Why can't humans do it too?

“…Couldn’t you have waited for me to come?” Su Er knelt down wearily and reached out to take the torn strip of cloth from Xin Ke’s hand.

This woman was far too wild for herself. When Suer came to her side, he saw that she had already pulled out the sharp tentacle that was stuck in her thigh and thrown it aside. She was trying to bandage herself with the torn cloth strips, but because her hands were trembling uncontrollably, she could not tie them up.

Although it sounds a bit perverse, Suer did feel a sense of...reality when he saw the woman unable to bandage herself due to the pain.

So you feel pain too?

"Heh~", whether she heard Su Er's thoughts or not, Xin Ke just gave a strange hum and didn't answer.

Xin Ke's clothes were already tattered beyond recognition, barely covering some sensitive parts of her body. She relied mainly on her robe for cover, and bright red blood kept flowing from the wound on her thigh. When it flowed across her fair skin, it had a strange and beautiful quality—damn it!

After successfully establishing a connection with the monster that had been transformed from a vampire, Suer found himself starting to feel a sense of affinity for blood. It wasn't quite to the point of being negatively influenced, but his affection for blood had definitely increased... in his opinion.

There were no ulterior motives. To be honest, during their escape, Xin Ke treated him with such complete lack of vigilance, as if he were a stone or a mindless beast. Even when Su Er said he hadn't seen anything, he himself didn't believe it.

It's just that I don't have that kind of thought at all.

The tightly wrapped cloth bandages bound the soft, elastic skin, squeezing the cut wound together, and the continuous flow of blood was finally stopped temporarily.

"Go, let's go!"

Almost immediately after the rough bandaging was finished, Suer urged impatiently, even though both of them were almost unable to move due to exhaustion and the pain they had suffered, he still tried his best to support himself and Xin Ke's body to stand up from the ground.

Even if you need to rest, you absolutely cannot rest near this forest elf outpost. The smell of blood from the previous massacre is so strong that it's like a bright and conspicuous bonfire burning in the dark night.

Something will come, something will definitely come.

So... we have to get moving.

Squeezing all his strength out of his body, he no longer had the power to carry Xinke on his back. The constant pain from his injured shoulder became a kind of medicine that kept Suer's nerves from fainting.

Dragging their injured thighs, Xinke and Suer supported each other as they slowly and stumbled their way toward the abandoned city Xinke had mentioned earlier.

Utterly disheveled, this struggle to muster all her strength only to escape was an unspeakable humiliation for Xin Ke, especially this weak and vulnerable posture, entrusting her life to a monkey.

You can deceive yourself into thinking that the two of you are supporting each other forward, but the truth will not deceive you—it was the weak monkey, not her, that kept the two of you from falling.

Every step forward was a struggle requiring all their strength, whether it was him or her.

Suddenly, Suer stopped in his tracks.

Without time to explain anything, he quickly helped Xin Ke sit down on the ground, signaling her to be quiet. Then he lay down on the ground and pressed his ear, which still had normal hearing, against the ground—listening intently.

not enough.

Instead, he untied the bandage wrapped around his arm and pressed the wound directly against the cold ground. It felt cool, but more than the refreshing sensation, the faint vibration and sharp pain emanating from the wound told him that his judgment was correct.

A big guy is coming.

It comes from underground, travels through rocks, and the earth trembles with its movement.

Sul quietly straightened up, wrapped the cloth strip back around his arm, and instead of supporting Xin Ke and the other person to speed up their escape, he searched for a place to hide.

But Suer knew this was just burying his head in the sand.

It knew they were here—Sur's gaze swept over the shackle on Xinke's ankle, which was peeking out from under her robe, and over the dark brown strips of cloth on his and her bodies, stained with seeping blood.

Even with all his strength, he couldn't escape very far. Even now, when he turned around, he could still see the forest elf sentry post. It hadn't blurred into an indistinct dot at the end of his vision. Suer could still vaguely see the collapsed walls and the decorated treehouses.

Chapter 115 Worms

The earth began to tremble more noticeably, and even Xin Ke noticed the change. Suddenly, in her line of sight, the ground on the other side of the road that the two of them had just trudged across was strangely bulging up.

It wasn't like a goblin submarine smoothly separating rocks and soil as if swimming out of water; rather, it was a very brutal breakthrough, violently crushing the earth surrounding it, with the splashed soil and rocks piling up into a small mountain amidst the rumbling sound.

It resembled a giant worm magnified thousands of times, covered in sharp spikes and neatly arranged, densely packed dots that shimmered with red light. Visible red muscles surged like a tide, propelling the giant worm out of the ground.

Demon species.

One of the most common demon species that roams this continent, it doesn't need to use too many abilities; the power derived from its enormous size alone is enough to crush all weak creatures—Sur, and at this moment, Xinke.

Despite its mountain-like size, it moved with unimaginable speed. This enormous demonic creature pierced through the ground and arrived at the forest elf's outpost in just a few breaths, coiling around it like a python hunting its prey.

As if stimulated by the fragrance of the corpses and blood, this demonic creature impatiently opened its mouth, and layer upon layer of sharp teeth extended into its cavity in circles—Boom!

It suddenly slammed downwards!

The dust kicked up engulfed the area where it was, and the demon's maw, expanded to its limit, swallowed the entire outpost whole, leaving nothing behind.

Nothing exists there anymore.

Watching the colossal creature burrow into the ground once more amidst the rumbling of the earth, the effects of what was merely a simple act of feeding were akin to a natural disaster. Suer couldn't help but feel a chill of fear at the sheer power it possessed—if he had lingered in the moment of rest, he and Xinke would probably be the ones dead there now.

They were buried with that string of skulls.

They dared not linger, not only because the monster mutated from the vampire species was not truly dead, but also because this area was far too conspicuous. Even now, the crimson blood mist spread by that monster had not completely dissipated; it had only been somewhat dispersed by the commotion caused by the demon species earlier.

However, this also spread the blood mist further, turning the area into a sweet hunting ground filled with the blood of elves, inviting many monsters that noticed the place to come.

“…Let’s go,” Suer said, struggling to his feet and turning his gaze away from the distance.

His whole body ached, as if it wasn't just his shoulder that was injured, but his entire body. Just the brief moment he sat on the ground watching that demon destroy the outpost, Suer's muscles seemed to freeze, unable to move... and he didn't want to move.

All I wanted to do was lie on the ground and not move.

Is it still there?

"It is, but the distance has increased, and I can no longer command it."

Knowing that Xinke wasn't referring to that demon species, Suer gave a brief reply.

Xin Ke's condition was also not good, yet this woman acted as if her injuries did not exist, trying to get up from the ground again on her own strength—but she could not do it.

"Heh, wasn't it said that the connection was easy to break free from?" Xin Ke finally stood up from the ground with the help of Su Er's outstretched hand, and said with a slight pant.

"...Because you want my flesh and soul, right? I guess so." His gaze fell on the sweat on Xin Ke's forehead caused by the pain, and even the four beautiful soul stones were shimmering slightly. Without pointing this out, Su Er just wanted to continue forward as before, supporting each other's bodies.

The arm that was stuck shifted slightly outward, but then returned to its original position in the next second. Not understanding what this woman was planning, Suer gritted his teeth and took a step forward with all his might.

He can still hold on.

"Greed...?" she murmured to herself. Despite the constant pain in her legs, Xin Ke tried her best to walk more normally, as if she hadn't been completely injured yet.

Black ash fell from the sky.

--------------

This world can be very noisy, with explosions from mutual attacks, heart-wrenching screams, and relentless battles that last for days, months, or even years, as if playing a symphony of death with no end in sight. The clamor that even the gods revel in is its main theme.

Yet this world can also be very quiet, without the chirping of insects, the voices of people, or the sounds of life, only the sound of the wind, the endless sound of the wind, the unchanging gray ground, and everything stained by the red sky.

Monotonous and boring.

creak, creak.

Deep footprints are left on the emerald green and blackish-gray, and the sound will never change, like a lullaby. However, no one dares to sleep in such a place. All that remains are four crooked footprints, which are eventually smoothed out by the newly fallen blackish-gray at the far end.

"...Did the black ash fall in?"

Having confirmed that the muffled groan he had just heard was not a hallucination, Suer asked in a low voice, without stopping, as if afraid that if he stopped, he would never be able to lift his leg again, and just mechanically repeated the same action.

"……Do not."

There was only one word in response and then silence. However, Suer didn't pay any attention, and the two returned to their previous silence.

Unlike Suer, who was wearing boots sewn by Ke'er herself, Xin Ke, who had never considered walking on the black ash before, was not protected from the black ash at all. Therefore, Suer could only use a torn robe to simply wrap her feet, hoping that the black ash falling from the sky would not touch her skin.

The robes the two had taken from the safe spot in the strait had been torn to shreds, turning into bandages wrapped around their wounds. At most, the remaining robes could only barely protect Xin Ke's body.

Unaware of how long they had walked or how far they had gone, in this endless, black and gray rain, Suer had lost all sense of distance and time. He only knew that they had not yet arrived.

That abandoned city that exists in Xin Ke Kou's mind.

Just get there.

You can use the remaining techniques to protect yourself.

You can look for the food that the Mori Sei clan planted there back then.

They can rely on the remaining arrangements to contact other forest spirit species.

Everything will be alright—as long as we can get to that city.

Chapter 116 Naivety

It was so cold that all the exposed skin was almost frozen solid. If you tapped it, you might hear a crackling sound. However, the body wrapped in clothes didn't retain much warmth. Suer felt that the only parts of his body that still had warmth were his internal organs... but even his internal organs were gradually getting cold.

The black ash, falling like snowflakes, kept landing on the two of them, almost burying them. Every time they traveled a certain distance, Suer and Xinke had to expend their remaining strength to shake off the accumulated black ash. The corpses of the elves seemed endless.

It hasn't reached the point of forming a death storm yet, but if this trend continues, it won't be long before such a death storm does materialize.

In such weather, one should find a cave to hide in, but since escaping the red mist, Suer has not found a place to stay—or rather, even if he did, he wouldn't dare to stay.

There was no firewood to start a fire, and those lovely flammable materials had been buried under a thick layer of black ash, leaving no extra energy to search for them.

If they couldn't light a campfire to generate heat in the cold, gloomy cave, they might only find two cold corpses by the next day... or perhaps only the corpse of Suer.

Therefore... they could only mechanically move forward, even wondering where their strength came from. The whole world was moving forward with a strange inertia, and as long as this inertia was not broken, everything would continue in its final form.

The large amount of falling black ash actually served as camouflage for the two people.

His body was suddenly pulled, the force coming from where the two were supporting each other. The momentum of his forward movement was suddenly broken, and Su Er almost fell to the ground and plunged headfirst into the black ash. Fortunately, Xin Ke caught him in time.

Slowly focusing his gaze, Suer awoke from his daze and belatedly noticed the object blocking their path. It was mostly buried under a thick layer of black ash and would soon be completely concealed beneath it, yet it possessed an intangible sense of familiarity.

Swaying as he approached, Suer rolled up a corner of his robe to sweep away the black ash, then froze—his entire body was leaning against the ground, a few slightly raised tentacles still outstretched as if trying to touch something. The expressions remaining on his two ugly heads were no longer clear; one could only sense a hint of madness and lingering regret from his bared teeth.

It was that monster mutated from a vampire. Even though it was dead, it still had a chilling appearance. Covered in black ash for a long time, even its flesh had been melted away, leaving only charred powder clinging to its bones.

It has been buried here in black ash for a long time. If it stays here for a while longer, even its bones will probably be completely dissolved.

“…Dead…?” Suer muttered in astonishment, his stiff face twitching slightly.

He then realized that, at some point, the little dot that had always existed in his mind had disappeared, along with the delicate yet real invisible thread, that mysterious connection.

Somewhat unable to accept it, his mind suddenly became chaotic—this monster, this monster that had devoured his flesh and blood, a monster that could be considered a formidable enemy for him and Xin Ke in their escape… just died like that?

There was no final outburst, no words of resentment; it simply vanished dramatically into the vast expanse of black ash.

It even sensed something from the invisible connection with Suer, and the monster somehow appeared in the direction the two were heading. Even in its last moments before dying, it stretched its tentacles toward where Suer was, as if wanting to touch him one last time.

Even at the very last moment of its life, the monster did not sever the fragile connection between itself and Suer, even though it could have easily broken free with a slight effort, but it was stopped by its own greed and craving...

"Now the threat that was following us has finally disappeared," Xin Ke said, her voice tinged with weariness, a sentiment she shared.