53: Chapter 40 Disappearance (4k merged) _2 53: Chapter 40 Disappearance (4k merged) _2 Regained control of his body.

A grayish-blue figure engulfed in flames flashed by in his peripheral vision.

At this moment, Xia Nan had no time to wait for the Healing Potion to further work its effects.

Having just regained his mobility, he propped himself up with both hands and forced himself to crawl up from the ground.

Then, without looking back, he continued to run deeper into the dense forest.

The wooden arrows, Burning Bombs, and the two half-elves who disappeared after launching their attack made Xia Nan instinctively know that this was not a counterattack led by Hai’an and Wood.

It was simply a delaying tactic to save him from the claws of the Petrified Lizard.

He had to seize the opportunity to widen the distance as much as possible.

And indeed, that was the case.

The sudden fire and the intense burning pain at the tip of its sensitive nose made the Petrified Lizard instinctively thrash its head like a raging bull.

And although its relatively weak facial scales were still tough and solid, they played a considerable role here.

Ten seconds?

Or twenty seconds?

The flames that were fiercely burning were extinguished as the surrounding forest’s trees and underbrush snapped and crunched under their weight.

Thick nostrils exhaled hot air.

The two figures atop the treetops had long disappeared, leaving only a distant, stumbling shadow swiftly departing in his Perception.

As if mocked by a weak prey, the savage fury unique to beasts ignited in the heart of this brutal demon.

“Roar——”

It suddenly screeched toward the sky.

Then, like a tank, it charged again, in an unrestrained mad rush, chasing in the direction Xia Nan was fleeing.

…

“Bang!

Bang!

Bang!”

The heavy, drum-like footsteps echoed once more in the dense forest behind.

Xia Nan felt the ground’s vibrations and the violent noise of trees collapsing.

He wanted to speed up, but his body had already reached its limit.

His pace slowed, with the soft grass beneath feeling like a muddy swamp, making lifting his legs increasingly difficult.

The half bottle of Healing Potion allowed him to temporarily recover from serious injury and regain some mobility.

But hoping to fully recover in such a short time was clearly not something this small potion could achieve.

After all, its name didn’t include prefixes like “strong” or “superior.”

So he just kept running forward as best as he could.

Even if the thin mist in the air was getting denser, reducing visibility rapidly, and the trees in his sight growing more concentrated.

Clearly, he had moved away from the “outer perimeter” of Mist Forest.

Besides, Xia Nan noticed something else.

The direction he had hastily chosen in this crisis seemed to be exactly where he had hesitated before deciding to turn back, a place where things from the Otherworld originated.

The roadside buildings with varying styles, blending into the shrubs and branches, appeared increasingly frequently.

Not only the once tall wooden taverns but also the dilapidated temples with half-hanging copper bells, collapsed majestic palaces…

As if he was gradually approaching the center of it all.

His intensely focused attention seemed to quicken the flow of time as well.

Who knows how long had passed.

Until the warm current from the Healing Potion gradually dissipated in the surging flow, leaving no trace behind.

Only then, under the effect of his already exhausted stamina, Xia Nan gradually slowed his steps.

“Huff…

huff…

huff…”

He panted heavily, his consciousness and senses returning to his brain with the intake of air.

“Did…

did I escape?”

He instinctively wondered in his heart.

Even while he was fleeing just now, he could clearly feel the Petrified Lizard, driven by rage, chasing him even more fiercely than at the start.

With the speed he sensed in his heart at the time, for a moment, he felt that everything he had done was futile.

But…

“When?”

When did the footsteps of the Petrified Lizard suddenly disappear?

It wasn’t because he had escaped its Perception range, slowing its steps unintentionally to search for him.

But rather a sudden halt, like an emergency brake, with the footsteps abruptly vanishing.

Panting heavily.

With post-intense exercise bewilderment on his face, Xia Nan looked around.

The mist in the air thickened a lot, even weakening the sunlight above.

He suddenly sensed something off.

“Where are those buildings?”

The ruins he had seen everywhere just now seemed to have vanished, not even a piece of brick or tile in sight.

Dim and quiet.

Xia Nan suddenly felt an illusion.