Chapter 11: Python Devouring Humans

As night fell, Mistwood also began its "exhalation." The mist thickened from all directions, shrouding the already eerie forest in even denser darkness, casting a heavy black curtain over everything.

Even with the magical night lamps enhancing brightness, figures remained invisible beyond five paces. EeDeChi, originally intending to hunt small magical creatures to improve dinner, had to retreat to the camp.

Judging whether night had arrived in the originally dim forest seemed somewhat challenging, but nocturnal creatures in the forest had their stable biological clocks.

Some flickering yellow lights moved up and down in the distance; those were the nightlight feather bugs beginning their mating activities.

There were no more clear bird calls or fluttering wings overhead, only the large wings of blood-sucking bats occasionally gliding through the hazy light of the night lamps.

By now, Barrett had lit a bright and warm bonfire, adding dry branches chopped from dead trees into it. The fire crackled, and a new iron pot hung above, its bottom charred black, bubbling with stew. Inside the pot were some salted beef jerky, potato slices, pumpkin chunks, and a few onions.

Barrett also luxuriously cut some black cheese into small pieces and added them to the pot, thanks to EeDeChi's spatial ring providing ample warehouse space; food was currently not lacking.

Two sharpened pine branches were skewered nearby, roasting two plucked wild chickens. The roast chickens had been roasted to a golden brown under the licking flames and oyster sauce, emitting a tantalizing aroma. Tonight's stew and roast chicken were all taken care of by Barrett alone.

EeDeChi walked over, her stomach hungry but still with a reserved expression.

She folded her hands behind her back, bent over to sniff the hot air floating above the pot, nodded slightly in approval, and praised, "Not bad, the stew is well done. I didn't expect you to have such cooking skills. Although it's far from the dinner served by the Lord of Montell City, it's already good enough for you. Keep up the good work."

Barrett inwardly mocked, thinking it was already good to have hot meals while adventuring, and she wanted to compare it with the lord's house. But how did this guy get involved with the lord? And why did she speak with such a strange official tone?

The seasoned adventurer shook his head and didn't bother to think much. His stewing skills were indeed excellent, which was remarkable among adventurers who hunted and cooked for themselves. If he couldn't be an adventurer in the future, he would consider becoming a chef.

The two of them enjoyed the food heartily, filled their stomachs, and then prepared to sleep in the somewhat damp and cold simple tree house.

Barrett extinguished the fire with the remaining soup, set up magic ornaments around the camp for alertness, installed several simple traps under the trees, and sprinkled a shallow layer of insect repellent powder in the tree house.

Before going to bed, he made an agreement with EeDeChi: "Don't wander around randomly at night; don't be attracted by strange sounds; if you need light, don't use night lamps or torches, use cold light fluorite; there may be small magical creatures nesting on the treetops, don't climb towards the treetops..."

Although much of this was common sense for adventurers, Barrett dared not be sure if this Orichalcum-level adventurer had such experience.

EeDeChi nodded in agreement, then sat upright in her tree house. Barrett didn't say much more, wrapped himself in a blanket, and fell asleep, sinking into dreams. Every elite adventurer could quickly fall asleep in a short time, which was a basic skill they maintained enough energy for in their tense exploration and battles.

The night grew deeper, and boundless darkness gradually filled the entire world. EeDeChi sat in the treehouse, eyes wide open, not blinking, while his ears attentively listened to the familiar slumber of the forest, catching every faint breath it took amidst the night.

Bats flapped their wings flying between the branches, the ground made the rustling sound of small insects crawling, worms were burrowing through the humus layer underground, an unnamed bird woke up inexplicably at night, cooing twice before falling asleep again.

In the distance, two nocturnal creatures fought each other, and the brutal roar shattered the tranquility, causing the sleeping forest to turn over. One creature emerged victorious, the sound of it chewing on the defeated bones echoed, and the forest fell asleep again...

Meanwhile, Barrett was having a gentle dream.

In the dream, a blurry pink, a girl with wine-red hair walked towards him gracefully, wearing a light blue off-shoulder long dress swaying.

Who was this girl? Barrett seemed to have forgotten her name, only remembering that the wine-red-haired girl had once admired him. Later, Barrett felt that he could not give the girl the stable life she desired, so they parted ways.

The girl approached Barrett, slender fingers sweeping aside a strand of wine-red hair from her forehead. With both hands, she gently pulled down the straps on her shoulders, and the long skirt slowly slipped off, revealing her slender figure, her fair and full breasts trembling slightly, flawless and beautiful.

She gave a charming smile, stepping forward with her long left leg, moving towards Barrett, and then with her right leg, seeming to get even closer to Barrett.

With a crisp sound, a steel animal trap snapped shut on her right leg. The sharp steel teeth of the trap deeply embedded into her calf flesh, blood spattered.

An animal trap? Barrett woke up from his dream, grabbing his sword under the pillow and crawling out of the tree house. He looked down and saw EeDeChi holding a torch under the tree, looking at him embarrassedly, with a closed animal trap firmly clamped around her foot.

Barrett didn't expect that the traps he carefully set for the monsters would catch his employer first!

"I said, don't wander around at night, didn't I?" Barrett rubbed his tired eyes, saying helplessly.

Fortunately, EeDeChi had high resistance. The medium-sized animal trap that could snap a goat leg didn't even leave a mark on EeDeChi's foot, which reassured Barrett a lot.

"And," Barrett scolded from the tree house, "I also told you before, don't light fires at midnight; you should use magical cold light fluorite. The warmth of the torches may attract some dangerous creatures."

EeDeChi shrugged, pulling open the animal trap on her foot with one hand, while pointing with the other hand holding the torch towards the darkness, saying, "I heard fighting and cries for help in the distance and wanted to go check it out. Also, I believe that if leaders always follow the orders of their subordinates, then their superior-subordinate relationship is simply upside down."

After hearing this, Barrett was stunned. Mistwood in the dark night was as silent as a grave, and he didn't hear any fighting or cries for help. Of course, he believed that an Orichalcum-level adventurer's perception might be more acute and could hear sounds he couldn't perceive.

"Anyway," Barrett waved his hand urgently at EeDeChi, "quickly extinguish the torch to prevent any creatures from being attracted."

"It's too late, something is already coming this way," EeDeChi scratched her head. "

As if in response to her words, a rustling sound, from far to near, came in the boundless darkness, as if a colossal creature was rubbing against fallen leaves and tree trunks, sliding slowly on the ground.

Hearing this creeping sound, half of Barrett's blood went cold.

He took out a hand crossbow and a short arrow fixed with the First Tier magic "Realm of Clarity" from his spatial leather bag, then pulled the crossbow, and shot the short arrow in the direction of the sound.

The arrow, with the tail of scattered crystal shards, shimmered brightly, briefly tearing apart the mist in the boundless darkness.

A huge triangular snake head appeared in the dark night, its mouth slightly open, hissing with crimson forked tongue. Its snake body, black and white scales interwoven, was as thick as a cow, agilely wriggling with a body nearly twenty meters long, swiftly sliding towards them through the tree trunks.

A fully-grown Titan Python! Barrett felt like crying.

Along the way, relying on the experience he gained from years of life and death trials, he led EeDeChi through Mistwood, which had devoured countless adventurers, and finally managed to avoid Frost Wolves, Enchanted Giant Brown Bears, Ogre Ghost Vines... and now EeDeChi had attracted such a big guy!

If it weren't for EeDeChi being his employer, he would have jumped down the tree to give this rash guy a beating!

Of course, even if EeDeChi wasn't his employer, now wasn't the time to teach her a lesson. The urgent task was to escape quickly. A fully mature Titan Python would require at least five well-coordinated "Mithril-level" adventurers to team up to kill it. Now they were facing this python alone, it was like offering it a midnight snack!

"Sprinkle the ice amber powder I gave you on yourself, then run fast!" Barrett shouted to EeDeChi, while the girl was still looking curiously at the Titan Python, completely unaware of the terrifying monster she was facing.

Experienced Barrett climbed down the tree to pack up the cooking utensils in the camp, preparing to flee in the opposite direction.

The Titan Python seemed to sense that its prey wanted to escape, so it stretched out its snake neck and accelerated its sliding speed. In an instant, it broke through the dense forest, its huge mouth open wide, lunging towards EeDeChi.

Barrett had no time to worry about EeDeChi's fate, because this intelligent python chose to attack on two fronts, its thick snake tail breaking several tree trunks, and swinging towards him.

Barrett reacted extremely fast, taking out a steel-oak shield from his spatial leather bag and activating Martial Art: "Fortress of the Faith".

The snake tail hammered on the shield like a siege hammer, but Barrett, with the defensive Martial Art activated, resisted the blow even though his arm was slightly numb.

As the snake tail withdrew, Barrett peeked out from behind the shield, only to see the huge snake head, which should have bitten EeDeChi, rearing up high, smashing five pine trees, and even flipping half of its body.

Barrett looked at EeDeChi, who was holding a long and heavy sword with one hand on the ground, and instantly realized that this Titan Python, thicker than a water buffalo, had been knocked away by EeDeChi with a single sword strike.

"MY GOD," Barrett licked his slightly dry lips, dispelling the idea of ​​beating up EeDeChi. "Is an 'Orichalcum' level adventurer really this terrifying?"