Chapter 123: The Strong Supports the Weak
Translator: Zenobys Editor:
The large monster fell about three meters in front of Rody and Diane. Its head was turned towards Rody and the dumbstruck Diane. Its crimson-haired face had been charred. One of its eyes was also burned and had become blind.
Suddenly, the gigantic monster gave a strange groan. One of its big red eyes slowly opened and stared at Rody and Diane.
Rody quickly dragged Diane and shouted, “Stop daydreaming! Run!”
The large monster stared blankly for a few moments before roaring. Its huge body slowly stood up and started to chase Rody and Diane. It no longer paid attention to that distant large snake.
Diane was so afraid that she no longer turned around to look. She tried to run as fast as she could, spurred on by the thundering footsteps behind her. The ground trembled with each step taken by the large monster. But Diane was injured. She was also extremely exhausted, and her legs were getting weaker. So actually, she was literally being dragged by Rody as they ran forward.
The large monster roared furiously and refused to give up chasing the two small preys. Rody and Diane had been running with all their strength. Although they were running very fast, it seemed to make no difference. The large monster was able to keep up with them with his huge strides. They were unable to shake off their pursuer.
Fortunately, they were smaller and more agile than that large monster. Rody pulled Diane, turning left and right as they ran in the jungle, weaving in and out of the trees. Luckily, the trees hindered the large monster. However, the large monster with its enormous strength often pushed down the big trees with just one hand. Besides that, the large monster seemed angry and would not give up the chase.
Rody gradually felt that he could not take it anymore. His body was almost broken after that monster's hammer strike. At that moment, he felt his chest tightened and his lungs burning. Rody found that it was becoming more difficult to breathe. The number of trees in front of them decreased. Suddenly, Rody was shocked when his foot stepped into an empty space. He then fell before he had the chance to scream.
Diane was being pulled by Rody all this while. Suddenly, she felt him stop for a while before feeling another strong pull forward. As both of their hands were slippery from the sweat, she lost her grip on him.
She then saw half of Rody's body trapped in a small quagmire. As Rody struggled, he slowly fell in deeper and deeper. He clawed wildly, but there was slush all around him, and he was unable to hold on to anything. Gradually, the quagmire had reached Rody's chest. Diane shouted in fear, “Don't move! This is the mountain marsh! You must not move! The more you struggle, the faster you will sink! ”
Diane then lay down on the floor. Half of her body stretched over the quagmire as she grabbed one of Rody’s hands and shouted, “I will pull you up! Be sure not to struggle!”
Most of the victims that had fallen into the quagmire were never seen again. Both people and animals would sink faster when they struggled. They would struggle until they were completely submerged. Fortunately, Diane was from the Silvermoon Clan and had grown up in the mountains. As a result, she was familiar with nature.
Diane grabbed hold of Rody’s hand. However, before she had the chance to pull Rody out, a tree came crashing down and the fearsome monster loomed into partial view.
Diane was frightened as she could not get Rody out even though she had used all her strength to pull him. Rody’s chest was already submerged in the quagmire. He felt suffocated. He then shouted, “It's alright! Don't worry about me! Run quickly!”
Rody looked resolutely at Diane. She gritted her teeth for a moment and then took out that crystal-like object she previously used to drive away the spiders. The crystal-like object still had her blood on it. Holding the object in her hands, she whispered something that Rody could not understand. Rody was then surprised to see that Diane had started to fade until she became totally transparent. If it was not for the fact that Rody was still holding her hand, he would really have thought that she was gone.
Hands…
Suddenly, he looked at his own hand. He was shocked to see that his hand that was holding Diane's was also disappearing, inch by inch. First, his palm, followed by his arm and finally, his shoulders started to disappear...
Rody felt like his whole body was soaked in cold water. His eyes seemed to be covered by mist, and everything around him looked like it has a layer of water over it. It felt like he was underwater.
The large monster that was chasing them had knocked down another two more large trees. It was now in full view. Its large head looked around. It searched around the place with its remaining eye but could not find the two small preys. The gigantic monster roared non-stop towards the sky as he stomped around the place angrily. Those trees around it were also smashed in his anger.
The fearsome monster was roaring angrily and jumping up and down, not far from Diane. However, Diane did not dare make any sound. Even when some of the branches from the smashed trees fell onto her, she did not dare groan in pain.
Finally, the monster went somewhere else to vent its anger. The ground once again trembled with every step that the huge monster made. Diane felt relieved when she saw the figure disappear into the dense trees. She gradually loosened her grip on the crystal-like object. The invisibility spell stopped, and her figure gradually reappeared. However, she felt desperate when she looked at Rody.
Originally, Rody was submerged up until his chest. However, when Diane looked again, she saw that most of Rody’s head, including his nose and eyes, had also been submerged. Only his golden hair remained visible. One of Rody’s arms had completely disappeared in the quagmire, while the other arm was still being held by Diane.
Diane gritted her teeth and forcefully pulled Rody by his arm. However, it was not easy to pull a robust figure like Rody out of the quagmire. Besides that, she was also injured, extremely exhausted and had spat blood a few times that day.
Sweat completely covered her head when she finally managed to pull half of Rody's body out of the quagmire. Rody's body, his eyes, and nose were covered in black mud. He was unconscious.
In her desperation, Diane had over exerted herself and felt her chest hurt. She tasted something sweet in her mouth and spat out some more blood. She felt anxious and almost cried. She could only think of one thing. I must not let him die! She continued pulling his heavy body, putting all her strength into the effort.
After some time, she finally pulled Rody out of the quagmire. She dragged him to the side where the ground was solid. Diane felt her body grow weak, and she could hardly move. She felt drowsy and was about to lose consciousness. However, she gently bit on her own tongue. The pain brought her mind back to focus.
She hurriedly wiped the dirt away from Rody’s face and then gently patted it. However, Rody’s eyes remained closed and there was no response. Diane shouted loudly, but in a panic, she had shouted in the Silvermoon’s language.
Seeing that Rody still could not wake up, Diane felt anxious and fiercely pounded on Rody's chest several times. That made Rody move a little. After that, a mouthful of sludge spurted out from his mouth. It just so happened that the sludge all spurted onto Diane's face. Rody then turned his head to one side and started to cough violently. A mixture of saliva, mucus, and sludge then spurted out from his nose and mouth.
The coughs were lung piercing but they finally allowed Rody to breathe. Rody then gasped for breath as he turned around to look at Diane.
He saw that Diane’s face was full of sludge. The sludge had been spurted out by Rody. She glared at him with a mixture of happiness and anger.
Rody was surprised and then remembered that she had just saved him. After that, he could not resist laughing when he saw her charming face covered in sludge. Although Diane was angry, she was relieved that Rody had regained consciousness and the gigantic monster had already run off elsewhere. Looking at Rody's funny expression, she also could not help but laugh.
The two survivors felt relaxed and laughed for a long time. Diane then realized that she was leaning on top of Rody, and she quickly sat up. She blushed, but fortunately, her face was covered in sludge and was not noticed by Rody.
“Is it safe now?” Rody asked as he laughed.
Diane frowned and shook her head. She then replied, “I do not know. In this hell of a place, is there anywhere that is really safe?”
Rody then spat twice more and suggested, "Let us look for a place to wash. My mouth and nose are full of sludge. The sludge is very smelly!" Rody then felt nauseated when he thought of how old the sludge was.
She snapped, “Wash ourselves? Where can you find water here? Did you see any source of water from the moment we walked into this forest?” Diane, after all, was a girl. Her face was covered in mud and she was now a little angry, so she vented her anger on Rody.
Rody struggled to stand and gave a wry smile. “I don’t know. Let us walk further inside first. If there is no water, then we will just have to endure it.”
Diane took a deep breath and then she asked, “What about Wuya? Shall we wait for him?”
“Him?” Rody sighed and replied, “Let us not wait for him. It is not like we can help him with anything. With his supernatural powers, his survival is up to fate.”
Diane had been busy running, but now that the situation was calmer, she remembered that Wuya was transformed from that large snake. Her expression changed and she trembled when she recalled that terrible giant snake.
Rody also frowned and said to himself, “Wuya was actually transformed from a snake. Yes. Its name is Jormungardr, Fang of the Pit, Guardian of the Abyss! Holy cow! I even thought he went to the shaman for healing, but he was actually cultivating as a snake!”
Andy laughed in his mind. “Why are you so stupid? Think for yourself, how could a mere mountain shaman, who only knew how to mystify, be able to help Wuya?”
Rody felt angry and knocked his forehead as he secretly said, “Bullshit! If you knew then why didn’t you say so earlier? You are just trying to act smart!”
There was a moment of silence before Andy continued. However, Andy’s voice was no longer modest and he sounded dignified. “Boy. I felt curious. There was an unusually strong energy coming from Wuya. That power was almost at or even surpassed the realm of ‘Domain Force’. However, the strength that he had shown tonight, although powerful, was far from the strength of someone who had obtained ‘Domain Force’.”
“He has not obtained yet?” Rody was surprised. He then responded to Andy, “Old fellow! You call this ‘has not obtained yet’? Didn’t you see that he could create an earthquake just by casually muttering a few lines of incantation? The earthquake then caused the fish to jump out from the river. The light emitted from his body could even burn down those plants that came into contact with him. On top of that, he could even transform into a giant snake with ten heads and the heads could breathe out fire! He, alone, was able to get rid of so many strange creatures. Even with that superb ability, you are saying that he still has not obtained ‘Domain Force’?”
“Of course not!" Andy spoke with disdain. "Do you think ‘Domain Force' is something so simple? You, idiot! If this can be considered ‘Domain Force', then there would have been plenty of people who could have done it several hundred years ago. Besides them, your little lover, the silly Black Veil Saint could also do what Wuya did tonight. The only difference is she cannot transform into a snake!”
The moment Andy saw that Rody was silent, he continued, “The so-called ‘Domain Force’ is the goal of high-level practitioners! It is almost close to the existence of God! Just look at Wuya. Just a few monsters and he was already having trouble! Right now, we do not even know if he is still alive! Do you think that with his current ability, he has obtained the ‘Domain Force’?”
Rody then complained, “But you were the first to say that he had obtained the ‘Domain Force’.”
Andy then sighed and his voice became more solemn, “That is why I am surprised. According to what I saw, Wuya is definitely very strong. However, it is only at the level of a senior practitioner. If he really is the Fang of the Pit, then he is only a high ranked Mythical Beast. He only displayed a strength befitting a high ranked Mythical Beast and is still very far from the realm of Gods!”
Rody shook his head and asked, “So, what happened?”
Andy was silent before he slowly replied, “There are two possibilities. The first is that he has the treasure of somebody who had comprehended ‘Domain Force’ or that person’s crystallized condensed energy. However, this is unlikely. A practitioner that has comprehended ‘Domain Force’ has achieved a level of existence close to God. Why would he condense his energy into a crystal for someone else to use? This is actually a suicidal behavior.”
“What about the other possibility?”
“The other possibility is…” Andy spoke slowly in a low voice, “... that he is carrying an actual ‘magical artifact’.