And at the moment when Annan struck Justin,
or rather, when the hammer touched the back of Justin’s hand, all the books in the study suddenly trembled.
Justin once again felt a familiar and intense chill.
His skin suddenly tightened.
It was as if he was suddenly wearing a tight suit.
It was a control class Curse Binding!
Justin’s mind immediately realized the problem.
But his body couldn’t react at all—
An invisible halo suddenly expanded from Justin as the center.
In the entire study, all the books, documents, and newspapers,
as if they had been given life at the same time when swept over by that halo.
All the words on these "carriers of knowledge" wriggled like dense insects, embedding into the pure streams of light, becoming fine, mosquito-like skeletons.
Countless streams of light formed into dense chains of light, sweeping in from all directions, instantly capturing Justin’s body!
His right hand was still in a reaching and clasping posture. His knees were bent forcefully, muscles on his body were still bulging, and his face, covered in flabby flesh, was distorted in ferocity. His toes were pointed, his strength kicked the stool backward, and his entire body, in a dynamic hunting posture, was forcibly frozen in the air by the chains!
The chains wrapped around him a few times and then pierced into his body. They danced with electric light, injecting hundreds of parallel pieces of knowledge into Justin’s brain at once.
In the midst of countless streams of light, Justin let out an extremely painful roar as his eyes trembled violently.
His eyes instantly filled with blood, turning red. Blood quickly spilled from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. The veins on his head bulged and crackled, and his skin burst with dark purple traces.
But he couldn’t break free.
Creak, creak, creak, creak, creak—
Feeling Justin’s attempt to break free, the chains immediately began to tighten.
The intense pain rendered his body powerless, while the overwhelming knowledge seized his very being.
Justin was not completely defenseless.
He played his trump card at the first opportunity.
Two of the three bronze rings on his right hand finger lit up.
One of them was a Curse Binding he obtained after hunting down a female Wizard.
Loss of Pain Perception!
This Curse Binding had a very simple content—after activating it, one could lose all sense of pain and touch completely, unmoved by any torture or ordeal.
Only after activating this Curse Binding did Justin feel his brain, which had been numbed by the severe pain, finally start to awaken a bit...
And the second Curse Binding he released would allow him to Break Free!
It came from a Gladiator whom Justin had backstabbed and killed.
His combat power was incredibly strong, even stronger than Justin, almost unstoppable in a frontal battle...
This was a Curse Binding that could only be used when trapped, with the condition that one must be bound and break free once a week, or else bones and muscles would leap right out of the skin’s confinement.
Its ability was to greatly multiply the life-saving power of strength in checks against "breaking free."
Disregard pain. Ability to break free from control. Plus his own Perpetual Motion Machine stamina. Along with the third Curse Binding that was not yet used—it could, once a month, when on the verge of death, restore injuries to the state a second prior.
This was his defense against the Wizards’ bizarre instant-death abilities.
This was the ability system Justin had pieced together for himself.
Justin believed that his set of abilities would never be at a disadvantage against any Transcendent of the same rank—
"It seems I have to finish you off..."
The clear-headed Justin murmured to Annan with a somber face.
Blood was still flowing from his seven orifices, but he no longer felt any pain.
Beneath Justin’s skin, thick blood vessels writhed like worms. Muscles visibly turned a deep red color and steamed with a faint haze of white.
He let out a soft grunt and began to exert force slowly.
The next moment, the chains started to vibrate.
All the books in the room were cracking.
The newspapers started to break first.
Like parched earth, deep fissures formed on page after page, slowly burning like ash.
Although Annan couldn’t see it, the same must have happened inside the book...
After all, Alvin Barber was merely a viscount. This was his estate, not his viscount’s manor.
The knowledge recorded in the books of this study naturally couldn’t be all that hidden. And it’s entirely possible for the lock formed by the runes of knowledge that wasn’t hidden enough to be rapidly broken free from...
But Annan had anticipated this.
Before Justin managed to forcefully break free from the Bookbind Shackles, Annan was already standing in front of him, whispering softly,
A dim light flickered in the depths of Annan’s eyes.
It was Annan’s instant spell, Lazy Eye!
Impressed with the powerful emotion of "laziness" by Annan, Justin subconsciously paused his body’s exertion for a moment, and his "full struggle" was interrupted as well.
Although he very cleverly canceled the "Loss of Pain Perception" the moment his consciousness slowed,
this sliver of laziness was shattered in an instant under the onslaught of intense pain.
But just a moment of control was enough.
Even if Justin regained consciousness the next instant, the chains of light that had started to tremble and were on the verge of collapsing became firm again once Justin’s "full struggle" was interrupted.
Justin let out a scream once more, tightly bound by the chains again.
This time, Justin had no chance of escape.
As frost burst forth from Annan’s body, the irresistible cold seeped into him.
Annan very skillfully resumed control. Soon, Justin had completely stopped struggling.
But Annan had no intention of finishing him with Wheel of Frost.
Though it might be cool to use one’s strongest ability as a finishing move...
However, Annan was always very cautious when it came to serious matters.
At this distance, the Wheel of Frost lacked a run-up and wouldn’t be very powerful. It could also potentially allow Justin to escape by destroying the bookshelves...
So, Annan opened his bag.
He took out the bloody kitchen knife.
The Curse Binding on his wrist was already undone, and the black mud was branded on his arm again, forming the pattern of an abstract and twisted broken sword.
—The Butcher’s Blade was activated.
"You... got caught by me, didn’t you?"
Annan looked at Justin, who was frozen in midair and maintained a hunting posture, with a smile in his eyes.
Yet his eyes remained pure and clear, filled with laughter and self-satisfaction in his ice-blue pupils.
His heart was full of excitement and joy from defeating a formidable foe.
He didn’t care about Justin’s backstory, how many innocent people he had killed, how much hatred he carried, or who those Transcendents he hunted were...
Because Annan was very honest.
He was simply happy because he had defeated this strong enemy.
He knew that he didn’t kill Justin for those people. Of course, if the families of those people appeared before Annan first, he might accept the mission to "avenge them" out of pity and sympathy.
But at least for now, Annan was only looking to assassinate Justin in order to smoothly leave after killing the Viscount.
So, Annan thought that this murderous intent stemmed from his own desires.
This is called ’keeping things separate.’
—Yes, he harbored no hatred toward Justin, but also no guilt.
It was much like a child dismantling the wings of a butterfly, with pure joy deep in his heart.
What to do about a monster one dislikes? What if a monster wants to attack oneself? What if a monster guards a treasure chest?
—Kill it if possible.
Players would answer thus.
But even those bona fide players who entered this world couldn’t maintain such a pure player mentality after seeing the real world.
They couldn’t act merely for fun, regardless of the hardships, risks, and fearless monsters...
Because they started to care about this game, this world.
Therefore, Annan believed that only he was the true and only player in this world...
"I will give you a quick end, big brother Justin."
Annan politely bowed to Justin for the last time and raised the bloody boning knife, "The rest... is not my concern anymore."