Chapter 182: Hunting

South of the mountain, in the vast expanse of forests, a slight commotion came up.

A change occurred in the inner regions of the peaceful land where disturbance never happens, and various exotic plants thrived, all of a sudden, the trees started shaking.

The tiny trembles never went away and instead slowly got stronger. The air also violently shook as if the wind had gone to life, punishing everyone on its way.

The next moment, blurry shadows cast over the land, enveloping the entire area in a flurry shade of darkness.

Anyone who would see this would immediately know something was wrong, as this should never happen, especially in this region.

The fluttering shadows only gave off a sense of terror that no one could imagine. Even dark clouds would not be able to give such an effect.

It was truly a weird sight, and it was only getting worse. If one were to follow the entirely of the shadows, they would quickly notice that it was never-ending.

The shadows encompassed a large area moving towards the south, down to the outskirts of the mountain.

If it were only this, then some people would still be able to take it as what is a few moments of darkness? It wasn’t going to hurt anyone.

However, once they take one moment to turn their heads up, it was guaranteed that no one could stay still watching such a sight.

Bats filled the entire space up in the air, leaving nothing else to be seen. Even the breathtaking scenery of aged trees reaching high up was occupied by the menacing creatures, dirtying their formerly beautiful image.

White Eye was putting everything he had to chase after those three Awakeneds that he left before. Their initial plan was for him to restrain and distract them long enough for Smiling Death to sneak up from behind.

Many things had gone wrong with this plan. First off, White Eye didn’t expect that he won’t be able to retrain them successfully.

The Awakened who could release a potent sleeping smoke was especially troublesome, preventing him from controlling his bats to close the distance.

The sword user was also equally annoying. Though it was useless, that Awakened still never stopped killing some of his bats. His fast sword attacks managed to create some space between him and his bats, which left him helpless. Repeating the same tactic over and over only proved to be futile, his bats only kept dying under the swift yet deadly sword.

This was the reason why White Eye decided to offer assistance to Smiling Death right away, even knowing that all three of them would only take the chance to flee.

White Eye knew that to take all of them down successfully, he would need Smiling Death to assist him and catch them unguarded.

Although White Eye already understood the three Awakened’s skills, erecting a barrier, releasing a sleeping mist, and the last one being an expert in swords, White Eye could still say that the battle would inevitably lean towards them being victorious.

Now, what’s left for them was to find those three Awakeneds somewhere around this forest. Considering the time they took to move up to here, they should be nearing their location.

If not for the advantageous terrain, White Eye would not be confident about pursuing them. Even though his speed could not be said to be fast, it wasn’t slow either.

And being in this forest where long vines and dangerous lands were plentiful, traveling through it would only slow down the speed of running rather than boost it.

Knowing this, White Eye made use of his ability to transform into bats so that he could go through this forest without anything stopping him.

This was also why White was also confident in his pursuit of those three Awakeneds. Though there was also the fact that without his skill, his speed would be pitifully slow.

His human body has nothing to contribute to their current plan. One could say that it would only hold them back as his original body didn’t see a lot of changes when he became an Awakened.

White Eye gets tired quickly; his strength was incomparable to average Awakeneds. Based on his body’s power level, it only ranks among the lower side of Rank 1 Awakeneds, only slightly better than the physical body of untrained Elemental Skill users.

…

Smiling Death was also on the move only a distance away from White Eye.

His speed was obviously much faster than White Eye’s. This was the change he got from being an Awakened.

Smiling Death didn’t have fancy skills like the others, nor does he had any attack skills, so it was compensated in some other ways. In his case, his speed improved significantly, being slightly better than other Rank 1’s.

His enhanced agility was also one of the reasons why he has never been defeated. It constantly plays a massive role in his overall fighting capability.

Even now, Smiling Death was still making use of it to smoothly speed through the shrubs, trees, and boulders blocking his way.

Another thing was he was extremely familiar with the terrains around this region since he had been here to evade attention and prevent people from catching him after a fun time in the cities.

Not long in their pursuit, Smiling Death had discovered movements in the faraway rocky areas.

“This should be them.”

Smiling Death had only heard of who they were after. For him, it doesn’t matter who they are. As long as there is someone that would give him enjoyment and make his time worthwhile, then he was fine with anyone.

Looking intently on the three little dots carefully climbing down the rocky lands, Smiling Death could already imagine how it will all go.

As they got closer, his movements became more and more excited. His eyes never left those three as if he was a predator stalking his prey.

When Smiling Death reached the edge of the forest, his steps halted. This was the furthest he could go. A few more steps and he would have been exposed since there was only dirt and rocks filling his vision.

Throughout all this, piercing noises surrounded him. His benevolent smile never went away as he looked back. If one were to look at him, they would see a kind, harmless person. Never will they know about the frightening person behind it.

Gradually, the forest became covered with silence. To surprise them, White Eye commanded the bats to fly out the woods, at the same time, cry out as loud as they can.

The three Awakeneds simultaneously turned towards the cries only to see the sky covered with bats moving quickly to their location. Their faces suddenly paled in fright as they hurried down the mountain.

Their meeting location wasn’t far from their current spot, and it was the only answer they could think of to get out of this safely. Chief Li should have something in mind for them to get out of this unpleasant situation.

When Smiling Death saw this, he couldn’t hold himself back from stepping out of the forest and join the fray.

Just before Smiling Death was able to make his move, small patches of grass behind him instantly flattened one after another.