Chapter 40: Disappearance

Buzz!

At this moment, Xia Nan felt as though he had returned to that final night before his transmigration.

Under the impact of a mountain-toppling force, his toes left the ground, and his body was hurled high into the air like a plaything in a toddler’s hands. The intense pain radiating from his back vanished from his perception because it far exceeded the limits of what a human body could endure, replaced instead by a gradually blurring consciousness.

He was seeing stars, and his internal organs felt as though they had completely shifted out of place. It was as if what stood before his eyes was no longer a lush, dense thicket of forest bushes, but that truck with its piercing, blaring horn, and that truck driver whose face was flushed crimson and reeked of alcohol.

Splash!

His lips parted, and the striking crimson blood spitting from his mouth, combined with the metallic scent filling his nasal cavity, instantly yanked him back to reality.

His body, coated in grass clippings and shredded leaves, spun through the air and rolled across the ground like a tattered sack. After a brief instant of stillness, the severe pain engulfed Xia Nan’s body and mind like a tidal wave.

He had no way to judge the specific condition of his current injuries, but without a doubt, the unbearable pain—a fusion of dizziness, stabbing, burning swelling, and numbing ache radiating from every single part of his body—had completely stripped him of his ability to fight.

“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!”

The drastically worsening situation caused Xia Nan to instinctively curse in his heart.

He thought of the healing potion resting inside the small pouch at his waist, yet the arm paralyzed atop the meadow simply could not muster any strength. The pale grey petrification at his fingertips was spreading at a speed visible to the naked eye due to the plunging, declining state of its master’s body. Within the span of a breath, it had already crept past the first knuckle.

Thud—

A heavy footstep echoed through the dense forest outside his line of sight. The shadow cast by the basilisk’s massive torso gradually enveloped Xia Nan on the ground.

“Am I going to die?”

In this split second, following the initial panic and resentment, his mind grew exceptionally tranquil. Flashing before his eyes was that rusty nail embedded within the skull of Elki the gnome, the ankle of Gagu being held upside down by the bugbear, and that snapped wooden bow resting in Mage’s arms.

Even though he had never seriously pondered the final conclusion of his journey as a transmigrator, having witnessed the ends of everyone in the total amateur squad with his own eyes, it seemed he had already prepared himself in his subconscious to face whatever came.

Screech!

The miserable, piercing shriek of air being torn apart suddenly erupted from the top canopy of the trees not far to his side. A sharp arrowhead gleamed with a cold light, violently churning the mist.

The half-elf’s signature white-feathered arrow vibrated as it spun at high speed, flying straight toward the basilisk at a velocity that left only a blur to the naked eye.

Clang!

The accuracy was slightly off. Whether intentionally or accidentally, the wooden arrow did not strike the lizard’s eyes, but instead landed upon the rock-like, thick, greyish-green scales on the side of its body. Sparks flew, and the rough, solid scales, whose defensive capabilities rivaled steel, blocked the arrowhead outside the flesh without any suspense, leaving behind nothing more than a faint white scratch.

Yet it was precisely because of this that the basilisk’s attention was temporarily diverted away from Xia Nan’s body.

Its neck, stacked with muscles and stone armor, turned slowly as the basilisk cast its gaze toward the direction where the wooden arrow had flown, a faint light flickering within its eerie green eyes as the Petrifying Gaze was unleashed invisibly.

And it was right at this moment, within the blind spot outside the basilisk’s field of vision where the shadows warped, a hand-sized brown earthenware jar was abruptly hurled out.

Bang!

It scored a direct hit right on the crown of the basilisk’s snout. Viscous, pitch-black oil mixed with murky powder ignited into a roaring blaze in an instant with just a single spark, exploding like a mini bomb.

Roar—

Flames set the basilisk’s head ablaze in a fraction of a second. A howl of agony subsequently resounded through the forest.

Xia Nan naturally would not squander his teammates’ good intentions in risking danger to come to his aid. Even though his body had entered a heavily wounded state under the basilisk’s attack, the sudden calmness of mind he experienced when facing death just now allowed him to regain his ability to think and react.

Almost in the very next second after the sound of the half-elf’s wooden arrow piercing the air reached his ears, Xia Nan clenched his teeth with immense willpower. Enduring the boundless pain radiating from all over his body, he forcibly controlled his somewhat distorted arm. Trembling, he retrieved that tube of healing potion, which cast a swaying fluorescence with every wobble, from his belt pouch.

He bit off the wooden cork with his teeth.

Gulp.

He drank half of it in a single mouth.

The liquid was ice-cold, faintly sweet, and refreshing. After flowing down his esophagus into his abdominal cavity, it turned into surges of warm currents, driving his blood to circulate throughout his body. It felt as though he was soaking in a hot spring out of nowhere, and the pain all over his body was alleviated within just a few breaths. He had reclaimed control over his physical body.

A greyish-green silhouette crackling with flames flashed past the corner of his eye. At this moment, Xia Nan had absolutely no time to wait for the healing potion to exert its full efficacy. The moment he recovered his mobility, he propped himself up with both hands to force his body off the ground. Then, without looking back, he continued to run toward the deeper parts of the dense forest.

The wooden arrow, the incendiary bomb, and the half-elf duo who had vanished once more after initiating the attack made Xia Nan instinctively realize that this was not a horn sounding a counterattack blown by Haian and Wood. It was simply a delaying tactic carried out to rescue him from beneath the basilisk’s claws. He had to seize the opportunity to pull away as much distance as possible.

And that was indeed the case.

The abrupt fire and the severe, burning pain at its sensitive snout caused the basilisk to instinctively toss its head like a wild bull. While the scales on its face were relatively weak, they were still tough and solid, playing a considerable role in its defense.

Ten seconds? Or twenty seconds?

The flames that had been burning fiercely just a moment ago were extinguished along with the snapping and crushing of the surrounding trees and bushes in the forest. Hot air snorted from its massive nostrils. The two auras atop the tree canopy had long since vanished, and within its perception, there was only that figure far ahead, stumbling yet still maintaining a certain speed as it rapidly distanced itself.

As though it had been toyed with by a weak prey, the ferocious rage characteristic of a wild beast ignited within the heart of this brutal magical beast.

“Roar—”

It roared violently toward the sky, and immediately after, like a tank, it pursued the direction of Xia Nan’s flight once more in a rampaging, crude manner.

…

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Heavy footsteps akin to a beating drum echoed once again from the dense forest behind him.

Xia Nan felt the vibration of the ground and the violent commotion of collapsing trees behind him. He wanted to quicken his steps, but his body had already reached its limit. His stride frequency slowed down, and the soft meadow beneath his feet felt like a marsh filled with muddy water, making it increasingly difficult to lift his legs.

Half a bottle of healing potion allowed him to temporarily recover from his heavily wounded state and granted him a certain amount of mobility. However, wanting to be restored to pristine condition in such a short amount of time was clearly not something a tiny sip of potion like this could accomplish. After all, its name did not carry any prefixes such as Greater or Potent.

Thus, he merely ran forward as much as possible. Even though the thin mist in the air grew increasingly dense, visibility plummeted rapidly, and the trees within his line of sight gradually clustered together. Clearly, he had broken out of the scope of the Mist Forest’s periphery.

And aside from this, Xia Nan noticed even more.

The direction he had temporarily chosen in his moment of crisis happened to be the very source of the otherworldly objects that had caused him to hesitate and falter before he decided to return. Those buildings of completely different styles interwoven among the branches and trunks of the bushes appeared with increasing frequency.

It was no longer just the once-towering wooden restaurant buildings, but even included dilapidated temples hanging with half a bronze bell, and grand palaces that had mostly collapsed… It was as if he was gradually drawing closer to the very center of it all.

The highly concentrated attention seemed to cause the flow of time to accelerate along with it.

He had no idea how much time had passed. It wasn’t until those warm currents originating from the healing potion gradually dissolved within his surging blood and could no longer be felt that Xia Nan, under the influence of his already overdrawn physical stamina, slowly decelerated his pace.

“Pant… pant… pant…”

Breathing heavily and rapidly, his consciousness and sanity returned to his brain along with the influx of air.

“Did I… did I escape?”

He instinctively thought in his heart with astonishment.

Clearly, while he was fleeing just now, he could still distinctly perceive the chasing sounds of the basilisk, which were even more rapid than at the very beginning under the influence of its rage. Given the speed he had sensed in his heart at the time, there was even a split second where he felt everything he had done previously was an exercise in futility.

But…

“When did it happen?”

From when exactly had the basilisk’s footsteps suddenly vanished? It was absolutely not a case of escaping its range of perception, which would cause the opponent to unconsciously slow its steps to search for his location. Rather, it was a sudden, instantaneous disappearance of footsteps, as if it had slammed on the brakes.

Gasping heavily for air, Xia Nan’s gaze scanned the surroundings with the daze that follows intense exercise. The mist permeating the air had grown quite a bit thicker, causing even the sunlight overhead to weaken because of it.

Suddenly, he detected a hint of abnormality.

“Where are those buildings?”

The ruined walls and broken debris that had been visible everywhere just a moment ago seemed to have suddenly vanished into thin air now; not even a single brick or tile appeared.

Dark, tranquil.

Xia Nan suddenly developed an illusion. At this moment, he was like someone standing right in the dead center of a massive cyclonic storm system rampaging across the earth—the calmest yet most perilous area:

The eye of the storm.

He instinctively turned his body around and lightly stepped a foot forward.

Buzz—

Without any preparation, and with extreme abruptness.

The space surrounding Xia Nan suddenly warped and blurred for a split second. In the next second, his body vanished into the mist.

…

“Xia Nan? Xia Nan?”

Deep within the dark and silent forest, a call with a lowered voice suddenly echoed.

Haian kept his posture low, cautiously navigating his way between the trees. Beside him was his guard, Wood, who remained inseparable like a shadow. Unlike the polished and tidy appearance they had when they first met, the two of them looked quite disheveled now. Not only were their bodies covered in grass seeds and leaf scraps, but even the hair on their foreheads was matted together by sweat.

His silver-grey eyes emitting a faint glow in the darkness, Haian was carefully searching for his companion’s silhouette. The darkvision derived from his elven lineage allowed him to clearly capture things within a sixty-foot radius even in a dimly lit environment, just as if it were daylight.

Nothing was found.

Wood remained silent, but he was similarly exerting his own efforts. While maintaining his vigilance, he utilized his rich experience to carefully inspect the details on the surrounding forest floor.

Of the two, one possessed combat techniques related to a Ranger, with the lineage of an elf—rightfully called a darling of nature—flowing in his blood. The other was a Rogue who was inherently adept at concealment and active within the shadows. Merely by leaving the basilisk’s field of vision, they had easily escaped the opponent’s perception. It was precisely because of this that they were able to seize the moment when the basilisk wasn’t paying attention to launch a sudden strike from the side, rescuing Xia Nan from beneath its claws. Afterward, they took a large detour and followed the commotion all the way to this place.

“Young master, over here!”

Wood seemed to have discovered something. He bent his body down and alerted the half-elf beside him. On the soft, damp meadow in front of him, a string of footprints was clearly imprinted.

Seemingly pursued by something from behind and lacking physical strength, the footprints were short and dense, and a few crushed plant stems were left beside them. But what was bizarre was that the master of the tracks seemed to have suddenly vanished into thin air, causing the originally continuous footprints to come to an abrupt halt upon a certain patch of ground.

Haian, the half-elf, suddenly lifted his head, his gaze searching and capturing details among those flourishing tree canopies.

“Young master, this area already belongs to the depths of the Mist Forest. We…” Wood showed hesitation, offering a reminder from the side.

Hearing this, Haian’s expression remained unchanged. He glanced at the sky overhead, which had implicitly turned somewhat dim, and then lowered his head to gaze at that suddenly terminated footprint. He spoke slowly and firmly:

“We will search for another two hours. If nothing is discovered… we will temporarily retreat to the periphery first.”

“Alright.”

…

Meanwhile, on the other side.

Boom!

Rough, stone-like greyish-green scales slammed violently against a tree trunk. The thick, brownish bark—capable of resisting sword slashes and axe hacks—was instantly pierced through, and the connecting wood fibers snapped and tore apart, exposing the tender white heartwood inside.

The basilisk was wantonly venting the rage accumulated in its heart upon this innocent oak tree.

Mud splattered everywhere. The massive root system dug deeply into the soil was abruptly unearthed under the impact of the monster’s immense strength—which seemed capable of pulverizing steel—along with half a snapped tree trunk.

It howled wildly, the ghost-fire-like eerie green light flickering ceaselessly within its eyes. On a portion of the armor-like scales atop its skull and snout, as well as the surrounding brown crystalline bone spurs, scorched marks following a burn could be faintly seen upon the surface.

The basilisk could perceive the human aura that was gradually dissipating within the dense forest far ahead. It also knew clearly that this weak creature was far from being its match. Even if the human had coincidentally endured the invasion of the Petrifying Gaze, it would only take one gentle swipe of its claws, or any casual bite. These cunning prey would turn into its dinner.

But despite this, the basilisk harbored absolutely no intention of continuing forward to hunt. It merely remained at the periphery of those gradually densening buildings, fruitlessly and powerlessly destroying the surrounding thickets and bushes. It was as if between itself and those architectural ruins, an invisible boundary line existed, making it look as though it dared not take even a single step forward.

It wasn’t until the end, after overturning dozens of towering trees onto the ground and turning countless disturbed creatures within the forest into cold stone sculptures, that the basilisk cast one final glance toward the direction where Xia Nan had vanished, carrying a human-like hesitation and vigilance from afar.

It turned.

Dragging its bloated body, it vanished into the depths of the mist and dense forest.

(End of Chapter)