Chapter 40: Startling Encounter
Chapter 40: Startling Encounter
“Ha! This is just bad luck.”
He muttered under his breath but couldn’t help coughing twice.
It seemed his lung was injured, and maybe his ribs were broken too.
He had no experience in this area and couldn’t figure out the exact details.
Fortunately, his Constitution of 4.5 was strong enough, so he could still move normally even in this state.
Huh! The backpack seemed to have fallen on the ground.
He turned around and only then noticed the backpack was not far away. Luckily… the items were intact. This branded hiking backpack was indeed sturdy and durable—even after all that rough handling, it was fine.
Just as Fang Jing turned around and reached to pick up the backpack, something suddenly wrapped around his right ankle, causing him to fall flat on the ground, his face hitting a rock.
He struggled to get up and, looking down, saw white tentacle-like things wrapped around his foot. These clearly came from that pale, bloated mass of flesh.
“Damn it! Could this thing still be alive?!”
Fang Jing realized he had been careless this time. As a standard monster, the Eight-Legged Freak was indeed not so easy to kill.
In an instant, he was dragged along the ground. The Eight-Legged Freak had split off a tentacle from its limb, tightly wrapping it around his ankle.
Fang Jing quickly straightened his back, trying to pull the tentacles apart, and at that moment, danger struck again.
Whoosh!
A long, thin, bluish tongue shot out from its split jaw. The tip of the tongue, as sharp as a steel needle, flew straight toward his throat.
At that critical, life-or-death moment, Fang Jing frantically felt around on the ground with one hand, grabbed something hard, and held it right in front of him.
—It was that white wooden box.
The thing he had grabbed randomly was the wooden box that had fallen out of the backpack.
The whip-like tongue spat by the Eight-Legged Freak struck the box. The impact was so fierce that Fang Jing’s thumb web split open from the force. At the same time, a strange sound came from the box, forming a sort of syllable.
A syllable, but not quite… What kind of sound was that, anyway?
Later, he couldn’t help but recall it… He always thought it sounded like some kind of metal instrument or the noise made by a mechanical device.
Ding!
A clear, crisp sound.
The next second, an abnormal fluctuation spread out in all directions, centered around Fang Jing’s location, like a sudden, powerful gust of wind.
Only, this “wind” was an intangible, undulating wave.
Fang Jing could feel this wave, but it was clearly invisible to the human eye. Yet, at that moment, both Fang Jing and the Eight-Legged Freak on the other side could distinctly sense it.
Unlike Fang Jing’s bewilderment, the Eight-Legged Freak clearly showed panic. It desperately moved its eight legs, forcefully broke free from the broken trunk, and quickly scurried backward to escape.
“This… this thing isn’t badly injured at all. Could it have been pretending earlier?!”
Fang Jing was shocked and horrified. He had thought the Eight-Legged Freak was on the verge of death, unable to move. But now, it swiftly crawled into the mountain forest like it was wound up, quickly crashing through that invisible film and, in the blink of an eye, disappeared into the woods.
“What is it about Mount Sagiri…?”
He clicked his tongue. He could finally confirm that Mount Sagiri was indeed shrouded by a mysterious force, like a barrier in novels or anime, forming a seal that separated the inside from the outside.
The depths of Sagirimiyama seemed like an alternate realm, filled with strange phenomena that were unclear in origin and impossible to explain. But now, he had left the mountain, escaping that terrifying area.
He let out a sigh of relief and looked at the white box in his hand, still unsure of its origins.
“Forget about that for now. Staying alive is good enough. I’ll head down the mountain first!”
He pushed himself up using a thick tree trunk nearby, stood up, and leaned against the large tree.
Rustle, rustle!
It sounded as if a strong wind had swept through the sea of trees. The trees shook violently, and large patches of leaves fell from the branches, swirling and dancing in the wind.
Beyond his sight, inside that “film” area of Sagirimiyama, the ground and mountain forest trembled faintly. Fang Jing gasped sharply.
Damn!
What was that?
A trace of uncertainty and alarm showed in his eyes. Behind the film, from atop trees about seven or eight meters tall, a huge, blurry, human-like black shadow stood upright.
“No… It can’t be?!”
It was at least ten meters tall, had a humanoid shape, walked upright, and was astonishingly huge.
An inexplicable aura spread out, and the entire mountain forest fell into a deathly silence. All insect chirps, bird calls, and animal sounds vanished, not daring to make the slightest noise.
The shadow was exceptionally tall, and it opened its pale golden eyes wide, staring in Fang Jing’s direction.
Fang Jing’s face turned pale and then green. On the other side of the “film,” the night was hazy, giving off a dreamy, illusive feeling. But for some reason— this enormous shadow felt extremely real. Fang Jing could see that it had no hair, its body densely covered with dark scales, and its entire form was enveloped in a faint, swirling mist.
For some reason, the shadow glanced around the area as if uninterested, then turned around. Its massive body pushed aside trees as it walked toward the ascending mountain forest.
For dozens of seconds, Fang Jing didn’t dare to breathe heavily, standing there as if petrified.
Crack!
He lifted his head, hearing a terrifying noise.
The mountain shook violently, tall trees rustled noisily, and obstructing tree trunks broke with fragile snapping sounds.
The shadow continued moving up the mountain. The nearby trees parted like water as it passed through.
Gradually… that huge shadow completely vanished into the deep mountain forest.
Fang Jing finally let out a sigh of relief. The only thing he felt grateful for was that he hadn’t encountered that thing while climbing the mountain.
————————
He made a very disheveled descent. When he reached the foot of the mountain, he happened to run into Engu Ko, who was just about to go up the mountain.
“How did you end up like this?”
“Don’t ask.”
Seeing Fang Jing’s miserable state, Engu Ko was very surprised. Without bothering to ask further questions, he immediately drove him to the city and found him a clinic.
After an examination, it turned out there were no serious injuries—just a sprained elbow. The doctor, with experienced judgment, concluded it was only a local ligament injury and said a massage would fix it. Instead, some superficial wounds were more troublesome. To prevent infection and such, he prescribed medicine and told him to buy it at a pharmacy.
Uncle Enshoen also hurriedly arrived at the clinic.
“Nishizuka, how did you get into this state?”
Seeing the medical tape on his face and bandages wrapped around his wrist and other areas, Enshoen couldn’t help but frown deeply.
“Did something troublesome happen?”
Fang Jing, afraid of causing trouble, only revealed part of what happened. He didn’t mention anything about the situation when he entered the Defiled Temple, simply saying that a group of young people had broken into the Defiled Temple, causing him to almost miss his chance. Later, these people disappeared on the mountain, and he couldn’t find them either…