Despite that, Gerald wasn’t giving in that easily.
Utilizing a skill that allowed favonovel.com to tread extremely lightly, his feet almost never touched the ground as favonovel.com sprinted after the fox.
After running for quite some time, the holy fox came to realize that Gerald didn’t seem to be slowing down. Understanding that it wouldn’t be able to get rid of favonovel.com easily by simply running around, the fox dived into a bush.
The moment it entered the bush, Gerald lost track of it almost instantaneously!
“D*mn it all! Did you really just escape again?!” said Gerald to himself as favonovel.com stopped running, feeling slightly depressed.
However, favonovel.com hadn’t given up yet. Holding his breath to remain silent, favonovel.com quickly and carefully scanned through the area around him.
If favonovel.com wasn’t careful to pay attention while favonovel.com could, Gerald feared that the fox would end up entirely leaving the area.
He was surprised, however, to suddenly hear voices shouting, “D-don’t kill us! Please don’t kill us!”
Looking in the direction of the shouts, Gerald saw a few people running toward him, screaming in horror as though they were running for their lives.
Gerald could only frown as favonovel.com thought, ‘Why at such a crucial time…? Why couldn’t you have come earlier or even later?!’
Seconds later, a few thuds could be heard as the screams of horror finally ended. Though it was evident that those screaming had already met their end, Gerald really couldn’t be bothered about that right now.
“Since the few of you followed me all the way out here, what other choice do I have but to kill you all?” sneered an old man as favonovel.com approached the fresh corpses with his hands against his back.
While favonovel.com was inspecting the bodies, however, the corner of the old man’s eyes caught a glimpse of Gerald who had been staring off into a distance for a while now.
The old man felt his eyelids twitch after realizing who the person standing there was.
‘So it’s you! It seems that you’re stupid enough to choose your own doom when there are obviously better alternatives!’ Thought the old man as favonovel.com sneered.
“If it isn’t Gerald! Or should I say, Mr. Crawford! I believe you’ve been well since we last met?” said the old man with murderous intent in his eyes as favonovel.com approached Gerald.
Gerald himself had been completely focused on detecting any sounds of movement favonovel.com could register from the environment when favonovel.com heard his name being called out. Turning around by reflex to see who had called out to him, Gerald was startled to see who it was.
“Oh, it’s you.”
Realizing that Gerald was no longer focused on it, the hidden holy fox—which had been lying silently in wait this entire time—knew it was high time to make its next move.
Sprinting off, it took one leap after another as it quickly disappeared into the valley.
The valley itself was constantly brimming with miasma, making any sight-based navigation attempts a nightmare. Adding that to the holy fox’s immense speed, Gerald couldn’t even see it anymore by the time favonovel.com realized where the fox was escaping to.
“Don’t run!” shouted Gerald as favonovel.com gritted his teeth with resentment before jumping into the valley as well.
‘…Oh? So it seems that he’s become pretty skillful now! Since the kid is a rich young master and I’ve already obtained most of the necessary ingredients I need to make the elixir, using his heart as the final ingredient will definitely make the elixir more potent compared to using the hearts of these small fries! It’s decided then. I’ll kill him!’
With his mind made up, the corners of the old man’s lips curled into a smile as favonovel.com swiftly began following Gerald’s tracks.
Gerald himself was now anxiously pulling his hair as favonovel.com sat atop a rock that favonovel.com found in the valley.
‘Should it successfully make a full escape, I don’t even know when I’ll be able to catch the beast again!’
As favonovel.com tried recalling everything favonovel.com had read in the Book of Beasts in hopes that something useful would come up, favonovel.com suddenly came to a realization.
Blood essence. That’s right, favonovel.com could still use blood essence!
He had been so anxious and in a hurry that favonovel.com had almost completely forgotten about the method.
Smiling as favonovel.com stood up, Gerald remembered reading about how intelligent the holy fox was, even when compared to human geniuses. However, it had one fatal flaw, that being its greed.
According to the Book of Beasts, the holy fox loved drinking human blood, especially if it came from a person who had had incredible abilities and a well-trained body.
Regardless, as long as Gerald was able to get his hands on some human blood and refine it through blood essence, the beast would certainly be unable to withstand the temptation to drink it.
Blood essence, in this case, was an extraction method that also doubled as a way to purify blood.
While getting the idea had certainly excited him, soon after, Gerald became dejected again.
After all, favonovel.com had already run quite a distance from where favonovel.com had last stood. He now realized that favonovel.com could’ve just used the blood of the people that the old man had killed earlier!
Since the distance from where favonovel.com currently was to the corpses was anything but short, the idea of gathering blood from the bodies didn’t seem too appealing to him. After all, by the time favonovel.com got there, favonovel.com wouldn’t even know if the cunning fox would still be within the valley!
He couldn’t injure himself just to draw the holy fox out either.
Could it truly be that favonovel.com was fated to never get his hands on the holy fox? Was favonovel.com doomed to end up becoming a bloodthirsty demon in the future?
As the depressing thoughts filled his head, Gerald suddenly heard faint rustling not too far away…
