Chapter 541: Island of Devil’s Maw (46)
His legs became harder and harder to move and his shoulders felt heavier and heavier. Even the air that flowed into his lungs became incredibly cold, causing him to s.h.i.+ver. The indescribable pressure expanded within the short few seconds and it closed him in. When Pegasus reached the dead body, he was already completely surrounded by terror…
He wanted to turn back to look at how his teammates were doing but he realized he was unable to move his gaze… it was as if his eyes were transfixed on the dead person’s face and his hands were uncontrollably frozen to the spot, keeping the ray of the flashlight aiming upwards. At the moment, a death-like stillness fell. Pegasus suddenly could not hear even his own breathing anymore… He appeared to be standing inside a frozen world, his body was shrouded in darkness and his mind was conquered by fear. And it was in that moment, that the body… stopped swaying.
He slowly lifted his head to expose the face that was previously hidden in the darkness. Two muddy eyes flickered underneath his eyelids and the tongue that dangled by his mouth was dripping water. He arranged his mouth into a smile at Pegasus but he did not speak. After a few seconds, his fingers twitched twice before his whole arms started to move. Then… The dead body raised both of his arms to try to undo the noose around his neck but he was unable to do it… because the noose was incredibly tightly wound.
“Ergh… Ah…” Several low and incoherent voices came out from his throat, it sounded very painful. After several failed attempts, he started to use his own finger to scratch at his neck…
The sound of the skin being scratched away by the nails was quite interesting, it sounded like ‘mud being peeled off’. It did not take long for the dead body’s neck to be gristly with flesh and blood, but he still kept on going, if anything, he only got more intense in his clawing…
Sprays of blood kept splas.h.i.+ng on Pegasus’ face and body. Finally, a large blood droplet landed on the gla.s.s of the flashlight and thus… everything before Pegasus’ eyes turned fresh red. A b.l.o.o.d.y ray of light, a dark stage, a grotesque performance and a s.h.i.+vering audience.
Seeing all these at such a close quarter undeniably raised Pegasus’ Terror Points but he was unable to resist it… because he had lost complete control of his body, he could not even close his eyes.
…
“What has happened to him?” Ambitionist who stood far away asked in deep concern with confusion on his face.
“Erm… is it possible that he spotted some clues?” Atobe offered. From their perspective, the dead body was still dangling and swaying in the air, while Pegasus was standing 2 meters in front of the dead body, holding the flashlight and s.p.a.cing out.
“Something is not right… He has not moved for at least 2 minutes already.” Feng Bujue added with a severe expression. “I suspect… he has been a.s.saulted by some kind of skill.”
“Some kind of targeted immobilization skill?” Ambitionist continued as he looked over the dead body. “But after Pegasus was transfixed, the ‘dead body’ has not done any follow up attack…”
“Perhaps… the monster also cannot move when it is channelling the skill?” Atobe guessed.
“You might be right…” Ambitionist said, “Then should we…” He turned towards Feng Bujue, “Go forward to help?”
“That is a must… But we better not go together.” Feng Bujue said, “Think about it… What if this is an aoe skill and will cause everyone that walks into the territory to fall under the influence of the skill, then all of us will be wiped out.”
“Then… we will send one more person?” Atobe asked probingly.
“No, two more.” Feng Bujue answered and turned to look at Ambitionist, “Me and Atobe will go and you will stay.”
Ambitionist thought for 2 seconds, “You mean… if I notice anything strange…”
“Then you should attack immediately.” Feng Bujue finished Ambitionist’s words, “use your light arrows to shoot at that dangling dead body.”
“What if after I’ve done that and the problem is still not solve?” Ambitionist asked.
“Then you’d have to figure it out on your own…” Feng Bujue responded.
“Okay then…” Ambitionist pushed on his gla.s.ses and answered in a rather helpless tone. Ambitionist understood Feng Bujue had given much thought before deciding for him to stay. The ‘you’d have to figure it out on your own’ implied Feng Bujue’s trust in Ambitionist’s brilliance and decisiveness.
“Okay, now… Atobe.” Brother Jue patted Atobe’s shoulder and waved at him. “Follow me.” Then he had started to move forward.
“hey! Aren’t you going to ask about my opinion?” Atobe lowered his voice to a growl. “I have not even agreed to go with you yet!”
Hearing that, Feng Bujue made an emergency brake, turned back, gave the man a side eye. “you mother beep are coming with me or not?” In a way, Brother Jue had done what Atobe asked for, which was to ask for his opinion…
“Erm… Fine, I’m coming…” Atobe hesitated for 2 seconds before grabbing his flashlight to follow.
“In that case, get moving.” Feng Bujue said before he turned to move again. He kept his eyes to all sides, his ears to all direction. He held the light and moved quickly. Soon he arrived behind Pegasus…
In Feng Bujue’s perspective, the dead body did not come alive and he did not purposely s.h.i.+ne his light on the dead body’s face.
“Hey, brother Pegasus.” Feng Bujue only took 10 seconds to reach a metre behind Pegasus and call the man’s name light, “It’s me, what’s up?”
There was no response to his greeting. Feng Bujue instantly turned around, wis.h.i.+ng to tell Atobe something but to his surprise…
“Hmm?” Once Brother Jue turned around, he realized the scene behind him had turned into a world of darkness, there was no one there. At that moment, a sense of chill silently crept towards him…
This was definitely not a psychological trick (in that case, Brother Jue was still quite confident), there was an actual chill in the air.
“Hah…” Facing this kind of scary scenario, Feng Bujue laughed in surprise. “So this is the truth…” He mumbled to himself, “it is this kind of skill…” After he said that, he turned and walked forward to grab Pegasus by his shoulders. And the result was… once his palm touched Pegasus’ body, the latter’s head snapped from his neck and rolled to the ground…
“Hmm…” Feng Bujue studied the human head that was covered in blood and said with ease. “That’s interesting… Is there more?”
“You appear to be…” That dangling dead body chose that moment to speak, “…different from the others.”
“Oh? Why would you say that?” Like he was walking in a park, Feng Bujue walked around ‘Pegasus’ before him and stood before the dead body.
“The fear inside your heart…” The person responded, “cannot be evoked for some reason…”
“Do you think I need you to tell me that?” Feng Bujue chuckled. “And here I thought… you were going to tell me that ‘I was more handsome than the rest of then’.”
“Hmph… don’t be too happy so soon…” The dead body warned coldly, “You are still in my control…”
…
And now we shall back up for a bit…
To one minute ago, and see things from Atobe’s perspective…
He grabbed his flashlight and followed Brother Jue. Along the way, they did not speak and in less than 10 seconds, the two already reached Pegasus and that hanging body.
“Hey, are you alright?” The ‘Feng Bujue’ before him said something like that before reaching out to touch ‘Pegasus’s shoulders, and then the latter’s head split from his neck without warning and dropped to the ground. Instantly, a foundation of fresh blood burst out from the stump where ‘Pegasus’ head once was and it felt like it was raining blood. Facing this sudden incident, Atobe was naturally scared quite a bit and he was fl.u.s.tered and did not know what to do. And during that moment, the headless body of ‘Pegasus’ started to move…
‘Pegasus’ suddenly whipped his body around and used the flashlight that was covered in blood to s.h.i.+ne at ‘Feng Bujue’. When the red rays landed on ‘Feng Bujue’s body, the latter shrieked in pain. The body of this ‘Feng Bujue’ dissolved into a puddle of blood under the ray of the flashlight…
“Ah—” Seeing that, Atobe screamed out of anger. As they say, extreme joy begets misery and extreme fear begets anger. Atobe in this condition naturally belonged to the latter. Compelled by enormous fear, he lost the rationality of thought and followed his instinct and charged forward…
At the time, Atobe was thinking, [That headless ‘Pegasus’ was no longer our partner, he has killed Feng Bujue, if I don’t do anything, he’ll come after me next!] After making his decision to attack, Atobe reached into his inventory to withdraw his weapon. But to his consternation…