Chapter Twelve: A Hasty Escape (Seeking Votes, Seeking Support)

"Haa—!"

Zeus let out a roar, leaping into the air and charging toward Little Red Riding Hood with his spear held high.

Without a second thought, Little Red Riding Hood reached out, a long whip manifesting in her hand, and struck him with such force that he was sent flying. Although Zeus was thick-skinned and suffered little actual damage, he was in no position to return to the fray for the time being.

With him out of the way, Little Red Riding Hood could finally focus on the others. Her pitch-black eyes, devoid of whites or pupils, flared with an eerie light, appearing like black holes consuming everything in their path.

"Hiss!" Sals gasped. "She's draining your life force!"

In truth, there was no need for him to say it; Okodin and Keld were well aware of what they were experiencing. Only those who have lived through it can understand the agony of having one's life essence forcibly ripped from within. Despite their best efforts to replenish their vitality and the continuous healing provided by the fallen angel, they could not keep pace with the speed of Little Red Riding Hood's absorption.

"Retreat!" Okodin, enduring the pain, barked the order.

If they persisted, their condition would only deteriorate further, making escape impossible and potentially costing them their lives. Though unwilling to admit defeat, they knew their best course of action was to pull back, regroup, and devise a better strategy before returning.

Hearing his command, Keld and Sals immediately prepared to withdraw.

Above, the dark clouds churned, and thunder rolled and flickered within. Little Red Riding Hood ceased her draining of their life force, staring at the storm clouds as if facing a formidable enemy. The Mist Forest was her divine domain; attacking the forest was, in effect, attacking her. Okodin and his team did not realize that the tool they had unleashed to aid their escape had inadvertently struck at Little Red Riding Hood’s Achilles' heel. Busy with their flight, they remained oblivious to this fact.

At this moment, Little Red Riding Hood’s attention was no longer on them. The items used by those who made a habit of hunting gods were naturally of high caliber. Before the group had gone far, they heard thunder and lightning erupt from their previous position. Bolts of lightning as thick as a human arm descended from the sky, striking the earth. Even from a distance, it was a spectacular sight.

Okodin and his companions, however, were in no mood to appreciate their own handiwork; fearing that Little Red Riding Hood might pursue them, they fled in a panic. Consequently, they failed to notice the big bad wolf being baptized by the lightning, nor did they notice that the mist in the forest had thinned ever so slightly—a change too subtle for most to perceive.

The four of them ran for a long time before finally stopping, relieved that Little Red Riding Hood had not followed. While their advance had been cautious, they were now not far from the edge of the forest, which would save them some potions.

"What a massive loss!" Sals lamented, his face full of misery. "How is that thing so strong? And that wolf skin is just too broken!"

Immunity to divine power attacks had neutralized their strongest cards, and they were no match for her in physical combat either.

"It is a huge loss," Okodin said with a bitter smile. "We chose the wrong target this time."

Failure in a hunt was not unusual; with so many powerful gods, they didn't succeed every time, and they had occasionally been chased by gods with nowhere to hide. Failure was acceptable, but what pained them was that they had invested nearly a million in resources, only to target a world of relatively low standing and walk away with nothing.

Little Red Riding Hood’s abilities were a perfect counter to them, and that gun—a single shot to kill—was terrifying. Who could withstand such an attack?

"Sigh, the Paradise Coins are one thing, but the amount of divine power we burned through is the real loss!" Keld sighed. They had prepared so much, yet most of it went unused, and the fact that they couldn't even defeat a single Little Red Riding Hood together was the real problem.

"How much divine power did you use?" Sals checked his own reserves, his face turning green. "I’m down 62%!"

Not only had he lost half in one go, but his constant buffing and the summoning of the fallen angel had drained him heavily. The others reported their losses: Okodin: 31%; Keld: 27%; Zeus: 33%. Combined, they had lost more than a quarter of their total divine power. They had wasted nearly half of the power they had painstakingly accumulated, all without recovering their costs. To top it off, they had burned a "Dance of the Thunder Serpent" scroll, which had cost a fortune.

Once they decided to retreat, the four did not linger in the mist. Even with their deep pockets, they weren't about to ignore the drain on their life force and keep chugging potions. While they had plenty of Paradise Coins, in a sub-world, having money didn't guarantee you could buy what you needed. Consumables like potions were finite, and until they found a new source, they needed to be as frugal as possible.

"Stupid humans, we shall meet again!"

Little Red Riding Hood climbed back onto the Heaven-Piercing Vine, sitting on a branch and using the mist to watch the figures of Okodin and the others, though she had no intention of pursuing them.

Once the four exited the mist, they headed straight for Fairytale Town. As the foundation of this world, it was their primary choice for a place to rest. Of course, they weren't just going there for that; they knew other players were there, and Okodin knew someone named Zhong Ye, a ferociously powerful fighter who could provide the help they needed. Beyond that, they hoped to plunder other attached worlds to see if they could find anything useful for their future battles. Fairytale Town acted like a source world, surrounded by many smaller worlds inhabited by characters everyone knew well.

"Are we really going back to recruit those guys like this?" Sals looked at their disheveled state. If they showed up looking like this, he feared they would only be looked down upon.

"Of course we aren't going back like this!" Okodin understood his concern. "Clean yourselves up. Don't look so pathetic."

They were going back to recruit allies; if they returned looking like a mess, everyone would know they had been defeated, and that simply wouldn't do.

...

"What happened?"

Seeing the bustling crowd suddenly freeze, Murong Xun and the others, who had been observing the pedestrians on the street, were filled with surprise. They didn't know what had caused the people to act as if a pause button had been pressed. The process was brief, lasting only a few seconds before everything returned to normal.

As they walked down the street, their expressions were grim.

"Your guess was right. Everyone here is already dead. Do you have any plans?" Ding Xiang thought of the two people he had personally seen as corpses the night before, now alive and well, chatting and laughing with others on the street. It made his skin crawl. Even the massive hole Zhong Ye had created the previous night had been perfectly repaired, showing no signs of ever having been damaged.

"I have no idea," Murong Xun replied. Although his theory had been confirmed, he didn't know what he could do. He felt as if he were trapped in a quagmire, sinking deeper and deeper, with mysteries multiplying the further he went, yet he had no way to change any of it. The sensation was agonizing.

"Take it one step at a time. Didn't you have a theory you wanted to verify tonight?" Ding Xiang offered a word of comfort.

"I wonder why the guys from 'Myth' are here. Is there actually a god in this world?" Ye Cangyi muttered.

"Who are the people from 'Myth'?" Murong Xun asked, curious.

"Those lunatics specialize in hunting gods. They're crazy—I heard they suppress their levels and refuse to ascend just so they can kill more gods to build up their foundation. Don't know if it's true or not," Ye Cangyi gossiped about the rumors he had heard.

Murong Xun was stunned. Specializing in hunting gods? How insane was that?

"What's so surprising about that?" Seeing his shock, Zhong Ye couldn't help but chime in. "The Magic Tower has all sorts of weirdos. There's the Knight Order that only accepts Paladins, the 'Myth' squad that hunts gods, and the 'Rainbow Dragon-Hunting Team' that specializes in killing dragons. They are the largest supplier of dragon materials in the market. If you need something, they’re the ones to find."

"Hunting dragons?" Murong Xun’s pupils dilated. As a descendant of the dragon, his country had always worshiped the dragon totem. In the records, dragons were mysterious and powerful, yet he hadn't expected there to be people who made a living by hunting them. Indeed, the Magic Tower contained all kinds of people.

"Once you know more, you'll realize that the Magic Tower is full of strange people. This is nothing out of the ordinary," Ding Xiang said with a smile. He remembered his own reaction when he first arrived in Paradise. This confirmed to him that Murong Xun was truly a newcomer who hadn't been through many worlds. Such genuine curiosity was something an old veteran could never fake.

And for someone to have such decent strength without having experienced many worlds proved that he was exceptional. As long as he didn't fall mid-way, becoming a First-Tier player shouldn't be difficult. He didn't mind placing a small bet on him now—not expecting any return, just hoping for a good outcome later. In any case, it was just a casual effort.