Terrified, it was not enough to describe the feeling of the surviving member of the Flame Castle. The elite leader could not survive under two devils' rampage. The memories of the terrified face of their Leader were still fresh and stuck in their head. Ripping the head off with brute force, something that only happened in a movie.
The brutality was enough to haunt them in the nightmare, but one person steeled his heart from the traumatizing event. Lin Duan was the first one to snap off his nightmare. He brought his people to the place where the military group was staying and had a long chat with three old men.
On the following day, the remnant of the military joined The Flame Castle. Lin Duan managed to convince the three old men with the SZ Establishment, telling them that the establishment was under the Military's watch and they were part of them.
Since the three old men agreed to join, Lin Duan shared every vital information about the game. He told them the importance of the game. As the military side was convinced by him, they added a hundred veteran soldiers to clear the third portal. But they had one resolution while entering the portal, avoid the people of The Empire of Tang at any cost. They did not want to repeat the worst nightmare in their life, never.
*** ***
Inside the third portal
Three hours passed quickly, Tang Shaoyang and his team had returned to the rendezvous point while Li Na and her team arrived earlier.
"We could not find anything, no cave, no beast, or even monster," was the report said by Li Na while shaking her head. They did not get what they wanted after three hours of exploring.
Tang Shaoyang and his team were the same, they did not encounter anything, even a place for them to sleep. Silent ensued the group for a while before a sigh escaped from his mouth, "Let's take a break and have lunch before we continue searching,"
He took Rabbidog's carcasses out of his inventory, four of them. The plan was to take the pelt for his room's decoration but later he found out the meat was the thing you would hard to forget once you tasted it.
He skillfully skinned the Rabbidog one by one while Kang Xue and Li Na were in charge of roasting the Rabbidog. Thanks to Moon's skill, they could easily get the fire to roast the meat. It took forty-five minutes to roast the meat and took them fifty minutes to finish four Rabbidog.
After they had their meal, they once again split up. Tang Shaoyang led his team to the north while Li Na led her team to the south.
The beforehand exploring was uneventful but it was different this time. After fifteen minutes of walking to the North, they met their first prey. It was a deer, but not a normal deer you found in the zoo or watched in the tv show.
The dear was covered in thick fur until around its thigh while the fur was a stripe of white and black. The eyes were blazing red, four tusks came out of its mouth while its nostril released hot air, and its tail was a tail that was similar to a fox.
[Basic Detection]
—————————
[Beast - Deere]
Affiliation: Clarity Forest
Evolution: Stage-1
Level: 44
Skill: [Flame Rush]
—————————
While everyone was busy casting [Basic Detection] on Deere, a flame burst out from its antler and heels. Soon the crimson flame covered the Deere's body, and it charged toward Tang Shaoyang who positioned himself in the front.
As the Deere pointed its antler toward Tang Shaoyang, The Destroyer appeared in his hand. With his quick reaction, he swept the Deere with the battle-ax, cutting through its head off the body, killing the stage-1 beast instantly.
The Deere's body flew to the side, crashed to the three. When everyone thought it was over, the flaming body exploded.
Boom!
The booming sound and the shock wave of the explosion spread, the leaves on the trees swayed from the big explosion. The explosion shocked everyone, including Tang Shaoyang. No one would expect the Deere would explode after it was killed, fortunately, Tang Shaoyang swept the body away from the group.
"This is more dangerous than I thought," Not everyone was capable of killing Deere and swept the body away like him. Zhang Mengyao had to agree with that while taking note of the beast her man killed.
Shrush! Shrush! Shrush!
Not long after the explosion, the bushes around them shook. The noise alerted the group as everyone held their weapon tight. Kang Zian and Kang Xue stayed around their parents, protecting them from potential danger. Zhang Mengyao also did the same, putting away the note she came closer to the family of five.
Yu Shun had his zombies ready, Tang Shaoyang positioned himself in the front, acting as the vanguard for his team. Soon, the creatures came to their sight, it was the same Deere who just exploded. Not just one, but a bunch of them, around twenty Deeres surrounded them.
'The explosion seems a signal to call its friend,' Zhang Mengyao secretly took a note about the beast. She had been gathering the data about monsters and beasts they had met. She planned to compile the data into a book for her people.
The Deeres did not immediately attack them, but they looked in the direction of the explosion. The flame was still burning the tree fiercely while the body was burned into a crisp.
"Run!" Tang Shaoyang pointed in the direction where they came from. The Deere might be a stage-1 beast, but its ability was dangerous. Not for him but the others.
Zhang Mengyao followed the order as she rushed toward Yu Shun's back, "Use your zombie to break the encirclement, I will have your back!"
Yu Shun nodded as he ordered Shredder and his two Maces forward. Shredder was typically a zombie assassin, its quick movement caught the Deere off guard as the sword beheaded two Deeres before they could use their skill [Flame Rush].
Mace was the zombie with a big force, with a swing of the mace, it threw the Deere away from them, opening the path to retreat. Yet two other Deeres exploded, but the Mace had thrown them afar, keeping the group safe from the explosion.
Yu Shun actually wanted to try to zombify the Deere, but he immediately threw the idea away. It could explode, he did not want to put his girlfriend in danger.
Thanks to the zombies, the path to retreat opened. Yu Shun took the vanguard with his zombies while Kang Xue and her family followed. Zhang Mengyao slowed down and stayed next to Tang Shaoyang.
More and more Deere explosions resounded through the forest, attracting more Deeres. From twenty, now the number increased up to fifty despite Tang Shaoyang and Zhang Mengyao having killed them.
He made the right decision to retreat if they decided to fight then they were bound to be cornered by the Deere. Fighting while retreating, the couple managed to kill around forty Deeres until the Deeres stopped chasing them.
Standing on his ground, Tang Shaoyang and Zhang Mengyao exchanged glances. The crimson flame that shrouded the Deere's body slowly dying down. The beasts and humans stared at each other for a while before the pack of Deeres turned around, leaving them behind.