Sniffing the pungent stench in the air that nearly seemed capable of blowing off his skullcap, Richard frowned deeply. On one hand, he was puzzled by what had happened here; on the other, he had failed to find any sign of Long Mei Er.
Had he really arrived too late again?
As Richard was thinking, he suddenly heard the sound of something cutting through the air to his left, as if an enemy were attacking. His muscles tensed, golden light flashed over his entire body, and he prepared to strike.
But the next moment, after turning his head and seeing the enemy clearly, he stopped moving.
In one corner of the square, a monster resembling a hairless large dog pounced out. But halfway through its leap, it convulsed and fell to the ground on its own.
Looking closely, Richard could see that it was clearly grievously injured. Its body had originally been covered in scales, but most of them had been corroded away by grass-green acid, leaving only a small portion behind. The acid had also eaten away more than a fifth of its muscles and nearly half its head, which was why it looked somewhat like a hairless large dog.
It had clearly meant to hunt him just now, but its injuries had flared up midway, causing it to fail.
In truth, given its condition, another half hour would see the acid on its body corrode it into a skeleton, and another half hour after that, not even the bones would remain—the creature was still alive, but it was little different from being dead.
However, it lacked that awareness. Struggling to its feet, it looked over again with bloodshot eyes. Mana fluctuations emanated from within it as it assumed an attacking stance.
Richard raised an eyebrow slightly, his gaze