The battle ended quickly. A colorless and formless aura bloomed from the sledgehammer, causing its destructive area and lethality to increase sharply. Before the hound could even wail, it was hit in the waist, and its body was snapped in half.
Not a Scaredy Cat's skill was called Elephant Hoof Leap. As a consumable skill, the learning requirement was Fighting Mastery Level D and above.
Of course, One Sword was not privy to the details. He only knew that a monster that was as powerful as him was killed in one hit by the seemingly weak Not a Scaredy Cat.
When One Sword had just reached level 15, he had also played the 'Killing Game' once. He knew very well that if he were to face an opponent like Unafraid in that mode, he would end up exactly like the hound if he made a single mistake.
Seeing the look in One Sword's eyes, Not a Scaredy Cat realized that there was no need for her to keep up the act. Her innocent and cute expression disappeared without a trace, and even her tone changed. She sounded more like a delinquent. "Sigh … What can I do? I didn't think I would have to do this myself." She dragged the sledgehammer with one hand and walked forward. The sound of the sledgehammer rubbing against the ground showed an astonishing feeling of weight.
"I didn't expect you to be so weak …" She went around to the side of the hound's corpse and swung her arm. The hammer drew a half circle in the air and fell heavily. Originally, after the hound was cut in two, the front half of its body was still twitching and moving, but this time, the entire dog's head was smashed into a pulp.
Yi Jian's face was splattered with dog's blood. His expression was shocked, and he stood there dumbstruck like a wooden chicken.
"Hmm …" Until now, One Sword had been assuming the attitude of 'I'll protect you', but at that moment, he did not dare raise his voice. He used a careful tone to say, "Ha … ha ha … So … so you're so powerful … But … when we encountered the wild boar and tiger earlier …"
The last few words of One Sword's sentence were, "You were hiding at the side like you were afraid." However, before he finished, he was interrupted by Not a Scaredy Cat.
"What did you say?" Her tone was no different from that of a hooligan. "Hey, are you looking down on me?" She tilted her head and glared fiercely at the other party. Then, she straightened her sledgehammer. "How dare you speak to me like that …" A sense of oppression rushed over. "I'll kill you …"
"Big … Big Sis … I was wrong." One Sword leaned against the tree trunk, and his face was covered in sweat. Even though teammates were not allowed to attack each other, in terms of presence, he was no different from a dead man. "Erm … With my power, I can only kill those small fry monsters. Big Sis, it's my honor to have me lead the way … Ha … Hahaha." When he finally squeezed out a laugh, he looked like he was about to cry.
"That's more like it." Not a Scaredy Cat put the hammer back into her inventory and crossed her arms before her chest like a big sister lecturing her son. "By the way … that little brother by the name of 'Feng Bujue' seems to be doing quite well. Until now, there has been no news of his death. This means that he was able to take care of the hounds alone. He is more powerful than you …"
"How do you know he was chased by the hounds as well?"
"Of course. Didn't you see the number of hounds in the castle? I believe that Zaroff will release more hounds depending on how many groups the players split up."
"Er … Actually, if I were to fight the hounds alone, I might be able to …" One Sword mumbled.
Before he could finish, he was interrupted by Not a Scaredy Cat. "Stop wasting time, baldy!"
"Bald … baldy …" One Sword, who had long hair, was weirdly called a baldy.
"You have the buff from your guild, and your level is one level higher than his. The fact that he can do the same thing as you proves that he is more powerful than you." Not a Scaredy Cat was not being unreasonable; she had a point. "Tsk … If I had known this would happen, I would have followed him. I've miscalculated."
One Sword was disheartened by the scolding. He lowered his head and mumbled softly, "I … I'm sorry. My weakness has caused you so much trouble …"
"Ah, so be it. A baldy will always be a baldy." Not a Scaredy Cat very generously 'forgave' him.
If there were animations in the game, One Sword's head would have been covered with a shadow of dejection.
"Alright, now is not the time to be dispirited." Not a Scaredy Cat raised her finger to point. "The northwest is over there. Continue to clear the path."
"Er … Er, I already know which way is north …"
"Stop wasting time!"
"Yes … yes …"
…
Before his eyes was still a dark forest. The terrain was uneven, and the rocks stood tall. There was mud under his feet, and at other times, there was a winding path of pebbles.
During the trek, Feng Bujue slowly became numb to the discomfort on his body, and this numbness caused him to relax mentally. Fatigue was like a burden that he could not shake off, and it pressed down on his body. His Life Points did not recover at all, and the exhaustion of his Stamina Points was worrisome. Even though his active skill, Hasty Repair, might not be useful in this kind of scenario where there were no mechanical devices, and the remaining two Low Whip Kicks required at most two hundred Stamina Points, once his Stamina Points dropped to a certain level, if he ran into an emergency, he might die.
"Time until sunrise: 153 minutes."
By then, it had been one and a half hours since Zaroff started his journey. Theoretically speaking, from the moment they received the quest, the players should have been on the run for 146 minutes.
Of course, Feng Bujue did not actually use those 146 minutes. Explaining the situation to his teammates and returning to the castle to ask for the tools had taken up some of his time, but one thing was for sure — he was at least forty minutes ahead of General Zaroff.
Killing the hunting hound did not cost Feng Bujue that much time because he had picked up his speed. During the journey after that, he ran into incidents similar to the python hunting the boar two or three times. Thankfully, he was able to notice it every time and stay out of it, slipping away without attracting the attention of the animals.
By now, half of the five-hour survival time had passed. Even ignoring the fact that Zaroff's movement speed was definitely faster than Feng Bujue's, assuming that the boss purposely did not run at full speed, at this point in time, no matter what, he should have caught up.
If Zaroff still did not appear in another twenty minutes, then there was only one possibility. He did not head southeast but went to chase after the other two.
Therefore, from the bottom of his heart, Feng Bujue could not wait to hear the system announcement that one of his team members had died.
It was not that he disliked his two teammates, but that was the nature of this scenario. Someone had to be sacrificed, and for either side, it was a fifty percent chance. He believed that the other party was feeling the same way as he was.
After another ten minutes, Feng Bujue decided to stop moving. He sat down on a relatively flat rock and used his hands to massage his sore legs, enjoying this moment of rest.
Obviously, at this point, the plan of exchanging space for time could be considered a success. Even if the general killed Feng Bujue or the other two, he would not be able to catch up to the survivors on the other side of the island.
At that moment, Feng Bujue's plan had entered the second stage — the stage where they would slow down to focus on survival. This stage had nothing to do with the other two, and the reason was simple … there were two of them. But Feng Bujue was alone. If General Zaroff really appeared to kill him, he would have nothing to say. But if the general went to the northwestern corner, Feng Bujue would have to be extra careful. If the general didn't come after him and he was killed by something else, it would be a great tragedy if everyone in the team died.
"Team Member: One Sword Stroke has died." The system announcement suddenly came.
When Feng Bujue heard that, he smiled shamefully.
But several seconds later, the smile froze on his face. "Why is there only one death?"
He waited anxiously for the news that Not a Scaredy Cat had also been killed. Only when he heard that both of them were dead would he feel at ease. This was because Feng Bujue believed that with Zaroff's ability, no matter what kind of skill the girl from Hide-and-Seek had, it would be useless. At most, it would help her live a little longer.
But … if the news of Not a Scaredy Cat's death did not arrive for a long time, then many things would change. The chance of her escaping from the general was very small, and the bigger possibility was … One Sword Stroke's death had nothing to do with Zaroff. He had died from some other monster or incident.
Based on this train of thought, the worst-case scenario was that Zaroff had actually come to Feng Bujue's side, and One Sword and Not a Scaredy Cat had run into some other danger, causing one to die and the other to escape. In the next two hours, Not a Scaredy Cat would be left alone to face various death threats. And Feng Bujue himself …
With that in mind, Feng Bujue felt the pressure return. He pouted and blew at the hair before his forehead. "This is bad … Now, there is no way to tell where the general has gone."
"Team Member: Not a Scaredy Cat has died." The system announcement came again.
"Huh?" Feng Bujue was startled before he sighed in relief. "Phew … Then I do not need to worry. Looks like they did run into Zaroff."
With that conclusion, Feng Bujue felt much better. What he needed to do now was to slowly move toward the southeast while ensuring his own safety.
Actually, staying where he was was was not a bad idea. In this kind of scenario, staying where he was would not be treated as a passive game by the system. However, Feng Bujue was very cautious of Zaroff. If the general increased his speed and turned back, the distance that he had covered so far was not safe enough.
Therefore, after resting for another ten minutes, Feng Bujue continued his journey.
This time, he only walked about 300 meters before he stopped. After passing through a section of terrain with a drop, he found something in a small valley beside him — a human skeleton.
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