The mace flew at a high velocity. It was so fast that it covered the distance the wolf-like monster had crossed twice as quickly. Its target was precise. However, the target could have fled, had it been as swift as a wolf.
Yet, for some reason, the Night Creature did not.
Perhaps it understood that even if it evaded one blow, it wouldn't escape the others. It stood four meters away from Unwan, staring at the flying mace in the sky. Motionless. Like a stone statue.
It seemed terrified. Unwan knew how horrifying and ruthless the Night Creatures were, but he didn't know they could feel fear. It was as if it had seen the face of death and instantly surrendered. The mace flew with great speed, looking capable of shattering even giant boulders. Meanwhile, the Creature simply stood silent. There was no sound, no movement, no sign of life.
But the mace wouldn't wait. The Themir mace flew violently and landed directly onto the Night Creature's head. In less than a second, a dreadful sight occurred. The Night Creature's head was almost gone, seemingly crushed inward. Above it rested the burgundy chain mace, stained with and yellow blood.
The Night Creature was dead.
Observing this spectacle, Unwan understood just how useful Themir ore was and how lethal it was to Night Creatures. This weapon had effortlessly killed a second-rank, Monster-tier Night Creature.
In the Creature ranking system, the lowest were Beasts, followed by Monsters, Magical Monsters, and so on. The problem was that Unwan knew this sequence quite well, but gradually, the others had faded from his memory.
These three types of creatures usually appeared at night. The remaining types were mostly encountered in the Night Curse Realm. That's why he had hardly heard of, and naturally forgotten, other-tiered creatures while at the orphanage.
Unwan gazed at the mangled corpse of the Night Creature. At that moment, three bright spheres of light radiated from the monster's body. They moved slowly, leaving behind a 1–2 second trail of light. The light spheres rose higher than the houses. These lights were heading over the rooftops toward the grimoire of a government official, the owner of that Mechanical guardian. At that moment, Unwan saw several other lights in the sky heading in the same direction as these three.
'Ah, this is normal. The soul fragments of a creature killed by a Grimoire Owner go straight into that grimoire. After all, this is the most famous and usually the easiest way for "Owners" to grow stronger.'
It was clear that this Mechanical guardian was summoned or created through the spell of a Grimoire of Mechanics. No other grimoire could create such a thing, besides a Grimoire of life, of course. Then Unwan realized.
'If this is what a first-tier Grimoire spell can do, what are the higher-tier Grimoires capable of?'
Unwan looked back at the dead Night Creature. He analyzed the huge difference between the power of Grimoires in battle and his own fight. Considering his own fight was extremely difficult and predestined for death, the owner of this Mechanical guardian had killed this being easily, without putting their life in any danger.
'So, possessing even a first-tier Grimoire can provide a partial sense of security.'
Then Unwan recalled how their battle had proceeded, although it was less of a fight and more of a strange resistance between a predator and its lunch. Their fight, even including the spectacle, hadn't lasted even a minute and a half. But Unwan knew what the creature had managed to do to him in those thirty seconds.
'Oh, how wonderful it must be to own a Grimoire.'
A few minutes later, as Unwan slowly emerged from his state of flow, he felt the pain in his body. The intensity of the pain forced him to the ground on one knee, supporting himself with a hand on the road. A drop or two of blood appeared in his mouth; he had been coughing up blood even during the fight between the two creatures.
The pain was excruciating, as if some beast had deliberately chewed on him and left. Which, partially, was true.
But it wasn't as agonizing as Unwan had expected. However painful, the agony was bearable. Perhaps he had become somewhat resistant to pain after being poisoned. He then glanced at his body through his torn clothes and understood why.
The seven wounds left by the Night creature on his body were no longer as they had been. The deepest parts were almost healed, or more accurately, naturally regenerated. This was extremely strange. With normal human regeneration, these wounds could have killed him; in the luckiest scenarios, they would have left a lifelong scar.
To be honest, Unwan had believed he would die this time. But after this turn of events, he tried to find the reason.
'Wait... the lack of hunger and thirst, and now this regeneration? Could that Great Water have given me three effects?'
Before he could answer this question, the sound of chains clanking against each other was heard. By this point, the Mechanical guardian was retrieving its chain mace. Following this, the Night creature rolled onto the ground. Then, something else became apparent. The guard had thrown its mace with such precision that it not only landed accurately on the Night creature's head, but it struck with such force that it caused no damage to the road. In addition, Unwan recalled that the sound of the impact hadn't been very loud.
Unwan began to wonder.
'What kind of genius is controlling this Mechanical guardian?'
This question remained unanswered. Unwan didn't want to pay any extra attention to it. He only wanted to sit and rest now, hoping his body would fully recover.
But this wasn't the time for that. His conscience wouldn't allow him to just leave the Mechanical guardian. Indeed, the creature had been lying on the road for several minutes, unable to get up no matter how hard it tried.
'Well, there's the first flaw in that seemingly perfect mechanism.'
Unwan knew well enough that he wouldn't be able to lift the creature. But his conscience wouldn't let him leave without at least trying. After all, it had saved his life once, or partially twice, if he counted the way it had urged him to look at the fountain.
Besides, by doing this, he would also protect himself from other creatures. It was only approaching nine in the evening, and there was an entire night ahead.
Unwan walked toward the Mechanical guardian with a slight sigh of regret, stared at it, and began to think about what he could do.