I Can Only Cultivate In A Game-Chapter 408: Mana Defense Officer
Victor eyes narrowed... he could not afford panic.
He looked at the weapons on the ground...
If he didn’t drop on time, getting a weapon would be impossible and he wouldn’t be able to defend himself.
But the fall itself might injure him further in his current weakened state.
The growls in the forest grew louder and closer as shapes circled just beyond visibility.
The fire was now five meters away.
Heat licked his skin and sweat mixed with blood across his inverted face.
He twisted his torso violently, ignoring the tearing sensation in his muscles.
Again and again he twisted, applying the pressure of his weight to the ropes in order to make them snap before the fire could reach him.
The rope creaked slightly but it still wasn’t enough... the fire was getting closer.
Victor could hear the hungry snapping spund as fire devoured the thick fibrous rope above him.
Smoke drifted into his inverted face, stinging his eyes that were already raw from burst capillaries. His head pounded violently from hanging upside down for so long. Blood throbbed in his skull with every heartbeat.
He twisted his torso again... and again... and again.
Each movement sent sharp jolts of pain through his abused meridians. The borila syrup still lingered inside him like a malicious curse. Even the slightest attempt to gather internal strength caused faint stabbing sensations.
He abandoned qi entirely.
This was purely physical now.
He rocked his body back and forth, building momentum, swinging his shoulders, whipping his legs whipping and tightening his core.
The rope creaked faintly but it wasn’t enough.
Across the clearing, several of the larger captives had already forced their way down.
Those with monstrously muscled bodies had shaken with such violent force that their ropes snapped under sheer weight and torque.
They hit the ground heavily but functional.
Two of them had immediately rushed the weapons.
Victor saw one with four thick arms snatch the curvy blade while the other who was lean and sinewy with elongated limbs, grabbed the spear crackling faintly with purple energy.
Two weapons gone.
Only two remained.
More ropes burned through simultaneously and bodies fell in chaotic succession.
Some landed badly causing bones cracking sounds to ring out audibly.
Others recovered quickly and lunged toward the remaining weapons.
Six figures converged at once and collided violently, all vying for the rest of the weapons.
Claws, fists and horns clashed intensely, causing bloodshed.
One grabbed the curved dagger only to have its wrist crushed by another. The crescent-shaped throwing weapon was snatched, dropped and kicked aside.
They began attacking each other without hesitation.
Victor was still hanging and now the flames were only inches away.
He could feel heat licking his back.
He twisted violently again with his teeth gritted as the rope creaked louder.
But still, it wasn’t enough...
The fire kissed the section directly above him and began to burn down rapidly.
The heat intensified instantly.
If the rope didn’t snap from his weight, it would burn through naturally but if it kept burning till it reached his oil-doused skin... his body would ignite.
He shook harder in desperation but to no avail.
Suddenly, something slammed into him from the side.
It was a body...
Someone had grabbed onto him and raised their feet off the ground, adding extra weight to the rope.
The rope above gave a violent snap as the combined force exceeded its tolerance.
Victor and the other figure plummeted together.
They crashed into the ground in a tangled heap of limbs and pain.
Victor groaned but rolled instinctively, dragging the other body with him to avoid falling debris from above.
He blinked rapidly, clearing his vision.
The person who had jumped onto him was one of the other humans who was strapped upside down initially just like him.
It was a man that seemed to be in his mid to late twenties, perhaps.
He was bruised and shaking but conscious.
The man gasped, coughing violently.
"I—thought you might need a hand—" he wheezed.
"Thank you," Victor responded before scanning around for the other human he spotted earlier.
The other human was a female who had also freed herself.
She moved differently from the others.
Even in exhaustion, her movements were very fluid.
She dodged between two larger captives grappling near the center and slid low, snatching the curved dagger just before another clawed hand could reach it.
She rolled to her feet fluidly but she was surrounded.
Victor didn’t hesitate.
"Move!" he barked to the male beside him.
They shot forward together.
Ahead, the six figures fighting over the last two weapons were now fully engaged in lethal combat. The four-armed creature swung the spiky blade in wide arcs, cutting through flesh indiscriminately. The spear-wielder thrust forward, discharging purple energy with each strike.
Blood splattered the ground.
One of the weaponless captives had already been impaled through the chest.
Another was on fire, screaming as the flammable liquid coating his body ignited fully.
The air filled with the smell of burning flesh.
Victor grabbed a fallen branch instinctively...
It wasn’t ideal but it was something.
The male human beside him picked up a broken piece of the fibrous rope, wrapping it around his hand like a makeshift whip.
The female human saw them and began moving toward them.
For a brief moment, the three humans locked eyes.
There was an unspoken agreement to stick together.
Victor reached her first.
"Stay close," he said sharply.
She nodded once.
Her grip on the dagger was tight but her eyes flickered briefly toward the male.
They already knew each other... that much was obvious.
All of a sudden, a blade sliced through the air from the side.
Victor’s instincts warned him but his reaction was currently too slow...
The spiky blade from earlier carved cleanly across the neck of the human male beside him.
Skrrreeeevvv~
A wet, sickening sound followed as blood exploded outward in a crimson arc.
The man’s eyes widened in disbelief as his throat opened.
He dropped instantly, dying before he hit the ground.
The female human froze in place as everything about her posture collapsed in that instant.
"Daniel!" she screamed.
She dropped to her knees beside him with her hands shaking as she pressed against the fatal wound.
Blood poured between her fingers.
"Daniel! Daniel, wake up—"
Victor’s eyes widened...
He didn’t know them but he understood from the way she said his name... they weren’t just strangers... they were very close.
A second shadow moved but Victor was able to react swiftly this time.
A large, horned being swung its massive arm downward toward the kneeling girl.
Victor grabbed her wrist and yanked her backward violently.
At the same time, he raised the branch in his other hand.
The horned being’s strike collided with the wood.
The branch shattered instantly under the force but it deflected the angle enough.
The blow grazed instead of crushing.
Victor twisted his body and drove a hard kick into the creature’s midsection.
Despite the borila syrup weakening him, his leg still carried trained force.
The creature stumbled backward a step.
"Move!" Victor snapped.
The girl’s face was streaked with Daniel’s blood but survival instinct kicked in.
She stumbled to her feet.
Victor grabbed her forearm firmly and pulled her with him.
They ran and behind them, chaos intensified.
The four-armed creature cleaved another captive in half.
The spear-wielder impaled someone through the abdomen and kicked them aside.
Two more survivors snapped their ropes and dropped directly into the melee.
One landed badly and had its skull crushed instantly.
Another managed to flee but was tackled by a massive reptilian being and torn apart.
The ones with weapons clearly had the upper hand but even they were taking damage.
No one was safe.
The flames from above continued spreading along remaining fibers, setting some captives ablaze mid-fall.
Screams layered over growls and beneath it all—
The distant sounds of those eerie creatures in the forest grew closer.
They were coming.
Drawn by blood.
Victor and the girl ran toward the outer edge of the clearing, weaving between twisted trees.
They ran until the screams faded completely.
Only then did Victor slow slightly, weaving between two spiraled trees whose bark split open momentarily to reveal blinking, lidless eyes before sealing shut again.
The young lady kept pace beside him. Her breathing was controlled despite everything. The dagger in her hand remained steady, even though dried blood coated her fingers.
After several more seconds of silence broken only by distant growls and the rustling of warped foliage, she finally spoke.
"What is a kid doing around these parts?"
Her voice wasn’t cruel... it was incredulous.
Victor glanced at her briefly but kept moving.
"Long story," he said. "Who are you? And... him?"
He didn’t need to say Daniel’s name.
The way her jaw tightened said enough.
"I’m Lieutenant Aria Vale," she said after a brief pause. "Mana Defense Officer. Third Division."
She swallowed once before continuing.
"Daniel Mercer. Same unit."
Victor’s eyes flickered with recognition at the title.
’A Mana Defense Officer...’
