Chapter 121: A Frantic Escape
As the roar was heard, the previously quiet Magical Beast Mountain Range became noisy once more. Practically every single magical beast was awoken and their sounds began to cry out in every direction. Every magical beast had made a sound, but not a single one of them would dare go against the tiger.
Hearing the roar of the tiger, Jian Chen’s face changed into a severely serious one. “Oh no, this is the roar of the Golden Fur Tiger King!” His voice was unnaturally serious since the Golden Fur Tiger King was a Class 5 Magical Beast. This magical beast was special in the way that if it had reached a threshold, it could transform its body and from that moment on, it would enter a new world. The Class 5 Magical Beast was far different than a class 4 Magical Beast, and with Jian Chen’s current strength, taking care of a Class 4 Magical Beast would be hard already, let alone a Class 5 one.
“Not good, it’s the roar of the Golden Fur Tiger King! Run, run quickly, everyone scatter or else we’ll all die here!” Captain Cross shouted as his voice trembled with fear. Even before he could finish his warning, he had immediately taken off into the forest with the cub of the Golden Fur Tiger King. Even the mercenaries who had been fighting the Flame Mercenaries immediately gave up the fight and immediately followed Cross into the forest.
Suddenly, before Captain Cross could get too far into the forest, Jian Chen sped forward like a speed demon as his Light Wind Sword flashed silver and aimed straight at the man’s throat. Even at a dangerous time like this, Jian Chen had no plans of letting him go.
Cross’ face changed rapidly as he waved his own sword around. As his sword collided against Jian Chen’s, Cross snarled, “Have you gone crazy? The Class 5 Magical Beast Golden Fur Tiger King is coming. If you continue to try to stop me, then you’ll lose your chance to escape.”
Jian Chen was indifferent to Cross’ words, almost as if he hadn’t heard Cross speak at all. The Light Wind Sword transformed into a ray of silver light as it traveled toward Cross once more.
Cross raised his sword to defend himself against the lightning-like strikes. With no time to dodge, he was stabbed through the shoulder by Jian Chen who at the same time grabbed at the cub with his left hand.
Cross couldn’t help but curse in pain as he continued to retreat with the cub in his hands still. “Everyone come together to block this kid. This cub is far too important for our Zhou Mercenaries to lose!”
Hearing this, each Zhou Mercenary began to hesitate, but no one dared to disobey Cross’ orders. Five men charged at Jian Chen with their Saint Weapons in hand in an effort to stall him. Cross had then fled into the surrounding forests while the unwilling mercenaries had stayed behind at first before quickly following Cross into the forest.
Because Great Saints weren’t a threat to Jian Chen at all, he had quickly dropped down 5 of them, the group of mercenaries that had followed Cross were quickly dropping like flies.
“Hou!”
The previously faraway roar of the tiger was getting closer as the Golden Fur Tiger King was approaching at rapid speeds. Jian Chen’s face grew even more anxious as he looked at Kendall and said, “The Golden Fur Tiger King is approaching this area quickly, it won’t take too long before it gets here. Captain Kendall, it’s not good to stay here, let’s leave quickly.”
Kendall looked at the blood soaked members of the Flame mercenaries and the multiple wounds on them. It was a good thing the battle didn’t go on for long, otherwise they would had suffered from casualties.
“Everyone hurry up and run away.”
Unable to dress up their bloody wounds, everyone quickly began to dash into the forest with great speed, but because of the various wounds they had, their movements weren’t all that fast.
“Hou!”
Another roar of the tiger rang out and this time it was extremely close by. In an instant, everyone could hear the tiger running towards them. The wind pressure it was generating was enough to flatten the tree leaves to the ground.
Every single member of the Flame Mercenaries went pale in the face. As Kendall fled for his life, he looked behind him at Jian Chen and threw his Space Belt at him, “Jian Chen, you have the strongest strength amongst all of us, so your chance of escaping is the highest among us. I entrust my Space Belt to you; you have to make sure you take this out.”
Seeing Captain Kendall throw his Space Belt at him, Jian Chen wanted to refuse it, but then Kendall opened his mouth once more, “Jian Chen, don’t refuse it. If by chance we don’t make it out of these forests, then I beg of you to take care of our families! If I die here, then their lives would take a turn for the worse. My parents, my wife, and my child, they won’t be able to live a good life in the future, so it all depends on you.” Kendall pleaded with Jian Chen.
Sending a complicated look at Kendall, Jian Chen nodded his head resolutely. Taking in the Space Belt, Jian Chen stared for a little longer and said, “Uncle Kendall, we’ll definitely make it out of here; that Golden Fur Tiger King isn’t looking for us.”
“Ahhhh, save me!” A call for help suddenly came from behind.
“Kabolds, that was Kabolds. He fell in the swamps, quickly now, grab onto my hand Kabolds…” A voice called out. It was Xiao Dao who was extremely anxious.
Hearing this, everyone stood still as Jian Chen looked behind him at Xiao Dao, only to see him on his belly with his hand outstretched into the swamps. In the swamp, Kabolds figure was already completely submerged.
Jian Chen’s face changed as he immediately followed what Xiao Dao was doing and plunged his hand into the swamp. However, like Xiao Dao, his hand had felt nothing.
“Kabolds…” Xiao Dao closed his eyes in pain and sorrow.
“Ai!” Jian Chen sighed before hitting Xiao Dao on the shoulder, “Go.” And then began to run once more.
The other members began to sigh in sorrow as they closed their eyes. After a brief moment of silence, they continued to run deeper into the forest. With every second lost was another second of running that was thrown away.
Because it was almost nightfall, the Magical Beast Mountain Range was very dark so the visibility was low. On the path, everyone had tripped more than once, but they each picked themselves up from the ground as quickly as they fell and continued to run. Some decided to run on top of the tree branches in order to avoid the swamps below.
After a while, Jian Chen’s foot suddenly stopped, halting his forward momentum.
“Jian Chen, what are you doing slowing down? Hurry up and run.” Kendall said anxiously.
Jian Chen didn’t speak and pointed ahead of them. Kendall looked to where Jian Chen’s finger was pointing at, only to see the blurry figures of 10 mercenaries up ahead panting with exhaustion.
“It’s the Zhou Mercenaries.” Jian Chen said.
Kendall’s eyes flashed with a cold glare as he growled, “So it is, they’re not running, so what are they doing standing there?”
“They can’t run, the road ahead of them is blocked off by a Class 4 Magical Beast. Why is there a Class 4 Magical Beast here? Come, let’s take a detour around.” Jian Chen jumped to a branch nearby.
“Hou!”
Another tiger roar came from behind, this time closer than ever. The roar was so loud, it shook the eardrums of the Flame Mercenaries, causing them to go deaf for a moment, After the roar, the gigantic figure came bursting in from behind and headed toward the Zhou Mercenaries.
Soon after the roar, the members of the Zhou Mercenaries all fell to the ground, with a single member lifted into the air by the giant jaw of the tiger.
“Not good, the Golden Fur Tiger King is far too fast, in such a short time it overtook us in speed. Let’s go quickly, otherwise there’ll be no chance.” Seeing the shadowy figure, Jian Chen cried out in shock at the appearance of it before immediately jumping without hesitation into the foliage nearby.
Ahead, the Zhou Mercenaries who were all alive and well one breath ago, had fallen to the claws of the Golden Fur Tiger King. All that was left was the mercenary who was holding the cub–Cross.
The Golden Fur Tiger King was the real deal, those who were only at the Great Saint level or under would not be able to withstand even a single hit from it.
Cross’ left hand held the the cub as his right hand held a sword that was ready to pierce the cub’s neck, causing a stalemate between the Golden Fur Tiger King and him.
The Golden Fur Tiger King was four meters long, but because of the guise of the night, the entire body of the tiger couldn’t be seen clearly.
“Hou!” The Golden Fur Tiger King growled as its eyes became crimson. Staring at Cross with a furious glare, it didn’t dare to act rashly with the cub in Cross’ hands. As a Class 5 Magical Beast, it had enough knowledge to understand the situation.
“Get back, get back, hurry up and retreat, otherwise we’ll all die here.” Cross cried out in terror as he stared at the Golden Fur Tiger King. His entire body was shaking and his forehead was dripping with sweat.
“Aoo! Aoo!” The cub began to struggle within the hands of Cross. Even it had begun to feel a little afraid, even though it was a Class 5 Magical Beast in potential, it was still young, and did not have much power at the moment.
The Golden Fur Tiger King didn’t give way, but then Cross bit his lip and pressed down with his sword, causing a few strands of golden fur to be cut away from the cub.
“Hou!” The Golden Fur Tiger King hastily growled before slowly retreating backward a few steps. However, the crimson glare in its eyes had intensified.
Behind Cross was yet another Class 4 Tiger that stared him down like one would look at their prey.