novelnext Chapter 837 - 208: Mist
Chapter 837 - 208: Mist
A peculiar golden mist shrouded the entire road, with a densely populated forest to the left and a deep pit to the right, where the height of the trees was almost level with Clementine’s line of sight.
The girl bit her lip, hesitating.
The golden mist in front of her appeared odd; undoubtedly a trap, as she had cast seven or eight spells without dispersing the mist or identifying what it actually was.
The spells always shot straight through the mist as if it were merely a harmless, ordinary natural phenomenon, yet Clementine certainly wasn’t naïve enough to think so.
If she didn’t want to walk into it, she’d have to find another route.
But if she turned back and chose a new path to move forward... without the compass, she would undoubtedly lose her way.
The centaur said that if she kept going forward along this path, she would see the trophy.
— Should she take a gamble? Or...
The girl thought deeply for a long time, then suddenly gritted her teeth, cast an Iron Armor Spell on herself, shielded her face with her arm, and dashed inside!
...
A gray mouse huddled beneath a dense cluster of bear’s garlic, using the strong garlic scent to conceal its presence, watching the scene ahead with panic through the gaps in the leaves with its black eyes.
A large gorilla squatted in the center of the clearing, making "hoo, hoo" noises in its throat, murmuring complaints about the escapee from right under its nose, even the little flower hanging on its head drooped listlessly.
Though it was absurd, the mouse Jabari seemed to fantasize a sight of a wronged child whining.
Nearby, in an elderberry bush, the triangular head of a lizard slowly peeked out, its eyes rolling over to look at its owner as if stealthily observing like a spy.
With grace, the cheetah padded up to the gorilla, letting out a string of mocking laughs from its throat, and stood up to tap the gorilla’s drooping head with its forepaw.
The gorilla roared angrily, pushing with its palm, causing the cheetah to tumble to the ground before quickly getting back up, lying beside Vid, nonchalantly licking its paw.
Vid chuckled softly at the sight, reached out to rub the coarse head of the gorilla and said, "Oh well... sorry for the trouble."
He casually picked a small bud from the ground, and it bloomed in his hand, spreading pale purple petals with a faint fragrance.
Vid tucked this tiny flower behind the gorilla’s ear, glancing at the dense thorny woods ahead, he said:
"Letting her escape doesn’t matter, as long as she still wants the trophy, we will meet again someday."
The compass pointed towards that dense thicket; in this forest, even normally benign creatures seemed to turn dangerous, the thickets before him appeared to form a tall wall of steel needles, even the Tree-Protector Lofa couldn’t navigate freely within it.
They seemed to say — "Contestants, this path is blocked, take a detour, there are more traps waiting ahead for you."
But Vid didn’t plan to continue wandering through the forest; he reached down to stroke the cheetah’s soft ear and said, "I will go the rest of the way alone. You guys deal with the little mouse behind us. Except for Harry, let no one else through..."
After a pause, recalling the absent mindset, he sighed softly, adding:
"...If you truly can’t hold them off, letting them pass is fine—I can handle it."
The three poppets briefly watched him, then slightly bent their heads.
Afterwards, the gorilla turned, revealing a fierce look; the lizard turned around, its flickering tongue seeming to sense the air’s scent; the cheetah lowered its body, its eyes seeming to glow in the dark.
Simultaneously, their gaze shifted toward the direction of the mouse.
Jabari’s fur stood on end instantly; he dared not count on them not noticing him, bolted from his hiding spot and darted into the gaps between the tree roots, his tiny paws raising a string of dust from the ground.
Rumbling sounds came from behind; the poppets’ pursuit was overwhelming. The gorilla rudely broke obstructive tree trunks, the lizard moved incredibly fast, and each graceful step of the cheetah left distinct paw prints on the ground.
The sound of pursuit quickly faded; Vid didn’t turn back to observe the poppets’ progress nor did he care how many champions still had the ability to catch up.
He waved his magic wand, and the thickets ahead seemed to be peeled back by an invisible hand, the thorny branches twisting sideways to reveal a narrow path that would accommodate only one person.
Vid stepped into the passage, with the light sphere floating in front of him. Wherever its light reached, the thorns retracted, and the path stretched straight ahead.
...
The gray mouse frantically darted through the woods, narrowly avoiding the boulder hurled by a gorilla, which grazed its tail and smashed into a tree trunk, sending wood chips flying everywhere.
He made a sharp turn, barely dodging the cheetah’s claws, gleaming with a cold light.
The most chilling thing was that the lizard had disappeared without a trace and could spring out from any corner at any moment.
The mouse’s whiskers trembled nervously; if it weren’t for his small size that allowed him to squeeze into various cracks, he would have been caught by those guys five minutes ago.
Just as he was desperately escaping, Clementine suddenly emerged from behind a large tree ahead. The girl’s face was pale, and her expression tense as she quickly waved her arm, indicating Jabari’s direction of escape.
Without thinking, Jabari dashed toward her. At the moment he was about to pass by, Clementine yelled and swung her magic wand, as if an invisible rope had wrapped around the mouse, yanking him aside!
The relentless cheetah couldn’t stop in time and, after darting through the dense forest, plunged headfirst into what appeared to be a harmless golden mist. Its sprinting legs came to an abrupt halt, its hind muscles twitched, its tail stiffened, and its entire spine suddenly arched.
Jabari didn’t understand why the cheetah suddenly froze this way, but he knew to seize the opportunity. He quickly transformed back into human form and raised his magic wand, while Clementine, who had been prepared, already screamed:
"Incendio!"
It seemed she had laid some prior groundwork on the ground, as the moment the spell hit, flames whooshed up, instantly engulfing the entire cheetah poppet.
"Roar—"
The gorilla roared and charged over, violently knocking the cheetah out of the golden mist’s range, yet abruptly stopped at the edge, its face showing a shockingly human-like expression of fear.
At that moment, the gorilla finally understood why the cheetah had stalled:
The whole world seemed to have turned upside down; the ground beneath its feet felt like the ceiling, and the sky above seemed like the ground, making it feel as if lifting its foot would instantly plunge it into the endless sky, or even into the pitch-black universe.
Having injected thoughts into it had given it its own "humanity," yet it also allowed it to feel fear.
At the instant the gorilla trembled uncontrollably and was unable to move, the flames had completely engulfed it, with Jabari and Clementine’s spells raining down upon it in quick succession —
"Defodio!"
"Reducto!"
"Confringo!"
The gorilla, standing amidst the mist, had understood that the golden mist hadn’t really reversed heaven and earth. Just lifting its foot could free it from this predicament.
But the moment it lifted its foot, its remaining shell disintegrated with a clatter, quietly burning on the ground, emitting wisps of black smoke.
A yellow stone, which had originally served as an eye, rolled twice, with a flickering light on it, finally extinguishing completely.
Jabari heaved a sigh of relief, only to realize that his heart was pounding fiercely, and all his muscles seemed to twitch.
The cheetah rolled on the ground several times, finally extinguishing the flames on its body. It stood under the beech, witnessing the gorilla’s process of disintegration.
Afterward, the cheetah raised its head, its green-glowing eyes gazing at the two wizards across the golden mist.
"Alright, it won’t dare to come over for now," Clementine said swiftly. "Let’s go quickly, leave this place!"
She hadn’t finished speaking when she suddenly heard a strange wind sound, sharply turning her head to see a slender tongue, like a venomous snake, wrapping around Jabari’s neck!
Jabari’s face still bore a relaxed expression tinged with lingering fear as he reached to scratch his neck. He hadn’t even reacted when his whole body was lifted into the air, with his boots falling off in his struggle.
"Clack!"
Clementine’s gaze instantly froze!