Chapter 1107 - 896: Level 4 Mutant Creature

After making up his mind, Duke walked through the stone wall and stood again at the fork in the road.

He proceeded along the path he had not explored before, passing through several stone corridors of varying width. Along the way, ancient patterns continued to slowly flow on the stone walls, and the pale golden glow flickered uncertainly on the gray-white stone slabs.

He maintained a wind elementalized form, enveloping himself in the aura of the World Tree, sliding silently along the stone wall like a true breeze.

At the shadowy corner of a stone wall, he keenly captured a massive energy signal.

The signal was so strong that his spiritual power tendrils immediately withdrew the moment they touched it, Level 4.

He immediately stopped moving, pressed his body lower, completely concealing himself with the shadow of the stone wall, and then cautiously extended his perception to observe.

The creature was crouching in the middle of the passage, with a size comparable to a small building. Its body surface was covered with gray-white bony armor, embedded with dense dark golden patterns that pulsed slowly with its breathing.

Its head was lowered, and the breath exhaled from its nostrils stirred up circles of dark golden energy ripples on the ground, with each exhalation carrying a strong mix of sulfur and metal scent.

Occasionally, the muscle fibers exposed through the cracks in its armor twitched, causing the entire armor to emit a very subtle friction sound.

The creature seemed to be asleep, but through the Life Rules, Duke could clearly see that the massive life force within it was still operating at high speed, ready to enter combat mode at any moment.

Duke did not intend to disturb it. He retreated at an extremely slow pace, inching backward in the direction he came from. His wind elementalized form slid silently through the shadows of the stone walls.

He retreated tens of steps, then another tens of steps, everything proceeded silently.

But just as he reached the corner of the stone corridor, preparing to turn and accelerate away, the airflow underwent an extremely subtle change.

The slight breeze created by his movement generated an extremely subtle vortex at the corner with the naturally flowing air in the maze. The intensity of this vortex wasn’t enough to flutter a garment, but it was sufficient to alert some sensory-sensitive creatures to the anomaly.

The Level 4 Mutant Creature abruptly raised its head, and the dark golden eyes deep within its bone armor snapped open, with pupils rapidly contracting in the direction where Duke was located.

It didn’t emit any roar, but in a very short moment, it erupted with a terrifying speed completely disproportionate to its massive body.

The gray-white bony armor produced a piercing friction sound as it sprinted. A giant claw covered in dark golden patterns tore through the air, slamming fiercely in Duke’s direction.

As the claw flew through the air, it grew larger, with the dark golden patterns on its surface lighting up at the moment of attack. The released energy ionized the air along its path, leaving a blazing white trail.

Duke reacted the moment the armor’s friction sound was heard. Without even looking back at the trajectory of the claw, he lunged directly toward the stone wall. The key in his right hand trembled slightly under the infusion of Magic Power, and the Gate of Rules within the stone wall opened in response.

His body passed through the surface of the stone wall at the moment of contact, and the giant claw followed closely, slamming fiercely at the spot where he just disappeared, leaving a massive claw mark several inches deep on the gray-white stone slabs. Debris flew, and shockwaves spread along both sides of the passage.

Dark golden energy remnants crackled at the edges of the claw mark, turning the cracks into a charred black.

But the stone wall of the safe house remained unmoved. Only the surface layer of the pale golden light film rippled slightly after the impact, then quickly returned to calm.

Duke leaned against the interior side of the safe house stone wall, his heart still pounding fiercely.

At that moment, he was merely half a step away from death. If he hadn’t decided in advance to reserve the time limit just in case, given the attack speed of a Level 4 creature, even if he reacted, he might not have had the chance to retreat intact in a direct confrontation.

The wind elementalization combined with the concealing effect of the World Tree’s aura was still top-notch, unable to be detected by regular senses even by Level 4 creatures. But as long as there is movement, airflow disturbance is unavoidable.

Level 4 Mutant Creatures were too sensitive to changes in the external environment, making this concealment method not entirely foolproof.

For the subsequent exploration, he needed to be even more careful.

Duke leaned against the interior side of the safe house stone wall, suppressing his breathing to be very light.

His right hand still held onto the key, and his knuckles were slightly white from the instinctive reaction a moment ago.

From the inside of the safe house, the stone wall didn’t obstruct the view. That layer of pale golden energy film acted like a one-way transparent barrier, clearly presenting the scene outside in the stone corridor to him.

The Level 4 Mutant Creature was standing right at the spot where he had just disappeared, its dark golden pupils slowly rotating in the deep sockets of its bone armor, carefully examining the stone powder and energy residue on the tip of its claw.

It was certain that something had passed by just now. The change in airflow was definitely not caused by the maze’s natural air current. Something moved here, very quickly, not large in size, suddenly disappearing right before it was about to make contact.

The Level 4 Mutant Creature retracted its claw, raising it to its face, then sniffed the stone wall closely.

The gray-white bony armor emitted a very subtle friction sound as it moved, like two rough stones grinding against each other.