Chapter 40: Disappearance (4k Two-in-One)

Buzz——

At this moment, Xia Nan felt as if he had returned to that night before his transmigration.

Under the influence of a massive, overwhelming force, his toes left the ground, and his body was flung high into the air like a doll in a child's hands.

The intense pain radiating from his back vanished from his perception, having exceeded the limits of human endurance, replaced by a gradually blurring consciousness.

Stars danced before his eyes, and his internal organs felt as if they had been displaced. The lush, verdant thicket before him no longer seemed like a forest, but rather that blaring truck and its drunken, flushed-faced driver.

"Pfft!"

His lips parted, and the spray of bright blood from his mouth, combined with the metallic stench filling his nasal cavity, instantly snapped him back to reality.

His body, covered in grass clippings and broken leaves, tumbled and rolled across the ground like a discarded sack of rags.

After a momentary pause, the violent agony surged back like a tidal wave, swallowing Xia Nan's body and mind.

He could not judge the exact extent of his injuries, but without a doubt, the unbearable pain—a fusion of dizziness, stinging, burning, and numbness spreading from every part of him—had completely stripped him of his ability to fight.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

The plummeting situation caused Xia Nan to curse instinctively in his heart.

He thought of the healing potion in the small pouch at his waist, but his arms, sprawled on the meadow, refused to obey him.

The grayish-white petrification at his fingertips was spreading at a visible rate, driven by the declining state of its host.

In just a few breaths, it had already reached his first knuckle.

Thud—

The sound of heavy footsteps echoed from the dense forest beyond his line of sight.

The shadow cast by the massive body of the Petrifying Lizard gradually enveloped Xia Nan on the ground.

"Am I going to die?"

In this instant, following the panic and resentment, his heart felt strangely calm.

Flashes of memory crossed his mind: the rusted nail embedded in the skull of the dwarf Elki, the ankle of Gaogu being held upside down by a Bugbear, and the broken wooden bow in Maggie's arms.

Even though he had never seriously contemplated the final end of his "transmigrator" career, having witnessed the fates of the members of the Stinking Fish Squad, he seemed to have subconsciously prepared himself to face it all.

"Screech!"

A piercing wail of tearing air suddenly erupted from the canopy of a tree not far away.

A sharp arrowhead glinted with cold light, and the mist was violently churned.

The half-elf's signature white-feathered arrow vibrated and spun at high speed, streaking toward the Petrifying Lizard as a mere blur to the naked eye.

"Clang!"

The accuracy was off.

Whether by design or accident, the wooden arrow did not strike the lizard's eye but instead hit the rock-like, grayish-green scales on the side of its body.

Sparks flew. The coarse, solid scales, possessing a defensive strength comparable to steel, unhesitatingly blocked the arrowhead from reaching the flesh.

It left nothing but a shallow, pale scratch.

But because of this, the Petrifying Lizard's attention was momentarily diverted from Xia Nan.

Its neck, built of layered muscle and stone-like armor, turned slowly. The lizard cast its gaze toward the direction of the arrow, a faint light flickering in its eerie green eyes as it invisibly unleashed its "Petrifying Gaze."

At that exact moment, in a blind spot beyond the lizard's vision, the shadows twisted, and a palm-sized brown clay jar was suddenly hurled.

"Bang!"

It struck the center of the Petrifying Lizard's snout.

The pitch-black, lightless viscous oil and turbid powder exploded like a small bomb at the touch of a single spark.

Roar—

Flames instantly ignited the Petrifying Lizard's head.

A pained howl rang out through the forest.

Xia Nan would not let his teammates' dangerous attempt to support him go to waste.

Even though his body was in a state of severe injury due to the lizard's attack, the sudden calm in his mind when facing death had restored his ability to think and react.

Almost the very second the sound of the half-elf's arrow cutting through the air reached his ears, Xia Nan used immense willpower to grit his teeth. Enduring the boundless pain coursing through him, he forced his distorted arm to move.

Trembling, he pulled the glowing healing potion from his waist pouch.

He bit off the wooden stopper with his teeth.

He poured it in.

He gulped down half in one go.

The liquid was cold, with a slightly sweet fragrance.

As it flowed down his esophagus into his stomach, it transformed into waves of warmth, driving his blood to circulate throughout his body.

It felt as if he were bathing in a hot spring; the pain throughout his body eased within a few breaths.

He regained control over his physical form.

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

At this moment, Xia Nan had no time to wait for the potion to take full effect.

Having just regained his mobility, he used both hands to force himself up from the ground.

Then, without looking back, he continued running toward the depths of the forest.

The wooden arrow, the incendiary jar, and the half-elf duo who had vanished again after their attack told Xia Nan instinctively that this was not a signal for a counterattack by Heian and Wood.

It was purely a stalling tactic to rescue him from the Petrifying Lizard's claws.

He had to seize the opportunity to put as much distance between them as possible.

And indeed, that was what happened.

The sudden fire and the intense burning sensation on its sensitive snout caused the Petrifying Lizard to shake its head instinctively like a wild bull.

Though its facial scales were relatively thinner, they were still tough and solid, playing a significant role in mitigating the damage.

Ten seconds? Or twenty?

The flames that had been raging moments ago were extinguished by the crushing of the surrounding trees and brush.

Large nostrils exhaled hot breath.

The two presences above the canopy had long since vanished. In his perception, there was only a single figure in the distance, stumbling yet maintaining a certain speed, rapidly moving away.

As if being toyed with by weak prey, the ferocious rage characteristic of a beast ignited within the heart of this brutal monster.

"Roar—"

It let out a sudden howl toward the sky.

Then, like a tank, it once again charged in a crude, headlong manner toward the direction Xia Nan was fleeing.

...

"Thud! Thud! Thud!"

The heavy, drum-like footsteps echoed once more from the forest behind him.

Xia Nan felt the vibrations in the ground and the violent commotion of falling trees.

He wanted to quicken his pace, but his body had reached its limit.

His stride slowed; the soft meadow beneath his feet felt like a swamp filled with mud, making every step increasingly difficult.

The half-bottle of healing potion allowed him to temporarily recover from his critical state and gain some mobility.

But to fully recover in such a short time was clearly beyond the power of a single small potion.

After all, its name did not carry prefixes like "Greater" or "Supreme."

He simply ran forward as best he could.

Even as the mist in the air grew thicker, visibility dropped rapidly, and the trees in his sight became increasingly dense.

He had clearly moved beyond the "outskirts" of the Misty Forest.

Furthermore, Xia Nan noticed something else.

The direction he had chosen in his moment of crisis seemed to be the very source of the otherworldly objects he had hesitated over before deciding to turn back.

The uniquely styled buildings, intertwined with the branches of the shrubs, appeared with increasing frequency.

Not just the once-towering wooden taverns, but even ruined temples with half-fallen bronze bells and grand palaces that had mostly collapsed...

It felt as if he were approaching the very center of it all.

The intense concentration seemed to accelerate the flow of time.

He did not know how much time had passed.

It was only when the warm currents from the healing potion finally dissipated and could no longer be felt that Xia Nan, affected by his exhausted stamina, slowly slowed his pace.

"Huff... huff... huff..."

Gasping for breath, his consciousness and sanity returned to his brain along with the influx of air.

"Did I... did I escape?"

He wondered in surprise.

Clearly, while he was fleeing, he could still distinctly feel the Petrifying Lizard's pursuit, which had become even more violent under the influence of rage.

At the speed he had perceived, there was even a moment when he felt all his efforts had been in vain.

But...

"Since when?"

Since when had the sound of the Petrifying Lizard's footsteps suddenly vanished?

It wasn't as if it had escaped his perception, causing it to slow down to search for him.

It was a sudden disappearance, like a vehicle slamming on its brakes.

Panting heavily, Xia Nan's face was flushed from the intense exertion. He looked around.

The mist in the air had grown much thicker, even weakening the sunlight above.

He suddenly sensed something was wrong.

"Where are the buildings?"

The ruins and broken walls that had been visible everywhere just a moment ago had seemingly vanished; not even a single brick or tile remained.

Dim and silent.

Xia Nan suddenly had an illusion.

At this moment, he felt as if he were standing in the very center of the massive cyclone of a natural disaster—the calm, yet most dangerous—eye of the storm.

Subconsciously, he turned his body and took a light step forward.

Buzz—

Without any warning, extremely abruptly, the space around Xia Nan suddenly distorted and blurred for an instant.

In the next second, his body vanished into the mist.

...

"Xia Nan? Xia Nan?"

In the deep, dark, and silent forest, a low-voiced call suddenly rang out.

Heian crouched low, carefully navigating through the trees.

Beside him was his guard, Wood, who remained as inseparable as a shadow.

Unlike their neat and tidy appearance when they first met, the two now looked quite disheveled.

Not only were they covered in grass seeds and leaf fragments, but the hair on their foreheads was matted with sweat.

His silver-gray eyes emitted a faint glow in the darkness as Heian searched carefully for his companion.

His elven darkvision allowed him to capture everything within sixty feet as clearly as daylight, even in dim lighting.

Nothing found.

Wood remained silent but was also doing his utmost.

While maintaining vigilance, he used his vast experience to carefully search the details of the surrounding woodland.

One possessed "Ranger" related combat skills and flowed with the elven bloodline, known as a "Child of Nature";

The other was a "Rogue," skilled in stealth and active within the shadows.

Once they had escaped the Petrifying Lizard's line of sight, they had easily slipped past its perception.

It was because of this that they were able to launch a surprise attack while the lizard was distracted, rescuing Xia Nan from its claws.

Afterward, they had taken a long detour, following the commotion all the way here.

"Young Master, here!"

Wood seemed to have found something. He crouched down and alerted the half-elf beside him.

On the soft, damp meadow before him, a string of footprints was clearly imprinted.

As if being chased by something behind him and lacking strength, the footprints were short and dense, with some crushed plant stems nearby.

But strangely, the owner of the tracks seemed to have vanished suddenly, as the continuous trail came to an abrupt halt on a patch of ground.

Heian suddenly looked up, his eyes searching through the lush canopy.

"Young Master, we are already in the depths of the Misty Forest. We should..."

Wood spoke up with hesitation.

Hearing this, Heian's expression did not change.

He glanced at the sky, which was becoming dim, and then looked down at the abruptly ended footprints.

He spoke slowly and firmly

"Search for two more hours. If we still find nothing... we will temporarily retreat to the outskirts."

"Understood."

...

Meanwhile, on the other side.

"Boom!"

The rock-like, grayish-blue scales slammed violently into a tree trunk.

The thick, brownish bark, capable of withstanding axes and blades, was instantly pierced. Tree fibers were torn apart, exposing the tender white heartwood within.

The Petrifying Lizard, a "Basilisk," was ventingly its accumulated rage upon this innocent oak tree.

Mud splattered everywhere.

Under the monster's immense strength, which seemed capable of crushing steel, the massive root system buried deep in the soil was wrenched upward along with half a broken trunk.

It roared, a ghostly green light flickering incessantly in its eyes.

On the scales of its snout and the surrounding brown crystalline bone spikes, scorched marks from the fire could be faintly seen.

The Petrifying Lizard could feel the human scent gradually dissipating in the distant forest.

It knew well that such weak creatures were no match for it.

Even if they had coincidentally survived the "Petrifying Gaze," it would only take a single claw or a casual bite.

These cunning prey would become its dinner.

Yet, despite this, the Petrifying Lizard had no intention of continuing the hunt.

It merely lingered around the perimeter of the increasingly dense buildings, fruitlessly and weakly destroying the surrounding bushes and shrubs.

It was as if an invisible boundary existed between it and those architectural ruins, preventing it from taking even a single step forward.

Finally, after toppling dozens of towering trees and turning countless disturbed creatures in the forest into cold stone statues, the Petrifying Lizard cast a lingering, almost human-like glance of hesitation and caution toward the direction where Xia Nan had disappeared.

It turned around.

Dragging its bloated body, it vanished into the depths of the mist and the forest.

(End of Chapter)