The winter wind whistled in her ears, and the heavy footsteps of the pursuing beastmen echoed behind her. Ximo gritted her teeth and ran in one direction without looking back.
The light in the jungle was much dimmer than on the main road. The tips of the dry winter branches were sharp, and although Ximo nimbly dodged and weaved between the trees, her panicked flight still caused her to be scratched across the face by one of them.
Even if Ximo exerted herself to the utmost, she couldn’t outrun those beastmen. But her decision was correct—she could flexibly hide in the woods, while the beastmen couldn’t pursue at full speed in such narrow terrain.
Ximo could only hear the continuous “crack crack” of branches breaking behind her, but she didn’t dare turn around to look. Unlike her, the beastmen had thick hides and wouldn’t be injured by such small branches.
But circling around like this wasn’t a solution. She had to find a way to shake them off completely, or she’d be caught sooner or later.
Moreover, the beastmen had the advantage in numbers over Ximo. They weren’t in a hurry to catch her, and soon she noticed pursuit sounds coming from both sides behind her as well. The beastmen were spreading out horizontally like a large net, intending to envelop her completely like a small fish.
Even worse, under this high-intensity flight, Ximo felt a trace of fishy sweetness surging up her throat—her illness couldn’t support such prolonged strenuous activity.
If she kept running like this, she would be the first to collapse, not those big dumb beastmen!
Damn it, where else could she hide…
Ximo’s eyes constantly scanned the woods flashing by on both sides, searching for a hiding spot. Unfortunately, it was winter, and all the trees were bare without leaves. This winter forest had no shelter that could accommodate her. No matter which tree she hid behind, she’d be spotted by the beastmen bulldozing straight through.
No, the bare ground offered no cover at all… If the ground wouldn’t work, what about up above?
Ximo instinctively looked up. The trees in this ancient forest were tall and straight, with many that blotted out the sky, even taller than those massive beastmen!
With her mind made up, in this moment of crisis, Ximo’s body erupted with potential like never before. She used her last bit of strength to charge forward fiercely, trying to temporarily escape the beastmen’s line of sight.
Watching the petite figure, which had been vaguely visible in the woods, suddenly accelerate out of view, the pursuing beastmen behind weren’t anxious at all. They knew very well that such a sprint was a fatal blow to Ximo’s stamina.
Northern Beastmen made their living from hunting year-round, and they were very familiar with chasing prey until it exhausted itself before capturing it. In their eyes, this was just Ximo’s desperate struggle before her strength gave out.
One of the beastmen in the group blew a loud whistle, and all the beastmen accelerated toward the direction where Ximo had disappeared. They snapped countless branches along the way, but after chasing a long distance, they realized something was wrong—the human girl’s figure had vanished.
At that moment, Ximo was standing on tiptoe on a tree branch, nervously observing the beastmen directly below her.
She had been lucky. During her sprint, she had spotted a tall fir tree ahead. The sturdy trunk was at least five meters high, and only this kind of tree retained its needle-like leaves in the Northern Border’s winter environment. Its gray-green canopy was the perfect hiding spot!
In that instant, Ximo became one with her surroundings. Without thinking, her body instinctively took a few quick steps and kicked off another tree for leverage. In just a couple of moves, she reached the high branches of the fir, nimbly flipping herself up onto them!
But Ximo had no time to wonder how she had done it, because the beastmen below had arrived and were puzzledly looking around for her. As the beastmen moved forward slowly, Ximo carefully circled around the thick trunk for cover, ensuring she stayed in their blind spot.
Fortunately, these beastmen never thought to look up. After searching for a while, the leading beastman growled in frustration.
“Keep chasing! She doesn’t have that much stamina; she can’t have gone far!”
Ximo breathed a sigh of relief. As long as she stayed quiet and waited for these stupid beastmen to leave, without making a sound…
But then, “plop”—a drop of blood from the scratch on Ximo’s face dripped down, brushing past a beastman’s body and landing on the snow. That splash of red stood out starkly against the white snow.
Ximo’s heart leaped to her throat, but the beastman merely scratched its back, noticing nothing unusual, and continued forward.
That scared me to death.
Ximo nimbly crouched down slowly on the branch. Luckily, these beastmen were all brawn and no brains; otherwise, she couldn’t have evaded them by exploiting their blind spots.
As soon as they moved a bit farther, she’d climb down and sneak away…
Ximo was thinking this when an ominous “crack” sounded in her ears.
Oh no.
Ximo instantly sensed something wrong, but the branch under her feet snapped faster than she could react. She only had time to adjust her falling posture in mid-air to avoid landing headfirst.
Winter branches were less resilient, and this one chose that moment to give way under Ximo’s weight.
Damn it, she wasn’t even that heavy! Ximo was confident about her current weight… It was this crappy tree’s fault; didn’t it know weight was a big deal for girls?
Fortunately, she had adjusted her position, and the thick layer of snow on the ground cushioned her fall. She wasn’t injured, but the noise naturally drew the beastmen’s attention.
“She’s over there—come back, chase that way!”
Ximo cursed inwardly, but her feet moved even faster in escape.
It was fine; the beastmen were already a good distance away. Maybe she could still get away now…
Ximo was cheering herself up when, accompanied by the sound of a spring snapping, a searing pain shot through her right ankle. Her whole body pitched forward uncontrollably, face-planting into the snow.
“Hiss—”
Ximo gasped, the intense pain instantly beading cold sweat on her forehead. She looked at her right foot—a rusty beast trap had clamped down viciously on her ankle.
No one knew when this trap had been set here. The heavy snow had buried it completely, leaving no trace, but the rust on the jaws suggested even the person who placed it had forgotten about it.
Damn it! Why was she so unlucky? Those tall, burly beastmen had lumbered right through here without triggering it, but the moment she ran back, she stepped right in?
Ximo felt like today was just cursed. She reached out to pry open the trap, but the pain-induced weakness left her with no strength in her hands.
Even worse, the beastmen were closing in.
