Chapter 774: The Raging Demon Flame, the Noisy Mushroom Camp

As he released the bowstring holding the magic arrow, the tall hunter revealed a hint of regret; he did not know how sad his gentle wife at home would be after learning of his death. Although he possessed this powerful magic arrow and his wife was aware of the situation, every time he went out hunting, she had urged him to return this dangerous weapon to the church priests and find them to make a new one that was less perilous.

But he was a hunter, wasn't he? Possessing such a powerful magic arrow was exactly what he had pursued his entire youth.

Even if using it once meant the user would die as a result.

But at least, he would complete a hunt he could never otherwise finish.

And there was the young child at home, that chubby, sturdy little boy—how much he looked like he and his younger brother did when they were small. In the future, he would surely be able to become a robust hunter too.

I am truly sorry, my child; I, your father, could not witness you growing up slowly. I hope you will not be sad in the future and can devote your entire life and energy to new hunting adventures, overcoming the formidable foes I never could.

As for the younger brother among this pair of hunter siblings, whose face was full of fanaticism, at this moment, watching his older brother release the magic arrow that was bound to kill everyone present, he finally revealed a trace of fear. He was still so young; he never expected to die here. Moreover, his brother had once told him that this Demon Horn Magic Arrow, once fired, would cause the bursting Demon Flame to burn the tainted soul away as firewood.

He would not even be able to enter the gods' Divine Kingdom after death.

Was this the final scene of his life? The world after death, as sung in the stories of Bards, was also very magnificent, but it seemed to have nothing to do with him anymore.

Thinking of this, the young hunter tried to turn his head to look at the young Knight holding him hostage, wanting to see even a shred of fear or terror on this person; it might have made him feel slightly better.

But before he could even take a look before the magic arrow arrived, his whole body was kicked violently from behind, sending him straight toward the magic arrow his brother had fired.

"Ah? Ahhhhhhh!!!!"

At the final moment before death, he saw that on the projected magic arrow, the red light originally reflected twisted into a roaring, terrifying Demon head, and then this head transformed into a surging, nauseating emerald flame, rapidly expanding and exploding.

Roar, roar, roar, oh—

The huge roar accompanied the explosion of the emerald flame, blooming instantly like a giant flower rising rapidly from the ground, or like a massive fireball created by throwing a handful of flour into a fire.

The sun seemed less bright than this rapidly blooming flame storm at this moment, and the moon was so shy it hid in the clouds; only the stars remained indifferent, ignoring it all. The vast Forest surrounding them seemed to let out a sorrowful, helpless shriek in unison at this moment.

The pair of brothers, being the closest, had their bodies expand and burst into more emerald flames the moment they were swallowed by the fire. Only a pair of bleached, scorched skeletons remained on the spot, frozen in the final posture of kneeling and screaming.

But as the flame storm continued to rage, this pair of Human skeletons was also scorched by the bright emerald flames until not even a residue remained.

With the center point of the confrontation between Jier and the others as the starting point of the flame storm, in just the time of a single breath, the storm spread rapidly toward the surroundings. When it touched anything with a living soul, it was like pouring hot oil, further fueling the expansion and ravaging of the flames.

As the flames expanded, they spread rapidly along the Shulin toward the surroundings; every large tree that had lived for years became a helper fueling this terrifying fire—even though these trees themselves were wailing in the flames.

This flame was like a galloping warhorse, like a surging river, like a storm by the sea, like lava erupting from a volcano. The magic arrow head at the very center of the storm, while releasing seemingly endless flames, also emitted a terrifying burst of laughter, as if the Demons were satisfied with the burning of souls.

But soon this laughter quieted down and carried a hint of confusion, because apart from those two Humans at the beginning, there were only useless trees around that were barely better than mindless insects; there wasn't even a mouse?

However, the emerald flame storm soon found a new target; at the edge of the raging flames, there were still two Humans.

And so, in order to ignite more souls, the large swaths of emerald flames swirled and lashed out, licking and igniting tree after tree like waves, turning into hungry Fire Hounds, chasing after the two fleeing Bandits.

The uninjured Bandit felt his mind being swallowed by the huge fire that had suddenly erupted behind him. He snatched a moment to look back, and immediately his face was filled with horror, his ability to think stripped away by such a terrifying scene.

By rights, he should have stumbled and collapsed to the ground, helpless, to be swallowed by the flames. But at this moment, the instinct for survival subconsciously took over his body; his pounding heart forcibly pumped a large amount of blood to his limbs, and hormonal substances from his Viscera flowed rapidly throughout his body with the blood.

New strength drove his body and his numb mind, allowing him to take steps once again.

The injured, unconscious companion he had been carrying on his back became the culprit who would cause his death at this moment. Without a second thought, the Bandit abandoned his unconscious companion and fled for his life on all fours.

He didn't even have time to pick up the animal-fur leggings that had fallen off his feet; he ran hard barefoot, throwing away the weapons on his body to try to reduce his weight just a little. He ran and ran, until he collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, only then catching his breath and realizing he had survived.

Turning his head with difficulty to look back, the burning Shulin was already a distant sight.

The original night was illuminated by the emerald flame storm raging in the Shulin; even the clouds in the sky seemed to change color, reflecting the giant, clawing emerald flames on the ground.

Manifesting the powerful strength of the Demons.

Seeming to have exhausted all his strength and energy, the Bandit drifted into unconsciousness in a daze, and while unconscious, he muttered softly: "Don't blame me, don't blame me, I had no choice, no choice..."

The Mao Maos stood together on a large Shitou outside the Shulin, their round eyes wide with fear as they watched the nearby Shulin being shrouded and devoured by the huge flame storm.

The pupils in their eyes were pulled into thin lines to avoid being blinded by the light of the flames.

They saw it clearly: at first, there was a bloom of bright light, followed by a fireball exploding from the Shulin along the ground, and then, like living fire, green flames swirled to swallow everything around them, gradually expanding, spreading toward the sky, and turning into all sorts of terrifying sights.

It was as if countless living beings swallowed by the flames had transformed into fire; the flames stretched countless long arms toward the sky, as if even the clouds in the sky were to be grabbed down and burned to ashes.

This terrifying sight made the Mao Maos huddle together in fear, their tails pressed against their bodies and tangled messily with the tails of other Mao Maos, all of them shivering together. There were occasionally forest fires in the mountains that could ignite entire mountain ranges, but those were natural phenomena; although the scene was larger and more terrifying, it was not as evil and disgusting as this emerald flame before them.

"Meow meow, meow lu meow meow?"

A Mao Mao asked Yongqi Maomao if that powerful Human had also died in this terrible fire.

Yongqi Maomao shook its head; it did not know either.

But that powerful Human, did he not seem like the type of Human who would be so reckless? To just die inexplicably along with the other two powerful Human hunters?

"Meow meow, meow meow meow meow."

Yongqi Maomao told everyone to wait here and go take a look after the flames died out to see if they could find the remains of the powerful Human or the wreckage of his weapons, so that they could hand them over to other Humans in exchange for the qualification for the Mao Maos still at the Yingdi and the metal they had already obtained to leave safely.

Yongqi Maomao sighed secretly; why was its luck so bad? Was it really this difficult to leave the tribe, walk out of the Forest, and obtain a large amount of metal in Human society?

It had failed several times in a row.

It seemed that after returning to the tribe in the future, it would have to find the Wizards in the tribe to perform a ritual to wash away this streak of bad luck where nothing went right.

In the quiet, deep, lightless dense forest, Jier had taken off his Helmet and was leaning back against a Mushroom, laughing.

At first, he laughed softly, but soon he could no longer restrain himself. Since there was no one else around anyway, he no longer needed to worry about anything; he tilted his head back, grinned, bared two rows of large teeth, and could even see the uvula in his throat, emitting the loudest volume he could manage, laughing wantonly and heartily.

"Haha! Hahahahahaha—, a pair of stupid hunter brothers, perishing together? Keep dreaming! Hahahaha, am I not being very nice like this? Who cares!"

Jier laughed so hard he kept pounding the plump Mushroom beside him with his fist, causing the surrounding neat rows of Mushrooms, each two meters square, to emit fluorescence from their caps.

These Mushrooms thought this Human needed them to heal him, so they were working hard to drive the Mysterious Pattern on their caps, exerting the mysterious healing ability of the Mysterious Pattern.

Jier felt his body warm and his spirit quickly perking up.

However, his body and spirit were not injured or exhausted at this moment, so he had no use for the healing of these Mushrooms.

He patted the surrounding Mushrooms in a friendly manner, muttering that he did not need healing. These Mushrooms seemed to understand Jier's meaning and soon stopped the Mysterious Pattern on their caps.

Jier finished laughing, stood up, tidied himself, and prepared to go to the Pond Yingdi not far away to get some sleep.

It was only then that he discovered an extra 'thing' on his Elven Metal Shield.

A strange arrow, with a head like a flower bud, was biting tightly into the metal on the front of the shield.

"What is this? %￥, it's that special arrow the hunter shot at me!!!"

Jier cursed loudly; he had thought that when he used his shield to block the arrow the opponent shot, the arrow had already bounced off. Instead, it was firmly bitten into his shield.

This won't do; this Elven Metal Shield is one of Jier's favorite pieces of equipment. Whenever possible, he finds an opportunity to wrap and decorate it with animal hide; he is quite protective of it, after all.

This arrow is red and green, giving one the feeling of a strange plant that has grown into the shape of an arrow.

Jier does not know much about the Magic Arrows of the Hunting God Church, so he assumed this arrow was the same as the special arrows previously used by Hunters—though refined and possessing some special effects, it was never as formidable as the terrifying arrow he had seen just moments ago.

He pried at it, but the arrow-head bud at the front was bitten on tight; it seemed the front end had already firmly fixed and burrowed itself into his shield.

"Damn it, my precious shield!"

Jier wailed, and clutching the lightweight shield, he walked along the familiar path toward the Yingdi beside the Memory Water Pond.

There were tools he had stored at the Yingdi; they should be able to separate the shield from the arrow on it.

The Dreamy Forest was incomparably silent; except for the tiny sound of the Memory Water flowing and dripping as it emitted seven-colored light, there was almost no sound here at all.

The surrounding large trees and the thick moss upon them could not speak; they only silently watched Jier, the only Human, bringing a little bit of Human vitality to the eternally unchanging, deep, and dense forest.

"What is this? What are all these things?"

Jier let out a strange cry, emitting an incredulous shout.

Do not blame him for making a fuss, because at this moment, the Yingdi by the Pond in Jier's memory had actually become strange to him.

Strange, colorful Mushrooms of all sizes, growing slender arms and legs, were walking in circles around the small Memory Water Pond. Just like a carnival parade in his memory, various Mushrooms of strange colors and shapes were lined up in a long queue, emitting tiny, faint cheers from their mouths, and using their respective caps to support an earthy-yellow old Fairy, its Snail Shell mount, and the old Fairy's new house, strangely circling the Pond!

Jier's exclamation disturbed them; the little Fairy, radiating an earthy-yellow light all over, jumped around in the air, dancing a dance that the people of Kendall County often danced. It flew over, waving at Jier, seemingly asking Jier to join them and play happily together.

"No, what are you all doing? And where did so many moving Mushroom Boys come from? You didn't turn all those poisonous Mushrooms I gave you into this, did you?"

Hearing Jier's question and looking at Jier's incredulous expression, the little Fairy triumphantly put its hands on its hips, smugly emitting some tiny, giggling sounds.

It had the look of "hurry up and praise me, everyone come and play together."

Jier speechlessly covered his face with his hand; he truly could not communicate with this Fairy with the strange brain circuit. Perhaps, such a small thing actually had no brain at all? Then what did they rely on to think?

Thinking of this, Jier suspiciously stared at the top of the little Fairy's head.

And the little Fairy thought this Human was coveting the Fairy Hat on its head, so it immediately reached out and grabbed the hat on its head firmly; this could not be snatched away by a Human, as it still had to rely on the hat to cover its head, which didn't have many hairs left!

???

Seeing at a glance what the little Fairy was thinking, Jier speechlessly tapped the little thing: "No one is snatching your hat. Forget it, why am I even telling you this. These Mushrooms with long arms and legs, can you make them a bit quieter? Also, make them all disperse, all disperse, this is my Yingdi! I don't care what you do when I'm not here, but now that I'm here, just let them all scatter, okay?"

The little Fairy stuck its tongue out at Jier with a "bleh," and ignoring Jier, it flew into its new house.

Bang! The tiny door was even closed.

On the second floor of the house, a Mushroom the size of a thumb waved a Mushroom fist at Jier in a show of force, and then closed the window it was living in. Clearly, they had heard Jier's words just now.

These Mushroom people living in the Fairy house seemed to have a bit of intelligence, while the walking Mushrooms carrying the house around them looked rather dull and silly; at this moment, as the little Fairy dove back into the house, they were still circling the Pond.

These Mushrooms were of all sizes, the largest being about the size of an oak wine barrel, while the small ones were only the size of a fingernail. When circling, the large Mushrooms often stepped on the small ones, but the small Mushrooms that had grown arms and legs quickly wiggled their limbs to move to the wooden boxes at the Yingdi nearby, rooting their mycelium feet into them; very quickly, the flattened small Mushrooms recovered as if nothing had happened.

Little and chubby, very cute—cute my foot!

"My wooden boxes!!! You guys, you actually ate my wooden boxes!!"

Jier hurriedly ran over, waving his hand to drive away the small Mushrooms that still wanted to eat his wooden boxes, and then Jier checked the various supplies he had left at the Yingdi; a single inventory check made his blood pressure rise.

The large barrel of ale he had prepared was actually only half left; opening the lid of the wooden barrel containing the ale, there were actually several fat, drunken Mushrooms floating on the ale.

As soon as Jier saw the colorful caps of these few Mushrooms, he knew it was bad; he hurriedly fished them out of the wine barrel, and then, one in each hand, threw them far away into the depths of the deep, dense forest: "Get lost! You bunch of wine thieves!!"

Jier was furious, and in the little Fairy's house, the little Fairy was sticking to the window with its several Mushroom subordinates, secretly observing the various actions of this Human, Jier, through the cracks in the window.

When they saw Jier discover the drunken Mushrooms in the wine barrel, they giggled non-stop with joy.

When they saw Jier discover that the bags containing grain had grown several Mushrooms that were burping, they laughed even more happily.

When they saw Jier discover that the wooden boxes containing various tools and weapons were eaten into pits and holes by Mushrooms from all sides, they were already rolling on the ground with laughter.

The more Jier searched, the angrier he became, and the angrier he became, the more he roared; and his angry roaring finally brought satisfied happiness to the little Fairy and its Mushroom friends!

"You bunch of guys, sigh, next time I'll find a way to use things you can't eat as containers! Let's see what you do then!"

After venting his temper, Jier finally found a suitable tool. On the huge, toppled Elven Stone Greatsword nearby, Jier used this as a workbench, pressing the Elven Metal Shield with one hand, and holding iron pliers with the other, gripping the part with the strange arrow-head, and then tentatively pulled it outward.

As a result, he didn't pull it out.

This thing was like it had been welded on, fixed dead tight.

This won't do; although there were various pits and impact scratches on the surface of his shield from previous battles, those were experiences of battle, scars of honor—well, scars for the shield, anyway.

But at least the overall front of the shield was roughly flat, and the damage on it did not affect the normal use of the shield.

But what was the meaning of a colorful arrow stuck on the front of the shield?

Is this performance art?

This won't do.

Jier snorted coldly, and under the 'watch' of the Mushroom Boys of all sizes around him, he gave a loud shout, exerted the Knight's Life Energy, used immense strength to press the shield with one hand, and pried with the iron pliers with the other.

Finally, as his force gradually increased, and as he snapped the iron pliers in two with one hand, this arrow was finally pried off the shield.

"Away with you!"

The red and green mysterious arrow, looking like a strange plant, spun and landed on the Silver Floor Tile nearby.

The Mushroom Boys seemed to be frightened, or perhaps they were afraid of the arrow itself; they scrambled to clear a space, and the few unlucky ones on the very edge were even pushed by their companions into the Pond in the center of the Yingdi.

Once the Mushroom Boy fell in, the whole Mushroom became strange, and then it actually melted and disappeared into the Qicai Chitang, which did not look very deep.

This scene frightened a large number of Mushroom Boys again; these Mushrooms with arms and legs that could not even speak fled in panic, running toward the surrounding deep, dense forest.

Jier seemed to hear the little Fairy's frantic, exasperated cry, because a Mushroom Boy the size of a wine barrel, which was supporting its new house, was running toward the surrounding woods with its new house in a panic.

"Haha, let you eat my food and drink my drink."

Jier gave a wicked smile and reached out to pick up the mysterious and good-looking, plant-like peculiar arrow.

"What is the use of this thing?"