The silence in the darkness was quickly broken.
John had an extra card in his hand.
"Containment detected: Wendigo, an Incarnation of Evil Spirit."
Unlike the previous traces of Wendigo, this introduction showed it was not simple, with the addition of the words "Incarnation of Evil Spirit."
Considering the appearance of that Wendigo just now, it was indeed different from those that looked thin and small.
"Incarnation of Evil Spirit: Wendigo Picture"
Its limbs were strong, its whole body covered in a blood-red liquid that even obscured its original bluish-black skin, its long ears were like a bat's, and its fangs were stained with viscous fresh blood.
The surrounding Wendigo were even only half the size of this one.
Their cautious movements showed that these Wendigo also felt fear.
John was unsure if he and the two Deformed Cannibal brothers could defeat this Wendigo, so he wisely chose to remain hidden.
Of course, the fact that many other Wendigo around were not dead was also a reason.
Except for the few closest ones that had died, the Wendigo affected by the grenades were mostly in a half-dead state.
From this, one could see the tenacious vitality of these creatures; compared to the Deformed Cannibal, they were only stronger, not weaker.
The strongest Wendigo did not stay at the scene for too long; it sniffed with its nose and then crawled into one of the caves.
Only one or two Wendigo remained at the scene.
The rest were heavily wounded and immobile from the fragmentation grenades.
John waited for about five more minutes until there was no sound before he slowly approached the heavily wounded Wendigo.
He took out the Two of Diamonds.
"Name: Wendigo"
"Status: Dying, Containable."
"Contain."
John noticed a small detail: it only said "Wendigo," not "Incarnation of Evil Spirit"; there was no prefix.
It seemed that the Wendigo just now was indeed different from the others.
These current ones were, at best, just minor monsters.
However, John still chose to contain them; even an ordinary Wendigo was stronger than most humans.
Furthermore, they would make good cannon fodder.
After the Two of Spades, Two of Hearts, Two of Diamonds, and Two of Clubs were all full, all three sequences were unsealed.
That is, the Three of Spades, Three of Hearts, Three of Diamonds, Three of Clubs…
If John calculated this way, he thought that the phantom card in front probably had no necessary unlock conditions, as long as there were enough containment objects.
Of course, he still had to test it on site.
John then selected four of the strongest Wendigo from the scene for containment, but he found that advancing to Sequence Four actually required any ghost or Evil Spirit-type containment object.
He had been thinking of containing all the Wendigo at the scene, which would have directly unlocked up to Sequence Five.
It seemed he had thought too simply.
But it was indeed a fruitful harvest.
The number of his subordinates reached eight, and John's courage also grew.
The remaining few uncontainable Wendigo were finished off by the Deformed Cannibal's second brother with a bow and arrow.
While his two subordinates were finishing them off,
John checked the abilities that could be extracted from the Wendigo.
"Containment Object: Wendigo."
"Extractable Abilities: Evil Spirit Possession (probabilistic), Limb Enhancement, Auditory Enhancement, Bloodthirst, Intelligence Weakening, Pain Loss."
Most of the abilities were normal, but only Evil Spirit Possession seemed a bit different.
Evil Spirit Possession?
These monsters being called Wendigo should imply the possibility of being possessed.
Unlike the one just now, which was explicitly pointed out as an Incarnation of Evil Spirit.
John could have stopped here, but he was truly interested in that Incarnation of Evil Spirit Wendigo. With eight subordinates, plus a rifle and his last grenade, he wanted to try…
If handled properly, he could not only contain an Evil Spirit but also unlock Sequence Five.
This temptation was unusually great…
After John thought it through, he wasted no more words and directly proceeded with the ability extraction.
"Containment Object: Wendigo"
"Fusible Abilities: Limb Enhancement, Evil Spirit Possession (probability), Bloodthirst, Intelligence Weakening, Bloodthirst, Auditory Enhancement."
There were six abilities that could be fused, with Bloodthirst appearing twice.
Bloodthirst: Consuming raw meat can accelerate recovery, but at the same time, one becomes sensitive and craving for flesh.
This ability was useless to John. Bloodthirst was somewhat like a vampire's. Among the remaining ones, only Limb Enhancement and Auditory Enhancement looked good.
Evil Spirit Possession sounded like it had an uncontrollable feeling.
John chose to discard Bloodthirst, Intelligence Weakening, and Evil Spirit Possession, and instead fused Limb Enhancement and Auditory Enhancement.
…
At the bottom of the rock cave.
Juno lay there, not dead; she had merely been thrown back by the grenade. This was thanks to the Wendigo on her, which had blocked most of the damage for her, otherwise, she would be dead or crippled by now.
She groggily got up.
Seeing the still panting Wendigo beside her, she was startled, but she didn't scream, instead clamping her mouth shut tightly.
The gun John gave Juno was gone, she didn't know where it had been dropped, and there was only an iron pickaxe in her backpack.
Juno went from being scared at first to becoming emboldened when she realized the monster's injuries were worse than hers.
A minute later.
Blood splattered.
The monster lay in a pool of blood, its head smashed to a pulp, various brain organs spilled everywhere.
Juno held the iron pickaxe, her expression dazed, and she felt nothing even with the monster's blood on her face.
"Juno."
Hearing the voice, Juno almost instinctively raised the iron pickaxe in her hand, and upon seeing it was John, she let out a sigh of relief.
In a short period, she had experienced such a major upheaval.
Juno's mental state was now extremely unstable, practically on the verge of collapse.
This could be seen from how she had just desperately smashed the monster's head with the iron pickaxe.
Almost insane.
John, holding a rifle, walked up to Juno, raising one hand.
Juno looked at the pistol John offered and silently took it. She noticed the rifle in John's hand. She didn't know how the rifle was brought in, and she didn't want to know or ask.
She just wanted to know: "Where are Sarah and the others?"
"They got separated. Beth and Sarah went after Rebecca and Sam, I don't know where they ran off to."
"Then… what about Holly…"
"You should have seen it yourself."
Juno was also present at the time. When Holly was being gnawed by the monster, she had reached out to her for help. Juno asking again was just her inability to accept the fact.
John remembered that Juno was an extremely fierce woman in the movie, killing several Wendigo with weapons.
In his opinion, she was a combatant.
Since he decided to confront that Incarnation of Evil Spirit Wendigo, how could he not bring more cannon fodder… well, perhaps not cannon fodder.
Even if Juno and the others didn't go looking for the Wendigo, they would eventually find Juno, Beth, and the others.
Juno looked up at John, her eyes revealing madness.
"What should we do now?"
John turned and walked ahead, six Wendigo shadowing him in the darkness, guarding his safety.
"Go save Beth and the others. If we're late, they'll be torn apart and devoured just like Holly."
John had no feelings for this team, but Juno did. His words gave Juno great motivation and hatred to deal with the monsters.
The scene of Holly's tragic death was still vivid in her mind.
…