Boom—

An explosion echoed through the forest beneath the night sky.

Vera knew it was Phyllin, firing a Thunder Arrow to hold off the flesh monster behind them.

“Don’t stop. It’ll catch up again soon.”

At Phyllin’s urging, Vera quickened his pace, carrying Phiyin on his back.

Honestly, if that monster didn’t keep running back to retrieve the meat chunks blown off itself every time, the three of them would have been caught long ago.

Even so, Phyllin’s Thunder Arrows were spent. Next time it caught up, they might not escape.

They were here because the gate had fallen.

The collapse happened in an instant.

Right after the vice-guildmaster Oberon finished his speech, that terrifying monster had crawled out of the Dungeon.

Vera could still see it in his mind:

Diamond-shaped scales gleaming with strange hues under the sunset, green-black venom dripping ceaselessly from its body.

Three serpent heads twisted and writhed in the air, glaring hungrily at every human present.

In its presence, Vera had felt like a helpless prey, bound and waiting to be devoured.

Thankfully, the hydra hadn’t fixed on him.

Instead, it went straight for the most finely dressed target—the vice-guildmaster.

Oberon clearly hadn’t expected to be attacked first while standing in the rear.

Three heads spat venom at once.

He hastily cast a barrier of light, but it corroded instantly.

Poison splashed across his body. The adventurers all heard the sizzling of melting flesh, and his inhuman screams.

It was Marshal who grabbed Oberon and dragged him from the battlefield.

Once the two top commanders had fled in disgrace, who else dared fight to the death?

The line crumbled instantly.

The adventurers broke and ran, legs pumping as if they wished they had more to sprout.

The monsters pursued like diners at a buffet—catch it, eat it.

By sheer luck, Vera and the sisters had been at the flank, avoiding the first slaughter.

But as they fled, the ten-meter tail of a dragon-beast whipped down, slicing two adventurers apart and swinging toward them.

Vera’s chipped, battered scimitar couldn’t possibly block it.

At the last instant, Phiyin cast an impact spell at her own feet, blasting the three of them aside.

They barely avoided being chopped to pieces.

But Phiyin’s chest was torn open.

Even after a healing potion, she lay unconscious.

So Vera carried her as they fled.

They didn’t run toward Yafeng Town—that way drew most adventurers, and most monsters.

In the chaos, Vera had chosen the western forest.

Luckily, only one monster pursued them.

Unluckily, it was a flesh abomination sewn from human and monster corpses—clearly a ninth-floor creature.

Even at full strength they couldn’t beat it, let alone now.

They’d survived this far thanks only to Phyllin’s five Thunder Arrows.

But now even those were gone.

Behind them, the sound of bushes splintering under its bulk grew louder.

“It’s coming again…”

Phyllin’s voice was exhausted, laced with despair. They had no options left.

Then Vera spoke.

“Phyllin, give me the bow. You carry Phiyin and run.”

“No!”

Phyllin instantly understood. He meant to sacrifice himself as bait.

“If anyone should go, it’s me. I’m faster. Maybe I can escape.”

“No one can escape it,” Vera said bluntly. “And you know I won’t leave you behind.”

“And you think I can just watch you go to your death?”

“What about Phiyin, then?”

“She wouldn’t agree either!”

“……”

Vera sighed heavily, set Phiyin down against a tree, and turned with his ruined blade in hand to face the charging monster.

“Fine. Then let’s hope it stitches us three close together.”

Phyllin loosed two arrows into its mass of flesh, but they barely slowed it.

It howled and lunged straight at them.

Wind stirred as Vera raised his blade in a warrior’s stance.

To die fighting—that was the adventurer’s final dignity.

The monster closed in, wind whipping stronger until it formed a vortex around it.

The gale buffeted Vera, nearly toppling him.

Wind? The creature could use wind magic too?

In that storm, Vera couldn’t even strike.

He closed his eyes in resignation.

The monster’s roar filled his ears—

But grew strangled.

When he opened his eyes again, the abomination was whirling in midair, shredded by the raging vortex.

It screamed, it struggled, but the wind carved it apart piece by piece until even its core was gone.

Eighth-tier magic—Wind Tunnel.

“The Blood of Sargas has spilled out… Seems I was still a step late.”

An old man in a gray robe, leaning on a staff, had appeared behind them.

“Young ones, can you tell me what’s happening back there?”

Shaken but alive, Vera glanced at the badge on his chest—the sigil of the Relics Association.

“The gate’s broken. The vice-guildmaster was badly injured and carried away. I don’t know more.”

“Thank you. Give this potion to your companion. Scars wouldn’t suit a young lady.”

The old man handed Vera a small vial.

Then the wind rose again, bearing him aloft toward Yafeng Town.

When he was gone, Vera and Phyllin stared at each other.

Then Phyllin’s legs gave out, and she collapsed beside her sister, laughing and crying at once.

Vera carefully poured the potion into Phiyin’s mouth.

The effect was immediate. The mangled chest healed before his eyes.

“A limb-regeneration potion…”

He knew the old man’s identity was unusual, but hadn’t expected something so extravagant.

That one vial was worth more than the three of them could earn in a year.

When Phiyin awoke, now in better condition than either of them, they explained briefly.

Then the trio pressed on westward, planning to cross the forest entirely.

Though the old man was heading to Yafeng, Vera wanted no more risks.

After discussion, they decided to rest in the outlying regions until the disaster passed.

————

Illusion spores filled the cavern, nearly exhausting the Knight Puji’s reserves.

The Dragonkin really was digging toward them, like a mole. He must have some detection skill—but Lin Jun had no time to check.

Its claws tore through stone with ease.

By now it was probably halfway through.

There was no choice. Lin Jun prepared the highest-level welcome.

Not only was the cavern choking with toxic mist, but behind the Knight Puji rose six disposable fungal cannons.

With the +200% skill power boost active, the moment that thing broke through, he would give it a proper greeting.