Chapter 223: Phenomenon |
When they encountered this giant bear, it was the evening of the twentieth day. Now, a long, pale white line appeared on the edge of the horizon, heralding the dawn of the twenty-first day.
It had taken them an entire night to bury the black bear in the soil. Almost everyone stayed up all night, digging and toiling without rest. The black bear lay on its side, buried deep in the earth, its body pinned beneath a massive pile of rocks and tree trunks. Xiao Wei had completely drained her Mana casting Frost Arrow to keep it frozen.
The refugees' hands were blistered and raw, their bodies drenched in sweat. A few coughed violently. Their drinking water reserves were running dangerously low, and as for the assorted grains, they had all been baked into dry rations resembling rice cakes and flatbreads.
The black bear's massive head poked out of the dirt. From behind, it looked like an oversized gopher, but from the front, its terrifying visage was fully visible. Its gaping maw revealed fangs stained with dark blood. Even with only its head exposed, it resembled a vicious demon reeking of malice. Everyone was on the brink of exhaustion. Even Bai Mu was down to a mere forty percent of his Stamina. Despite staying up all night and averaging less than six hours of sleep per day recently, his mental state remained surprisingly stable.
He had long grown accustomed to this kind of life. Furthermore, the increase in his Spirit attribute seemed to help him stay alert, though overall, his condition was far from optimal.
He had Xiao Wei revert to her doll form and tucked her into his pocket. At this point, casting another Frost Arrow on the creature would be practically useless. With almost its entire body buried beneath the soil, the Frost Arrow could only hit its head, failing to cool down its body. Continuing to cast the spell would be a pointless waste of Mana.
The frost on the beast began to melt, dampening its fur and the surrounding earth. Drops of icy water trickled down from its whiskers and fangs.
It was on the verge of thawing completely. Bai Mu kept a close eye on it while continuously piling more weight on top of its grave. After all, it was impossible to gauge exactly how much strength the creature possessed. To prevent it from breaking free, they had to bury it under as much weight as possible.
While keeping an eye on the bear, Bai Mu also had Adai plant a Guard Mushroom at the top of the hill to remain vigilant of their surroundings at all times.
The trees pressing down on the black bear also gradually withered and decayed, shedding their canopy of leaves onto the ground as if the seasons had rapidly shifted into late autumn. The black bear fully awoke from its frozen state.
It roared at the outside world, its jaws snapping wildly like a rabid dog.
But their night of hard labor was not in vain. Try as it might, it could not break free from the soil. Generally speaking, when someone was buried alive, even at a shallow depth, it was nearly impossible to escape the dirt using only their own strength.
It was not a matter of sheer physical strength. In fact, even under just three feet of soil, the weight of the earth pressing down on a body could reach anywhere from one to two tons.
Moreover, someone buried alive could hardly exert any effective digging force. With limbs pinned and no leverage to speak of, a person might not even be able to output ten percent of their maximum strength.
For example, striking an egg against a rock would easily shatter the shell, but if one gripped an egg in the palm of one hand and tried to crush it with sheer, uniform pressure, they might fail even if they used all their might.
Even with the black bear looking ready to devour someone alive, the trees and rocks pressing down on it remained completely motionless. Seeing this, Bai Mu finally felt a wave of relief. Regardless of whether his ultimate theory proved correct, their efforts at least had not been wasted.
The creature was well and truly trapped. It looked exactly like a vicious hound chained to a post; no matter how loudly it barked, it could not bite anyone. At best, it just looked intimidating.
However, its health pool was truly massive, and its resistance to various status effects was horrifyingly high. It had been buried and frozen for an entire night, and prior to that, it had taken more than a dozen musket shots and a few crude bombs. Yet, it was still full of vigor, seemingly completely unharmed. The Shaman stood off to the side, terrified by the sight. She pulled animal teeth and round stones from her pouch, performing a ritual in front of the beast like a practicing sorceress.
But the black bear remained completely unaffected, showing no signs of passing on peacefully.
Besides, Bai Mu had not buried the creature to grant it a peaceful transition. From his personal perspective, he did not believe this thing could be exorcised or put to rest by a ritual.
He was more inclined to treat the "god" mentioned by the musketeer and the birth of these "Mountain Evil Gods" as a natural phenomenon unique to this world. The biggest difference between this realm and the world he knew was the existence of that very "god".
In his eyes, it was not a "god" at all; people had merely taken it upon themselves to label it a "god".
The so-called "Mountain Evil God" was simply a monster born from this phenomenon.
Once he was sure the entity was securely trapped, Bai Mu planned to lead his group away. Staying here would only become increasingly dangerous. Furthermore, even if his theory was correct, this thing would not die anytime soon. He estimated that it would take at least five days, perhaps even longer, for the black bear to perish. If he received a notification for killing the black bear five days from now, it would prove his theory correct—meaning that even the Mountain Evil God transformed from the Emperor held the possibility of being killed.
He did not give the refugees any time to rest, ordering them to follow him and leave immediately.
He ordered the others to discard all unnecessary items right there. Swords, ceramics, shields, armor, pots and pans, and even excess gunpowder and muskets... all of it was meaningless now. Moving forward, they needed to abandon everything as much as possible, save for food and water. Before leaving, he set a fire on the mountain, burning the trees and green grass to ash. The small hill erupted into a roaring blaze, sending thick black plumes of smoke billowing into the distance.
Amidst the flames, the black bear looked like an evil spirit crawling out of hell, roaring at the departing crowd but unable to break free. After marching for another day, Bai Mu noticed the distant smoke vanish; the fire on the mountain had seemingly finally burned out.
On the evening of the twenty-first day, he dismissed the Witch's summon. Xiao Wei returned to her human form, having fully regenerated her Mana and Stamina over the course of the day.
"Sir, is that black bear dead?" she asked.
Bai Mu shook his head; he had not received any notification.
"We still have to wait," Bai Mu said. "Even a human can survive three days without food or water."