Chapter 217 Petrified Forest

As long as she was resting on Chen Nuo's arm, Eris slept soundly even if the sky above her was unfamiliar. She even drooled, though she would never admit to it once she woke up.

She would even try to turn the tables on him and then forcefully drag the conversation in a completely different direction in an extremely clumsy way.

Of course, if she weren't unable to beat Chen Nuo, Eris would have preferred a more direct way to silence him.

"The subjugation target is just up ahead, so I don't need to go along, right?"

The Horse-Headed Man said with a sheepish grin, bowing his head.

As a local, he had naturally been dragged along by Chen Nuo to serve as a guide.

"How could that be? You're a member of our party now. As the saying goes, we share the burden in times of trouble."

Chen Nuo said with a smile.

Eh? Is that it? Just four characters?

Although the Horse-Headed Man hadn't heard this idiom, he could tell just by thinking about it that the second half was definitely missing.

Looking at Ruijerd, who was blocking his retreat, the Horse-Headed Man had no choice but to bite the bullet and keep following.

Along the way, he had witnessed the strength of these people. Even Eris, who looked the weakest, possessed the level of an advanced-level Sword God Style swordsman.

As for the others, it went without saying, but there was no turning back now.

The subjugation target for Chen Nuo's trip was an unknown monster hiding in the Petrified Forest. Because of the uncertainty of the target, the reward offered by the guild was quite high.

However, what appeared before the party was a massive cave. Looking at the giant claw prints on the ground...

This didn't quite match the description in the quest request.

Although it was an unknown monster, based on the descriptions from those previously attacked, the target should have been a snake-type monster.

The experienced Ruijerd clearly realized this as well and stared fixedly at the Horse-Headed Man.

Before he could make a move, the creature inside the cave had already caught the scent of strangers outside and let out a deafening roar.

"ROAR——!!"

"So loud! What kind of monster is that?"

Eris was a little nervous, but more than that, she was excited.

Just hearing the sound, she knew it was a big one.

"It sounds like a dragon's roar, but typical dragon species don't have the habit of nesting in caves. Could it be some kind of lesser dragon?"

Chen Nuo said, picking his ear.

Sure enough, what emerged from the cave entrance was a bipedal lesser dragon. Looking at its massive head, which was somewhat disproportionate to its body, and its relatively atrophied front claws, one could tell.

This was a terrestrial lesser dragon species, a Saint-level monster, the Tyrannosaurus.

"So ugly!"

Eris gave her assessment.

"A trap?"

Ruijerd glared fiercely at the Horse-Headed Man.

Monsters with dragon bloodlines all had strong territorial awareness and intense aggressive instincts.

The Horse-Headed Man had led Chen Nuo's party here, and his intentions were clear: he was trying to use the beast to kill them.

"Listen to me, let me explain!"

Seeing the unreserved killing intent in Ruijerd's eyes, the Horse-Headed Man immediately fell into a panic, trying to buy himself more time. However, as Ruijerd thrust his spear, the voice came to an abrupt end.

Ruijerd never had a shred of extra pity or mercy for adults who harbored malicious intent.

"Sandrone, have you decided how many ways we'll serve this dragon?"

Chen Nuo turned his head and asked the person beside him.

"Dragon meat is too firm and tough and contains a massive amount of magic power. It will be troublesome to cook; I need more time to prepare."

Sandrone had a serious expression.

To her, cooking a dragon beast properly was far more difficult than killing one.

"Watch me slide-tackle it!"

Eris looked at the charging Tyrannosaurus and drew her blade, ready to meet it head-on, but Pronia was one step ahead of her.

The power module on its back emitted a shockwave, and in less than a second, it broke the sound barrier.

Eris could barely catch Pronia's flight trajectory. Moments later, she saw the Tyrannosaurus's nearly ten-meter-tall massive body collapse with a crash, sliding a long distance across the ground.

Ruijerd, however, saw exactly what Pronia had done.

With just a single punch, it had shattered the Tyrannosaurus's skull. Seeing the translucent, flocculent substance flowing from its orifices, one knew that the brains inside had been shaken to a pulp.

"Was that some kind of magic?"

Ruijerd could feel a surge of magic power erupting from Pronia's fist.

"Damn it!"

Eris was annoyed; she had actually had her kill stolen.

She had always been confident and optimistic about her own strength.

This wasn't blind confidence; Eris had her own judgment. If she had really gone in with a slide-tackle and landed a critical hit on a weak point, there was a chance she might have actually killed the Tyrannosaurus.

But that scene would have been too bloody and brutal, so never mind.

After all, it was just a monster, not some unforgivable villain; it didn't deserve that much.

The horizons of a low-to-mid-level Adventurer like the Horse-Headed Man were clearly insufficient to let him recognize what a true powerhouse was. In his eyes, a lesser dragon species was already an unbeatable existence.

Ruijerd had killed the Horse-Headed Man too early, not letting him witness Pronia's kill, otherwise, he would have truly realized where he was wrong.

"Then we'll have to rely on ourselves to find the quest target."

Chen Nuo glanced at Sandrone, who was directing Pronia to carve out the heart, lungs, tendons, and bones of the Tyrannosaurus, and turned to speak to Ruijerd.

"Don't worry, it will just take a bit more time."

Ruijerd, possessing his racial talent, was very confident about this.

There wasn't just one Adventurer party that had accepted this quest; the rich reward would always attract those who weren't afraid of death.

In this historical context, the Adventurer Guild was one of the few paths for ordinary people to achieve class mobility.

Although this path required risking one's life, sometimes having the chance to trade it was already quite good.

Human life wasn't actually that valuable.

Just as Sandrone was processing the Tyrannosaurus, a shrill scream came from the mist of the Petrified Forest.

Ruijerd stood up instantly.

He could tell that the owner of the voice was definitely young.

Ruijerd had always held the utmost sympathy for children; he immediately raised his spear and looked at Chen Nuo.

"Are you ready to take off?"

Chen Nuo's abrupt question left Ruijerd a bit confused.

"What?"

The next second, a magic circle appeared beneath Ruijerd's feet.

With the surge of magical radiance, a hurricane swept him up into the sky from below.

This sudden sensation of weightlessness made Ruijerd instinctively panic for a moment, but he quickly stabilized himself.

Seeing a pair of translucent wind wings appear on his back, he realized this was another one of Chen Nuo's spells.

"This is truly incredible."

Ruijerd couldn't help but murmur.

"Magic is inherently incredible."

Chen Nuo's voice came from above. Flying alongside him was Eris.

However, looking at how at ease the young lady was, one could tell this wasn't her first time taking flight.

"That's not what I meant."

Ruijerd spoke more than usual, which was rare.

It wasn't that he hadn't witnessed the wonders of magic, but he had never seen a mage like Chen Nuo.

Since when did magic become such a convenient thing?

On the former battlefield between humans and demons, Ruijerd had witnessed King-level magic, which was truly like a natural disaster.

But that required the coordination of over a dozen Saint-level mages. There's no need to list the various preparations involved; the incantation alone would require a whole book to record.

"Thanks for the compliment."

Chen Nuo replied.

"Faster! Higher!"

Eris shouted excitedly.

"We're here."

Chen Nuo interrupted.

Just below in the forest not far away, a few figures could be seen chasing and fleeing.

"It's all mist; I can't see the situation clearly."

Ruijerd furrowed his brows.

The mist in the Petrified Forest was a type of natural magic that severely interfered with one's sensory abilities.

"Small matter."

Chen Nuo raised his hand and waved it gently.

A gust of wind swept through, dispersing the mist, and the view became clear.

"I see them!"

Ruijerd followed, landing with his spear, and killed a monster in one fluid motion.

"Leave the last one to me!"

Eris, afraid of missing out, spoke up to claim it first.

Her movements in slaying the monster were just as swift, though she still ended up splattered with blood all over.

Both of these were the most common intermediate-level monsters in the Petrified Forest, but for most Adventurers, they were already quite dangerous.

Most Adventurers spent their entire lives dealing with low-level monsters.

Without proper professional training, just relying on a move or two picked up from who-knows-where to embark on the path of an Adventurer—let alone breaking through from a low-level class, it was lucky if they didn't cripple themselves in training.

"Th-thank you..."

The young Demon teenager's eyes reflected Eris's dashing figure; he probably wouldn't be able to forget this vibrant flash of red for the rest of his life.

"It's you guys."

Chen Nuo recognized these two novice Adventurers.

They had met before at the inn.

However, their party should have consisted of three people.

Chen Nuo looked back and found the third person, who had already lost their breath and was a bloody mess.

It was a chicken-headed Demon.

This world had a bit of deep malice toward "Brother Chicken"; did it not even give him two and a half years to debut?

"Sorry, we arrived one step too late."

Ruijerd said, sounding a bit self-reproachful.

"It's our own fault. As expected, with our strength, we shouldn't have come to the Petrified Forest..."

The young Demon only now realized the inadequacy of his own strength.

His companion beside him nodded and added.

"Since we chose this path, we had long prepared ourselves for death. Being able to save our lives this time is already very lucky. Thank you for your help."

Facing death, these two young Demons were actually quite mature.

It made sense; in an environment like the Demon Continent, nostalgia and sentimentality were extremely luxurious things. Everyone was just struggling desperately to survive.

"Noah, Noah, can this be eaten?"

Eris asked excitedly, holding up a spider leg.

That was the monster she had personally slain.

"Today's dinner is already sorted. Are you sure you still want to eat that thing?"

Chen Nuo reminded her.

Upon hearing this, Eris looked at the spider leg in her hand and immediately tossed it onto the ground.

Compared to the Tyrannosaurus, this spider really looked mediocre; she'd better save some room in her stomach.

"You guys also accepted the quest to subjugate the unknown monster, right? There's an Adventurer party that went ahead; you need to hurry up, or they'll beat you to it."

The young Demon seemed to remember something and said.

"What about you guys?"

Ruijerd asked with concern upon hearing this; he had originally planned to escort these two teenagers out of the Petrified Forest.

"We can manage on our own."

The young Demon declined Ruijerd's kindness, took a furtive glance at Eris, who was sticking close to Chen Nuo and had been "refreshed," and left with his surviving companion.

As for the one who died.

Sorry, the Demon race didn't have the tradition of collecting bodies; naturally, he would have a funeral that merged him with the land.

Ruijerd looked at Chen Nuo; unknowingly, he had become accustomed to seeking his opinion.

"Then, I wish you a safe journey."

Chen Nuo respected the choice of these two and headed in the direction they had pointed, with Eris following closely behind.

Ruijerd took one last look at the backs of the two young Demons as they departed, then finally followed in Chen Nuo's footsteps.

Not long after, Ruijerd smelled the thick scent of blood permeating the mist; it seemed they had caught up with the people ahead.

Looking at the crushed remains and the traces left on the ground, it was clear these people had indeed found the target first, but unfortunately, they lacked the strength to handle it.

"That guy is nearby!"

Ruijerd could sense the existence of the target.

Judging from the battle traces left on the ground, this was definitely a big one.

While he was speaking, a flash of crimson slowly emerged, its massive body churning up the mist.

"Red-Eating Great Serpent! I didn't expect to see one here."

Ruijerd recognized this giant monster.

"It's so big, how many days would it take to eat?"

Eris's focus was a bit different.

The Red-Eating Great Serpent didn't differ in form from ordinary snake-type monsters; it was just extremely massive, comparable to a train. But when compared to the Tyrannosaurus they had just killed, the difference wasn't actually that big, and it was even weaker.

It had no powerful bloodline talents.

Its physical resistance and magic immunity couldn't compare to the dragon scales of a lesser dragon.

The only thing that stood out was this advantage of massive size.

But in many cases, this was actually a disadvantage.

"Let's finish this quickly; I'm still waiting for Sandrone's full-course dragon feast."

Chen Nuo said, extending his index finger. A dazzling orange-red flame bloomed from his fingertip, and with a surging tide of magic power, it rapidly expanded into a fireball with a diameter of one meter.

However, to Ruijerd's surprise, even though he was so close, he didn't feel any heat from the fireball.

This could only mean one thing.

Chen Nuo had contained all the heat.

Doing this wasn't really necessary; it was more of a show of skill, the absolute control a mage had over the magic they released.

Seemingly sensing danger, the Red-Eating Great Serpent's body began to churn uneasily, emitting sharp hisses.

The next second, the orange-red fireball shrank into a white dot like a firefly, which looked oddly "nuke-peaceful."

In the blink of an eye, it vanished from Chen Nuo's fingertip.

Even with Ruijerd's keen eyesight, he could only see the trace in the air distorted by high heat.

"Noah's Secret Fireball."

This was what Chen Nuo named it.

Ruijerd looked at the Red-Eating Great Serpent, which seemed as if it had been frozen in time, and had a strong urge to say something.

He didn't know yet that this feeling was called a retort.

Immediately following, flames erupted from every part of the Red-Eating Great Serpent, and the embers left from the burning flesh followed suit. In just a few seconds, the massive body had turned into an empty husk.

Chen Nuo picked up a scale as proof for completing the quest and then left with Eris and the others.