Wendigo logs, this entry’s description was clearly extraordinary, bearing the prefix “Avatar of the Evil Spirit.” Recalling the appearance of the creature he had just glimpsed, it was indeed completely different from those scrawny, normal Wendigos.
[Target: Avatar of the Evil Spirit · Wendigo] It possessed powerful, massive limbs, and its entire body was coated in a blood-red liquid that completely obscured its original blue-black skin.
It had long, bat-like ears, and its fangs were smeared with thick blood.
The surrounding Wendigos were barely half its size.
From their cautious movements, it was evident that even those wild Wendigos feared this creature.
Dan wasn’t sure if he and the two Mutant brothers could defeat this Avatar, so he prudently chose to stay hidden.
Of course, the fact that there were still many normal Wendigos alive around the area was another reason to hold back.
Aside from the few closest Wendigos that had been killed outright by the shrapnel, most of the monsters caught in the grenade blast were left half-dead and severely wounded.
This demonstrated just how tenacious these creatures were; compared to the Mutant Cannibals, their vitality was equal, if not superior.
The largest and strongest Wendigo didn’t linger long at the scene.
After sniffing the air, it crawled into one of the side tunnels and disappeared.
Only one or two mobile Wendigos remained, while the rest lay scattered on the ground, heavily injured by shrapnel and unable to move.
Dan waited about five minutes until all movement subsided before slowly approaching the heavily wounded Wendigos.
He pulled out the Diamond Two card.
[Name: Wendigo] [Status: Dying · Containable] “Contain.” Dan noticed a detail: the status listed only “Wendigo,” without the “Avatar of the Evil Spirit” prefix.
It seemed that the massive Wendigo earlier was indeed fundamentally different from the rest.
These ones were merely minion mobs at best.
Even so, Dan chose to contain them.
Even a regular Wendigo possessed strength far superior to an average human.
Besides, they would make excellent cannon fodder.
Once Spades Two, Hearts Two, Diamonds Two, and Clubs Two were all filled with contained entities, the Rank 3 sequence cards were unlocked automatically.
That meant Spades Three, Hearts Three, Diamonds Three, and Clubs Three were now accessible…
Based on Dan’s deduction, he believed the Ghost Cards didn’t have overly complex unlock conditions—as long as he possessed enough contained entities, he could advance.
Of course, he still needed to test it out on the spot.
Dan selected the four strongest injured Wendigos left in the cavern and contained them.
However, he soon discovered that unlocking Sequence Four required a containment target categorized as a ghost or evil spirit.
He had originally hoped to contain all the remaining Wendigos in the cavern to jump straight to Sequence Five.
It seemed he had oversimplified things.
Still, the harvest was bountiful.
With his total number of subordinates reaching eight, Dan’s confidence grew considerably.
For the remaining wounded Wendigos that could not be contained, the younger Mutant Cannibal brother finished them off using his bow and arrows.
While his two bodyguards carried out the executions, Dan checked the extractable abilities of the Wendigos.
[Containment Target: Wendigo] [Extractable Abilities: Evil Spirit Possession (Probabilistic), Limb Reinforcement, Hearing Reinforcement, Bloodlust, Reduced Intelligence, Loss of Pain Perception] Most of these abilities were straightforward, though Evil Spirit Possession stood out as somewhat unique.
Evil Spirit Possession?
The fact that these monsters were called Wendigos suggested that they carried the potential to be possessed by spirits, rather than being full-fledged avatars like the creature from earlier.
Dan could technically stop here and leave, but he was genuinely intrigued by that Avatar of the Evil Spirit.
With eight subordinates, assault rifles, and his last remaining grenade, he wanted to give it a shot…
If he played his cards right, he could not only contain an evil spirit target but also unlock Sequence Five in the process.
The temptation was simply too great…
Having made up his mind, Dan skipped any further hesitation and initiated the ability extraction.
[Containment Target: Wendigo] [Mergeable Abilities: Limb Reinforcement, Evil Spirit Possession (Probabilistic), Bloodlust, Reduced Intelligence, Hearing Reinforcement] There were six mergeable abilities in total, with Bloodlust appearing twice in the pool.
Bloodlust: Consuming raw meat accelerates physical recovery, but simultaneously instills an uncontrollable craving for raw flesh.
This ability was practically useless to Dan—it felt too much like being a vampire.
Among the remaining choices, Limb Reinforcement and Hearing Reinforcement looked the most practical.
Evil Spirit Possession sounded far too volatile and uncontrollable.
Dan chose to discard Bloodlust, Reduced Intelligence, and Evil Spirit Possession, opting to merge Limb Reinforcement and Hearing Reinforcement into his own body.
…
At the lowest level of the subterranean cavern.
Juno lay on the cold stone floor, still alive.
She had merely been knocked unconscious by the shockwave of the blast, largely thanks to the Wendigo on top of her absorbing the brunt of the shrapnel and explosion.
Otherwise, she would have been killed or crippled on the spot.
Groggily, she dragged herself up.
Seeing the dying Wendigo wheezing beside her, she gasped in horror, though she quickly clamped both hands over her mouth to suppress a scream.
The pistol Dan had given her was nowhere to be found, leaving only a pickaxe in her backpack.
Driven from initial terror to raw survival instinct upon realizing the monster’s injuries were far worse than her own, malice took over her mind.
A minute later, blood and gray matter splattered across the rock floor.
The monster lay motionless in a pool of blood, its skull smashed into a bloody pulp with organic matter leaking everywhere.
Juno stood holding the pickaxe, dazed, her face smeared with the creature’s blood without her even realizing it.
“Juno.” Hearing her name, Juno raised the pickaxe almost reflexively.
Seeing that it was Dan, she let out a long breath of relief.
Enduring such massive trauma in such a short span of time had pushed her mental state to the absolute brink of collapse.
Her frenzied act of smashing the monster’s head to pieces was proof enough of her fraying sanity.
It was sheer madness.
Dan walked up to Juno holding a rifle and extended one hand toward her, holding out a pistol.
Juno looked at the gun, silently taking it.
She noticed the assault rifle in Dan’s hands, but she had no idea how he had brought it into the cave, nor did she care to ask.
There was only one thing she wanted to know: “Where are Sarah and the others?” “We got separated.
Teacher Beth and Sarah ran off into the tunnels chasing after Rebecca and Sam.” “What about…
Holly?” “You saw it yourself.” Juno had been there.
When Holly was being eaten alive, she had reached out her hand, screaming for help.
Juno only asked again because she couldn’t bring herself to accept the reality.
Dan remembered that in the original story, Juno was a fiercely capable woman who managed to kill several Wendigos on her own.
In his eyes, she was a valuable asset.
Since he had decided to go head-to-head with that Avatar of the Evil Spirit, why not bring along a few extra meat shields—or rather, companions?
Even if Juno and the others didn’t actively search for the Wendigos, the creatures would eventually hunt them down anyway.
Juno looked up at Dan, a gleam of desperate madness flickering in her eyes.
“What do we do now?” Dan turned and took the lead, six Wendigos shadowing him silently in the darkness like obedient bodyguards.
“We go rescue Teacher Beth and the others—before they get torn apart and eaten alive just like Holly.”