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I Can Only Cultivate In A Game-Chapter 76: They Predicted My Movements!
There's something in there..." Victor's eyes widened as he voiced in trepidation.
Lady Li and the guard turned slightly to look behind them but it was already gone.
It had submerged itself back in the darkened puddle just as swiftly as it came.
"I swear there was a head just now," Victor voiced frantically, trying to convince them that he wasn't seeing things.
The guard gritted his teeth. "Let's move faster."
Lady Li Yang nodded in agreement. "The longer we stay here, the more dangerous it becomes."
They continued their way forward, carefully jumping from one branch to another but the eerie silence only made their surroundings feel more hostile.
Victor had a bad feeling they were being watched but nevertheless, they continued onward.
...
...
Victor, Lady Li Yang, and the guard had been jumping from branch to branch for the better part of thirty minutes, making steady progress across the Devil Forest's submerged path.
The dense fog that enveloped the area began to thin out as they ventured further.
All they could hear were the sounds of their boots landing on the gnarled branches and the distant splashes from the blackened water below.
Each branch they landed on seemed just slightly different from the last—larger, sturdier, and more strangely contorted.
As they reached a point where the trees spread further apart, Victor felt the atmosphere shift. The branches ahead seemed more spread out, and as he looked ahead, he realized the next tree was over forty feet away—a considerable gap compared to the previous jumps of ten to fifteen feet.
Victor naturally felt a twinge of hesitation. The jump would have to be well calculated since branches were thin because one slip-up would result in falling in.
However, the guard in front who still had Lady Li on his back, prepared himself for the jump.
Lady Li Yang whispered; "You can do this," she said with calm conviction.
The guard nodded and Victor could feel Qi gathering around him as the guard's aura became more intense.
He stepped back from the edge of the branch and, with a mighty push, he launched himself into the air, using a burst of qi to propel himself forward.
His legs stretched forward as his body shot through the air with incredible force with Lady Li on his back.
Victor's eyes tracked the guard's trajectory as he flew across the fifty-foot gap.
The guard landed with a thud on the next branch causing his boots to slide slightly across it before he found his balance. His face was taut with concentration, but there was a flicker of triumph in his eyes.
Lady Li Yang let out a sigh of relief.
Victor exhaled a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.
The guard turned back toward Victor; "Your turn," he said before turning back around so he could jump forward and give Victor enough space to land.
But before they could continue, a faint splash echoed from below, and before they could process the sound, something shot out of the water at lightning speed.
A bandaged hand, as withered as old leather and wrapped in thick strips of cloth, shot up and grabbed the guard's ankle.
The guard's eyes widened and Lady Li let out a startled gasp. The hand pulled at the guard's ankle, jerking him off balance. Lady Li fell off his back but managed to grab at a piece of branch to prevent herself from plunging into the water.
"NO!" the guard shouted as he tried to fight the grip which was now pulling him downwards.
With gritted teeth, the guard unsheathed his sword mid-aid and slashed wildly at the hand gripping his ankle.
The decayed flesh tore apart, but the hand refused to let go.
The man landed awkwardly on another crooked tree branch with one leg slipping off completely. Lady Li was struggling overhead, holding onto a branch with both her hands.
The hand kept pulling the guard's lower half towards the inky abyss.
With a growl, he swung his sword down once more, severing the rotting fingers.
Shhhk!
The severed limb vanished into the water, but the moment the guard freed himself, another bandaged limb shot out—this time, grabbing onto Lady Li's dangling leg.
"Ahhh!"
Her scream echoed through the mist.
The bony fingers tightened around her ankle, dragging her downward.
"No!" she gasped as her grip began to slip.
The guard turned and sliced through the bandaged arm just in time, freeing her.
But before he could even catch his breath— Experience more tales on novelbuddy
More hands erupted from beneath.
Dozens.
They coiled around his legs, waist, and arms, gripping onto him like leeches.
The guard thrashed violently while swinging his sword in all directions, severing limb after limb—but for every one he cut down, two more took its place.
"Run!" he bellowed. "Take Lady Li and..."
Before he could complete his statement, he got yanked into the blackened water.
A loud splash, followed by an unnatural silence ensued.
Lady Li stood paralyzed while staring at the spot where he had just been.
"No… no…" she whispered.
But there was no time to mourn.
The water rippled violently.
The surface twisted as if something was crawling out—and then they emerged.
Dozens of humanoid figures with glowing green eyes flickering like phantasmal embers and their entire bodies wrapped in decayed bandages.
A burst of wind swept across the surroundings as Victor launched himself forward, closing the forty-foot gap in a single leap.
Landing directly in front of Lady Li, he wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her into his grasp princess-style.
Then— he fled.
With every ounce of qi, he channeled his Wind Shifting Arts, enhancing his movements as he launched from one branch to another.
"Hold on!" Victor shouted while in mid-air.
He landed on another tree branch many feet away and jumped once more, clearing the next gap with ease.
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The wind ruffled through his hair while his eyes locked onto the next branch as he continued to jump forward.
His hands gripped Lady Li's soft body tightly as he cleared massive distances.
Behind him, the hands from the depths followed them, shooting out from the blackened river, faster than ever. With every jump Victor made, more of the creatures emerged from the water, crawling out with unnatural speed.
Victor's eyes darted to the trees ahead. He needed to move faster. It was clear that thess creatures had faster movement underneath the blackened water and he had underestimated their speed.
As Victor descended toward another gnarled branch, multiple hands shot up from beneath the water ahead of him, already waiting at the exact spot he was about to land.
His pupils shrank. 'They predicted my movements...!'
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