The wooden embers cracked with fire blazing into the night sky. The small flames danced like sultry succubi, flickering hypnotically in the dark expanse.
For a moment, there was complete and total silence in the Harrier village.
Noel and Ricky both stopped, silently watching Seraphina's figure rushing into the distance like a fiery comet burning away the darkness of the night sky. The only remnants of her presence were the residual golden embers still floating in the air, slowly fading into nothingness.
"..."
"What the hellll..."
Ricky muttered, his mandibles clicking in exasperation. His proboscis twitched, and his massive compound eyes gleamed under the glow of the burning village. The decisiveness shown by this woman when she escaped made him question his reality. One moment, she had been fighting with all her might; the next, she had fled without hesitation.
Noel seemed to have turned into a statue; however, if not for his constantly twitching eyebrow, Ricky might have even forgotten about his existence.
"You!!!!"
"Don't you think about escaping!"
Ricky loudly yelled, but the only thing that came out of his mouth was a guttural sound, an eerie symphony akin to two pieces of glass sliding against each other.
The noise sent an unnatural shiver through Noel's spine, making his face lose color.
"Stage 2 being…"
Noel's heart pounded furiously in his chest.
Fuck! Fuck!
How is this possible? How can there be any Stage 2 being in the Thousand Emerald Green Forest? Not to say anything about Stage 2 beings, it was harder to find even a Stage 1 being.
According to his understanding, the forest was filled with numerous animals with zero intelligence.
Animals with absolutely zero intelligence.
And to be honest, to some extent, Noel was right. In the entire Eldros Kingdom, there was only one place where a toddler could go and come back alive.
Of course, this was just an exaggeration; however, compared to the other horrifying places in Eldros Kingdom, Thousand Emerald Green Forest was indeed safe.
For example, in the Ten Thousand Miles Divine Zone of Silence, a single word out of your mouth could kill you—literally, in the very sense of the word.
Or the Nether Mother Goddess Altar, a place where you could only enter after sacrificing a thousand pregnant women to the Nether Goddess.
The Eldros Kingdom was filled with all sorts of horrifyingly bizarre places, each weirder than the other.
Compared to these places, Thousand Emerald Green Forest—with barely any mana—was a completely safe place.
…
At some unknown point, Noel's legs had started to shake like a twig under a hurricane.
His eyes were filled with despair; it felt as if someone had forcefully cut his heart into a thousand pieces. The sheer helplessness of standing before an overwhelming force drained the strength from his limbs.
He didn't blame the holy saintess of the Radiant Knight Order for escaping. If he had the same chance as her, his actions would be no different.
After all, in front of him stood a Stage 2 being, someone with a spiritual force field.
No attack of his could hurt such a being.
There was only one ending.
When his thoughts reached up to this point, he subconsciously swallowed his saliva.
….
Ricky watched Noel's shivering figure and forgot to breathe for a moment. He couldn't stop himself from internally asking:
Tch! Am I that scary or what…?
Just as he was about to end the poor guy's life for good—
Noel Nrack suddenly got to his knees and started to smash his forehead on the ground like a sledgehammer while screaming at the top of his lungs.
"Oh supreme lord, please forgive this little one for offending you..!"
"This…" Ricky's compound eyes flickered with confusion. He didn't know how to react.
Thud!
No matter how strong Noel's body was, after repeated kowtowing, his forehead split open, blood freely flowing out of the open wound.
However, Noel didn't stop, as if he didn't even feel the pain.
Ricky was once again impressed. These two fellows were really decisive; there was no hesitation in their actions.
Well, if you want to survive in this brutal world where death follows you at every step, you have to be decisive if you want to live another day.
Just like now, even though Noel knew he was as good as dead, he still didn't give up.
For a moment, Ricky was moved and even thought about letting the poor guy go, but then—his stomach grumbled.
The hunger returned stronger than ever before.
Overwhelmed by hunger, Ricky's proboscis twitched violently.
Ahh! Poor fellow, you may return in peace now…
Ricky could only say this. After all, if he felt pity for his food, then what was he going to do?
In the end, he couldn't survive on well wishes.
Noel seemed to have noticed the change in Ricky's demeanor as he got up and started to run.
So what if he couldn't outrun the monster? He at least had to try.
Noel ran while shouting.
Now that his earlier strategy had failed, Noel could only resort to other measures.
"You fucking monster! If you dare to kill me today, the supreme leader of Iron Fang Legion will never let you go…"
Huh? Ricky was once again left dumbfounded.
However, this time he was slightly annoyed.
The crystalline wings behind his back twitched and his body moved, arriving behind Noel almost instantly. With almost effortless precision, his proboscis pierced the guy's back like a knife through butter.
Instinctively, numerous options appeared in his head—like whether he wanted to paralyze the guy or poison his blood.
However, Ricky ignored them for the time being, only focused on quenching his thirst.
[10 days of life absorbed.]
[43 days of lifespan absorbed.]
In a matter of minutes, Ricky absorbed more than 5 years' worth of lifespan from the poor guy.
However, in a rush, he seemed to have forgotten to control his power, as Noel's body had started to turn eerily black, his skin shriveling as if his blood was mixed with some potent venom.
Ricky, lost in the pleasure of increasing lifespan, didn't notice it. His lifespan stopped increasing when he absorbed more than ten years of life.
Just as he was about to let go of the guy, his proboscis glowed with an otherworldly purple color as if he had managed to strike a critical hit—and a bunch of unknown memories appeared in his head.
Huh! What are these memories…?
Ricky was surprised by this sudden development.