"Can you shield me from open attacks and hidden arrows in the same way?"
Faced with that rapid barrage of words, Chu Tiannan had guessed everything, except that this girl, who looked only sixteen or seventeen, could actually say something like that.
"Do I... have another choice?" Chu Tiannan asked, rubbing his nose.
"The other choice is death!"
"Then isn't that no choice at all?" Chu Tiannan inwardly rolled his eyes, but when he saw the trace of expectation amid the coldness in Luo'er's eyes, he sighed inwardly and held out his palm.
"What are you doing?" Luo'er asked in confusion.
"Sealing our oath with a high five. Or did you want me to just promise you verbally?" Chu Tiannan teased.
"Let's seal it with a high five, then. You men are all pigs!"
"..."
From the very second they sealed their oath with a high five, whether it was Chu Tiannan or Luo'er-
Their fates were linked together because of it.
After the high five, Luo'er also dropped her coldness toward Chu Tiannan, treating him with genuine sincerity.
Seeing the clear improvement in her attitude toward him, with that icy killing intent gone, Chu Tiannan found himself at something of a loss.
"What's wrong?" Seemingly noticing his discomfort, Luo'er smiled for the first time. "Want me to chase you down and try to kill you again?"
As she spoke, she poked Chu Tiannan's shoulder with the sword hilt in her hand.
Her answer was an enormous eye roll!
Warning! Danger detected. Host, evacuate!
At that moment, Chu Tiannan heard the system's danger warning in his mind and was immediately startled.
Because the system only warned him when he was about to enter a desperate situation.
Whoosh!
At the same time, Chu Tiannan felt his soul tighten. Without any hesitation, he reached out with his right hand and wrapped it around Luo'er's slender waist.
As she cried out in surprise, the two of them rolled hard to one side.
Bang!
Almost simultaneously, a streak of black light flashed toward where they had just been, stomping a deep crater into the ground. Chu Tiannan glanced over out of the corner of his eye, and his pupils abruptly contracted.
"Earth-Splitting Bear!"
Luo'er had initially felt embarrassed and angry, thinking he was trying to take advantage of her, but when she saw the enormous figure watching them hungrily nearby, she cried out in alarm.
"Impossible! Why didn't my detector pick it up?" As she spoke, the girl looked down at the detector on her fair wrist.
Hearing that, Chu Tiannan also looked at the detector on his own wrist. A second later, their eyes met.
It turned out that their detectors had actually been damaged during their earlier running battle.
"This is a Beginner Beast General Level Demon Beast. We can't beat it. We need to get out of here!" Chu Tiannan rose to his feet, holding the Heaven-Deriving Sword before him as he spoke in a low voice.
The fluctuations of power that firmly suppressed his Advanced Martial Artist strength clearly belonged to a Demon Beast comparable to a Martial Master.
"The Earth-Splitting Bear has incredible defenses and specializes in shattering the ground in combat. Don't let it get close!" Luo'er came to Chu Tiannan's side. Brilliant red light burst from the black sword hilt, and the blade of the enormous light sword radiated searing power.
Hearing her explanation, Chu Tiannan frowned slightly.
Don't let it get close?
Both of us are close-combat Martial Artists. If we can't get close, doesn't that mean we can only run away?
Not far in front of them, a brown bear a full two stories tall stared coldly at Chu Tiannan and Luo'er.
Bloodthirsty cruelty flashed through its savage, violent eyes as it opened its foul-smelling mouth full of sharp teeth.
It seemed to be declaring that the two of them were its prey!
"What an appetite. Looks like it's decided we're dinner." Chu Tiannan sneered and stepped forward slightly, shielding Luo'er's delicate figure behind him. This was not a matter of male chauvinism.
But Chu Tiannan had not reached the point where he needed a girl to protect him.
"You go first. I'll lure it away!" Holding her enormous light sword, Luo'er spoke first, but Chu Tiannan frowned slightly and immediately refused.
"No! I'll lure it away. I'm confident I can do it!"
"You can't even beat me. No, it's too dangerous!"
Roar!
While the two quietly discussed a plan, the Earth-Splitting Bear had no patience at all. It let out an excited roar and drove its massive paws hard against the ground, sending dirt flying.
Like a small mountain, it charged violently toward them.
Chu Tiannan and Luo'er dodged away almost simultaneously. As he evaded the Earth-Splitting Bear's reckless charge, Chu Tiannan also slashed his sword hard across its belly.
Roar!
The Heaven-Deriving Sword truly lived up to being a weapon gifted by the Devouring System. Its edge easily sliced a long wound through the Earth-Splitting Bear's heavily defended body.
Blood immediately flowed out, making the Beast General Level Earth-Splitting Bear roar furiously.
A human weaker than itself had actually injured it.
What an insult that was!
"Such strong defenses..." Chu Tiannan quickly retreated to one side. He had not expected to cut only through the Earth-Splitting Bear's skin without inflicting any serious damage, and he was somewhat dissatisfied.
If anyone knew that a Peak Martial Artist could actually injure an Earth-Splitting Bear so easily, experts of at least the Martial Master level would surely come scrambling to seize the weapon in his hand.
Roar!
The Earth-Splitting Bear fixed its savage eyes on Chu Tiannan, who held the dark-gold longsword. With an angry growl, it charged like a train.
It lunged viciously at him.