Chapter 119: Ultimate Escape
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
In broad daylight, Soran’s figure disappeared right in front of the hunters.
NPCs encountered few advanced professions because their numbers were as rare as spellcasters. At least 90% of the advanced professions were Fighters, and about 1% of them were casters and special advanced professions. Fighters had always been the mainstream profession because any race or creature could advance into a Fighter. Fighters were the only common profession that all races could choose.
The black Gnoll wasn’t sure what ability Soran was using, but he was certain that Soran was in Sneak.
If the opponent was going to fight to the death, then it would threaten its life.
Because he wasn’t sure he could escape Soran’s Sneak, the Gnoll became hesitant and waited until the others were around him. It stayed in the place where Soran disappeared briefly, then sniffed the bloodstains on the ground. Soran had serious injuries and could be tracked by the hunters according to the b.l.o.o.d.y smell. Even though Soran left a very shallow trace as he moved forward, but from time to time there were drips of blood, which was the most obvious trail he left.
150 in Sneak.
Soran had completely blended into the shadows and could not be seen.
The position he chose was backlit, and the moment he rushed out, he went into Sneak and disappeared right in front of the eyes of the hunters. Although Sneak allowed a person to disappear, there could still be some traces left behind. Soran moved quickly in the shadows. He would die if he stayed still. Even though the enemy could not see him, they could still rely on smells and blood traces, which was slower.
A legendary Const.i.tution of 20 soon came into action and Soran’s wounds slowly stopped bleeding.
From behind him came the cry of the hunters and immediately under the command of the Gnoll, the other hunters swiftly dispersed. Soran didn’t move in an obvious manner because it would completely expose his position. He moved along the hard ground at a reasonable speed, which would make his footprints very insignificant.
Escaping by sprinting out was out of the question!
His physical strength was not better than those of the hunters. Because he was still injured, exposing his position would instantly get him surrounded by the enemy. He would almost have no way of escaping by then. Hunters with a Profession Level of 15 or above basically had one primary attribute that was close to the realm of legends. As they were high-grade professions that were just short of being legendary, they were completely different from the enemies Soran were used to deal with.
As he moved cautiously forward, Soran was also planning out the best escape route. Playing hide and seek in the jungle was not possible. The high-grade Gnoll tracking ability was too good.
The Gnoll only needed a small trace of blood to be able to find Soran!
That’s why he would need to take some risk in order to escape.
He had come up with a crazy plan. In fact, right as he activated [Evade Sight] he had already come up with an insane plan.
In front of Soran was a cliff that was hundreds of meters high.
This was a natural cliff near the forest and below it was the lush trees. There was also a river in the distance but jumping from such a high place was suicidal. Even his 25 Const.i.tution wouldn’t be able to withstand the injuries caused by falling from this height. Even the possibility of a legendary profession surviving wasn’t high.
Soran wasn’t stupid enough to jump off and pray to Lady Luck.
At this height, even she would be powerless to create any miracles!
Soran never liked to gamble. If he had to gamble, he would make sure he had good chances.
Soran soon came to his mark.
His expression was somewhat grim, probably because of the situation too risky. His heartbeat raced as he gritted his teeth and took a deep breath. Then he took out a hook from his multi-dimensional bag. It was the tool he had used to leave Whiterun when he climbed over the city walls.
He took a good look at the bottom of the cliff. Near the ground, more than a hundred meters up, there was a small crack with prominent rocks and a not-so-strong tree rooted nearby. He quietly calculated the distance and tied his cloak to his back. It looked like the simplest parachute, which could be opened and lowered slightly after jumping off to control his fall. He took the hook in his hand, with the iron hook in his right hand and a rope of twenty to thirty meters in his left hand.
After taking a deep breath, Soran suddenly leaped off the cliff!
The air pa.s.sed him fiercely as he fell.
The surrounding was pa.s.sing by him quickly. His sense balance was brought to its limits as he used his cloak slow down a bit. He kept his eyes wide open and locked on to his goal. After falling about two or three hundred meters, Soran threw the hook out of his hand.
This was the moment of life and death!
The hook hit the tree pole at the next moment and wound around it three times. The hook was now fixed between the branches of the tree pole. The rope that Soran threw out straightened and tightened rapidly. The force of his fall was great that the rope quickly slid out of his palm, which was cut open. The hook that was fixed on the tree was also pulled hard, as it received Soran’s weight. His hand grasping the rope began to release slightly.
If he hadn’t released to buffer the force, the rope might have snapped under immense load.
This buffering process lasted only two seconds and for 20 meters. The palm of Soran’s grip on the rope gradually moved down to let the rope run from his hands. At the same time, he counteracted the falling force with an appropriate grip on the rope to slow his fall. The friction caused by the descent made his palm bleed and drenched in blood!
His fall was now at a more manageable speed.
When he was about to run out of rope, leaving only two or three meters in length, Soran suddenly wrapped his arm around the rope. The rest of the force exploded at this moment! The rope sank in an instant, and the tree also shook.
The tree had withstood Soran’s fall.
The rope also reduced the speed of his fall because of the friction, and it did not snap directly. Soran’s figure rebounded upward three to five meters because of the flexibility of the tree pole and fell a little again, but the force was very small.
Soran had now successfully stopped his fall and was hanging mid-air.
However, he was still one hundred meters away from the ground, which was still deadly if he jumped from here.
Soran gasped for a moment to recover and let his injured arm recover from the falling force. He gulped down a bottle healing potion then began to swing gently, gradually increasing in magnitude, and finally, he was able to reach for a rock on the cliff wall!
Clang!
He plunged a dagger into the wall of the cliff.
Soran’s swaying body was now fixed in front of the cliff. He looked at the steep cliff and stepped on a prominent stone with his foot. After a while, he clenched his teeth, pulled out a second dagger with his other palm, and thrust it into a nearby position with all his strength.
“Huh!”
Soran blew out a breath of relief and inhaled again.
He untied the rope around him, stepped on a rock that was less than three centimeters wide, then climbed down bit by bit with the help of his daggers.
As he struck his daggers in, sparks flew!
Soran’s dagger was about to become blunt, but he had climbed down tens of meters and there were more and more prominent rocks.
He moved down faster and faster. In some places, he could climb down directly and when there was a way to climb down, he used his dagger. Relying on his explosive force and his Const.i.tution of 20, Soran was able to make progress.
The ground was now closer and closer!
When the distance was close to about 30 meters, Soran slid down the steep hillside. The friction made his injuries worse. However, when he reached the height of more than 10 meters, he jumped off from his position.
Pa!
Soran kneeled on one knee and unloaded his strength. All the bones of his body seemed like they were about to fall apart. His injuries were all over his body, leaving less than a quarter of his HP left.
The bruises on his body had even done 30 damage.
If not for his extraordinary Const.i.tution, he probably would have not been able to move.
On the edge of the cliff, the hunters appeared. The moment Soran jumped from the cliff, they had found his trail and had remembered their crazy enemy forever. When Soran landed, he looked up at them. The expression on his face was a little grim. Suddenly, he laughed nervously which finally turned into a crazy laugh.
His whole body was covered with b.l.o.o.d.y scars and his back was a fleshy, b.l.o.o.d.y mess. Even his palm had bits of white bone showing.
His injuries made him look like a demon, but he was definitely crazier than them!
“I knew I wouldn’t die here today!”
Soran looked at the cliff hundreds of meters high and then headed away without looking back.
Someday!
He would come back and repay the favor!