bookpower Book: 2: Chapter 161
Book: 2: Chapter 161
Book 2: Chapter 161 After a short while, the
“…huh?”
Guaba’s expression became a bit strange.
“You do know that Lirua is one of the major cities that represent Combat Island, don’t you?”
“Right.”
“And that its arena can be ranked within the top five of all cities.”
“Of course.”
“…right. I suppose only someone as ballsy as you could become the Lord of Headsmasher Bargan.”
He nodded as if he had some kind of understanding.
And he continued in a voice as though he didn’t find anything wrong.
“Well, good luck. I’ll come take a look when I get the chance.”
“…”
That was it?
Guaba didn’t show any disgust or contempt as Bargan had.
What this meant was simple.
‘Guaba doesn’t know about the fight fixing in Lirua.”
Just as he drifted along this train of thought.
Thud…
A strange vibration came from the forest.
Flap flap!
And dozens of birds flew up from the forest at the same time.
Lukas was surprised that birds were living on the floating island, but now wasn’t the time to think about that.
The ground shook again, almost as if an earthquake was occurring. It was so heavy that the firewood scattered and the large bonfire immediately went out with a puff.
In an instant, their surroundings became pitch-black, which caused the members of the subjugation team to become a bit panicked.
“Wh-, what’s going on?”
“Dammit. What the hell happened?”
“Ugh! Which bastard just hit me!?”
It was Igaru who organised the chaos.
“Everyone, take out your weapons!”
Unlike Ashstar, who had directly joined the search, he stayed back to guard their base.
Igaru’s loud voice pierced the panicked haze that had settled on everyone’s minds. They all drew their weapons and stared at the forest in anticipation.
“…”
“…”
As the commotion subsided, the area immediately became drowned in silence. So much so that the sounds of gulping were clearly audible.
Huff… huff…
It also allowed them to hear the sound of panting. It wasn’t from someone in the camp.
Instead, this sound came from the forest when the strong vibrations had just been felt.
Only then did the subjugation team members realise that someone was crawling towards them from the forest.
“Ku-, hu-, urk!”
“…!”
Igaru’s expression hardened.
The person who was slowly crawling out of the forest with unsteady movements was his subordinate, ‘Naul’.
His face was white with fear, but he didn’t seem to want to get up. No, upon closer inspection, they realised he couldn’t get up.
The lower half of Naul’s body was no longer there. Therefore, he had no choice but to use his arms to slowly drag himself forward like a slug.
He called out in a shaky voice.????????????????????????????. ᴄ????m
“S-, squad leader… ru-, run away… da-, danger is… co-, co-…”
Naul collapsed before he could finish his sentence.
The adrenaline that had been pushing his body forward had finally run out.
Lukas turned to look at the forest again.
Then, he heard a familiar voice once again.
[A great power has been sensed in the ‘Samis Great Forest’.]
[Warning!]
[It is recommended that the participant doesn’t approach the Great Forest at this time.]
‘Why?’
The answer to this question came promptly.
[That being will be difficult for the participant to confront at your current level.]
* * *
“…relight the fire.”
At Igaru’s order, one of the squad members lit the bonfire once again.
Fwoosh.
Soft light once again filled their surroundings. Igaru also created a torch by wrapping a cloth around a piece of firewood. Then he carefully inspected Naul’s corpse.
“…”
There were numerous injuries on Naul’s body. However, as he looked at these injuries, Igaru couldn’t help but feel that none of them were enough to kill or even incapacitate him.
Every single injury missed his vital points.
Was it because Naul had done a good job of dodging?
‘No.’
From Naul’s pale complexion and his missing lower half, it was obvious that the difference between him and his opponent wasn’t small.
‘He was toyed with.’
Instead of intentionally killing him, the beast simply devoured his lower half and enjoyed it as he crawled away in fear.
Right, devoured.
From the injury, it was obvious that Naul’s waist had been torn off by the teeth of a huge monster. Naul must have tried desperately to crawl away from it after that, filled with immense pain and even more fear.
Kori, the most knowledgeable member of Igaru’s squad frowned as he looked down at Naul’s corpse.
“It has a powerful bite. It was able to tear through his skin like paper and his bones snapped like twigs.”
“Was it a Dragonling?”
“Yeah. It’s possible that it’s a Mutated Dragonling, or…”
After a moment of hesitation, Kori added.
“It’s possible that it was an Ancient Dragon.” (Note: Here it is…)
“…”
Even though it was a shocking statement, it didn’t cause a big commotion. Instead, all the Dragonmen present felt as though a cold wind was blowing against the napes of their necks, and they didn’t dare to open their mouths.
That was the weight of the words ‘Ancient Dragon’.
Guaba, whose expression had been stiff this entire time, finally turned to Igaru.
“Squad Leader. What are your orders?”
“…”
It was a difficult situation, but that was exactly why the squad leader’s orders were important.
Igaru took another look at Naul’s corpse then back to the pitch black forest from which nothing could be seen before letting out a long sigh.
“…we will wait here until dawn.”
With the situation, the way it was, entering the forest now would be no different from committing suicide.
Especially if their opponent was truly an Ancient Dragon.
All they could do was wait there for those who might come back alive.
‘…however.’
Night had only just arrived. They would need to wait for half a day for dawn to come. Could those in the forest survive that long?
“Hoo.”
Igaru sighed and shook his head.
This wasn’t the time to worry about the search party. Right now, Igaru had to focus on protecting those still in the camp.
There was no guarantee that the unidentified Dragonling in the forest wouldn’t come here for them.
Guaba, who was wiping cold sweat off his forehead, spoke to his side.
“What a mess. Hey, Lukas, you’re a Sorcerer right. Is there any rune you can use to send messages to those ins-…”
But he didn’t finish his sentence.
“…Lukas?”
This was because Lukas, who had been standing beside him the entire time, had disappeared.