("The man-eater?!")
Immediately, Xiao recognized the source of the roaring, and he knew what he needed to do next.
Before anyone could react to the situation, Xiao didn't feel hesitant for a second to fire off his smoke bomb, which immediately put a smoke blanket in the room.
Everyone panicked or was shocked by the smoke that appeared out of nowhere.
Already pre-plan his move, and with his combat mask, Xiao quickly manoeuvres his way to get his armament in a wooden box.
Xiao swiftly places all his weapon in the holsters and immediately move to exit. Through his combat mask's lens, Xiao could see through the smoke and saw two guards blocking his path.
The two guards were also confused, and Xiao took advantage of it by going for a powerful leg swipe, knocking down the two guards to the floor.
Though the guards got back to their feet fast, Xiao was already gone from the area. Realizing what had just happened, the two guards shouted to alert the others in the house.
The guards and the elder tried to give chase. However, because of the smoke, visibility was still limited, which caused them to either misstep or bump into others. A chaotic situation erupted for a while before they finally exited the house.
The elder looks around desperately for Xiao's figure. It took him a while to locate a figure of a man from afar, swinging from one tree to another, before slowly descending to the ground.
That man figure was none other than Xiao as he used the fourth form, Owl Claw from his Hundred Form Switch Knife, Chameleon, to act as a grapple, and swing his way down to the ground.
("Thank god I crafted this new form beforehand. Still, it need a bit more adjustment to perfect the hook shot, as well as the hook line.")
Xiao was thinking about the result of his latest creation and the adjustment he plan to make once back home. Still, he quickly redirected his focus on meeting up with Ivaru so they could get out of here as soon as possible.
As Xiao was rushing towards where they kept Ivaru, he could hear the roaring getting closer and closer. Though Xiao already had a bad feeling about what he was about to see, he dismissed his worst prediction and fastened his steps to reach Ivaru.
And Xiao was right about his prediction.
The house where Ivaru has been kept got destroyed. The guards were already unquestionably dead as Xiao sensed no life in them already.
Their cause of death was brutal. One of the two guards got his limb torn off, and the limb fell so far away that Xiao stumbled upon it before reaching the area. The other guard literally got flattened into the ground by a forceful stomp.
But the destroyed house and the brutally murdered guards were not the focus of Xiao. The culprit for the destroyed house and the death of the guards, doom of adventurers, the legendary monster from the Dark Elf myth, and King of the Shadow Forest. Xiao has come face to face with the fearsome man-eater.
The man-eater has a body of a gorilla, except that it is way bigger than a regular gorilla. Its height is around 25 feet tall, covered with scarlet-red colour fur. Still, most of its body was decorated with countless scars.
Its facial feature is one of the most hideous monsters Xiao ever lay eyes upon. Its face is like the worst combination of a hog and an ape, with sharp fangs and teeth and a big mouth that never seems to close, causing its nasty saliva to drip like a fountain.
To sum up, the man-eater is literally the definition of a massive brute. Still, Xiao didn't care about his well-being regarding how he was about to get ripped apart by this behemoth. His eyes solely focus on the hand of the man-eater, which is holding Ivaru.
"Let me go! Let go!"
Ivaru attempted to struggle her way out from the man-eater's grip as she wriggled her body while shouting at it to let her go. Still, her struggle was vain as the man-eater hand didn't even budge.
("Shit! Shit! Shit! This is the worst outcome that I never see it coming! How the hell did it go past the fog?! And why is it holding Iva?! What did it want from her?! Eat her?")
Though Xiao was puzzled by the whole situation, he didn't think twice about facing off the man-eater as he quickly unsheathed his weapon. His Gamer Eyes already activated and provided him with the feedback.
(Scarlet Ogre. Level 66. Strong against physical attack, weak against illusion magic and strong magic attack.)
("So this is how an Ogre looks like. Still, Level 66?! Okay, this is seriously bad. Even the Chimera I faced before was only level 46, which was a hard-won battle. How am I gonna save Iva ?")
Though the analysis result shocked Xiao and thinking about his next move, his eyes never left his target.
The man-eater didn't seem to notice...care about Xiao's existence. It took a look at the tall-tree forest behind, and in the next seconds, it began running towards the forest.
"Hey! Wait up!"
Xiao shouted as he gave chase from behind.
The man-eater runs in three, with its two legs and one hand while the other hand is holding Ivaru. Its running speed may not be fast, but it still proves too fast for Xiao to keep up.
Xiao thought he was going to lose track of the man-eater and Ivaru. Thankfully, as soon as the man-eater enters the forest, it begins to slow down tremendously.
Thanks to how thick and lush the forest was, there were pesky branches, giant tree trunks and tall grasses everywhere. The man-eater did not try to go around any of the incoming obstacles. Instead, it forces its way to navigate through the forest using its brute force.
Xiao quickly catches up to the man-eater. He saw it swiping away furiously at the tree branches that were blocking its face.
("How fortunate that it is a simpleton brute, but does not change the fact that Iva is still in its hand. And I still can't think of the reason on what did the Orge want with Iva.")
Xiao took a look at Ivaru to check her condition. Ivaru is still breathing and alive, which made Xiao let out a sigh of relief. Still, Xiao noticed that she got quiet, whereas she was still shouting and trying to fight her way out earlier.
Xiao then noticed that Ivaru was panting heavily. At that sight, Xiao realized that Ivaru was having another event again with her mana overload. A sudden burst of emotion may have caused her to trigger her sickness.
("Well, I may not know the reason, but I am sure Iva won't live for long as long as the Orge have her. I have to distract the Orge enough for it to let her go, and there is only one method I can think of.")
Xiao pulled out his crossbow, Orthrus. He then changes to its second form, the tank buster mode.
The man-eater was still angrily clearing any obstacles that blocked its path. It did not know that Xiao was already aiming its head, ready to fire off his tank buster bolt.
As Xiao finished making the final adjustment and the aiming, he pulled the trigger.
"Look at me! You ugly piece of Shit!"