Chapter 261

Gurgles.

The deputy commander swallowed hard, his whole body trembling.

Black Grade Mid-Stage… that's already beyond what he can handle!

That kind of ghoul? Only Mo Cun's Captain can deal with it! Our outsider hunting group can at best suppress and kill a Black Grade Initial Stage Gui Yi—and only a weak one at that; if it's even slightly stronger, we're helpless.

Without thinking, he stepped back two paces…

Sssssss!

The commander, just possessed, suddenly erupted with dozens of black spines from his body.

The speed of the black spines' launch was too fast for the naked eye to track.

Before anyone could react, the deputy commander's men were all struck, screams rising in waves as the crowd collapsed.

Seeing the deputy commander's members screaming and lying everywhere, Zhang Dashou's mind went utterly blank.

So terrifying! So terrifying!

How could there be such overwhelming power? These wild Gui Yi are insanely brutal!

"Run! Cancel the previous order! Everyone, retreat to Mo Cun—save as many as you can!"

The fallen deputy commander suddenly chopped through the black spines with an axe and stood up, roaring at those who hadn't run far enough.

His face was grim—this Black Grade Mid-Stage Gui Yi had crushed him with just one move.

The power gap was too great!

"How did we get tangled up with something so troublesome? When did it even follow our hunting group? So many sentries—and not one noticed its approach…"

The deputy commander gasped for breath—he wanted to flee, but the closest target was himself.

If he dared turn and run, he'd die instantly.

Unexpectedly, the Gui Yi fixed on the deputy commander made no move.

"What is it waiting for…?"

The deputy commander's thoughts suddenly halted.

He froze.

Because he saw, on his own chest—where the black spines had pierced him—a tiny flower had sprouted, emerald green, incredibly tender, as if just breaking through the soil.

Then he felt it… the draining of his lifespan!

His lifespan was vanishing wildly.

His middle-aged face aged visibly before his eyes; his life force was being rapidly siphoned away.

The tender flower on his chest, as if fed nourishment, grew rapidly.

When the flower bloomed into a deep crimson, like spilled blood, the deputy commander felt all his strength drained and squeezed out.

Then the flower began to wither, like autumn leaves falling one by one.

Thud.

When the petals fell, the deputy commander lost all his lifespan, turning into a desiccated corpse that collapsed to the ground.

Flower blooms, flower falls, man perishes.

The Fallen Flower Gui Yi smiled.

At its feet, all around in a circle, were humans turned to dried corpses.

The Meng Clan Hunting Group's deputy unit—members including the deputy commander—were all annihilated!

Greedily savoring the absorbed life force, the Fallen Flower Gui Yi sniffed the air, its gaze slowly shifting to another direction—where Zhang Dashou had fled.

Black spines shot from the Fallen Flower Gui Yi's body, piercing directly into the trunk of the nearest tree.

Sssssss!

The black spines sank into the tree's interior, then sharply changed direction, erupting from that tree into more black spines, splitting into two paths that struck two more distant trees.

Those two trees, upon being struck, sprouted four more black spines each, spreading outward to even farther trees.

If someone could look down from above, they'd see the Fallen Flower Gui Yi's black spines branching like a circuit—one becomes two, two become four, four become eight, eight become sixteen… the number of black spines surged at a terrifying pace, spreading wildly across a widening area!

"Aaaah! Help! Help!!"

One Meng Clan Hunting Group member, who hadn't run far, was pierced through the thigh by a black spine suddenly bursting from a tree.

But once the black spine struck, it ignored him, sinking forward into the next tree, splitting into two more black spines to continue branching.

The hunting group member who remained in place screamed as a strange emerald flower sprouted from his thigh.

"No… no!!"

His face turned ashen; he reached out and grabbed the slowly yellowing Life Flower.

His hand clamped down, yanked hard!

The strange Life Flower was ripped clean from the root.

"Ha… ha… is it over now? Is it over now?"

After doing this, he trembled all over—then in the next instant.

Boom!!

A bloody hole suddenly burst open in his chest.

His heart seemed ripped from his body by an invisible, colossal force—pulled out, tearing every vessel and organ connected to it.

Thud! Thud!

The living heart fell to the ground, gradually growing still, no longer beating.

Beside the still heart lay its owner's corpse, eyes wide open, face up, collapsed.

Similar fates befell others who were fleeing.

Someone burned the Life Flower with Human Soul fire—then his own body ignited and burned to ash.

Someone chopped off his right hand, which had been parasitized by the Life Flower, and immediately, his own body lost a hand too—blood gushed out like a waterfall, flowing endlessly, until he died from excessive blood loss.

Screams rose and fell in succession.

Calls for help echoed across the entire Yuanyuan Hill.

This would be a one-sided massacre!

Zhang Dashou was running, and he ran fast.

Knowing the terrain, avoiding the trees infested with black thorns, then sprinting at full speed—this was his secret to survival.

But this secret was about to fail.

Because there were simply too many.

From the eerie entity possessing the Regimental Commander as the origin point, it spread like a branching circuit, madly covering one direction.

The scope was so vast that Zhang Dashou felt the entire Yuanyuan Hill had already been covered in black thorns.

The oppressive pressure, like a tidal wave, surged toward him.

"Faster! Faster! I can't die here! I've spent so many days cultivating this character, accumulated so many skills—how can I just throw it all away?!"

The longer a player survives in the game, the more they value their own safety.

Because once dead, everything resets—efforts erased, everything starts over.

Zhang Dashou already had a foundation; he couldn't endure repeating the labor of rebuilding his character—this setback was too great.

So he kept running, fleeing desperately.

Relying on the Hunter's instinct and his familiarity with the terrain, he frantically dodged the trees already infested with black thorns.

But hope was gradually fading.

He didn't know how far he'd run—only that the endless terror behind him continued spreading.

The flame on the Human Soul Torch flickered violently as he sprinted at top speed.

If he hadn't poured his remaining lifespan into it, the Human Soul Flame would have extinguished the moment he began this frantic run.

Closer! Closer! It's catching up!

Feeling the black thorns drawing nearer, Zhang Dashou felt despair slowly rising in his heart.

He opened his mouth and let out his final scream: "Help!!"

Boom!!

The black thorns charging toward Zhang Dashou exploded violently from the center, shattering into several pieces and falling to the ground.

W-what just happened?

D-did I get saved?

Zhang Dashou turned back, gasping for breath.

He noticed that besides the black thorns shattered and lying in pieces on the ground, there was also a small hole pierced through a nearby large tree—through the hole, he could see a fist-sized stone embedded tightly into the trunk of the tree behind it.

A… stone?

Zhang Dashou was stunned—and just then, footsteps sounded from the darkness.

Tap-tap, tap-tap.

Accompanied by the footsteps, a figure emerged from the darkness.

It was someone he'd never seen before.

His appearance was unremarkable, yet unusually calm—he wore a black robe with a hood, and a sword hung at his waist. Despite the bizarre situation, he remained unnaturally composed.

"What was that thing just now?"

The man spoke—his voice was surprisingly ordinary.

Yet this ordinary man had shattered the incredibly fast black thorns with a single stone and saved him.

"Eerie! That was an eerie attack method!"

Regaining his senses, Zhang Dashou rushed forward and grabbed the man's hand: "Go! Let's flee back to Mo Village—tell them a powerful eerie entity has appeared on Yuanyuan Hill! Send the Mo Village Captain to handle it!"

Zhang Dashou was no good Samaritan.

He wanted to drag the black-robed man along solely to have him protect him.

But when he tried pulling the man, he found the black-robed figure unmoved.

"W-why aren't you moving?! Come on, let's go—those black thorns are terrifying! If they pierce your body, they implant a strange flower—you die instantly!"

"Strange flower?"

The black-robed man raised an eyebrow: "Explain."

"Explain what?! Save your life first!" Zhang Dashou cried urgently.

After failing to budge the black-robed man no matter how hard he pulled, Zhang Dashou gritted his teeth, abandoned him, and sprinted away again.

But the next moment, he suddenly stopped.

Because what he saw before him was almost unbelievable.

Ahead, where there had once been a dense forest of trees, was now nearly flat ground.

Around him, over thirty massive trees—each requiring two people to encircle—had been felled, leaving only stumps in a wide clearing.

From the brutal marks and methods, it was clear the trees had been hacked down recklessly—even their insides had been "dismembered," as if someone had tried to study something from within them.

And without doubt, all of this… had been done by the black-robed man just now!

Ssshh—so strong!

Strong beyond comprehension!

Regaining his senses, Zhang Dashou didn't even think—he turned and sprinted back into the forest, catching up to the black-robed man who hadn't gone far.

"B-brother! Wait for me! I'll go with you!"

Rather than risk his life running toward Mo Cun, it was far safer to stay beside a powerhouse.

After all, Mo Cun is still far away, while a powerful figure is right before him!

The black-robed man stopped and glanced at him: "Tell me what happened ahead. Tell me everything you know, and I'll allow you to follow."

Zhang Dashou didn't waste time—he laid out everything he had encountered, word for word.

"Black Grade Mid-stage Weird!"

The black-robed man's expression grew serious, yet within that seriousness, there seemed to be a hint of… excitement?

Zhang Dashou thought he was imagining things, but he truly felt heightened emotion radiating from the black-robed man!

Is this guy insane?

That's a Black Grade Mid-stage Weird!

He knows what it is—and he's actually planning to go confront it?

Isn't this suicide!

Zhang Dashou, who had just decided to follow the black-robed man, suddenly felt regret.

This guy is a lunatic! How unlucky! He's so strong—why is his mind so broken!

"Big Brother, you seem to want to go find that Black Grade Mid-stage Weird?"

"Correct."

The black-robed man answered without hesitation.

Damn it! How boldly does this madman face death! Doesn't this guy fear death at all!

Zhang Dashou forced a smile worse than crying: "Big Brother, that's a Black Grade Mid-stage Weird—let's not provoke it! The Meng Clan Hunting Group was surely wiped out. We're barely holding on ourselves—let's head back to Mo Cun, report to the Captain, and let the Captains handle it."

"Report to the Captain?"

The black-robed man lifted his hood. Just then, moonlight fell upon his youthful, unformed face—faintly familiar, yet unplaceable.

"Right now, you've already reported to the Captain."

"Reported… to the Captain?"

"Let me introduce myself. I'm Yese Liming, one of the current acting Captains of Mo Cun. I already know the situation at Yuanyuan Hill—I'm going to deal with the Weird now."

What, what?!

Hearing the black-robed man's words, Zhang Dashou's eyes widened in shock.

Yese Liming—the god among players!

The number one of Blue Sea, first to single-kill a Weird, first to leave the wilds, first to become a Village-level Captain!

The undisputed top player in the game, unmatched so far!

Who would've thought he'd meet someone like this—someone so insignificant—under these circumstances!

"Idol! Idol Yese! I'm your fan!"

Instantly, Zhang Dashou grabbed Fang Yue's leg.

"Let go. And go lead the way."

"Ah!"

An idol is an idol—but making him walk ahead to die? No way!

Fang Yue, seeing his hesitation, frowned.

"Don't worry. With me here, those black spikes won't touch you."

Both of us are Third-rate Realm in the Postnatal stage, but there's a vast gap between one's strength and another's.

Even a Third-rate Realm Captain from a large village is far beyond what any outsider Hunting Group can match.

Thus, the Deputy Regimental Commander of the Meng Clan Hunting Group—and all the members under him—are just weaklings.

To Fang Yue, their strength is utterly negligible. Their annihilation by the Black Grade Mid-stage Weird is only natural.

But Fang Yue is different!

He climbed to the Second-rate Realm with full base stats!

With the Flame Heart Method in one hand and the Starfire Blade Technique in the other—he'll cut the Black Grade Mid-stage Weird's guts out!

(End of Chapter)