The speed of the worms obviously couldn't keep up with the running speed of the two. Steven and Mir ran out for more than 100 meters. After the worms stopped chasing, the two of them could finally take a breath. They continued to stay away from the lake for a few hundred meters before stopping to check the equipment.
, the backpack and tent were all wet from the rain.
Steven saw a forest not far away. He took Mir into the forest. The two found a spot between several big trees and tied the canvas tent in the middle of the trees. This way they could barely avoid the rain and used sleeping pads and sleeping bags.
None of them could be used, so the two of them had to sit on the ground with their backs against the big tree and wait for dawn.
Fortunately, the heavy rain finally stopped when it was daybreak, and the early morning sunshine shone on the forest and the swamp outside.
After simply eating dry food, the two hung the wet equipment on the branches to dry. The subtropical sun was very strong, and everything was dried after a morning. After packing, the two continued on their way.
After this incident, the two finally learned that when camping at night, they should stay away from lakes and ponds, at least a hundred meters away from the water's edge, otherwise something strange might crawl out of the water and attack them in the middle of the night.
...
Three days later in the afternoon, Steven and Mir finally returned to the village. From a distance, they saw two figures, one tall and one short, standing at the entrance of the village. Steven's keen vision saw that it was old man Humu holding a little girl.
, the little girl must be Mir's daughter.
After a while, both teams recognized each other. The little girl shouted and ran towards Mir. Mir rushed forward and picked her up. He held his daughter and spun around on the ground. The girl giggled and looked at her.
The reunited family, Steven smiled.
The Hume family repeatedly expressed their gratitude to Steven and wanted to pay double the reward. At this time, Steven also learned the reason why Mill ventured into the depths of the blue swamp: it turned out that he wanted to collect more blue glow flowers and pay tribute to him.
The vendors in the village exchanged money to raise money for their daughter's medical treatment. Her illness required her to go to Kania to see a doctor at the clinic, which cost a lot of money.
Steven only received the payment he had agreed upon before departure, stayed at Mill's house for one night, and then set off. He still planned to go directly through the Blue Swamp into the Glen Mountains, and cross the mountains to the direction of Murphy City in the Principality of Ferreira.
After saying goodbye to the Hume family, Steven sold a total of one pound of dried indigo flowers and rhizomes at the vendors in the small square of the village for the hire fee paid by Hume.
Then he bought some dry bread and dried meat in the village, then rode out of the village on his chestnut horse and headed towards the Blue Marsh.
After entering the Blue Swamp, Steven had to dismount. It was difficult to walk here on horseback. He put his backpack on the horse and led the chestnut horse towards the depths of the swamp.
A person needs to be more careful when exploring the Blue Swamp. The mutant giant lizards and strange insects he encountered before made him more vigilant. Although he was not afraid of the mutant creatures he had encountered so far, in the end he was not afraid of the mutant creatures he had encountered.
It is best to avoid them as much as possible, and there are probably more unknown mutated beasts that have not yet been discovered.
Except for using water and having to cross the river, he tried to stay away from the water. It was very convenient to carry a horse. When crossing the river, the chestnut horse could carry a backpack, and the backpack would not get wet when it was placed on the horse's back.
There is no need to make a small raft to hold the backpack.
In this way, Steven slowly entered the deepest part of the Blue Swamp. Even before the mutation, very few people came in the center of the Blue Swamp. There were many beasts here before the mutation.
Now no one dares to go deep into the mutated swamp. Except for Steven holding the chestnut horse, there are no humans left in the world.
Relying on his skillful darts and bow hunting skills, he had fresh barbecue for dinner along the way. There were so many animals in the blue swamp that Steven didn't have to worry about food at all.
That night, Steven practiced soul flame visualization in the tent as usual. In the past few days, he felt that he was about to break through to the inner layer of the flame. Now he could vaguely distinguish the runes in the center of the flame, but it was not clear yet. He could only
It's only one step away from clearly distinguishing it from the rune. It's estimated that after more than ten days of practice, I can break through this step!
The first half of the night passed quickly in a state of silence. Steven exited the silence to prepare for sleep. When he first exited, his perception was often the most acute. At this time, a creature appeared in his perception, making a subtle sound.
Approach the camp slowly!
It was the faint sound of footsteps in the grass while walking. Only Steven's keen hearing could barely distinguish it. This approaching creature did not look like a giant lizard or a mutated bug that he had encountered before, but like some kind of predator.
The predatory beast has arrived at the edge of the camp, only a few meters away from Steven!
Steven poked his head out of the tent to observe. There was no sign of any creature in that direction in his night vision, but he could clearly feel its soul light group in his perception!
This is a creature with dark elemental abilities!
But Steven didn't feel locked, and the other party didn't want to attack him!
Then why did it come to the camp? Steven thought, he sat in the tent and poked his head out and did not take any further action. Instead, he observed the creature with soul perception. If it came close to the campfire, it would definitely exit the shadows.
Hidden state.
With the straight knife already in his hand, Steven became more vigilant and adopted a defensive posture.
The creature's soul light group in his perception stayed a few meters away and did not move. Steven waited for a while, then got out of the tent, took out a piece of roasted antelope leg from the banana leaves wrapped tightly next to the campfire, and threw it away.
to that creature.
The piece of meat fell at its feet. The creature seemed to lower its head and sniff it, then exited the shadow state, stretched out its mouth to bite the piece of meat, stepped back a few steps and lay on the ground to eat.
It turns out to be a striped leopard! No! It is no longer the same as a striped leopard! This leopard is all black, and you can barely distinguish the faint dark stripes on its body under the firelight. It should be a mutated striped leopard.
, and it’s a dark element ability!
Dark elements can greatly enhance the agility of mutants. The striped leopard is originally very flexible and agile, but after mutation, I don’t know how fast it will be!
With its ability and speed, it certainly has no shortage of food, so why would it still come to its own camp?
Steven guessed that the roasted lamb wrapped in banana leaves attracted it and made it venture closer to the camp.
The mutated striped leopard finished up a large piece of roasted leg of lamb in just a few bites. Even the leg bones were chewed up and swallowed. It stuck out its tongue and licked its mouth, turned around and walked into the darkness.
Almost disappeared from Steven's perception.
Steven shook his head, feeling that it was a pity that he had not awakened the power of the wood element. Otherwise, there would have been a great chance of establishing a relationship with this mutated striped leopard that did not attack people.
Forget it, it's useless to think too much, Steven got into the tent to sleep, and then it started to rain again.
In the following days, every midnight, the Shadow Leopard - this is the name Steven gave it, would come to his camp, enjoy a large piece of barbecue thrown to it, and then leave.
Steven tried to look for it during the day, but found no clues.