CH50

"You're pretty fast!" Luen sneered.

"What's going on here? Is this your doing?"

Helag shrugged. "It's got nothing to do with me. I'm trying to figure out how to get out too."

"It's Moonlight Woodland's doing. It must be his fault!" the other two recognized Helag's robe from Moonlight Woodland.

Luen glanced at Helag. "It can't be him. He's just a first-class apprentice. There's no way he could use such advanced spatial magic. It's this place that's strange."

Then he changed his tone, "But since that's the case, there's no point in keeping him alive. Kill him."

Sensing danger, Helag turned and ran. The two followers cast spells, but his three thick shields blocked them.

"How does he have so many shields?" The two were stunned, watching Helag run away but not daring to chase him.

Helag stopped after running a bit, hiding in the side of the forest to observe.

He didn't dare run further; whatever was chasing Luen and his men was likely more terrifying.

Luen, annoyed by his followers' hesitation, urged them again, "Kill him first!"

Reluctantly, the two chased after Helag, spells ready.

Suddenly, they shivered involuntarily.

Helag felt a chilling fear creeping up from behind, a terror that seeped into his bones.

He turned to see a figure crawling on the ground in a twisted position, limbs contorted.

The figure appeared to be crawling, but its head was twisted 360 degrees as if its neck had been wrung.

"Shivara…" The term popped into Helag's mind, having heard Luen and his men mention it.

"Deep Blue, search for information on Shivara."

[Shivara, a demonic creature from the Abyssal Plane, extremely dangerous,] Deep Blue found a brief entry in its database, just one sentence with no further details.

Helag remembered reading about this creature in a book, noting that it was mostly a legend, with few having seen it.

"How is such a thing in Moonlight Forest?" Helag was baffled.

He wanted to run, but his muscles were stiff, and his magic flow was sluggish. He couldn't move, only watch as Shivara crawled closer.

Shivara's long black hair dragged on the ground like countless tentacles.

"Deep Blue, make me move!" Helag screamed internally.

[Stimulating relevant muscle tissues…]

Helag felt a tingling sensation in his muscles and joints, like being electrocuted.

After a moment, he regained the ability to move.

Without hesitation, Helag turned and ran into the forest.

Shivara continued to crawl slowly, seemingly indifferent to Helag's escape.

Luen and his men were still paralyzed, unable to move, watching Helag run away and Shivara approach with despair in their eyes.

Shivara stopped in front of them, its hair continuing to crawl forward, slipping into their pant legs.

The terror on Luen and his men's faces was palpable. They opened their mouths to scream but couldn't make a sound.

Black hair emerged from their noses, ears, mouths, and eyes, coated in blood and flesh.

Through their skin, hair could be seen rapidly moving beneath, their bodies deflating as if hollowed out.

The sound of chewing echoed in the silent Moonlight Forest, a noise that made Helag's scalp tingle.

He hadn't escaped far, or rather, he couldn't escape far.

All around were unreachable edges, trapping him.

Through Deep Blue's detection, Helag watched as Luen and his men were slowly consumed, leaving only their skins, not even bones remaining.

After finishing, Shivara's hair retracted, leaving three thin skins behind.

Shivara then turned and crawled towards Helag.

An overwhelming malice enveloped Helag, paralyzing him again. This time, no matter how Deep Blue stimulated his muscles, he couldn't regain control of his body, only watch as Shivara approached.

"Deep Blue, control my magic to activate the pocket watch and use Holy Healing!" Helag couldn't control his magic flow.

[Executing…]

Deep Blue channeled magic into the pocket watch, summoning a woman's phantom that enveloped Helag in white light.

Helag felt warmth spread through his body, dispelling some of the malice, but he still couldn't move.

Shivara paused briefly, its hair stopping, but only for a moment.

It continued crawling forward, unaffected by the Holy Healing, which only made Helag feel less cold.

Gritting his teeth, Helag's mind raced, trying to think of a way to escape.

Ribbit! Ribbit! Ribbit!

Suddenly, the sound of a frog echoed, and Shivara stopped.

Not far from Helag, a basketball-sized toad appeared, croaking at him.

Helag felt the paralysis ease slightly, allowing him to turn his head and see the strange toad.

His fingers felt warm, and he looked down to see Lilian's space ring heating up.

"What's in there?" Helag used magic to probe the ring, finding an almost forgotten item glowing inside.

"This is…"

He remembered the hexagonal wooden plate he and Lilian had bought while wandering around Colombo Island.

The plate, engraved with a hexagonal tower, was now glowing a pale yellow and seemed to want to escape the ring.

After buying it, Helag had studied it for a while but found nothing unusual and had left it in the space ring, almost forgetting about it.

Now, with the plate showing strange activity, Helag quickly took it out.

The yellow glow intensified, and the toad croaked more excitedly.

Shivara slowly turned its head, its white eyes focusing on the wooden plate.