Chapter 150: Cat and Mouse Game — Danger Descends

Chapter 150: Chapter 150: Cat and Mouse Game — Danger Descends

Normally, it would be entirely possible to rely on auras to distinguish. But in this labyrinth forest, that method was useless.

It was as if an invisible screen blocked the way. If the other party didn’t get close enough, he couldn’t determine if it was a human or a beast.

Jeremy used magic power to pull a nearby bamboo stick wrapped in poisonous thorny vines towards him.

A mage empty-handed, without a medium, would have an endlessly dragging incantation time. The biggest taboo was being dragged into close combat.

This bamboo stick didn’t have any major use, but it was better than nothing. It would have to do for now.

This place was a closed loop. Wanting to run now was impossible.

If it were a magical beast, just extending the battle line and handling it cleanly would be fine.

But if the newcomer was a Chaos Cat... then a confrontation was certain.

The hand gripping the bamboo stick tightened. Jeremy couldn’t help feeling tense.

The sound of dry branches snapping under footsteps. He quietly peeked through the leaf gaps.

When he saw it was just a Basic Stage magical beast, the boulder in his chest fell.

Fortunately, he wasn’t unlucky to the core.

A dry leaf just happened to blow past his face. Jeremy’s fingertips caught it, channeling the wind element into it.

The leaf transformed into a blade. Before the magical beast could lunge over, its throat was severed in a single slash. The corpse crashed to the ground, the blood splattering a second later, dyeing a patch of grass red.

Jeremy retracted his gaze, intending to change locations. But just as he turned around, he met a pair of eyes less than a hand’s span away from him.

"..."

His first reaction was to strike to force the other party back. But when he clearly saw the outfit the person was wearing, the bamboo stick raised halfway had to be forcibly pulled back.

"A mouse, huh..." The other party muttered softly.

While she was evaluating him, Jeremy took a step back.

The corner of his eye swept down to the number sequence on her chest.

[Mouse No. 16.]

This mouse could close in to that distance without him knowing at all. Her realm was clearly higher than his.

...Fortunately it wasn’t a cat.

Under the outfit’s effect, the voices of all participants were voice-altered, even the intonation was blurred. Thus, Jeremy only recognized the other party as female. Whether he had met her before or not, he couldn’t tell.

But in this situation, compared to going solo, suggesting cooperation to find a way out of the maze might be better.

Just as Jeremy was about to speak, a series of ear-piercing shrieks suddenly rang out in the forest.

Completely unlike the solitary rustling sound just now, this howling sound made one realize instantly: monsters.

Furthermore... the number was extremely large.

Jeremy and Mouse No. 16 simultaneously looked up towards the source of the sound.

The moment they looked up, they saw the Fire Griffins that were circling high above swooping down.

Eagle head, lion body. Massive build, roughly the size of an adult lion.

Coupled with the wide flapping wings, they were even more oppressive.

Let alone it wasn’t one charging, but a full ten.

Their state was extremely frantic, eyes bloodshot.

The magic power locking ring previously sealing their necks had been opened. It seemed this was exactly the magical beasts periodically released to hunt cats and mice that the rules had mentioned.

This battle couldn’t be avoided. Jeremy swiftly retreated to an unobstructed area, silently reciting an incantation, channeling magic power into the bamboo stick to accumulate casting time.

"Tsk. In this situation, we have to cooperate." A lazy voice rang out beside him: "How many can you handle?"

Jeremy cast a glance at her, giving a number he was confident of winning: "Half."

"..."

Half.

Mouse No. 16 slightly raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised by that answer.

Of these ten Fire Griffins, five were at the mid-Intermediate Stage, equivalent to human Intermediate Stage Four-Star. The remaining five had cultivation levels even slightly higher.

The realm of this Mouse No. 1 was at most only Intermediate Stage Three-Star, yet he dared to give such a confident answer.

Was it boasting, or did he truly have that capability?

Her probing quickly received an answer.

The ten griffins charged in succession. Knowing Mouse No. 16’s realm wasn’t weak either, Jeremy didn’t bother keeping an eye on her anymore, immediately widening the distance to avoid being surrounded in one sweep.

The griffins’ attention was also successfully torn in half, splitting into two attack zones.

They probably sensed the realms as well. Six focused all their firepower on Mouse No. 16 — the stronger one. The remaining four ambushed Jeremy.

"Whoosh—"

The sound of claws tearing through the wind accompanied by a foul stench rushed over.

Jeremy backed up forcefully a few steps, raising the bamboo stick to horizontally block the claws slashing down like lightning.

But simultaneously, the remaining three also swarmed in.

Having swatted away the one blocking the front, the other three had already closed the encirclement. As if pre-discussed, they simultaneously spat out blazing fireballs wrapped in purple electricity.

The levels of these four were all at the mid-Intermediate Stage, not the strongest ones. The situation was slightly better than Jeremy predicted.

Magic power condensed into a membrane layer, swallowing both the fire and the claw strikes. And the casting process up until now was finally completed at this exact moment.

"Ice Silver Art — Frostify."

Along with the incantation, a phantom of an ice crystal lotus condensed from the ice element bloomed beneath Jeremy’s feet.

Frost poured down. A transparent lotus-petal-shaped membrane layer completely blocked the purplish-red fireballs hurtling over.

Following the rhythm of the lotus fully blooming its petals, the fireballs were also thoroughly frozen by the frost.

The bodies of the four griffins were instantly covered in streaks of ice. Before they could react, they turned into four statues.

Taking advantage of them being pinned stiff by the frost, Jeremy retracted his bamboo stick, somersaulted and slid down at an extremely tight angle to slip through the gap, then kicked off the tree trunk to borrow the force to propel himself up.

With movements as light as air, he stepped consecutively on the bark several times, reaching the highest branch of the ancient tree in the blink of an eye.

Standing on a small branch, he transitioned from a forced looking-up position to someone standing above looking down.

The sound of ice cracking rang out crackling. After all, the realms of those four were higher than his; breaking the binding layer was only a matter of time.

Jeremy lowered his eyes.

The bamboo stick in his hand drew a complex magic array in mid-air.

The vine-wrapped bamboo stick reinforced by magic power was now used by him exactly like a magic staff.

An exquisite and divine array platform gradually emerged with each completed stroke.

Frost and snow filled the sky like a wild freezing banquet. In mid-air, they condensed into ice thorns carrying boundless killing intent.

The ice crystal layer that was about to shatter under the griffins’ resistance recovered once again, tightly wrapping their bodies, even thicker than before.

"——Frost Annihilation."

A soft shout.

Countless ice thorns hanging in the air rained down simultaneously. At the same time, the ice crystal layers also began to detonate, layer by layer...