Chapter 009: Luring the Enemy into a Counter-Kill
After some time adventuring in the jungle and absorbing the life energy of numerous magical beasts, Chen Ran’s body had been transformed. His physical fitness was much better than it had been in his original world. However, carrying a person on his back, he still couldn’t outrun the two men chasing him at full speed, especially Tyris, a warrior who had shed his heavy armor and was relentless in pursuit.
Chen Ran could only rely on the brief effect of Light Screen to blind them and create distance. But Jakedo and Tyris weren’t fools. After suffering from the Light Screen a few times, they discovered its limitations. The moment they realized Chen Ran was about to use it, they would cover their eyes and continue running based on their last visual, allowing them to run out of the spell’s effective range.
Now, Chen Ran was getting anxious. The last few Light Screens hadn’t been very effective, and they were about to catch up. He had no choice but to cast it again, simultaneously changing direction and running deeper into the forest.
As he ran, Chen Ran also observed the newly explored terrain. As a veteran gamer, in a jungle full of things that could one-shot him, he wouldn’t make a low-level mistake like aggroing the wrong monster. He had hoped that Jakedo and Tyris would be wary of the magical beasts in the depths of the forest and give up the chase, but he had greatly underestimated Jakedo’s anger at having his prize slip away.
Suddenly, a situation arose.
“Holy shit, what is this on the map…”
Dense red dots were practically piled on top of each other. Chen Ran’s first reaction was that there were a lot of monsters. This was the first time he had seen such a dense concentration of mobs since coming to this other world. Most of them were low-level small monsters, but mixed in were a considerable number of level 30-plus regular monsters and even elites no weaker than the Saber-toothed Tiger King…
“Fuck, am I about to enter a monster den…” Chen Ran quickly slowed his pace, not daring to run any further. But the two men behind him were about to catch up, forcing him to cast Light Screen once more.
The two pursuers, now experienced, once again shielded their eyes to avoid the brightest light and charged straight through the spell’s range. When their vision returned, they saw Chen Ran running just over ten meters ahead of them. Seeing he was about to be caught, Tyris, who was in the lead, sped up again. He got closer and closer, and then suddenly felt like he had stepped on something fleshy, which made him jump.
When he realized what was under his foot, he couldn’t help but suck in a cold breath.
Snakes!
He had stepped on a two-meter-long patterned snake. If it were just one, he wouldn’t have been so nervous. But when you discover the ground is covered with slithering small snakes, when countless pairs of small eyes are staring at you, their forked tongues constantly flicking, you can’t possibly describe the terror of that moment. And what’s more, these were all venomous snakes!
“Hiss~~ Hiss~~”
The sound of flicking tongues was everywhere. It was as if the entire world was filled with nothing but this sound. In that moment, it was like hell.
Tyris carefully backed away, trying not to disturb the swarm of snakes. He was surprised at how Chen Ran, who was running ahead, had managed to pass through the snakes. But when he saw the figure in front of him vanish into thin air, he froze, finally realizing it was some kind of illusion.
“Tyris, why did you stop!”
As Jakedo was about to catch up, he shuddered, suddenly noticing the dense swarm of snakes ahead. He was terrified and stopped in his tracks, watching as the snakes steadily slithered toward them. Although they were all easy-to-handle snakes, when they gathered in such numbers, all that remained was panic.
Jakedo wanted to run, but he found that the snakes had already surrounded them. At some point, the surrounding trees had also become draped with colorful venomous snakes, hanging everywhere like ribbons. This was beyond what they could handle.
A venomous snake flicked its tongue and approached Jakedo. But the fastidious mage clearly didn’t want these creatures near him and, without thinking, shot a firebolt at it.
“Don’t attack!”
Before Tyris could finish, the bright firebolt hit the snake’s head. The patterned snake thrashed on the ground, trying to put out the flames, but after a short struggle, it was burned to a crisp.
It was like lighting a fuse. The attack instantly alerted the entire swarm. Tyris, standing in the center of the snakes, became the immediate target. Instantly, a rain of patterned snakes, like arrows, shot out from the ground and trees, biting into Tyris’s flesh. The burly man let out a painful scream. He struggled but was quickly overwhelmed and pulled to the ground. His body was covered in a dense layer of venomous snakes, hanging from every inch of him. His initial violent struggles gradually weakened until he stopped moving altogether. The small, inch-long snakes began to crawl in and out of Tyris’s nostrils, ears, and mouth…
Jakedo shuddered. Gritting his teeth, he could no longer hold back. He gathered his magic and unleashed a Blazing Flame, blasting the snakes away. After burning a patch of the small snakes to death, he made a break for it.
The swarm of snakes behind him naturally wouldn’t let him go, chasing relentlessly. The patterned snakes on the ground began to spread like a carpet. Among them, a super-sized, rainbow-scaled giant python, over thirty meters long, rapidly closed in on Jakedo. Once it was within attack range, it lunged. Jakedo had nowhere to run. With a blood-curdling scream, he was tackled to the ground. The giant python began to coil its body tightly around him. Soon, a series of popping sounds, like firecrackers, could be heard as it easily crushed his bones. In Jakedo’s final, terrified gaze, the python opened its massive maw and swallowed half his body in one gulp. Only Jakedo’s two bare feet were left, struggling for a moment before the python’s mouth writhed again, effortlessly swallowing him whole…
Not far away, Chen Ran quietly emerged from the effect of his Light and Shadow Arts. The magical effect that had blended him with the environment gradually faded, and he returned to his normal appearance.
Seeing the gruesome deaths of Jakedo and Tyris, Chen Ran broke out in a cold sweat. He quickly carried Lia away from this godforsaken snake pit. He had no desire to die so young, especially not in such a horrible way. Poor Jakedo would soon be digested into a pile of snake droppings. Perhaps this was what they called retribution.
After reaching a relatively safe place, Chen Ran finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although he had the map navigation, he still didn’t know which way to go, except for the path he had come from.
Looking at the weak Lia in his arms, Chen Ran used his Eye of Insight and saw that her weakened state would last for another half a day. His eyes inadvertently glanced down and, through her torn undergarments, caught a glimpse of the pale white skin within. A rush of heat surged in his lower abdomen, and he felt a tent being pitched somewhere.
At this moment, the poor otaku couldn’t help but think how much better it would have been if Jakedo had used some kind of aphrodisiac instead of a sleeping drug, like in those cliché stories. Then he would have a legitimate reason to do her. Although he could still do it now, even do whatever he wanted, his innate otaku heart, which was destined to receive the “good person card,” held him back.
He reluctantly tore his gaze away. The thought of his recently deceased companions finally dissipated some of the lust in his mind.
Forget it. I’ll head back for now. All the stuff is still with Raul’s body.
