Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

Zane's health bar was glowing red. It had been a long while since an opponent had forced him into such a desperate state. Well, that was not entirely accurate. Dealing with the Lake Monster of Houhai was actually easier than he thought it was.

However, Zane had made an error of judgement, and attempted an ability he lacked experience with. In doing so, he had inflicted a great deal of damage to himself. He was down to his last 100 HP. And with the threats of the nearby awakened lurking in the shadows. That was a dangerous amount of health to be at.

Of course Zane need not worry. He, after all, had what was arguably the most powerful healing skill in his arsenal, even if it was one that he could only use every thirty minutes. And because of this, he did not hesitate to cast it.

Sovereign's Blessing was not only a powerful self heal ability for himself, his horde, and his companions, but also a powerful buff. Zane had honestly not used the skill before now, despite having it for some time.

And because of this, he channeled it within his hands, a black mist appearing beneath them as the miasma enveloped Zane's figure. Piercing through his pores and his orifices until it disappeared entirely.

Any semblance of damage that had been physically visible before vanished in an instant. In addition to this, Zane's health bar was not only full, but increased by a solid 500 points for the next thirty minutes.

He could feel the difference in power by having all of his attributes temporarily raised by five points. It was the equivalent of gaining over ten levels. The only downside was that this skill had a massive cooldown, or it could really be abused to his liking.

And as Zane expected, the pesky flies nearby wanted to take advantage of the fact that the Lake Monster's last attack had seemingly dealt a significant amount of damage to Zane even if he himself was victorious in the end.

Curiously enough, the tall and fat Chinese man who had tried to shake Zane down upon his entry to the peaceful settlement appeared with five men in tow. All of them appeared to be decently leveled and equipped. Albeit nowhere near Zane's standing.

Even so, they seemed confident that they would be able to finish Zane off. With the man in charge holding onto his large battle axe, and making a menacing gesture with it. All the while speaking with an incredibly smug tone in his voice as he threatened Zane.

"You should have paid the toll foreigner when you had the chance. Unfortunately, that offer has expired. So we will be looting the gains you received from that Legendary Monster off of your corpse!"

Zane did not even waste the time to defend himself with words. Instead, he made the first move. His attack was so sudden and fierce that nobody saw it coming. But when he finished, he stood in front of the fat brigand with the heads of his five companions having been severed.

Blood spur from their necks, as the decapitated heads rolled on the ground, in the shallow edge of the pool. Pàng Xióng was stunned by the sudden death of his friends and comrades. Just how absurdly powerful was this man? They were all level 35, and full equipped. Yet he had killed them in an instant?

What kind of freakish monster was he? Wasn't he injured? Had his stamina not been spent in the battle with the Lake Monster? In the end, the man dropped his axe and ran in fear. But could he get away from Zane?

Zane simply reached out his hand and made the shame grasping gesture he had done when he killed the lake monster. Considering these guys were so much lower in level, there was no chance of a backlash.

And he was correct in this assumption as Pàng Xióng fell to his knees, grimacing as he grabbed hold of his rapidly beating heart, which was going into cardiac arrest. He couldn't even make any last words as Zane approached him with a menacing look in his cold blood-red eyes. Where he made a single comment before ending the would be thief's life.

"You really shouldn't have come for me… Had you just left me be I would have had no need to swat a pesky gnat such as yourself. But since you have chosen to mess with this Prince I have but one simply request. Die for me, will you?"

After saying this, Zane raised the sickle in his hand, which was heavily damaged from his fight with the Lake Monster, but still intact enough to claim Pàng Xióng's life. But before he could sever the man's hand, he keeled over, expiring from the heart attack which Zane had forced on him.

Causing Zane to sigh heavily and shake his head before expressing his thoughts on the matter.

"That was rather anticlimactic wasn't it?"

Naturally, Zane was speaking to nobody in particular. And because of this, he quickly opened up the inventory in his system and made sure that Pàng Xióng and his friend's hearts were all looted. Surprisingly, he saw that their equipment was also looted as well.

This gave Zane a new understanding of the system designed by his mother. He could help but smirk when he realized what a sinister bitch Death was. Though the system was designed to help humanity survive in a world gone mad.

The reality was it also incentivized them to kill each other in so many different ways. Looting each other's equipment was just the latest of such designs. But that didn't matter to Zane. He was no longer human, after all.

Instead, after looting everything of value from the dregs who had tried to take advantage of him, following his fight with the Lake Monster of Houhai. Zane departed from the area and returned to the settlement before he left Gwen and the others in.

No doubt word had quickly begun to spread about the man killing the Lake Monster of Houhai, as well as dispatching Pàng Xióng and his crew to the afterlife, while supposedly injured and depleted. Because of this, the legend of the foreigner and his extreme strength would soon spread throughout all the settlements in Beijing, as well as far beyond the ruined city's borders.