As the black figure landed on the ground, it immediately bit down at one of the men that had ambushed Ramie and the other two.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
The man was lying on the ground, unconscious. However, the moment the creature sank its long, razor-sharp teeth in his abdomen, the man snapped awake, and uttered a piercing shrill cry, a one that conveyed the unbearably pain that was assaulting him as the creature was tearing apart his flesh.
Having sensed the attack, albeit only a moment before the creature comes in crashing, Ramie was the first to recover from the shock.
"Neil! Don't attack him! We can't beat it!"
Locating Lance and Neil, he warned Neil not to attack, as he saw him pointing his open palm at the creature, wanting to cast his offensive Fire burst spell on it.
Judging by the aura radiating from this creature, he estimated that this was not a fight they could win. As the power this thing was currently emitting; was many times that of Lance! And if Neil's attack doesn't succeed, then the beast might change his target to him.
Gazing intently at the creature, lines of information popped in Ramie's mind.
Tier-2 Beast
Name: Wicked Dog
Innate Spells: none
Special notes: Territorial beast. Loves hunting and eating his preys alive!
Seeing the words 'tier-2 beast' Ramie's expression sank, as cold sweat broke on his back.
How could he not be frightened by it…?
The snake-headed, humanoid creature was only tier-1, but it had slammed Lance to the ground in one exchange! Neil had to use his spell twice, which was his limit, to put that thing down.
And now, this was actually tier-2 creature! And worst, it seemed to prefer eating its preys alive!
Ramie didn't even want to think of the tragedy that would unfold if this thing went after them.
Right now, Lance had already gone through a bitter fight, and was in no shape for this kind of face off. Not against such odds.
Right now, the question here was not on what strategy they should employ to fight this creature? But, how many of them would make it out alive from this precarious situation?
As Ramie warned Neil, Lance turned his head toward him. Apparently, he hadn't forgotten that Ramie could sense the power of the creatures, as he had told them before they set off from the building. Beside, the creature was now busy in devouring his prey, and wasn't paying much of attention to the rest of them.
This fact seemed to make Lance feeling quiet anxious. Because this creature dared to ignore the rest of them, acting as thought they weren't much of threat to him. Even though he himself couldn't sense the power of this creature, but this behavior of the creature implied that this creature was far stronger than him! As such, he turned to Ramie, wanting his estimation of the creature's power.
Responding to him, Ramie pointed urgently toward the exit, before turning, then dashing toward the door.
Through this action, he conveyed to Lance that escape was the only option here.
Right now, the creature was in the middle of the store, tearing apart his victim with great excitement.
Standing on four limbs; the creature was two meters high, covered with black fur, with bones protruding off its head, and along its spine.
Its mouth was filled with long, thin, and numerous rows of teeth. Over all, the creature looked like an oversized hybrid of a dog and wolf! The protruding bones on its back gave it an extremely savage appearance, making it look like a monster out of mythical story.
Growl!!!
The creature was making growling sounds, as it ripped apart the rich abdominal flesh. It was as if this thing was trying to express how delicious this prey is.
"HAAAAA!!"
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"
The man was screaming with all of his might. He was punching and kicking at the creature's large snout, wanting to push it away and stop the excruciating, unbearable pain that was burning his nerves!
Unfortunately for him, the creature paid him no mind, as it proceeded to tear apart what it perceived as a richly flavored meat.
"stoopppppp!!!!"
"Let me goooo!!!"
"haaaaaa!!!! Help! Help!! Help!!!!!"
The man's struggle did nothing to stop the excited creature! Instead, it seems to excite it even more!
The creature then stepped with one claw at his left femur, and with another claw at his shoulder, pinning him down, and putting an end to his struggle. Afterward, it proceeded to tear apart his body wantonly.
The scene was extremely gory! Beyond imagination!
At this point, Ramie was already running out of the store. And he caught this scene of horror with the corner of his eyes.
This sight fueled his urge to get away from here, a fast as possible, making him run at speed he didn't know he had!
Dashing to the other side across the street, he could sense that the powerful aura of the creature was not moving, which gave him a sense of relief. As if that thing came at him, then only oblivion would await.
He then threw a quick glance behind him, while running, to see if any of the other men had left the store.
In this short glance, he noticed that only two men were running out of the store. As for the others, they might have decided to escape using the back door in the store.
Inwardly, he felt sorry for the man in the store. After all, the unlucky fellow was being devoured alive in the most gruesome way Ramie had ever witnessed!
Ramie didn't wish to anyone to die in that miserable and painful manner… not even to his enemies.
As for the other men, it was unknown whether they escaped through the back door… or were still unconscious… or unable to move.
But what he could he do for them?
It was their own fault in the first place for ambushing the three of them! And the killing intent in the eyes of the two that had targeted him was quiet clear. If not by what he had sensed from their gazes, then it was their action of attempting to beat him up to death that conveyed their killing intent.
He and Lance had to fight back to defend their own lives. In the end, reaching this kind of outcome was these men's fault.
But, he still felt sorry for them, as no one deserved to die in this savage and cruel manner.
Running at his top speed, he dashed toward the closest alleyway to him, not wanting to stay in this street anymore.
Behind, another cry of pain and unwillingness came drifting. Apparently, another one had fallen into a tragic fate.
This cry pushed him to run even faster. As fear was a very strong motive after all.
"You two are too slow! Run faster!"
As Ramie ran into the alleyway, he heard Lance's anxious voice drifts back to him from ahead.
With Lances speed, he had already overtaken him only few seconds after he ran out of the store.
As for Neil, he was running just few meters behind Ramie.
Seconds afterward, Ramie reached the end of the alleyway. He didn't stop. And the moment he entered the street, he saw Lance standing at the corner of another alleyway. Apparently, he didn't seem to think that it was safe enough to get just one street away from the bakery store, but wanted to go even further away.
At the moment, Ramie was no longer sensing the aura. Apparently, his perception had distance limits.
As he ran across the street, toward Lance, something caught his attention.
Leaning on the wall, beside the entrance door of a certain building, was a large sign. It had large handwriting words on it.
[WE HAVE FOOD AND WATER! WE CAN PROTECT YOU FROM THE MONSTERS! ]
[??/??/2019 ]
At this development, Ramie's eyes lit up.
The date on the sign was clearly today's date, which suggested that it was written today, meaning that there was someone inside!
In a moment, Ramie made up his mind.
Although getting as far as possible from the bakery store was certainly the logical thing to do... unfortunately, this entire city had turned into the creature's playground! Doing whatever they liked, hunting whatever they like, and roaming it unhindered!
Right now, every second they spent out in the open streets, running at such speed, was just like dancing at the sharp edge of blade.
If any of the creatures that he had heard yesterday at night, notices them now… then their fates might not be any less tragic than the poor man back at the bakery store.
Besides, putting a sign outside with today's date on it; meant that there were people inside, which implied that this place was secured. Hence it was best to choose this place. At least… that was much safer than trying to hide in other places that might have creatures hiding inside them.
Making up his mind, he waved to Lance, signaling toward the sign, before sprinting toward the particular building.
Having seeing him run toward the building with the sign, Lance hesitated for a moment, before following suit.
So far, Ramie had proved to him that he has some extraordinary senses, even before he casts that morphing spell of his.
Back in the apartment, he was the first to notice the creature, thus saving them from being caught off guard. And with the humanoid, snake-headed creature; Neil had told him that it was Ramie who noticed that they were being targeted by a sneak attack, even before they see the creature. And he even took action, thus ending up saving both of them.
Not to mention, that after casting that morphing spell of his, he could even sense the aura of the creatures, which would practically prevent any creature from sneaking up on them again. And that's not even mentioning that he could also judge the power of the creatures from their aura, albeit, this particularity has yet to be tested.
Ramie's ability to sense the auras alone was like a life line extended from the sky to them, especially considering the unknown creatures that were lurking in the city. It was more than just essential, and with it, their chances of reaching the camp and avoiding deadly dangers would be boosted by hundreds of times.
As such, in Lance's eyes, Ramie's hunch was highly regarded. Thus, after only brief hesitation, he opted to follow Ramie's judgment.
With that, the three of them went into the building.
…