Chapter 161 Into The Phoenix Chamber Part 41

When Yul saw Hajime fall into the pond, Yul quickly killed the dead man in front of him and dived into the pond. As soon as he fell into the water, many dead men followed him into the pond. As he began to move toward the bottom of the pond, he began to chop off the dead men's head. When the blood begins to spill and the clear water turns bright red, Yul struggles to see and searches for Hajime. He continued to dive deeper because he knew he could hold his breath underwater for a long time. As he prepared to turn left, he spotted the black panther a few feet away from him. He immediately knew that Hajime must be nearby, so he started swimming towards the black panther, hoping to find Hajime. 

On land, Abrafo, Meng, and Shik are fighting Onon, while Michio sits on a tree branch and begins drawing the four Fairy Ring Circles with his blood on the four pieces of cloth he tore from his hem. The three men continue to fight Onon, drawing Onon's attention to them instead of Michio. 

"Monk," Meng yelled and was knocked to the ground by Onon. "Better hurry up...we don't think we can hold him off much longer." 

After Onon launched multiple powerful attacks hoping to kill the three men, he could no longer maintain his human form. Onon has returned to his original state, but he continues to charge at the three men aggressively. 

After fighting with Onon for some time, Abrafo discovered that Onon had not turned into a human form. He was still a big ox and continued to charge towards them crazily. Abrafo thinks to himself that when Onon is resurrected, he might lose some of his abilities, and losing those abilities was good for the team because Onon can no longer transform himself into human form. He knew that if Onon took human form, it would be harder for them to defend Onon due to Onon's dual axes. 

"Michio! Hurry up!" Abrafo shouted. "We're running around these trees, playing hide-and-seek with this ox, which is a waste of time." 

Michio shouted from the tree branch, "Almost done. One more to go." 

Onon quickly swung his horn from side to side, causing Abrafo and Shik to dodge his attacks, and he headed straight for the tree where Michio was sitting. The force of Onon's attack shook the trees, causing Michio to nearly fall from the branch. Onon ran to the other side of the tree, away from Abrafo and Shik. He rushed towards the trunk again and hit it with all his strength. The tree broke in half, and the side Michio was sitting on slowly fell to the ground. Onon circled the tree again and charged towards it with all his might. 

As Onon sprinted toward the tree again, Michio jumped from the tree and quickly made way for Abrafo, Shik and Meng. He quickly handed over the other drawn symbols to the other three. The four people quickly lined up a few yards apart, waiting for Onon to charge at them. However, Onon seemed to have noticed that the four were preparing to seal him, so he stood in the distance, taunting the three of them with his eyes, and refused to charge forward. 

The men waited for a while, but Onon still did not rush towards them. "That bastard knew our plan," Abrafo said. 

Shik asked, "Are we going to change our plans?" 

Abrafo gritted his teeth and said, "No, since he didn't rush towards us, we will rush towards him." He looked at Shik and Meng. "You two follow closely and get ready. Michio!" 

Abrafo and Michio ran in front, with Shik and Meng following behind them. The four of them rushed towards Onon. When they were twenty feet away from Onon, Onon charged at them. Abrafo swung his sword forward, causing Onon to move himself to one side. Michio swung his spear forward and hit Onon in the jaw. 

"Now!" Abrafo shouted as Onon rushed past him and Michio. 

The four men threw the four drawn symbol cloths on the ground. Michio held his hand tightly and began to chant. Four magical walls quickly rose from the ground and Onon was unable to charge at Shik and Meng. Onon who was inside the Fairy Ring Circle rushed from left to right angrily, but he was already trapped in the Fairy Ring Circle. No matter how hard he tried to break through the magic walls, he could not escape. 

"We've attracted dead men, "Meng said, looking at three others who had stopped to celebrate their success. 

Abrafo said, "You two can continue." 

Shik asked, "What about you guys?" 

Abrafo said, "We will follow. Go...tell U-ri to to wait for us in Stone Valley." 

Shik and Meng started to run away. Meng turned around and shouted, "I'll take care of U-ri!" He waved to Michio and Abrafo, then disappeared into the woods with Shik. 

Michio said, "Let's go find Yul and Hajime and get out of here." 

At this time, Yul could no longer see the panther, and he knew that the panther's disappearance from sight meant that Hajime was in danger. Yul moved the many headless men in front of him as quickly as possible. He had been searching for a while but had not locate Hajime, and just when he thought Hajime might not be where he was looking, he found Hajime lying next to a large rock at the bottom of the pond. He quickly swam towards Hajime, grabbed Hajime's waist, and began to swim towards the surface of the pond. 

When Yul and Hajime surfaced, Yul swam to the edge of the pond and realized that the dead men who had fallen into the pond was not attacking them. He looked back at the pond and found that the dead men who had fallen into the pond had been drowned, and some bodies were still emerging from the water. 

"Over there!" Michio pointed at Yul and Hajime. "Let's get this done quickly before those dead men get to us." 

Abrafo and Michio rushed to the pond. "Come on," Abrafo rushed over, grabbed Hajime's arm, and pulled him out of the pond. 

Michio stretched out his hand and pulled Yul out. "Are you okay?" He asked. 

"I'm fine... Hajime," Yul said breathlessly. 

Abrafo said, "He is fine. What the heck is he holding?" Abrafo tried to pull the twenty-five-inch baton from Hajime's hand, but Hajime's grip was too tight. "Forget it, Hajime won't die, he will wake up soon." 

Michio said, "I'll carry him." He turned his back to Abrafo, who quickly helped Hajime onto Michio's back. Michio grabbed the back of Hajime's legs. "let's go." 

As the four Tanzanies walked about twenty feet to the right, Bong limped toward them. Bong fights the dead men chasing him and desperately makes his way to the entrance of the Phoenix Chamber. 

Michio looked at Abrafo and asked, "Are we going to help him?" 

Abrafo, still angry about the incident where Bong took U-ri hostage, sighed and said, "No, let's get out of here. U-ri is waiting for us, and we are one man down." 

Yul looked at Abrafo and asked, "Are you sure?" 

Abrafo nodded and said, "I'm sure." 

When they walked further, the second pond was in front of them, and only three dead men wandering around. They now understood that most of the dead in Scattered Forest had entered the Phoenix Chamber. 

Along the way, Abrafo saw many dead participants who were torn apart. From where he was, he could also hear Bong grunting from time to time. Abrafo thought to himself that the grunts he heard were from Bong trying to fight off the dead men attacking him. As he walked further and further away, Bong's purring seemed to gradually fade away. He kept thinking to himself, wondering why Bong was alone now. Should Lixin be with him? Make every effort to protect Bong? Bong is not just a prince, but also Lixin's best friend. Not only that, the reason why Bong participated in this competition is to help Lixin obtain the title of Phoenix General, so why was Bong left behind. He clearly saw Bong and Shi leaving with the others, but why was Bong alone fending for himself, did it mean that everyone else was dead, or did it mean that Bong got separated from the others and they refused to come back to look for him. 

Abrafo sighed, closed his eyes, and slowed down. The image of Bong's naked body suddenly appeared in Abrafo's mind. He saw his fingers caressing Bong's chest and hair. Just thinking about the way, he held Bong in his arms, he could feel the texture of Bong's skin on his fingertips. When he thought about the intimate scenes between him and Bong, his heart began to beat violently. He reminded himself again and again that he and Bong had a sworn hatred. But every time, he couldn't bring his heart and mind to believe that he had such hatred for Bong. The more he convinced himself that he hated Bong with an extreme passion, the more he thought of Bong's beauty and how good he felt when Bong was close to him. 

When Yul and Michio noticed that Abrafo was not following them. They stopped and turned. They found Abrafo standing in the middle of the dirt road, eyes closed and breathing heavily. 

"Abrafo...?" Yul asked. "What's wrong?" 

"Abrafo!" Michio asked. "Are you okay?" 

Hearing the voices of Yul and Michio, Abrafo suddenly open his eyes and came to realization that Bong was currently being chased by a large group of dead men. It was only a matter of time before Bong would look like the body parts of the participants he saw on the road. Abrafo suddenly closed his eyes again. "Ah! Fuck!" Frowning angrily, he turned and ran back down the dirt road to the first pond. 

Yul said, "Go on... we'll catch up." 

Michio watched as Yul and Abrafo rushed back into the woods. He held Hajime's legs with both hands and walked towards Scattered Forest.