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墨書 Inktalez
The torch on the AK-47 bayonet dripped with oil as it suddenly lunged toward the black substance that resembled a carpet of Black Oil.
It was afraid of heat. Just before the flames could touch it, the creature abruptly halted its forward movement, raising its head like a startled snake, arching back with an elastic motion.
However, this thing was nothing like a snake; what it arched was not a snake's head but rather a peculiar wall that seemed to rise up before me in the firelight.
Clearly, the high temperature of the torch had frightened it greatly, but this wall towered high, quickly gaining a position of dominance over me.
The wall undulated slightly in an unreal manner, and I was left dumbfounded by the sudden change. It faced me, matching the color of the ground's rocky surface—a grayish-brown and equally rough. If seen suddenly, one might mistakenly believe it was just a wall. Yet at that moment, I felt a chilling terror; I believed this wall would collapse upon me at any moment, obliterating me right there.
I didn’t give it time or opportunity. With the AK-47's stock pressed against my stomach, I didn’t dare waste a moment; I lifted the Muzzle and pulled the trigger.
‘Tat tat tat’
The bullets from the AK-47 first shattered the fish oil torch, and amidst the scattering flames, they shot out densely as the Muzzle moved horizontally.
With the gunfire and splattering flames, the towering wall fell backward as if subjected to a directed explosion. The fire splashed onto it like snow melting away, instantly creating a hole. This creature was helpless against the flames; instead of extinguishing within that hole, they quickly burned through to create an even larger opening, seemingly intent on melting it away completely. I believed that if there were enough fire, it could indeed be entirely consumed.
Unfortunately, although the scattered flames burned the dark substance on the ground into a thousand holes, compared to this vast entity that seemed endless, such fire was merely a drop in the bucket and did not inflict any real damage.
Like living water, it swiftly retreated, escaping from the flames in an instant. The wall that had been knocked down by bullets and riddled with holes from being burned by fire transformed back to its original state as if it had never been struck or melted at all.
It remained motionless on the other side of the flames, seemingly waiting for them to extinguish while confronting me across the fire. I quickly replaced my Empty Magazine, finally finding time to glance back at Jack.
But that one glance nearly made my heart leap out of my throat.
Jack had already run a considerable distance. He hadn't turned on the flashlight; presumably, he didn't have one. The flashlight was in the backpack, which was still on my back. However, this did not hinder his escape. After all, his speed was not very fast, and the glow from the glow stick was more than enough to solve the lighting problem.
Nothing was chasing him from behind. In that regard, my sniping mission was complete. But I had big trouble behind me.
The area I crossed was completely covered with whatever was pursuing us. After I was blocked at this point, other places continued to advance, encircling me. When I turned to look, although the encirclement was not yet complete, there was no way I could run past it. Unless I could fly away, I would be trapped within it.
At that moment, I truly felt despair.
My fear of this thing stemmed from my ignorance of it. With its unpredictable form spreading across the ground, it was too large. It gave me the feeling that if it caught up to me, I would be engulfed by it. I didn't know what its means of attack were, but I estimated that I would die a horrific death—so terrible that I didn't even dare to think about it. So in an instant, I decided that I would never let it capture me alive.
There was a flare in Jack's backpack; I thought it might be the only thing that could save my life. The backpack had become superfluous to me; anything that increased my escape resistance was unnecessary. I quickly threw both backpacks on the ground and rummaged through one of them until I found a flare.
I glanced up at the firelight ahead. The black liquid creature shimmered under the flames like crude oil, slightly rising from the surface as if a layer of asphalt had been spread across the ground. It was so still that it was hard to believe it was a living being; it looked completely harmless.
But I knew that it was the flames scattered across the ground that held it back. Without those flames, would it have swallowed me whole?
I picked up both backpacks and threw them toward the firelight. The moment they flew over the flames, the calm blackness on the other side suddenly leaped up like a wolf that had been lying in wait for a long time.
I didn’t know how it sensed or felt my thrown backpacks, but throwing them indeed had been an attempt to test it. I wanted to know how it could track me and how it would attack me. Now, I had my answer.
It certainly did not leap off the ground, but now it felt different to me. In front of me, under the firelight and the glow of the One-Eyed Beast’s electric light, it appeared as an endless mass of black oil-like substance. However, when the backpacks flew past, something seemed to leap up from within that black oil-like mass.
This seemingly independent entity was about the size of a bed sheet and lunged toward the two backpacks without its lower part leaving the ground; it remained connected to the endless black oil-like substance below. At the moment of contact with the backpacks, their color suddenly changed from green camouflage to black.
I kept my eyes fixed on the changes unfolding before me. I could clearly see the shift in color of the backpack, caused by that Monster enveloping both bags in an instant. At the same time, I immediately understood what would happen if I fell into it. It would be a fate worse than death.
The sound of gunfire echoed as bullets struck the backpack. The blackness at the impact points quickly receded, revealing the original green of the large copper coin backpack along with fist-sized bullet holes. But in an instant, the holes and green were filled again with black as the backpack fell toward the Ground.
I turned to look at Jack. I already understood this creature's method of attack; if it caught up to me, death would be painful, but it wouldn't last long—I would suffocate quickly. That was the only good news. I needed to focus on escaping; I didn't want to die in such a humiliating way.
Perhaps I had drawn too much of its attention; instead of pursuing Jack, it completely surrounded me. Once the encirclement closed behind me, it began to push inward.
I smirked slightly. It really thought highly of me, making such a big fuss—was it because of the Protagonist Aura I carried?
Behind me lay a stretch of over ten meters wide Black Oil, and it was expanding outward from my position. I couldn't let it trap me to death; the signal flares' Phosphorus Fire were limited and couldn't cover too large an area.
I pulled the pin from a signal flare and threw it high into the air. The Phosphorus Fire instantly illuminated a vast area, and of course, it also lit up itself. (To Be Continued...)
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