Chapter 367: A Terryfyingly Hungry Bear!
Chapter 367: A Terryfyingly Hungry Bear!
....
Thump, Thump, Thump.
No matter how much snot drained from their nostrils, and no matter how much they slurred their words while speaking words of praise, the steps of the Shadow Bear only became louder and louder.
After realizing that the Knight Examiner was not going to come out and save them with what they had shown thus far, the participants collapsed to the ground and started to grovel.
Through snot and saliva, one of the cowardly Knight Participants shouted, "P-Please! I come from the countryside, and I can't die like this! I promised the chief of my village that I would go find a wife, make it rich, and then bring back some wealth to save the village from poverty!"
Silence.
Thump. Thump! Thump! Thump!! Thump!!! THUMP!!!
No longer hundreds of meters away from the scared shitless group, the shadow bear now loomed over them with its full mouth of razor-sharp teeth trickling stinky saliva onto the participants.
"Ahhhh!!! Get away from me, monster!!" Suddenly screaming from the side, Bo Ya clutched her head in terror and bundled herself up into a ball.
"Y-You monster! Stay away from her—" Before one of the other nobles could finish what he was saying, blood had somehow appeared in the bear's mouth. Staring at this blood in horror, the man's eyes widened in terror upon turning his head down to look at Bo Ya.
"D-Dead… She's dead!!!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, coming out in a deranged way toward the end.
Nearly throwing up on himself, he clutched his stomach and collapsed to the ground. As his face turned green, he puked all over the grass. Never in his life had he seen anything so gruesome!
"!?!?" "!?!?"
The commotion created by these two nobles attracted the attention of everybody there, and when they saw what was once Bo Ya, they, too, felt nauseous…
Her entire upper half… from the pelvis up, all of it was missing! It was instead replaced with the sight of protruding rib bones and tendons!
"Ahhhh!! Someone died!! Someone actually fucking died!!"
"T-This can't be real…! A dream… Yes, yes, it must be a dream…!"
"..."
While everyone besides six were losing their shit and scattering in every direction, Azmodeus focused his piercing gaze on the blonde head hanging off the side of the flat-faced bear's mouth.
'It seems like this test is that kind of trial,' he thought with an emotionless expression.
Without hesitation, Azmodeus activated his stealth techniques and left the horrific scene under the dead of night. He was the first to leave; however, the other six quickly thought along similar lines and ran away as well.
None of them were confident in dealing with a Grade 1 Celestial Immortal, and not a single one of them was dumb enough to throw their lives away. Therefore, it was only natural that they ran.
As for the other thirty or so Knight Participants…
"Ahhh!! Someone, please help me!! T-The blood! I want to go home!!"
"Where's my momma!? M-Momma!!!"
All of them were young adults, and having just left the wings of their parents, they were unfamiliar with the cruelties of the world.
Only six of them knew true suffering or sorrow, and all of them were smart enough to immediately flee the scene. On the other hand, the thirty odd participants who stayed would serve as nothing but bear chow…
SPURT!
"Ahhh!!! It hurts!!"
SPURT!
"P-Please, no!!"
One by one, the Knight Participants were torn apart. And the most unnerving thing about this massacre was the complete stillness on the shadow bear's expression. For all its snakeheads, their eyes were lifeless, and the blood of young immortals trickled down their lips…
The sight was one that instilled even more fear in the hearts of the trembling Knight Participants. It was a primal sort of fear—one that etched into their hearts the daunting fates that awaited them…
SPURT!
SPURT!
As screams and gushing blood echoed through the spooky forest, the Shadow Bear finally finished mauling and devouring the last of the Knight Participants who stayed behind.
After the original six, a little more than ten also ran away, although not nearly as composed as the first six. And this fact…
It made the Shadow Bear angry.
It was hungry… so very hungry! It was so extremely hungry!!
With its dozens of eyes remaining as blank as before, all its serpent heads suddenly shot in the same direction in an ominous way.
It just sat there on its hind legs and stared in that one direction…
Then, out of nowhere, it got on all fours and started to savagely run in the direction of one of the Knight Participants!
Its target was one of the last ones to escape, and he was also someone who tripped on more than one occasion in his attempt to escape the apex predator. Unable to fly under the restrictions of the Serpent God Forest, he was forced to rely on a mode of travel that he hadn't practiced since he was a little kid.
Add that to the stress and horror from this fucked-up Knight Trial, and it was no surprise that what it was running from had caught up to him…
Drip, Drip, Drip.
"Is it raining…?" The young man asked in confusion as he momentarily stopped in his tracks and looked behind him.
"!!!"
"N-No—!!"
CHOMP!
Without even being able to finish his scream of terror, the Shadow Bear had already swallowed him whole and let his horror-filled screams travel through his throat. Clothes and all, the young man was devoured in his entirety. However…
Still hungry.
The shadow bear was still hungry!!! It wanted more food!!!
Standing there in a foreboding way with human blood staining the fur around its gaping mouths, it seemed to be scanning its surroundings for something. A heat signature…
When it located yet another heat signature, it leaped off the ground and dashed through the spooky forest with a monstrous glint in its many savage eyes.
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