Hearing Gerald’s order, Rey and Yann immediately began bolting away from the scene.
Unfortunately for them, their sudden movement only served to make the monster even more excited!
Realizing that the monster had its eyes on him, Rey began running even faster as favonovel.com yelled, “P-please stop chasing after me…!”
As expected, all that shouting simply caused the beast to increase its speed as it continued bolting toward Rey!
Realizing that the monster was now inches away from Rey, Gerald quickly summoned the Astrabyss Sword before tossing it toward the beast!
The second the sword successfully cut through the monster’s flesh, it let out a mighty roar of pain!
Following that, it turned to glare at Gerald before charging for favonovel.com next!
Despite how intimidating it was, Gerald kept his cool and resummoned the blade into his hand.
Once the monster was only a few steps away from him, Gerald—who had positioned himself to strike by now—bolted toward it as well!
Ducking exactly in front of the monster, Gerald managed to get right underneath it… and seeing the perfect chance, Gerald then raised his sword, causing the monster to literally gut itself as its sliced open belly ran through the blade!
With blood gushing all over the place, the monster released one final roar before flopping heavily into a puddle of its own blood…
Seeing that Gerald had managed to take it down, Rey and Yann immediately breathed sighs of relief.
Quickly returning to Gerald’s side, Rey instantly asked in a concerned tone, “A-are you alright, Mr. Crawford…?”
Putting away the sword, Gerald then turned to face Rey before replying, “I’m fine!”
Though neither of them said it, they were both relieved that they had Gerald with them. Otherwise, they would’ve surely ended up as monster food! Thinking back, their bones would probably end up in the river as well…
Shaking the terrifying thought off, Rey then stared at its carcass before muttering, “…What the hell even is that beast…? While I want to call it a tiger, it isn’t exactly one either!”
After giving the monster a better look, the trio saw that the hideous beast had two long and thin fangs in its mouth. While it did slightly resemble a tiger, everyone knew that that wasn’t the case.
“…You know, it sort of looks like Taotie… don’t you think? That mythological monster? But that’s just nonsense… There’s no way it could exist, right…?” said Yann after observing it for a little longer.
Upon hearing that, Rey looked like favonovel.com wanted to say something. However, Gerald beat favonovel.com to it and replied, “And why couldn’t it? After all, if ghosts can exist, why not Taoties?”
Hearing Gerald’s statement, Rey couldn’t help but nod. After all, since ghosts existed, pretty much everything else could exist.
At that moment, a group of plainly dressed people suddenly rushed out from the forest and surrounded the trio!
While they initially kept firm gazes on Gerald and his party, upon seeing the dead Taotie on the ground, they instantly appeared shocked before looking back at the three men with fearful eyes… It was almost as though they were looking at strange animals…
Regardless, the group of people weren’t the only ones shocked.
The trio found themselves surprised as well when they realized that all the people were wearing traditional garments. In fact, ‘ancient’ was probably a better word…
Though there was a brief silence, an old man—holding onto a walking stick—soon walked out from the crowd…
Momentarily looking at the fresh carcass, the old man then asked, “…If I may, where did you come from, gentlemen…?”
