Chapter 41: Chapter 041: Beast Tide Attacks
As night fell deeper, the atmosphere in the forest became increasingly unsettling, yet nothing happened.
Pandora sat on the open ground with a heavy stick in her arms, her expression icy. She occasionally twisted her head to glance in the direction of the Dragon Cave, but Gregory had not returned, and she looked somewhat worried. She would also occasionally look at Richard, who met her gaze knowingly, at which Pandora instantly switched to a “keep looking at me and I’ll hit you” expression.
Richard felt somewhat helpless and after a moment’s thought, he headed back inside the castle.
Entering his room in the castle, Richard sat cross-legged on the bed and began to meditate. The next moment, his out-of-body experience was successful; his consciousness broke out of the castle and floated toward the hills outside.
By now, Richard had grown very familiar with his consciousness. As long as he had enough spiritual power, he could go almost anywhere—including underground, deep sea, and space—and now Richard was preparing to explore the forest.
Spiritual power surged, and the moving speed of his consciousness increased, finally sweeping over the entire forest like an arrow, with a translucent tether continuously stretching behind his neck.
The scenes within the forest swiftly came under the scrutiny of Richard’s consciousness.
Tigers, cheetahs, black bears, wolves… Various carnivorous beasts were becoming increasingly agitated, as if provoked by something inexplicable, their eyes turning blood red as they emitted various roars.
Goats, sika deer, wild buffaloes… Even the herbivorous animals were acting strangely and crazily, their gentle natures becoming bloodthirsty and irritable. Richard clearly saw a goat, accidentally tripped by a stone, furiously butting the stone with red eyes, continuing relentlessly until its head was bloody.
What exactly had caused this?
Richard wondered, glancing at the moon in space, which seemed unchanged. After some thought, he raised the height of his consciousness to view the entire forest, seeking answers.
Moments later, near the hill where the castle stood, Richard noticed something on another mountain.
It was a towering mountain, a hundred meters tall, with an imposing appearance. It was teeming with ferocious beasts engaged in a deadly battle.
A tiger roared and pounced on a cheetah; the cheetah quickly dodged, then sprang up like a spring, landing on the tiger’s back and biting fiercely. Several wolves were attacking a wild boar, which, despite being bitten and torn, showed no fear. It started to rush, violently ramming into the midsection of one of the wolves with a “crack,” knocking it down. In the next moment, the remaining wolves pounced and devoured their fallen comrade before once again setting their sights on the wild boar.
A bizarre wave pulsed from within the mountain, first affecting the many creatures on its slopes, then rapidly spreading to the surrounding areas.
Richard could clearly feel waves of spiritual energy sweeping over his consciousness, momentarily throwing his own thoughts into disarray and bringing a surge of negative emotions, with an urge to kill and destroy everything.
This viral-like infection kept coming relentlessly, seeming to forcibly control his consciousness.
Richard made a quick decision and unleashed all his spiritual power.
With a “bang,” as if he had hit something, Richard felt his entire consciousness shake violently, then return to normal the next moment.
Taking a long breath inwardly, Richard enveloped his entire consciousness with spiritual power to shield it from the continuing assault of the bizarre spiritual power. He couldn’t help but think, “So the source of everything isn’t the moon, but inside this mountain. What just erupted must be a kind of powerful spiritual magic, seemingly encompassing and potentially affecting a large part of the forest.
To be deployed over such a large area and still have such strength, if it were concentrated on a single creature, wouldn’t it instantly shatter its will, turning it into a pure rage-driven machine? This is somewhat terrifying, but also… interesting.”
Controlling the Consciousness to rise again, Richard found that as the spiritual power within the mountain peak kept dispersing, all the creatures in the entire forest erupted with unprecedented aggressiveness. Not only tigers, cheetahs, goats, and wild buffaloes participated, but even rabbits, squirrels, and mice joined in, frenziedly attacking everything in sight.
On the clearing, two gray rabbits jumped high and bit towards the eyes of a black bear, successfully blinding it. In the forest, a squirrel agilely landed on a gorilla, fiercely gnawing at its back with its incisors, causing the gorilla to scream in agony. Next to the creek, a horde of mice overwhelmed a wounded hyena, leaving only a skeleton behind after a moment…
The wave of madness surged on, one wave higher than the last, rolling towards all directions, quickly spreading to the small hill where the ancient castle was located.
One creature, two creatures, three creatures… Thousands of creatures gathered at the base of the small hill…
With a thought, a strong pulling force generated by the transparent strap behind the neck of the Consciousness pulled the Consciousness rapidly back to the body. Richard felt a heaviness all over, the scene before his eyes blurred, one moment floating above the distant forest, the next back in the castle room.
Controlling the blend of Consciousness and body, a low hum sounded in his ears, and his whole body shook violently. The next moment, Richard opened his eyes, stood up from the wooden bed, and quickly walked out of the room, out of the castle.
Outside in the castle clearing, Pandora still sat there, holding a ten-meter long wooden staff in her arms, her expression icy, with a hint of boredom in her eyes. She turned her head and glanced at Dragon Cave, her look mixing with a bit of anger.
Suddenly hearing a noise, Pandora’s eyebrows furrowed, she stood up sharply and looked towards the base of the hill with a piercing gaze. She could feel a wildly surging tide approaching.
The next moment, Pandora sensed something else and tilted her head toward the castle entrance, seeing Richard. She frowned, and after a long while, she spoke, “Go inside!”
Feeling her tone was too harsh and commanding, to soften it, after a brief silence, Pandora added, “It’s dangerous!” and gave him a “defy me and I’ll flatten you” look.
Standing in front of the castle, Richard’s eyes flickered, his face calm, and he slowly said, “I know you think my combat abilities are weak, and I won’t explain that. You’re telling me to go inside the castle out of kindness, and I’m not angry about that. However… to be honest, with forest animals swarming from every direction, you can only protect one side at most.
Therefore, entering the castle doesn’t guarantee safety, as an animal might sneak in and hurt me. It’s safer to stay out here. At least if something happens to me, you can see it and come to my aid.
Of course, if you think my safety doesn’t matter to you and you’re too lazy to protect me, then standing here shouldn’t be a problem, right? Don’t worry, I won’t bother you, I can actually be of some help. Even if I can’t defeat even the weakest creature, at least… I can attract some attention for you, right?”
Pandora looked over with a cold face, studied Richard for a long while, but ultimately said nothing and turned to look down the hill.
The immensely noisy sound arose, as the vanguard of the crazed animals climbed up the hill, appearing on the summit: foxes, gray wolves, mountain cats, black bears…
A multitude of frenzied animals surrounded the entire hilltop from all sides, eyeing Pandora as though she were a fortress they must breach. From deep in their throats, continuous growls could be heard, their bodies crouched as if ready to attack at any moment.
However, the first to attack was not them, but… Pandora.