Chapter 99: Membrane Wings

Karanfor outskirts, wilderness.

"Huff... huff..."

Sparse weeds mixed with tiny pebbles rapidly retreated on both sides of the road.

I gasped heavily, arms swinging back and forth.

Light plate armor rubbing with chain mail underneath produced crisp metallic collision sounds; the backpack behind me violently rose and fell with high-speed body movement—could faintly hear chaotic sounds of miscellaneous items knocking inside.

No excess thoughts.

The strange mushroom with the same style as in the goblinoid nest, Forgan's suddenly changed attitude, magnificent aura gone in a flash, and his inexplicable action of walking toward town...

Made me, having already guessed along the way what target the barbarian was tracking, just hear him tell me to run in the opposite direction.

Without any hesitation, I took off running wildly.

Extremely high probability—that mysterious enemy making the powerful transcendent-tier barbarian cross half the continent, all the way from the distant north to River Valley Town.

Right now was hiding in Karanfor, which I'd already visited once.

"Who is it!?"

Sweat slid down my cheeks, splashing tiny crystalline droplets on the ground.

"The judge-dressed priest in the sun god church, or that gravedigger living alone in the outskirts?"

Or some stranger in town I'd never seen?

Chaotic thoughts, with the suddenly changing situation, tangled like yarn in my mind.

But my foot frequency involuntarily became faster and faster.

This level of battle—with my current strength, touching the edge meant death.

Forgan gave me twenty minutes.

Then I also only hoped to use this brief time to run as far as possible.

Don't let battle aftershocks...

"BOOM!!!"

Piercing white light suddenly burst from behind.

The outskirts originally completely shrouded by night were instantly illuminated bright as day.

I could even see in the nearby grass a ground squirrel also frantically fleeing.

Instinctively turning my head to glance behind.

"Holy shit!"

On the distant, blurred horizon, reflecting Karanfor town buildings' faint outlines.

Was clearly a massive light sphere brilliant and blazing like a miniature sun!

That splendid golden light emanating violent aura in orderliness almost illuminated half the night sky.

Even the extremely conspicuous stars in the firmament above were left with only scattered light points.

And below the light sphere, originally orderly, densely arranged buildings also gradually dissipated and melted under sacred radiance's illumination.

"No, how did you even make a mushroom cloud!?"

Shock in my heart, I buried my head, feet moving even faster.

And only at this time did the scorching air wave wrapped with hot wind and profound wolf howls belatedly arrive, impacting my back.

"Whoosh!"

Disheveled hair violently swaying, skin at the back of my neck transmitted faint burning sensation.

Originally fairly fresh air suddenly became turbid.

Dark purple mist full of decayed aura permeated every corner in my vision.

Those were fungal spores blown from afar.

I instinctively wanted to hold my breath, not letting these tiny particles that looked like nothing good follow my breath surging into my abdomen.

But right now in intense movement, how could I possibly maintain breath-holding state for long.

Only persisted two seconds before unconsciously opening my mouth to gasp heavily.

Reaching this point, couldn't care about so much.

Could only first try to run farther away.

Rather than worry about future matters, surviving battle aftershocks was most important.

Fortunately, possibly due to overly distant distance greatly weakening the spores' erosion ability.

With my current physical fitness, even having inhaled quite a bit, at most would sneeze for two days before recovering.

"Pat!"

A pebble rolling on the ground was fiercely stepped into muddy earth by thick leather boots falling from overhead.

I exerted full effort, moving my legs.

The gradually dimming radiance behind, increasingly high and fierce wolf cries, and the increasingly rich purple mist in the air were like some death talisman, driving my survival instinct.

And facing dangerous energy fluctuations transmitting from Karanfor town, those animals and beasts usually hiding beneath night also revealed their traces in flight.

Lop-eared rabbits, guinea pigs, coyotes...

Seeming to briefly forget their mutual relationships as prey and predator, shrieking as they swept past muddy ground and grass.

Overhead, mixed with painful wails, came weak wing-flapping sounds.

Like a crash-landing glider.

The blurred figure shrouded by dark night swayed unsteadily, in an awkward arc, wobbling as it fell to a spot over ten meters ahead of me.

"Bang!"

Smoke and dust filling the air.

Sharp, high-frequency wails made eardrums painfully ache. Pungent sulfur stench suddenly transmitted through the air.

That was a fierce monster with double wings growing on its back.

On a narrow face like a goat skull was a pair of violent vertical pupils radiating crimson blood light in the darkness; shrieking, from its mouth full of jagged sharp teeth spewed brownish-green sulfur smoke.

About four feet tall, its hunched, lean body was protected by a pair of giant wings with tough membrane; sharp bone spikes with barbs grew from the top of its head all the way to its long tail's end, right now violently trembling due to its body master's excited emotions, as if the next second about to detach and shoot out.

Thorn demon.

A bottom-tier monster from hell, one of the most common types of devils in the world's eyes.

It didn't have intelligence far exceeding general intelligent creatures like those "dukes" and "archdukes" among the Nine Hell Lords;

Strength was also far inferior to high-tier devils like "desire demons" and "abyssal refining demons."

Combat power tier was only one level higher than hell food chain's lowest-end lemures.

Therefore in that massive, extremely dangerous infernal legion, usually appeared as "messenger" or "reconnaissance scout."

But if you therefore developed underestimating psychology toward it, the dozens of sharp bone spikes on its back capable of penetrating steel would teach you a painful lesson.

Both were "bottom-tier" monsters, but thorn demons and goblins' danger levels were almost worlds apart.

After all, the former's living environment was the legendary "Nine Layers of Hell" where supposedly even the air was permeated with evil.

In the vast majority of places within, ordinary people couldn't even survive two minutes before dying due to surrounding extremely harsh environment and various monsters filling the wasteland.

"Thorn demons" being able to breed in this harsh land to become one of hell's most numerous monster types was enough to prove their strength.

Just from the "challenge rating" that could reflect racial average danger level:

An ordinary goblin's challenge rating was 0.25 (1/4).

Its subspecies, not yet having obtained professional level and not having learned special techniques like combat skills—"hobgoblin"—was 0.5 (1/2).

Among goblin races, the most powerful, having torn apart countless bottom-tier adventurers—bear goblin—was exactly "1".

And thorn demon's challenge rating was— 2.