Chapter 38: Petrified

The real world is not a video game.

There are no cinematic cutscenes before a boss appears, nor are there grand, expansive arenas or soaring, dramatic background music to foreshadow the grueling battle ahead.

The onset of combat, like its conclusion, is abrupt and fleeting.

More often than not, it is like the rabbit beneath a falcon’s talons or the insect in the mouth of a tree frog. Faced with a superior predator in the wild, an adventurer may not even realize the danger they are in before they have already become a corpse.

First, it was Larry, who was closest.

Wearing tight-fitting armor, sweat still trickling down his face, he was half-turned, showing the exquisite statue he had discovered to Doris behind him.

But then, the sudden loss of sensation starting from his back, coupled with the look of terror in the blonde girl’s eyes, made him realize something was terribly wrong.

There was no time to turn around.

Instinctively, Larry reached out as far as he could, as if trying to summon all his strength to push Doris out of harm's way.

Unexpectedly, faced with Larry’s actions, this slender blonde girl—who seemed fragile enough to be blown away by a gust of wind—displayed a courage entirely unlike anything she had shown before.

Instead of turning to flee, she took a step forward, her face pale yet resolute, and gripped Larry’s hands tightly with her own.

Her body leaned back sharply, her delicate arms trembling as she exerted force, trying to pull him away from the danger.

The two, who had been at odds since the start of the mission, finally understood their relationship in the face of this life-or-death crisis.

But that was as far as it went.

No matter how profound or moving a love may be, in the face of such monstrous, otherworldly power, it would eventually drift away like ash in the wind.

A lifeless, pale gray began to spread from Larry’s back at a speed visible to the naked eye, consuming vitality and color alike.

Spine, chest, abdomen, arms...

It took only the time of a single breath.

Larry and Doris remained in their pose of pulling at one another; one could still clearly see the stray lock of hair fluttering by the girl’s cheek and the bulging veins on Larry’s neck.

Yet, the two were now like the reptilian statues on the ground—two silent, motionless, pale stone effigies.

Next were the half-elf Haian and his guard, Wood.

Even at a distance, they could not escape the encroachment of that unknown force.

Almost at the same moment the cry of "Warning!" rang out, a sound like a fragile object shattering erupted from the half-elf.

Immediately, a vibrant, emerald-green light, as fresh as a sprout after the rain, burst from Haian’s waist, instantly enveloping his entire body.

The air in front of him twisted and distorted, as if an invisible force had been blocked by the green light radiating from the half-elf.

It lasted only an instant.

A look of bewilderment still lingered on Haian’s face. It was not until the next second that he realized they had been attacked and that the magical item he carried for protection had been consumed.

Wood was the only professional in the entire party.

Even if he wasn't particularly outstanding, nowhere near the boundary known as "transcendent," the high agility granted by his "Rogue" class still allowed him to react immediately.

His figure blurred in an instant, and the dark shadow beneath him trailed with his footsteps.

He did not dodge, nor did he block.

Instead, he gathered all his focus and attention in a split second. Like an ascetic monk facing the incoming tide on a shoreline, he gritted his teeth, his body tensed, bracing against the invisible force surging through the air like a tidal wave.

*Hum—*

His body went rigid, then suddenly relaxed.

The superior physical constitution of a professional allowed him to forcibly endure the erosion of this invisible power.

There was no time for relief.

The usually calm and collected rogue displayed an incredibly disheveled state. He turned abruptly and lunged toward the half-elf he was protecting.

"Run!"

Finally, there was Xia Nan, positioned on the other side of the courtyard.

Having already decided to head back and explore these ruins another time, he had no interest in bringing back souvenirs. He hadn't been moved by Larry’s excited shouts and had thus trailed behind the group.

Because of this, he witnessed almost everything that happened on the field.

But just like the ripples caused by a dewdrop hitting the surface of a pond, or the subtle arc traced by the wings of a bird, those scenes—which seemed so clear and detailed to the eye—were in truth the most hurried moments in time.

Xia Nan felt he had done the absolute best he could.

When Larry turned back, he stopped his approach.

When Wood stood alert, he instinctively reached back to grab his sword hilt.

When the green light flashed on Haian, he drew his iron-gray decapitation sword from his back.

And when the rogue’s cry of "Run!" reached his ears, was processed by his brain into intelligible information, issued as a command, transmitted through his nerves, and finally translated into the muscles moving his bones to take that first step, that invisible force—which seemed to have filled the air like mist—reached him as well.

*Boom—*

It was as if the world had been muted. The vibrant, bright colors before his eyes began to fade.

It is difficult to describe in words what Xia Nan felt at that moment.

It was like winter swimming in temperatures below minus twenty degrees.

First, there was the sudden chill and stinging pain on the surface of his skin, as if the icy cold of the river wanted to seep through his pores into his muscles and bones.

Then came the numbness; the sensation in the areas eroded by the cold seemed to freeze and gradually vanish.

Immediately following, his body, sensing the crisis, instinctively constricted his blood vessels. The resulting acceleration of blood circulation sent surges of warmth through his entire body, resisting the external intrusion.

The two precious attribute points granted by his "Mastery" level [Whirlwind Slash], combined with the resilient willpower honed over two lifetimes, formed a rampart of "body" and "mind" that blocked the petrifying force from eroding further into his core.

It allowed him to pass the life-or-death test.

His consciousness wavered for a moment, and then the colors flooded back into his vision.

His fingertips, his knees, and even the tips of his leather boots were already covered in a layer of pale, dead gray.

In his line of sight, Haian was being hauled by Wood as they sprinted toward the dense forest outside the courtyard.

The half-elf’s face was filled with panic, his bloodless lips parting as he shouted two words at Xia Nan:

"Run fast!"

Only then did the culprit, which had brought the entire party to the brink of annihilation in the span of a single breath, drag its bloated, massive body out from the misty forest behind the courtyard, moving with the leisurely, relaxed pace unique to a predator.