Chapter 288: Cover your head

"Prepare for battle!!!"

Adeline's roar suddenly erupted from the woods.

Her legs, which had been retreating rapidly, left deep footprints in the damp mud as her body's momentum carried her backward.

Two single-handed iron hammers, refracting the cold metallic light under the sunlight above, were gripped tightly in her palms.

Her mud-splattered face was stiff and tense, and her dark brown, yellowish eyes reflected the behemoth charging straight toward them.

Although the Shihua Xiyi, which seemed bloated and lazy, was famous among adventurers for its deadly and troublesome "Petrifying Gaze," it was, after all, a magic beast with a challenge rating as high as lv3, possessing explosive power that far exceeded its size.

This was not something they, who had just been promoted to lv1, could easily escape from relying solely on the experience they had accumulated in the past.

In the face of the purest "numerical values," all so-called techniques became flashy and useless.

Right now, for this temporarily assembled adventurer squad, if they had time to think carefully, there should roughly be two solutions to survive the Shihua Xiyi's attack.

One: Scatter and run in three directions, and pray for your own luck.

Pray that the one-third chance the Shihua Xiyi chooses is not yourself.

Hope that the teammate chosen as the target by the magic beast can hold on a little longer, giving yourself enough time to retreat and get away.

Two: Abandon illusions and fight head-on.

It is true that the Shihua Xiyi is a dangerous magic beast; for the vast majority of bottom-tier adventurers, and even low-level professionals, suddenly encountering it in the wild without any preparation is an extremely dangerous situation.

But at this moment, having already known that they would likely encounter this magic beast during the mission and having made full preparations in advance, even having drunk the 【Petrification Resistance Potion】,

they could resist the negative effects brought by the "Petrifying Gaze" head-on.

If the three professionals gathered together and fought it with one heart,

perhaps they might not necessarily achieve final victory, but wanting to survive safely was not entirely impossible.

This was exactly Adeline's thought.

All three of them were of the "Warrior" profession, with tough and strong physical fitness and a certain margin for error.

And they were all veteran adventurers who had fought their way up from the bottom, with rich combat experience.

If they could fight as a group, working together, facing the Shihua Xiyi whose petrification ability was no longer effective, they should be able to secure a chance of survival to the greatest extent.

Of course, this was just her thought.

In such a tense and urgent situation, not everyone could make the most correct decision in the shortest amount of time.

The burly, bald teammate heard Adeline's shout, and a clear look of contemplation flashed in his eyes.

Quickly judging the importance of group combat in the current situation, he also stopped his steps and drew a two-handed giant axe from behind his back.

He stepped forward to get closer, maintaining the formation with Adeline.

Meanwhile, the adventurer in the squad who had dark skin, a thin build, and possessed a special perception-type combat technique made a completely different choice.

Having failed to completely pass the "Petrifying Gaze" check, even though he had gulped down the resistance potion, the rush meant the medicine had not fully taken effect, causing a grayish-white stone-like luster to appear on various parts of his body surface.

In fact, this degree of petrification did not affect his mobility; once he returned to town and spent money to buy two bottles of relevant potions, or asked a spellcaster in the association to treat him slightly, he would recover.

Let alone a serious injury, it didn't even count as a minor injury.

But the great fame of the Shihua Xiyi, and the terrifying result after being petrified, undoubtedly caused this adventurer to lose his mind.

He acted as if he hadn't heard the roar from Adeline behind him and ran wildly toward the depths of the forest.

Thus, the situation on the field became interesting.

On one side were two fully armed adventurers with firm gazes, standing in place waiting to fight;

on the other side was a despicable attacker who was "guilty as a thief," panicking and running around in the face of his own attack, attempting to escape.

For the Shihua Xiyi, the choice was self-evident.

Boom—

Its bloated, fat belly plowed a deep and huge mark on the ground, and the cyan-gray figure, with an unstoppable, majestic momentum, ignored the countless towering and thick oak trees in front and charged straight toward the direction where the thin adventurer was fleeing.

Leaving Adeline and the bald, burly man beside her behind.

Without the slightest hesitation, seeing the Shihua Xiyi disappear behind the cover of grass and tree crowns, the burly man instantly put away his giant axe and ran wildly in the opposite direction without looking back.

Adeline followed closely behind, and while putting her two single-handed hammers back to her waist, she also chose another direction and stepped forward with force.

To survive under the Shihua Xiyi's attack, if fighting head-on, the three people in the squad were all indispensable.

Now that the person ignored her reminder and wanted to run away alone, the remaining two naturally could not go to rescue him, nor could they kindly delay time for the other person's escape.

Automatically shifting to Plan One.

Scatter and run, and pray for your own luck.

Adeline gritted her teeth, her thick, long legs almost creating afterimages on the ground.

It was a pity that they were in a forest with dense trees, not an open and flat grassland, which meant her speed could never be raised to the limit.

Only a few seconds passed.

Along with the sudden cessation of the sound of breaking trees, there was a shrill, incomparable, high-pitched howl filled with pain and despair.

Her heart suddenly tightened.

She knew that her cheap teammate had likely been caught up by the Shihua Xiyi and torn into pieces.

Adeline's heart pounded wildly, only hoping that after killing the other person, the lizard could calm the anger in its heart.

Or perhaps it would set its target of revenge on the other teammate, buying more time for her to escape.

It was just... a fifty percent probability was not so easy to dodge.

Limited by her own profession, Adeline was not very good at perception.

In the past, being able to find traces of Goblins in complex environments was mostly due to the experience she had accumulated over so many years.

But at this moment, perhaps it was the threat of death that stimulated her potential; it was as if a pair of eyes had grown on her back.

Adeline could clearly feel the violent vibration coming from far behind her, approaching rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

The dense and rapid footsteps sounded continuously amidst the beast's roar filled with fury, as if every step was treading on her heart, which was beating like a drum.

Closer and closer, closer and closer.

In the end, Adeline could even hear the panting of the eight-legged lizard and smell the increasingly thick, rotten stench of stone dust in the air.

A ruthless look flashed in her eyes.

Knowing she was about to be caught up, she made a decisive decision; while her right hand reached into her waist pouch, her legs suddenly exerted force, throwing her body forward violently.

Her feet left the ground.

In mid-air, relying on the strong core strength of her waist and abdomen, she twisted her body to face the enemy.

Sure enough!

In just a few dozen seconds, the Shihua Xiyi was now less than ten meters away from her.

There were no wounds on its body, only traces of blood remaining at the edge of its mouthparts... clearly from Adeline's unlucky teammate who could no longer make a sound.

Her expression was firm; taking advantage of the turn, her right hand pulled out from the waist pouch and swung violently toward her front!

The next second, all her inventory—five fire oil bombs—flew straight toward the lizard's face.

Boom—

Grease mixed with dust was ignited by a spark, turning into a large, explosive, scorching orange-red flame, almost swallowing half of the Shihua Xiyi's face.

"Ang!"

A painful beast roar came from behind.

With cold sweat streaming down, Adeline didn't even check if the fire oil bombs had worked; the moment she threw them, her body had already turned back in mid-air.

Her feet landed on the ground, the corners of her eyes flashing with orange-red flames. ===== CHAPTER 289 =====