Chapter 577: Chase

The Fire-eater was finally defeated. No matter how intense the flames around it were, no matter how hot its body was, the moment its heart was destroyed, death was inevitable. The explosion the Fire-eater caused right before its death led to the sea of flames to be even more intense.

Thankfully, the forest always had a very high humidity. Even if he left it like that, the flames would slowly die down. Xiao Lin, whose face was grey with ash, looked at the mess around him and was rendered speechless. He never expected the last attack of the Fire-eater to be so strong, so it was a good thing that his Absolute Defense lasted just long enough, and that his speed under Ruin was fast enough to avoid that lethal wave.

The steel tooth had already been destroyed from the high temperatures. Even though he did not just kill one Steel-tooth Tiger earlier, the other corpses were already destroyed in the sea of flames.

Over 80% of the Fire-eater’s body consisted of fire, so there was practically no corpse to be found, but the unsatisfied Xiao Lin still looked around nearby, and his eyes lit up when he noticed a pile of deep red crystals of varying sizes on the floor. The large ones were as big as his palm, and the smaller ones were only the size of fingernails. The crystals emitted a deep red glow and warmth and, by now, the intense heat from the explosion had already begun to cool down.

“These are mid-grade flame energy stones. No, with the coloration it might even be high-grade ones!” Xiao Lin exclaimed happily as he carefully picked up and kept all the crystals.

Energy stones were like ores back on Earth. They were found in various mines in the world, but natural energy stones usually had too many impurities, and could not be used immediately. They needed to be refined after the fact before they could be useful.

However, the crystals in front of him were different. As something that was mainly composed of fire, the Fire-eater’s explosion before it died had created a high heat with high pressure force, causing the flames around its core to complete a refinement process, which ended up in benefiting Xiao Lin.

The value of mid- and high-grade energy stones far exceeded low-grade energy stones that had not been refined yet. He might not be able to use them during this examination, but thinking about the regulations of the monthly examination, Xiao Lin would be able to get them as his spoils of war after the examination.

Leaving the sea of flames, Xiao Lin continued to move deeper into the forest. Compared to the initial few days, the forest seemed much more active than before. Even if he did not focus on his perception, he could still occasionally see various beasts running past him. In the dense foliage, he would also occasionally see some beasts flying past. Those beasts all had very very strong attack abilities, and would even fight among themselves occasionally.

He had just used up his Ruin state, and coupled with the 10% consumption of his energy after using Absolute Defense, his body was extremely weak at that point, which was why he constantly stopped and avoided all the beasts that were fighting. He would constantly have to take a longer path around them. No one knew what had happened to the beasts in the forest; they were not that active when the examinations started, but they all seemed to seem like they were going through puberty, unleashing all their pent up strength and energy.

The forest was very noisy; other than the cries of the beasts, he could somewhat make out the sound of humans from deep within. There were definitely other students nearby. The sporadic voices made it hard for him to determine their location, so Xiao Lin did not advance. Since he had no better way forward, he decided to temporarily rest where he was; he picked up some wild fruits to quell his hunger.

After over two hours, Xiao Lin’s strength had more or less returned. The natural recovery of his dragon’s blood meant that the flesh wounds he suffered earlier were now just some scars that did not affect much. The voices in the distance had disappeared as well. He did not know what the result of the battle was, so Xiao Lin decided to go take a look.

After activating Miracle, he used his high agility alongside his Phantom Steps. Xiao Lin became just like a cunning fox, easily moving through the forest as he wished. After half an hour, he arrived at the spot where he suspected they were earlier.

There were obvious traces of battle; the trees nearby had been cut down, and the part that was cut was abnormally smooth. Not far away, there was a pile of leaves that had been burnt to ash that were still emitting a black smoke. The beast corpses that were littered around had large traces of blood, and following the blood, there were more and more bodies. Other than beasts, there were even other animals.

Xiao Lin immediately furrowed his eyebrows. Those men were all donned in full armor and even had swords, but the rules of the examination had prohibited any equipment. Furthermore, they would not leave any bodies behind after death. They would merely return to the academy after disappearing.

It was not their own people!

Xiao Lin made the judgement quickly, and hesitated to move forward, but at his moment of hesitation, someone saw him.

“Please, help me!” It was a woman who shouted at him, and she spoke in Normese. She had on thin red leather armor, and in her hand was a shortbow.

Not even a few meters away, there was a five or six meter Arachne. That monster had the lower body of a spider, but its upper body was a massive humanoid figure. It was a very ugly beast, and its long black hair emitted a disgusting stench.

The Arachne’s speed did not decrease from its size, and it was rushing toward the woman, and it coincidentally ran past Xiao Lin. Black blood was flowing from the woman’s leg, and it seemed she was too injured to avoid anything. Her weapon was a bow, but with such a close distance, it was hard for her to use the advantages of an archer.

Under his Miracle state, Xiao Lin’s speed was enough to avoid the spider, indicating that he would not help. If the one attacked was a classmate from Class Seven, he would naturally have extended a helping hand, but since it was a native, Xiao Lin had too many misgivings on the notion. He obviously remembered being tricked by the Normese merchants during the third examination.

As colonists, they and the natives were natural enemies; that was a truth that could not be changed. After experiencing a whole semester, Xiao Lin had that realization. Before he could identify the other party, the best attitude was to avoid anything.

Looking at Xiao Lin having no intention of helping, that woman got even more anxious, and she shouted, “One hundred low-grade energy stones and thirty mid-grade energy stones as a reward!”

That woman looked to be bad at melee combat. Coupled with her injury to her leg, her movements were even less nimble. The Arachne’s black leg had kicked the woman on the floor; the next attack would cost the woman her life.

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