70: Scream

The instant the forest heard the primal roar of rage and madness, every single living and non-living thing shook.

The ground trembled.

The stones bopped up and down, seemingly coming to life and wanting to escape.

The branches on the trees shook intensely, causing their leaves to fall to the ground.

Every creature trembled.

The weakest ones whimpered and scurried away in extreme fear and panic, their instincts constantly ringing alarm bells in their mind telling them that nowhere was safe for them.

The stronger ones also ran and chose to hide, for their instincts told them how powerful the being that produced such a frightening roar was.

The beasts who were stronger than the beast which released such a roar only glanced in the direction of the roar and then they went back to their business.

The weak avian creatures flew away for safety.

Every beast that was weak before the beast that released the primal roar knew that they were going to go through either a nightmare or a calamity today.

----

Meanwhile, the only three humans in the forest all had different reactions as they heard the primal roar of rage and madness.

"What the fuck?! How powerful is that beast?!" Joe exclaimed with a tinge of fear as his body trembled.

Hans was the same, and he had a worried expression. "I don't know. The strongest beast I've ever faced is a Mystic Beast, and this is obviously way stronger than the Mystic beast I saw."

Hans trembled slightly as he recalled his extremely dangerous encounter with a Mystic Beast. He recalled how he had narrowly escaped the beast and how he had promised himself to never fight a Mystic Beast.

He looked behind with a nervous expression.

"The beast is obviously not going to come here right? I know that the very powerful beasts stay in the deeper parts of this forest."

Joe asked with a nervous tone while constantly looking behind him with an anxious expression.

"I don't know. But I have a bad feeling about this. Let's take the corpse of that lion beast and escape. Luckily for us, our employer provided us with a spatial device that can safely teleport us out of the forest. That beast has nothing to do with us."

"The lion cub is the last and most important beast we have to give to our employer and our job is done."

Hans said, and Joe nodded. The job they were given was long and tedious, but the rewards were so high to the point that it tempted them and ignited their greed.

Their employer wanted them to kill and bring back the corpses of several specific beasts, and though they had no idea why their employer gave them such a job, they didn't care.

The rewards and benefits were more than enough for them to let go of all caution.

"You're right. Let's not forget about that Spartan kid. He could fetch us a lot of money." Joe said, and Hans grinned maliciously.

"Speaking of that kid. Where is he? I wonder why he threw this powder at us? Did he think it could blind us?"

Hans nonchalantly glanced at Silver's position, and then he subconsciously looked away. 

'Wait?' 

He looked back and his eyes instantly widened in shock.

"I know right. That Spartan kid sure is something else. I was-"

Joe chuckled with a disdainful and nonchalant expression, but as he was speaking, Han's rage-filled shout resounded in his ears.

"HE'S GONE! THE BEAST IS GONE!"

Joe looked at Hans with a frown and a baffled expression.

"What are you talking about?"

Grab

"I SAID THE SPARTAN KID AND OUR BEAST IS GONE YOU FOOL!!"

Hans grabbed Joe's shirt with anger, his spittle hitting Joe's face like bullets. Without waiting for a reply, he ran with swirling murderous intent.

"What the fuck?"

Joe was baffled and also disgusted. He looked at where the Spartan kid and their beast was meant to be. However, the moment he saw not a single beast or living creature, his eyes also widened and he cursed.

"FUCKING KID!"

Bang

Joe instantly ran after Hans with the same amount of anger in his gaze. Although his speed was not as fast as Hans, he was not slow in the slightest despite his massive size.

Meanwhile, as Silver ran at his fastest speed, he could feel his heart race in nervousness, and he could also feel the adrenaline in his body. He inwardly thanked his lucky stars that Hans and Joe were so nonchalant and overconfident or he would not have been able to escape.

His initial plan was to disrupt the vision of the duo so that he could then store the corpse of the crimson lion cub and the savage wolf in his spatial ring, and then run away.

He knew he would not have enough time to escape, so he didn't waste a single second after Joe slapped his pouch of poisonous powder away.

Fortunately and unfortunately, the distraction he needed to escape was achieved by the enraged roar of the parent/parents of the crimson lion cub.

On one hand, he had more time to escape. On the other hand, he was in more danger.

He would rather face Hans and Joe than face a mature crimson lion. Heck, he might have to survive the wrath of two mature crimson lions.

Silver knew that the best choice for him right now was to run back home. He needed to run back to Sparta.

The danger he was facing was way beyond his level, and if he decided to depend on luck, he might not live to see another day.

'I wish I was in the Outskirts and not the Greenbelt.' Silver had this thought as he ran.

Although he was at the edge of the Greenbelt, the distance from where he was to the Outskirts was not little. He would need to run for approximately ten minutes before he could reach the Outskirts.

Whistle

As he ran, he heard a soft whistling sound and his instincts immediately screamed at him.

Without hesitation, he dived forward and rolled to the side.

Silver heard the sound of an object hitting the ground, and he looked to his right. His heart skipped a beat when he saw an arrow.

"FUCKING SPARTAN KID! HOW DARE YOU TAKE OUR PREY AND TRY TO ESCAPE!"

Hans' enraged voice reached his ears and he looked behind him. His heart skipped multiple beats when he saw that Hans had caught up to him. In his hand was another arrow which he was attempting to nock into his bow.

"Fuck! They're fast!"

Silver picked up the pace and continued running with an anxious expression.

'Am I going to die here?'

Just as Silver had this thought, his instincts screamed at him once again and he rolled to the side once again.

Thinking that he was able to fully dodge the arrow, he attempted to continue running.

But…

Puchi

Silver's eyes widened when he felt something pierce his left shoulder, and he screamed.

"AHHHH!!!"