Chapter 294 Embracing the Head

"Prepare for battle!!!"

Adeline's furious roar suddenly erupted through the forest.

Carried by her body's momentum, her rapidly retreating legs dug deep footprints into the damp soil.

She tightly gripped two One-Handed Hammers, their metal gleaming coldly under the overhead sun.

Her mud-splattered face was taut, her dark brown eyes reflecting the behemoth charging straight toward them.

The seemingly bloated and sluggish Petrification Lizard—famous among adventurers for its deadly and troublesome "Petrification Gaze"—was still a monster with a Challenge Rating of Level 3. It possessed an explosive power that far exceeded its size.

Having just advanced to Level 1, they couldn't easily shake it off by relying solely on their accumulated experience.

In the face of pure stats, all so-called techniques became nothing more than flashy gimmicks.

For this temporarily assembled Adventurer Squad, surviving the Petrification Lizard's attack roughly boiled down to two solutions—if they had the time to think about it.

First: scatter in three different directions and leave their fate to the heavens.

Pray they wouldn't be the one-third the Petrification Lizard chose.

Hope the targeted teammate could hold out a bit longer to buy the others enough time to retreat safely.

Second: give up on fantasies and fight head-on.

The Petrification Lizard was indeed a dangerous monster. For the vast majority of bottom-tier adventurers, or even low-level Class Holders, suddenly encountering one in the wild without any preparation was an extremely perilous situation.

But knowing well in advance they had a high probability of running into this monster during their quest, they had made ample preparations, even drinking Petrification Resistance Potions beforehand.

They could directly resist the negative effects of its "Petrification Gaze."

If the three Class Holders grouped together and fought it with a united front...

They might not achieve final victory, but surviving was not entirely impossible.

This was exactly what Adeline thought.

All three were Warriors, possessing tough and robust physical attributes that gave them a margin for error.

Furthermore, they were all veteran adventurers who had fought their way up from the bottom step by step, boasting rich combat experience.

If they worked together against a Petrification Lizard whose petrification ability was no longer effective, they could maximize their chances of survival.

Of course, this was only her idea.

In such a tense and urgent situation, not everyone could make the correct decision in the shortest amount of time.

Her brawny, bald teammate heard Adeline's shout, a clear look of consideration flashing in his eyes.

He quickly judged the importance of teamwork in their current situation, stopping in his tracks and drawing the two-handed greataxe from his back.

He stepped forward, closing the distance to maintain formation with Adeline.

At the same time, however, the dark-skinned, skinny adventurer in the squad—who possessed a special Perception combat technique—made a completely different choice.

He hadn't fully passed the check against the "Petrification Gaze." Even though he had downed a Resistance Potion, he had taken it too late for the effects to fully kick in, leaving a grayish-white stone luster on various parts of his body.

In truth, this level of petrification didn't affect his mobility. Once they returned to town, spending some coin on two relevant potions or asking an Association Spellcaster for a minor treatment would cure him.

It couldn't even be considered a light injury, let alone a severe one.

But the terrifying infamy of the Petrification Lizard, as well as the gruesome outcome of being petrified, had undoubtedly made the adventurer lose his mind.

Treating Adeline's roar as if he hadn't heard it, he bolted madly toward the Deep Forest.

Thus, the situation on the field became quite interesting.

On one side stood two fully armed adventurers with determined eyes, holding their ground and waiting to meet the battle.

On the other side was a "guilty-conscienced," despicable attacker scrambling in panic, attempting to flee.

For the Petrification Lizard, it was obvious which choice it would make.

Boom—its bloated belly plowed a massive, deep trench into the ground as the grayish-blue figure charged with an unstoppable, overwhelming momentum.

Ignoring the countless towering oak trees ahead, it rushed straight toward the fleeing skinny adventurer.

It left Adeline and the bald brute beside her in the dust.

Without a shred of hesitation, seeing the Petrification Lizard vanish behind the brush and tree canopy, the brawny man instantly put away his greataxe and sprinted wildly in the opposite direction without looking back.

Adeline followed suit. Tucking her two One-Handed Hammers back at her waist, she chose a different direction and pumped her legs with all her might.

If they wanted to survive the Petrification Lizard's attack in a head-on fight, the squad couldn't afford to miss a single person.

Since that man had ignored her warning and run off alone, it was naturally impossible for the remaining two to rescue him, or to kindly stall for time to aid his escape.

The plan automatically shifted to option one.

Scatter and flee, leaving their fate to the heavens.

Adeline clenched her teeth, her thick, long legs moving almost fast enough to leave afterimages.

Unfortunately, they were in a densely wooded forest rather than on a wide, flat plain, preventing her from pushing her speed to its absolute limit.

Just a few seconds passed.

Accompanied by the sudden cessation of snapping trees came an incomparably shrill scream brimming with agony and despair.

Her heart instantly tightened.

She knew her worthless teammate had likely been caught by the Petrification Lizard and torn to shreds.

Adeline's heart pounded wildly; she only hoped the lizard's rage would be quelled after killing him.

Or that it would set its sights on her other teammate, buying her a little more time to escape.

Except... a fifty percent chance wasn't that easy to dodge.

Limited by her class, Adeline wasn't very proficient in Perception.

Her ability to track goblins in complex environments mostly stemmed from her years of accumulated experience.

But in this moment, the threat of death seemingly stimulated her potential; it felt as though she had grown eyes on the back of her head.

Adeline could clearly sense the violent tremors coming from the distance behind her, rapidly closing in.

"Thud! Thud! Thud!"

The dense and rapid footsteps rang out continuously amidst furious beastly roars, each step feeling as if it stomped directly on her drumming heart.

Closer and closer.

Eventually, Adeline could even hear the eight-legged lizard's panting and smell the increasingly thick, putrid scent of stone dust in the air.

A ruthless glint flashed through her eyes.

Knowing she was about to be caught, she made a prompt decision. Her right hand reached into her waist pouch as her legs suddenly exerted force, hurling her body forward.

Her feet left the ground.

In midair, using her robust core strength, she twisted her body to face the enemy.

Just as she expected!

In just a few dozen seconds, the Petrification Lizard had closed the gap to barely over ten meters.

It didn't have a single scratch on its body, save for the residual bloodstains around its maw—clearly belonging to Adeline's unlucky teammate, who would never utter another sound.

Her expression was resolute. Taking advantage of her spin, her right hand whipped out from her waist pouch and hurled its contents violently forward!

The next second, her entire remaining inventory—five Fire Oil Bombs—flew straight toward the lizard's face.

Boom—

Grease and dust ignited from a spark, erupting into a massive, blistering burst of tangerine flames that swallowed nearly half of the Petrification Lizard's face.

"Roar!"

An agonized beastly howl echoed behind her.

Cold sweat streamed down. Adeline didn't even check to see if the Fire Oil Bombs had taken effect; the moment she threw them, her body was already spinning back around.

Her feet hit the ground, the corner of her vision flickering with tangerine flames.

She continued to sprint forward wildly without looking back.

Her maneuver was extremely effective.

The five Fire Oil Bombs bought her three seconds of escape time.

Her robust physical attributes allowed her to seize this chance, widening the gap between her and the Petrification Lizard to nearly forty meters once more.

But for the vicious monster, having recovered from the searing flames and grown even more infuriated, it only needed two seconds to catch up again.

What could two seconds do?

Take a deep breath, let out half a yawn, blink twice in exhaustion, or watch a leaf flutter to the ground.

Adeline didn't know the meaning in doing this. She was just instinctively trying to prolong her life, even if only by a single breath.

Well...

Judging by the results.

She succeeded.

It was precisely these extra two seconds that allowed Adeline to survive.

Covered in grayish-blue rough scales, a thick and powerful foreclaw was raised high at an angle. One could faintly see the solid muscles writhing and bulging beneath its armor.

It slammed down fiercely, its terrifying force nearly crushing the air itself.

"Whoosh."

This was the blare of the air being torn apart, or the whistle of the Grim Reaper swinging his scythe.

"Aooou—"

This was a strange, long, and resonant wolf howl that sounded at almost the exact same time as the descending claw.

That grayish-blue forelimb still fell.

But the claw's swing—originally containing such terrifying force and speed that even Class Holders couldn't react to it—inexplicably seemed to submerge in water, abruptly slowing down.

And the target beneath the paw, which should have been flattened and pulverized, shifted from the fleeing adventurer to a long, diamond-shaped Arm Shield, as dark and pristine as glass.

Its material looked overly transparent, seemingly lacking any defensive capabilities.

Yet the massive falling paw couldn't leave so much as a single scratch on its pitch-black surface.

The fatal attack was firmly blocked.

At this moment, even the Petrification Lizard, its reason swallowed by rage, couldn't help but blank out for a second.

Its eerie green vertical pupils stared at the tall, dark-haired figure that had suddenly appeared amidst the wolf's howl.

He felt inexplicably familiar, as if it had seen him somewhere before.

Just as its brain started to process this, a severe pain shooting from its forelimb interrupted it.

"Splurt!"

Blood spurted wildly.

The thick forearm that had just completed its swinging motion fell off entirely, slicing away in an unnaturally smooth manner as if dismantled.

It gave off the impression that the Petrification Lizard had used so much force it accidentally flung its own arm off.

The severed end was clean and flat.

Scales, muscles, and bones had been sliced apart neatly.

A beastly roar mingling fury and agony echoed through the forest, the shockwaves churning the air and causing the tree canopy above to sway.

The agony of its severed limb seemed to only incite the eight-legged lizard's feral nature. With six of its legs planted firmly on the ground, its other forelimb wildly slapped toward its enemy with reckless abandon.

This time, it didn't encounter that bizarre, sluggish drag from before. All the power in its body was exerted to the absolute limit.

Its thick paw nearly smashed a massive crater into the ground.

But the inexplicably appearing man vanished from the spot amidst a wolf howl, just as he had arrived.

Immediately after, the Petrification Lizard felt pain once more.

A dazzling ball of ochre energy exploded on its seventh leg like a firework.

The rough Scale Armor—which could easily parry metallic slashes and was tough enough that even vicious jungle predators struggled to bite through it—had absolutely zero defensive resistance against this ochre light.

It was as if the attack acted on an entirely different plane.

By the time the Petrification Lizard truly registered the pain, the light cluster erupting from its joint had already faded.

In its place was an irregular, radiating oval cavity that severed the limb.

The Petrification Lizard wanted to figure out what was happening.

Was its enemy the dark-haired man, or something else hiding deeper in the shadows?

Was it a black wolf belonging to a powerful ranger, or a high-level Mage hiding in the dark casting offensive spells?

The very next second, the Petrification Lizard ceased all thought.

Or rather, it lost the physical ability to think.

A sharp object severed the nerves connecting its head to its body.

"Thud!"

Adeline's footsteps faltered.

For some unknown reason, in that instant just now, she had felt her entire body become much lighter, her speed instantly increasing by a large margin.

This caused the whistling sound coming from behind to only brush past the back of her head at the very end, failing to land on her body.

Now, that sensation of lightness abruptly vanished. Like suddenly coming ashore after a long swim, her legs abruptly sank, her center of gravity tipped forward, and she crashed onto the ground.

Panting heavily, the pain coursing through her entire body instantly woke her mind from the blank numbness induced by the life-or-death crisis.

Only then did she realize that someone seemed to have saved her.

"No, I have to go help him!"

Although she didn't know which adventurer had intervened, facing such a dangerous monster, she absolutely couldn't just leave him behind to face it alone.

At the very least, she had to...

Struggling to her feet, Adeline turned around and suddenly froze in place.

Ahead, the Petrification Lizard was roaring madly, two of its thick, stubby arms lying on the ground nearby. She could even see the muscles writhing deep within its throat.

Simultaneously, a massive, twisting black wolf—as if woven from the darkest, purest shadows—pounced down from the air, its mane flowing wildly.

Its silvery-white fangs pierced accurately and fiercely into the lizard's thick, sturdy neck that was seamlessly joined with its torso.

The shadow slightly distorted.

The black wolf vanished, leaving only a dark-haired young man clad in metallic armor with sharp facial features.

Holding a longsword in a reverse grip with both hands, the blade driven into flesh served as the perfect tool to disperse the force, ensuring his descent wasn't too fast.

From Adeline's perspective, the massive lizard's head looked as though it had been "embraced" and pulled right off its sturdy neck by the man.

"Thud."

Leather boots and the severed head hit the ground at the same time.

Behind him came the noise of spurting blood and the crashing boom of the massive body collapsing.

His pitch-black eyes gazed into the void as translucent text quietly scrolled past.