Logan Carter sat in front, unable to see Annie's expression, and spoke to himself: "So, there's no way Lily alone can outrun Gavin Clark... Hey, where are you going?"

He hadn't finished speaking when he noticed the black horse Lily had stopped. Immediately after, Annie dismounted, taking the bundle from the saddle with her, leaving only Logan Carter on the horse.

"You just said that Gavin Clark is faster than us, and just running like this, there's no way to escape."

"Yeah, that's right. And then?"

Logan Carter looked at Annie, and saw the tall female huntress take a clean white cloth from the bundle, slightly lift her leather armor, and begin to bandage the wound on her abdomen.

By the moonlight, Logan Carter saw that Annie's leather armor had been stained a dark red by blood, and even her leather pants were covered in blood—a shocking sight.

"You've lost a lot of blood," Logan Carter exclaimed in surprise.

Annie smiled indifferently. "Happens all the time. My life is cheap—even Death doesn't want me. This little wound won't kill me."

She tightened the cloth, fixed her armor, and looked up at Ryan Bolton, saying, "I'm a huntress. Since I've taken your payment, I must get you out of the monster's hands. You ride the horse alone, head north all the way to the Free City of Berkeley at the Empire's border. Go to the Kingfisher Inn south of the city, and look for a female bard named 'Nightingale.' She'll take you to Holdburg."

"What about you?" Logan Carter stared at Annie.

"I'll hold off Gavin Clark for you, for as long as I can. You'd better pray I can last a little longer... Oh, right, this money box is too heavy and will slow me down. Take it. If I survive, return it to me. If I die, keep it for yourself."

Annie hung the money box on Lily's saddle, then turned and walked back the way they had come.

"..." Logan Carter's heart trembled. In a panic, he half-rolled, half-crawled off the horse and shouted at Annie, "Hey~ you're going to get yourself killed, do you know that?"

Annie stopped, turned to look at Logan Carter, her face solemn: "To slay monsters and protect the weak—this is the creed that we hunters uphold!"

Logan Carter shouted, "Bullshit! That's just an empty phrase! The hunter's creed is: fight if you can win, run if you can't. Didn't your mentor ever teach you that?"

In the game, he was a master hunter, and knew the world of "Hunter" inside out. In this chaotic, dark world, there were never any noble hunters—because those guys all died as soon as they left the academy!

"Kid, stop talking and get going already!" Annie waved her hand, determined to head back. She held both swords in her hands, occasionally knocking them together with a 'clang,' clearly trying to attract Gavin Clark's attention.

How could Logan Carter possibly leave?

As for breaking the blood seal magic, he didn't have the ability for now—he couldn't even sense the blood seal magic at this point. But as for temporarily escaping the pursuit of the vampire Gavin Clark and buying himself time to use alchemy, he was quite confident. The reason was simple: in the "Hunter" game, he had studied Gavin Clark inside and out!

"Hey~ Annie..."

"Aren't you leaving yet!" Annie shouted angrily, turning to glare at Logan Carter, "Why do you always have so much nonsense! Go already!"

But Logan Carter still didn't move. He leaned against the black horse Lily, shrugged slightly, and smiled, "I wanted to say, actually, I have a way to counter blood seal magic. There's a detailed explanation in Albert's book."

He really did know, but not from some made-up book—rather, from knowledge gained by combining the game and otherworldly alchemy.

"..." Annie's body froze, the two swords in her hands slowly lowering. After several seconds, she strode back, a bit flustered and angry: "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

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Chapter 8: To Reach the Summit, One Must Endure the Pain!

Facing Annie's questioning, Logan Carter could only give a wry smile: "You never gave me a chance."

"Ahhh—" Annie pulled at her hair in frustration. "Fine. Tell me quickly, what should we do?!"

"I need clean water, silver powder, hops, and Spanish needles. You should have all four, right?" Logan Carter asked.

Annie nodded. "Of course. Hops cure parasitic diseases. Spanish needles treat malaria. Silver can counter many monster magics, especially effective against vampires—they're all essential for traveling in the wild."

As she spoke, she took out each of the items Logan Carter requested from her bundle.

Logan Carter pointed at the silver powder, Spanish needles, and hops, and said to Annie, "Add water, mix these together, and mash them into a paste—quickly."

"Okay." Annie followed his instructions. She clearly had some alchemy skills herself, carrying a small mortar with her. With her strength, she quickly mashed the herbs into a black, sticky paste.

Logan Carter stepped forward, dipped a finger into the black paste, put it in his mouth, and at the same time calmed his mind, activating his alchemical talent to carefully savor it.