CHAPTER 300: CHAPTER 300. DESPERATE SITUATION .

Kailen decided to move, not knowing where he was headed. But he could not sit still, he only had one choice: to bet everything on the fact that whatever lay ahead won’t kill him.

He used the darkness of the alleyways to his advantage, his thin, fragile frame panting for breaths from time to time. The pungent smoke lingered ferociously in the air, causing him to feel as if his lungs were on fire.

The scent of blood hung heavily in the air, a testament of organic lifeform blood that had been shed. The scent of burnt carbon and silicon pervaded the air, a testament of the large number of sentient machinery lifeforms that had been massacred.

Finally, Kailen arrived in an open space where there was no room for escape, no hiding place, no closed spaces or alleyways to mask his presence from an enemy. He couldn’t turn back, he could only move forward in hopes of finding a teleportation gate. His heart thumped wildly, fear encumbering him.

He felt extremely powerless, yet this was not the time to throw tantrums. He steered himself, moving forward.

A male dwarf seemed to have appeared a few distances before him, the fellow seemed to be taking a piss while humming a tune. After taking the piss, his gaze darted towards a particular direction for a few moments. Kailen knew the fellow would probably turn to look in his direction next.

He didn’t even think of fighting the fellow as he knew that even if the fellow was a rank 1 beginner stage Ascendant level lifeform, it wouldn’t be worth the risk unless he had no option but to fight the fellow. And even if it came to that, what would be his chances of winning?

Kailen was rooted in the same spot, his heart thumping, his mind churning. He needed a solution, a way out.

Although the fellow was not looking at him, a step taken would draw the fellow’s attention towards him. Even if he used the concealment rune at the time when the dwarf turned to look in his direction, there was no guarantee that by the time the ten seconds was up, he would have been able to escape from the dwarf at a considerable distance.

"Damn this body," he cursed inwardly, his gaze quickly darting around. The remains of a destroyed skyscraper, a glass-like rectangular object a few meters away, remained, clawing to the ground.

It was only a matter of time before the dwarf turned towards his direction, so why not distract him first, and use that as an opportunity to escape?

Several vines weakly sprung to life beneath the glass . Silently controlling the vines forcefully with his will, as a headache attempted to tear his head apart for overexerting himself, he made the vines grow larger, lashing towards the glass-like object in a particular direction.

The glass darted through the wind for a few moments before it crashed heavily on the ground and broke into pieces, some distance away from him.

Immediately, betting his instincts on the fact that the dwarf guard would turn towards that direction where the glass fell and broke, and his attention would be drawn to the disturbance he had artificed rather than to him, he stealthily created his concealment rune.

"Please work, or my appointment with the grim reaper will be set in stone." He moved, seconds counting, darting forward towards a less open area—a destroyed building with only a few walls bearing over them, a couple of runs from where the dwarf stood currently.

The fellow’s focus darted towards Kailen’s direction. For a second, Kailen’s heart almost stopped beating. Did the bastard discover Kailen? Then why did the fellow lock eyes with him?

"Please look away. Tell me this is just me imagining you are looking at me, or this is a fucking coincidence." He mused inwardly, sincerely praying so.

Six seconds left. The fellow’s gaze suddenly darted towards the glass that had suddenly fallen towards the opposite direction.

’Thought I felt someone was here? It’s most likely some enemy is in the vicinity, though. Let’s check the direction the glass seemed to have come from.’

The fellow whizzed past concealed Kailen, heading towards where Kailen previously stood rather than where Kailen, aided by the vines, directed the glass aimed at distracting the dwarf.

Kailen’s gaze, focused on his safe haven, moved with all the speed he could muster. He ignored the cruel taunts of this fellow’s weak body that he wouldn’t make it. His vision was growing hazy because he was overexerting himself, but he bit his lip and thrust forward.

Three seconds.

’I’m close. It’s now or never. Please, insufferable body, don’t you dare give up on me.’ He grimaced inwardly. A leap at a hair’s breadth from the walls, bearing his hopes, his will, his desire to survive this gruesome hell.

He crashed narrowly through an enlarged gap made through the wall. His tiny frame managed to make it through quickly. But his head didn’t have it easy when he landed, or fell.

Glass shards that clawed out from the ground where his head landed deeply grazed his right cheek, leaving him lying on the ground, bleeding from his cheek.

Nyk’s frail build couldn’t bear the pain, unlike Kailen’s potent original body. He wanted to scream, but he was reminded that he’d draw the attention of the dwarf he’d encountered earlier, and all his efforts would be in vain. He gritted his teeth, his screams never emerged.

His muscles tensed—if he even had any. His eyes, bloodshot. His right cheek bleeding heavily. He was losing blood. Yet that was not his concern.

He crawled in pain, fast. He finally found a place completely out of view, with no holes that would expose him to the enemy. He managed to touch his cheek, grimacing in pain. The blood kept soaking the collar of his pathetic clothes.

The hand that touched the cheek was soaked with blood in a moment.

"There’s no way I can perform first aid in this situation. In fact, do I even have anything I can use? Who am I kidding? Let’s pray that even though his universe energy reserves are pitiful, I can recover through some meditation and the wounds will heal. But first I need to stop the bleeding—"

As Kailen was in thought, he heard footsteps approaching.