Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
Translated by XephiZ
Edited by Aelryinth
The team clearly felt the sand moving under them.
The sand was not as thick as they initially thought. Below the layer of sand was a layer of soil. If the sand was moving, it meant something was digging its way up out of the soil.
Zhang Xiaohou led the way. He went to the higher ground to observe their surroundings. The curtain of night was approaching rapidly. Certain places were no longer covered by the sun. He could see roots wriggling like black centipedes and snakes in the shadows there. They spread rapidly toward the areas that were no longer covered by sunlight. He saw a huge creature accidentally step into an area without sunlight, and it was dragged into the sand by the roots in the blink of an eye!
He knew the creature would soon be reduced into a pile of bones, while its blood, flesh, and organs were turned into nutrients for the Pseudomorphing Demons!
“Quick, hurry up!” Zhang Xiaohou urged the rest of the team.
The sun had gone down quicker than they thought. They would be in grave danger if they did not leave the territory of the Pseudomorphing Demons in time!
“Houzi, go harden the soil ahead so they won’t be able to dig out of the ground so easily,” Mo Fan said to Zhang Xiaohou.
“Alright! Is anyone else an Earth Mage?” Zhang Xiaohou asked.
Two other Hunters soon stepped forward from the group. Zhang Xiaohou summoned his Wind Wings and grabbed the two Hunters before flying forward rapidly, preparing themselves for the Pseudomorphing Demons.
—
The team was running as quickly as they could, but they still failed to outrun the curtain of night. As soon as the darkness fell across them, the temperature dropped significantly all of a sudden. The atmosphere changed as the team felt a strong aura of darkness surging at them.
“Over here!” Zhang Xiaohou yelled at the team.
The team regrouped with Zhang Xiaohou and the two Hunters. The ground nearby had been compressed and hardened. It was as sturdy as rocks.
Black roots sprang out of the areas no longer under sunlight. The sand splashed wildly, like the surface of an ocean, as if they were stirred by countless schools of fish. The roots were like the tentacles of a starving demon, surrounding the travelers from all directions.
When the tentacles were less than three hundred meters away, the team could easily tell that the speed of the roots was hindered. The hardened sand was providing some resistance to them!
“Quick, it’s only a matter of time until they catch up to us!” Lu Fang urged everyone.
The team did not dare wait any further, and hurried toward their destination.
“I’ll lead the way!” A Hunter whose primary Element was the Wind Element said. Ge Ming and the others usually referred to him as Feishu.
Feishu was quite nimble, and his steps were light. He did not leave a single footstep on the sand with the help of his Wind Magic.
“It’s safe here, this way…”
The sand below the man’s feet suddenly exploded up into the sky before pouring down like a rain.
A demon tree that looked like a terrifying beast sprang up amid the rain of sand. The demon tree could use its branches and intertwined roots under the sand to attack.
The roots and branches soon formed a cage trapping Feishu in all directions. Feishu turned around in disbelief, and realized he was already separated from the team by the cage. An overwhelming sense of death lunged at him!
“Feishu!” Lu Fang shouted.
Ge Ming reacted quickly. He cast a Light Spell in an instant. The Plummeting Rays turned into swords slashing at the roots and the branches.
However, the roots and the branches were just too thick. A single spell was nowhere enough to cut through the branches and roots that were trapping Feishu!
“Leader, behind us!” Zheng Tong said.
Ge Ming knew what was behind them without even turning around. He could imagine the deadly branches and roots without any gaps between them coming at them from behind!
“Keep going forward, I’ll save Feishu!” Ge Ming said.
Feishu was too impatient. The path he took was not the right path. He was too insensitive to the creatures under the surface.
“Come, quick, or we’ll all be stuck here!” Lu Fang shouted.
“Follow me, don’t go anywhere else, these things are good at setting up traps. We won’t be able to escape if we are caught in them,” Zhang Xiaohou sighed, and led the way.
Zhang Xiaohou gave up on flying. He was walking on the ground. He was risking his own life to detect the traps…
“These Pseudomorphing Demons have a limited area of movement!” Mo Fan called out.
The Pseudomorphing Demons were extremely slow at moving around. They usually disguised themselves and waited for their prey to stumble into their reach. The roots and branches of a Pseudomorphing Demon could only extend about three hundred meters away. The closer they were to a Night Terror Pseudomorphing Demon, the harder it would be to break free from the roots and branches. Feishu was trapped in an instant because he was too close to a Night Terror Pseudomorphing Demon!
Zhang Xiaohou was around five hundred meters ahead of the team. He kept laying down faint-blue Wind Tracks along the way to guarantee that he could instantly move in any direction at the highest speed.
Another loud blast took place. A Night Terror Pseudomorphing Demon in the direction that Zhang Xiaohou was heading into simply forfeited its disguise and came out of the ground to trap Zhang Xiaohou.
Countless roots dug out of the ground as flexible branches like tentacles dashed forward to surround its prey. They would bind the target and drag it into the sand to slowly devour it!
“Go the other way!” Zhang Xiaohou quickly turned around and yelled at the team.
If the path was not safe, they would have to find another path while maintaining a distance of three hundred meters from the Pseudomorphing Demon.
The team immediately headed in a different direction. They could still see a faint-blue figure dodging the roots and the branches. The Pseudomorphing Demon was having a hard time trapping Zhang Xiaohou, who was able to outrun the branches and roots before they formed a cage.
“He can handle it himself, let’s go. These Pseudomorphing Demons might be slow, but we are done for once they surround us!” Mo Fan warned.
“Well…who’s going to lead the way now?” Zheng Tong said.
They needed someone to lead the way. The Pseudomorphing Demons were extremely cunning. They would not show up the instant their prey was within their reach. They would only make their moves when their prey was close enough to have no chance of running away!
As such, someone had to lead the way to detect where the ‘mines’ were, or else the whole team would be in danger.
“I’ll go,” Mu Nujiao said.
“No way…” Zheng Tong was about to speak, but Mu Nujiao had already turned into a gust of wind and gone ahead.
“Follow her!” Mo Fan ordered.
The team quickly followed Mu Nujiao while maintaining a safe distance from her, just so the whole team would not fall into the traps of the Pseudomorphing Demons.
“Zheng Tong, you’re quite a disappointment,” Lu Fang glanced at the woman that went ahead alone and sighed.
Zheng Tong was actually looking at Mo Fan when he asked the question. The guy had been an eyesore to him. He had been giving orders without doing anything, and the girls were still willing to stick with him!
To his surprise, Mu Nujiao had volunteered instead, placing Zheng Tong in an awkward position. They had let a woman put her life at risk for their sake, not to mention that she was such a beautiful lady…
“You are responsible if anything happens to her!” Zheng Tong anxiously put the blame on Mo Fan instead when he was questioned by Lu Fang.
“I’m already responsible for her… so don’t you worry,” Mo Fan smiled in reply.
Zheng Tong was even more annoyed that Mo Fan still had the mood to joke around.
“It’s safe here!” Mu Nujiao’s voice came from ahead.
Lu Fang quickly led the others toward where Mu Nujiao was.
After Mu Nujiao moved another five hundred meters ahead, she notified the team that the area was safe.
“Is the girl reliable?” an aged Hunter in his fifties began to doubt.
“You can lead the way instead if you don’t trust her!” Jiang Shaoxu snapped instantly.
The person leading the way was putting their life at risk. Mu Nujiao was already risking her life for the team, yet the aged Hunter dared to question her capabilities?
“I’m just asking for the sake of the team. She asked us to catch up before she was sure that the area was safe. I bet she wants us to stay closer to her in case she was in danger,” the aged Hunter claimed.
“Yeah, I also think she’s being too careless,” someone agreed with the aged Hunter.
“I think it’s better to go this way. Ask her to regroup with us, it’s a matter of life and death. Dajian, you lead the way,” the aged Hunter said.
“Oh… sure thing!” Dajian nodded. He seemed quite daring. He immediately went forward without hesitation. The direction he was heading to was closer to their destination.
After Dajian moved around a hundred meters forward, Mu Nujiao immediately frowned. She had no idea what was happening among the members. She immediately yelled, “Don’t go that way!”
“Little girl, are you trying to set us up? My secondary Element is the Earth Element. I can sense a strong movement under the ground where you’re standing. It’s obvious that there’s something down there…” the aged Hunter said.
Mu Nujiao was startled. She quickly collected her thoughts and said, “It’s true that there’s a Pseudomorhing Demon here, but…”
“Humph, you all heard it. She’s leading us right into a Pseudomorphing Demon. Let’s follow Dajian. Young woman, you should regroup with the team. You won’t be able to do so if you keep going forward! We are grateful that you’re willing to risk your life, but you should know your limits too!” the aged Hunter, Xu Pingdong said.
“Don’t go that way!” Mu Nujiao’s face turned pale when she saw the direction that Dajian was moving into. She immediately yelled at the top of her lungs.