Chapter 381: Red Mist Zombies

When Joo Joowon encountered a path he could not cross, he could swing across using his spider silk. Kang Taewoo had no such option. It could only walk.

It knew how to climb trees, but it was not lightweight. If it tried to jump directly from one tree to another, the chances of the branches breaking were much higher than the chances of it landing safely.

The fur on its body was also a nonrenewable resource. If it could not remove the plants stuck to its fur and had to cut the fur off, it would never grow back again.

Fortunately, it had been smart enough to wear a stealth suit!

At this moment, Kang Taewoo could only be grateful for that. Clothes were much cheaper than its bear hide.

Looking at Joo Joowon, who was crouching in place and showed no intention of leaving anytime soon, Kang Taewoo began to retreat quietly, step by step.

This Lord was different from the previous one. Although he was a little strange, he did not look stupid. Kang Taewoo felt that it could safely return home.

However, before it had gone very far, Kang Taewoo suddenly saw a red ribbon shooting straight toward it.

Kang Taewoo: "???"

The ribbon circled around Kang Taewoo several times, spinning faster and faster with each turn. It looked as though its brain was about to overheat and it could no longer figure out what kind of thing Kang Taewoo was.

Kang Taewoo stood completely still, feeling rather awkward.

Seriously, how had it been discovered?

Unlike other people, its method of concealment was different. It was a puppet, after all.

Puppets naturally lacked the aura of living beings, so Kang Taewoo did not need to suppress its aura at all. It only needed to release its original aura as usual.

Under these circumstances, anyone sensing it would only detect an object without any signs of life and would have no interest in it.

As one of the most important abilities that members of the Puppet Race relied on when traveling outside their territory, this method was practically foolproof among lower-level beings. Unless someone used a detection method that searched every inch of the surrounding area, it was very difficult to notice that anything was wrong with Kang Taewoo.

But what was going on now?

The red mist zombie that had arrived right after the ribbon stood there in a daze, looking even more confused than Kang Taewoo.

The red ribbon continued spinning for a long time. Only after Kang Taewoo had stared at it for so long that its eyes had turned into dizzy spiral patterns did the ribbon finally stop.

It seemed to have finally reached a conclusion, or perhaps it had simply decided to give up trying to figure things out. The entire ribbon dispersed into a cloud of mist and vanished before Kang Taewoo's eyes.

Before Kang Taewoo could even breathe a sigh of relief, the red mist zombie beside it suddenly charged toward it, as though it had received an order.

Kang Taewoo hurriedly pulled an axe out of its portable storage space.

Its lumberjacking secondary profession had been developed less through cutting down trees and more through chopping up enemies.

After all, it was a Transcendent who followed the Path of War. Compared with its secondary profession, combat was actually what it excelled at most. It was just that Kang Taewoo disliked fighting.

It hated water and all kinds of liquids. Blood was included among the liquids it hated.

"Hmm?"

Joo Joowon noticed the commotion coming from a short distance away. After thinking for a moment, he decided not to pay it any attention.

The red ribbon had always been heading deeper into the forest. Unless it had sensed something, there was no way it would head toward the outer area. Therefore, his current position was perfectly safe.

Besides, the disturbance he sensed behind him was not very loud. Since that was the case, there was no need to bother with it.

However, to be cautious, Joo Joowon still changed his position and moved farther away from the direction where he had sensed the disturbance. He only felt satisfied once he could no longer hear anything.

He had no idea where Kang Taewoo was now, whether it was still following him, or whether the commotion just now had been caused by Kang Taewoo.

Joo Joowon did not care about any of these possibilities. The combined power of his and Byeol's Harbinger of Endless Misfortune could affect even Transcendents. However, since he would not be the one suffering from the bad luck anyway, there was no need for him to pay attention to it.

Besides, the red mist zombies had already begun returning one after another, bringing along the ordinary zombies they had captured. Joo Joowon no longer had the time to pay attention to anything else.

Targeting ordinary zombies consumed the least amount of energy. Although the cost was low, the enormous number of zombies meant that the total expenditure would still become considerable by the end. However, there was nothing he could do about that. He was not yet confident that he could deal with the red mist boss, so he could only take turns with Byeol to suppress the creature's growth.

Although the red mist boss would eventually notice that something was wrong and begin searching for the mastermind behind it all, this was still the best method available to them at the moment.

After all, his cultivation depended on accumulating Star Fiend and Star Fortune. This method also helped him grow stronger. Therefore, the longer he could drag things out, the stronger he would become. As their strengths shifted in opposite directions, the red mist boss might no longer seem like an enemy he had no way of dealing with.

Joo Joowon watched as the ordinary zombies entered the red mist one after another, but he could not sense any signs that their Fate had been altered. He could not help growing anxious.