Absolute Death Game

Chapter 151 - 135 Fire Spirit Form - Transform!

Xiao Buli checked his mana; nearly half was consumed. Considering that they might encounter enemies after they emerged, he said to Du Yibo, "I need to go up now. What about you?"

"Do you even have to ask? Of course, we’re going together."

The two of them slowly made their way out of the stony area and moved upwards. As Xiao Buli broke through to the surface, his screen suddenly brightened, a line of light appeared at the top, growing larger and more luminous. The world around him became clearer and more whole until he finally emerged from the ground.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t bright outside; the Dark Forest was perpetually in a dim state, different from the Misty Forest as if a barrier was blocking out the sunlight.

As soon as he surfaced, he looked around. The area was completely unfamiliar, with decaying trees and lifeless plants everywhere. Some gray and black ferns were spreading like a skin disease across the land, widespread and invasive.

He glanced beneath him and saw that only half of his body was above ground; the other half was still buried. Where his body met the ground, there was an odd, black color that resembled some kind of clay. This confirmed his suspicion that he must have been in a special form while underground.

After pressing the spacebar a few times, Xiao Buli fully emerged from the ground. A sound like squeezing toothpaste followed closely behind him, and as he turned around, he saw Du Yibo, who looked like a clay figurine. However, the soil color soon faded, and he returned to his normal appearance.

"Where are we?" Du Yibo asked with some unease as he surveyed the surroundings.

"Who knows, but according to the coordinates, it seems we’re quite a distance from the town," said Xiao Buli with some concern, "Anyway, heading south should be the right direction."

This seemed to be the only option; they had been traveling underground for nearly half an hour with no sense of direction. Now they had no idea where they were except to head south.

So, the two of them walked through the gaps between the trees towards the south.

The forest was eerily quiet, as if the stampede of beasts from earlier was nothing but an illusion, or perhaps all the wild animals had fled with the commotion, leaving the forest empty.

What could make even demonized beasts feel fear? Xiao Buli couldn’t help but wonder.

As they walked, Xiao Buli suddenly felt something was off, as if something was secretly watching him. Sometimes he trusted his instincts, which he was quite familiar with. Back when he played World of Warcraft, if a rogue was tailing him, he would occasionally notice—not through the Reveal skill, but more like an intuition, perhaps due to a high spiritual power.

And now, that sensation was vivid in his mind. Despite the surrounding silence, the feeling wouldn’t go away.

"Something’s not right; something’s nearby!" Xiao Buli frowned, stopping to type the message.

"I feel it too, but I’m not sure what it is. I can’t see anything," said Du Yibo.

(That might be something invisible,) Xiao Buli thought, regretting not having brought Maoqiu with him. But there was no helping it; in such a large-scale operation, Maoqiu wouldn’t be of much help, and if it got killed, that would be an issue.

He suddenly remembered the Betrayer’s Dark Vision. Although the eye mask didn’t have a Reveal feature, it did allow one to see members of the Demon Clan. If there were invisible members of the Demon Clan nearby, that should be effective.

Thinking this, he put on the eye mask.

The screen color immediately turned monochrome, and not far in front of him, a four-legged beast charged fiercely towards him. The dark energy of the Demon Clan inside it was clearly visible as it leapt forward, its sharp claws inches away.

The creature, seemingly a leopard or some similar beast, prompted a name to immediately spring to Xiao Buli’s mind—Shadow Leopard.

Disaster! There was no time to dodge, and even less to cast a spell. In the heat of the moment, he could only raise his sword to block—block failed.

The Shadow Leopard knocked him to the ground, and Xiao Buli could almost instantly tell it was going to use a Rip and Bite technique. Defenseless on the ground, such an attack would maximize the damage, much like how Maoqiu usually attacked its targets.

With a boom, a fireball sent the Shadow Leopard flying away.

Xiao Buli quickly got to his feet, relieved that he had only lost a little over thirty health points. He hastily wrapped himself in Ethereal Armor and then summoned a Talisman Soldier. As the Talisman Soldier positioned itself between him and the Shadow Leopard, Xiao Buli could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

He turned around to give thanks but saw three Shadow Leopards encircling Du Yibo from behind, closing in from three directions.

"Careful, there are more Shadow Leopards! Behind you!" Xiao Buli shouted to Du Yibo while activating his Tai Chi Sword Skills, preparing to deal with the one in front of him first.

"Where? Where?" Du Yibo yelled anxiously, as he cast Earth Cell Skills on himself. This was a control-type skill, meant to imprison a target within an earth cell with hundreds of durability points. But in his hands, it became a life-saving skill. A circle of earth walls instantly surrounded him, followed quickly by the sound of tearing and scratching.

The earthen walls visibly deteriorated, rapidly being chewed through, and in the blink of an eye, they crumbled.