Chapter 38: Petrification

The real world is not an electronic game.

Before the Boss appears, there won't be a sudden animation CG, or a grand and open field, and high-pitched background music to set off the bitter battle to come.

The occurrence and end of a battle are abrupt and short.

Many times,

just like a rabbit under a falcon's claws, or a mosquito in a tree frog's mouth, facing more powerful predators in the natural world,

adventurers don't even know what kind of danger they are facing before they have already become a corpse.

First, it was Lali, who was closest.

Wearing tight armor, with sweat still dripping from his face, he was half-turning his body, showing the exquisite statue he had found to Doris behind him.

But immediately, the sensation suddenly lost from his back, and the terrified gaze of the blonde girl, made him realize something was wrong.

Too late to look back.

Lali instinctively stretched out his hand as much as possible, seemingly wanting to use all his strength to push Doris before him away from the danger.

And unexpectedly, facing Lali's move.

This thin blonde girl, who seemed as if a gust of wind could blow her down, displayed courage completely different from the past at this moment.

Not only did she not turn and run, she even took a step forward, her face pale but firm, clutching Lali's palm tightly with both hands.

Her body leaned back violently, her slender arms trembling as she exerted force, wanting to pull the other party's body out of danger.

The two, who had been awkward since the mission began, finally clarified their relationship under the catalysis of the life-and-death crisis.

But, that was as far as it went.

No matter how moving and touching the love, facing that terrifying power beyond specifications, it would eventually vanish like fly ash in the wind.

A pale, lifeless death-grey spread from Lali's back at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Swallowing life and color along with it.

Spine, chest, abdomen, arms...

It was just the time of one breath.

Lali and Doris still maintained the posture of looking at each other and pulling, and one could even clearly see the strands of hair flying on the side of the girl's cheek, and the blue veins bulging on Lali's neck.

But the two before them had already become two motionless, silent pale stone statues, just like the snake and scorpion sculptures on the ground.

Next, it was the half-elf Haian and his guard Wood.

Even though they were far apart, they still couldn't escape the invasion of that unknown power.

Almost at the same time the "Alert" sound rang out.

"Ding!"

A sound of some fragile object shattering suddenly came from the half-elf's body.

Then, a verdant green light, as fresh as a sprout after rain, suddenly erupted from Haian's waist, enveloping his entire body in an instant.

The air before him distorted and deformed, as if such an invisible force was blocked by the green light on the half-elf.

It was just an instant.

Haian even had a confused look on his face.

Until the next second, he realized that they had been attacked, and even the magic item he used to save his life had been consumed.

Wood was the only Professional in the entire squad.

Even though he wasn't a particularly outstanding existence, far from reaching the limit called "Transcendence."

But the super-high agility granted by the "Rogue" still allowed him to react at the first moment.

His figure blurred in an instant, and the black shadow beneath his feet moved with his steps.

He didn't dodge, nor did he block.

Instead, he gathered all his heart and mind in an instant, concentrating all his attention.

Like a hermit welcoming the tide on the seashore, he gritted his teeth, his whole body tense, facing the invisible force surging like a tide in the air.

Hum—

His body stiffened violently, then suddenly relaxed.

The outstanding physical quality brought by the Professional allowed him to forcibly withstand the erosion of this invisible force.

There was no time to rejoice.

This Rogue, who was always calm and composed, displayed an extremely wretched posture at this moment.

He turned around violently, throwing himself at the half-elf he was protecting behind him.

"Run!"

Finally, it was Xia Nan, who was on the other side of the courtyard.

Having already decided to return, thinking of exploring this ruin again in the future, he had no intention of bringing back souvenirs.

He wasn't interested in Lali's excited shouting, so he fell to the end of the squad.

And precisely because of this,

whether it was the pulling and petrification of Lali and Doris, or the green light erupting from the half-elf later,

he saw almost everything that happened on the field.

But just like the ripples caused by dew drops falling on the water surface, or the subtle arc drawn by a bird flapping its wings, those scenes that appeared incomparably clear and detailed in your eyes were actually the most hurried instant in time.

Xia Nan felt he had already reached the limit he could achieve.

Lali turned his head—he stopped his approaching steps.

Wood alerted—he reached back to grab the hilt of his sword subconsciously.

Haian flashed green light—the iron-grey decapitation longsword was drawn from behind.

And when the Rogue's "Run" reached his ears, was converted into understandable information by his brain, the command was issued, transmitted through nerves, muscles drove bones, and he took the first step.

That invisible force, which seemed to have filled the air like mist, also arrived before him.

Boom—

The world seemed to have been pressed the mute button, and the bright and vivid colors before his eyes gradually faded.

It was hard to describe Xia Nan's feelings at the moment in words.

It was like winter swimming in temperatures of minus twenty degrees.

First was the instant cold and stinging pain on the surface of the skin, the cold in the river water seemed to want to seep into the muscles and bones through the pores;

Then it was numbness, the sensation of the parts eroded by the cold air gradually disappearing as if frozen;

And immediately after, the body, sensing the crisis, instinctively constricted blood vessels, and the subsequent accelerated blood circulation caused warm currents to emerge from all over his body, resisting the intrusion from the outside world.

The two precious attribute points granted to Xia Nan by the "Mastered" level 【Circle Slash】, combined with his resilient willpower from living two lives,

"Body" and "Mind" at this moment constituted a city wall blocking the petrification force from continuing to erode the inside of his body.

Allowing him to pass the test that determined life and death.

His consciousness suddenly became dazed, and the colors before his eyes surged again.

Fingertips, knees, and even the toe of the leather boot under his feet were covered in a layer of pale death-grey.

In his vision, Haian was being carried by Wood, rushing toward the dense forest outside the courtyard.

The half-elf's face was filled with panic, his bloodless lips opening and closing, shouting two words at Xia Nan:

"Run!"

And only then, the culprit that had nearly wiped out the entire squad in the time of a breath,

dragged its bloated and huge body, walking with the calm and leisurely steps unique to a predator, from the dense forest filled with mist behind the courtyard, and crawled out slowly.

There will be another chapter later

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(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 39 =====

(End of chapter)