Whoosh! Whoosh!
Deep in the dense forest, several miles from Su Changge.
Several figures raced past. At their head was a beautiful young girl of fifteen or sixteen, followed by four Soul Masters in their twenties or thirties.
All five looked terrified, glancing back from time to time.
Hiss!!!
As the trees behind them continued to topple, a giant red-gold python thrust its enormous body into view, its scarlet eyes fixed intently on the five.
"Damn it, that beast has got its sights set on us. It won't stop until it kills us."
The young Soul Master bringing up the rear trembled all over. Even though the python was still two or three hundred meters away, he could clearly smell its bloodthirsty, savage stench.
Faced with a giant python over thirty meters long, he had no chance of surviving if it caught up. His cultivation as a Soul Grandmaster wouldn't save him.
The girl at the front was pale, but she still managed to hold on to a shred of reason amid her panic.
"Don't stop. Anyone with a perception Soul Skill, use it at full strength to search for nearby Soul Beasts."
"If we want to survive, our only hope is that there's a Soul Beast in this forest as strong as the python behind us."
The chase led them straight into the Titan Giant Ape's territory.
Perched atop a tree, Su Changge saw the five girls and men and brightened. At last, some cannon fodder had arrived.
But before he could think further, he spotted the thirty-meter Red Gold Fire Python.
Su Changge's face turned green. He couldn't help cursing aloud. "A Red Gold Fire Python! For fuck's sake, why don't you idiots just go die?"
A three-thousand-year-old Titan Giant Ape had nearly scared his heart to a stop, and now here came another Red Gold Fire Python that was several thousand years old.
The shock waves from just these two Soul Beasts would be enough to kill him.
"Miss, up ahead... That's a Titan Giant Ape! We're saved! We're saved!"
Beside the girl, a young Soul Master spotted the Titan Giant Ape's enormous frame. His face lit up, and he couldn't help roaring, wildly venting the emotions he'd kept bottled up for so long.
Before he could even recover, the Titan Giant Ape leaped a hundred meters into the air and crashed down, stomping the young Soul Master to pieces and sending the girl and the other three Soul Masters flying.
Roar!!!
The Titan Giant Ape seemed not to notice the ants beneath its feet, now a smear of minced flesh. It let out a thunderous roar at the approaching Red Gold Fire Python.
The immense wave of sound swept the trees clear for dozens of meters around, creating a vacuum.
Powerful Soul Beasts usually claimed their own territories.
Soul Beasts of equal strength rarely fought to the death unless they were battling over territory.
Yet the Red Gold Fire Python seemed to be an exception.
"Those idiots didn't kill the Red Gold Fire Python's offspring, did they?"
In the distance, Su Changge calmed his churning blood and looked toward the girl and the others, sucking in a quiet breath.
Snakes and pythons were the most vengeful creatures of all.
If those idiots really had killed the Red Gold Fire Python's offspring, and it had happened to find them, then this would truly be a fight to the death.
While Su Changge's thoughts raced, the Red Gold Fire Python had already clashed with the Titan Giant Ape.
One thought the other had deliberately provoked it; the other thought its opponent was sheltering the murderer of its offspring.
Their thoughts weren't even on the same wavelength. The result... could only be a fight to the death!
Both the Titan Giant Ape and the Red Gold Fire Python embodied strength and savagery. Every collision between them unleashed terrifying shock waves.
Even from several hundred meters away, Su Changge could clearly feel the stinging wind batter his cheeks like knives.
The Titan Giant Ape and the Red Gold Fire Python fought with the most primal savagery.
The Titan Giant Ape had just smashed the Red Gold Fire Python's vicious head into the ground when the python's enormous body coiled around it.
As the python's coils tightened, everyone could hear the mournful creak of breaking bones.
Roar!! The Titan Giant Ape let out a thunderous roar. Its massive fangs pierced the Red Gold Fire Python's scales again and again, tearing away great chunks of flesh.
The pain forced the Red Gold Fire Python to release the Titan Giant Ape for the moment. It coiled around itself again and again, forming a small mountain and covering its wounds.
"Miss, stop watching! We have to get out of here, fast. If those two Soul Beasts stop fighting, we won't have a chance to escape!"
Beside the girl, the three young Soul Masters watched the Titan Giant Ape and the Red Gold Fire Python locked in a frenzied battle. Their calves trembled with fear.
Before these two powerful Soul Beasts, clearly more than a thousand or two thousand years old, they were nothing. Soul Grandmasters and Soul Elders like them didn't even qualify to get involved.
"Y-you'll have to carry me. My legs have gone weak. I can't walk."
Hiss!!!
The Red Gold Fire Python seemed to notice the four making their move. It knocked the Titan Giant Ape back with its head, then shot a hundred meters forward and raised its enormous tail before smashing it down on the four.
"Miss, get out of the way!"
"Third Soul Skill: Earth Derived Mountain Barrier!"
The sole Soul Elder among the four released a defensive Soul Skill, but it shattered on impact.
Amid the thunderous crash, the other two young Soul Grandmasters exploded into clouds of blood.
Fortunately, at the instant the Red Gold Fire Python's tail came down, the young Soul Elder flung the girl away with all his strength.
Otherwise, they would have been wiped out in the most literal sense.
The girl flew in a high arc for several hundred meters, happened to hit the canopy of the tree where he was hiding, and then fell onto the branch where he stood. Su Changge was completely stunned.
"Fuck, come on! Is my luck really that bad? Why'd you have to throw her over here?!"
"Hm?"
The girl stared at Su Changge, who had suddenly appeared in front of her, equally stunned.
Before she could react, Su Changge recovered first and chopped at the back of her neck with the edge of his hand.
"Hm? Take that! And another!"
But Su Changge had overestimated himself.
He couldn't even handle low-level Soul Masters from Notting Academy, and he thought he could sneak up on a Soul Elder who'd just obtained her third Soul Ring?
"What are you doing?"
"Why are you hiding here?"
"Oh, right. My name is Murong Ruyan. What's yours?"
The girl's rapid-fire questions made Su Changge face reality.
He'd nearly forgotten. He was still a useless weakling who couldn't even kill a chicken.
"Su Changge!"
"If you don't want those two beasts to treat you like a crunchy snack, then you'd better shut that pretty little mouth of yours and stop making a sound."
Su Changge covered his head, his face dejected.
Murong Ruyan's scent had now rubbed off on him. In the Red Gold Fire Python's eyes, he was her accomplice.
There was no escaping. No way to escape at all.
Unless he killed the Red Gold Fire Python, it would hound him for the rest of his life.
Amid Su Changge's tangled thoughts, the battle between the Titan Giant Ape and the Red Gold Fire Python continued for several hours before finally nearing its end.
The Red Gold Fire Python had crushed both of the Titan Giant Ape's arms, but at the last moment, the Titan Giant Ape's fangs had ripped through the python's vital point, seven inches below its head.
A desperate counterattack!