In the Graystone Forest, huge and thick stone pillars filled the area, forming a complex terrain.
Lu Yuan swiftly ran through the gaps between the stone pillars. He then saw two graystone beetles currently enjoying a delicious meal of rocks up ahead.
When Lu Yuan got near them, the two bugs paused at the same time. After their antennae twitched, they turned their heads and looked at Lu Yuan who was galloping madly toward them.
After discovering the culprit that interrupted their meal, the two graystone beetles cried out angrily and charged toward Lu Yuan. They opened their mouthparts, wanting to tear this fellow into pieces.
Lu Yuan's expression remained unchanged. As his steps crossed and his body changed its posture, he passed through the encirclement of the two graystone beetles, continuing to run forward.
Ji, Ji!
The two graystone beetles seemed to have been humiliated when they looked at Lu Yuan's departing back. They emitted even angrier cries as they began to chase Lu Yuan.
However, the two bugs didn't manage to chase for too long before two streams of black-colored blade light flashed and sent them flying.
They smashed into a stone pillar and fell with their backs landing on the ground. Their eight legs struggled as they tried their best to flip their bodies.
The two kobolds had gloomy expressions when they glanced at the graystone beetles before continuing to chase Lu Yuan.
When the two bugs got back onto their feet, they already couldn't find their targets when they glanced at the surroundings. Their antennae rubbed against each other before they slowly went back to chewing on rocks.
Not far away, the two kobolds finally saw Lu Yuan's back view. One of them, which was a gray-colored kobold, laughed malevolently.
"Human, don't run anymore. You won't be able to escape!"
"Hahahaha! You only have a single alloy weapon on your body? This is the first time I met such a poor gene fighter. I think it's best that you obediently wait for death!"
The refinement degree of the two kobolds' genetic chains was slightly higher than Lu Yuan. Hence, their physiques were stronger and their speed was quicker.
Although Lu Yuan had secretly run for tens of meters earlier, they were gradually catching up to him.
Lu Yuan's expression was somewhat unsightly.
Could it be that he really had to die here?
This was the first time he entered the Land of Origins. If he exited via death, all his hard work earlier would be wasted.
And after he died, his mind would suffer from injuries. If he wanted to enter again, he would have to wait for his injuries to recover. How much time would he have to waste?
This was something he couldn't accept.
Lu Yuan glanced at the surroundings while he pondered for a solution.
At this moment, three more graystone beetles appeared in the distance. When they sensed Lu Yuan's approach, they placed the rocks beside their mouths down and charged toward Lu Yuan.
Che!
Lu Yuan clicked his tongue in annoyance.
He was already being chased. Now that he still had to evade the bugs' attacks, his speed was inadvertently slowed down. Didn't that mean that he would soon be caught by his pursuers?
However, his body wasn't as tough as rocks yet. If he didn't evade, wouldn't he be bitten?
Lu Yuan helplessly shifted his body posture once more and evaded the attacks from the three bugs.
Luckily, the graystone beetles only had one attack pattern. Right now, Lu Yuan could already avoid them with ease.
Ji, ji, ji!
The three graystone beetles missed their attacks and cried in rage. They then continued lunging toward Lu Yuan.
At this moment, the two kobolds neared the three graystone beetles. The bugs' antennae trembled again as they turned and looked at the kobolds, shrieking and pouncing at them.
"Troublesome bugs!"
The gray-furred kobold frowned and sent a bug flying with a slash. The second graystone beetle was kicked away, and the third bug was also sent flying by the other kobold.
After being obstructed by the graystone beetles, the speed of the two kobolds slowed down somewhat again.
Lu Yuan, who wasn't far away, turned his head back when he heard the commotion. When he saw this scene, his eyes brightened as a bold assumption appeared in his mind.
The speed of the graystone beetles was definitely slower than him.
In addition, the bugs would attack as long as someone got near their boundary regardless of who their opponents were.
If this was the case…
Lu Yuan's eyes narrowed as he revealed a smile.
He continued to run while bending to pick up some shattered stone fragments on the way.
The two kobolds in the distance saw Lu Yuan's action of picking up the stone pieces, and they couldn't help but feel somewhat puzzled.
"What is that human doing?"
"No idea, but this human is extremely slippery! We must not let him escape!"
"Don't worry, he cannot escape. Look at his appearance, he should have just awakened. Since that's the case, how can he compare to both of us? Although the difference in our speeds isn't great, his endurance will surely be lower than us. When he gets tired from running, won't we be able to do whatever we want to him?"
Malevolent smiles appeared on the two kobolds' faces.
However, when they saw Lu Yuan's next action, their eyes opened wide.
Some of the gaps between the stone pillars in the Graystone Forest were about 30 to 40 meters wide. Usually speaking, graystone beetles would only consume food at the surface of the stone pillars.. though everyone had no idea why their appetites were so good and why they wouldn't be tired of eating rocks.
If Lu Yuan came across a larger area between the stone pillars, there was no need for him to worry about alerting the graystone beetles because he would be able to run through the gap easily.
However, when Lu Yuan ran past the area where another three graystone beetles were gathering, he casually tossed a stone at the head of one of the bugs.
The graystone beetle who was currently chewing on rocks paused its action.
It silently turned its head and stared at Lu Yuan who was tossing the stone not far away.
After it was silent for a few seconds, it started to shriek. The other two graystone beetles also turned their heads and shrieked together.
The three graystone beetles discarded the rocks they were eating and began to chase Lu Yuan.
The two kobolds who were not far away couldn't help but widen their eyes.
"...what is he doing?"
"No idea? Maybe he doesn't want to die in our hands, choosing to die in the hands of the graystone beetles instead?"
"Hehe, stop dreaming!"
As the two of them spoke, they suddenly saw Lu Yuan tossing another stone and luring over four more graystone beetles at the side.
Adding them to the previous three, there were now a total of seven graystone beetles. It was somewhat frightening to see such a scene.
However, the speed of the graystone beetles was fixed. Their speeds were inferior to the two kobolds, so the two kobolds soon caught up to them.
When the two kobolds got near the bugs, the graystone beetles turned their heads at the same time and began to charge toward the kobolds.
"Troublesome bugs!"
Even these two kobolds couldn't help but furrow their brows when they were targeted by seven graystone beetles.
At this moment, the eyes of the gray-furred kobold narrowed as he thought of something.
"Damn! I know why the human lured these graystone beetles. He wants to use the bugs to block us!"
The brown-furred kobold also came to a realization. After that, it howled in rage.
"What? That despicable human! To think that he would actually use such a method! If he was capable, he would allow us to slash and hack at him!"
After they frenziedly destroyed the seven graystone beetles, a certain distance had opened up between them and Lu Yuan.
The distance had reached almost 50 meters, even further compared to the distance between them right at the start.
After seeing that Lu Yuan was getting further and further away, the kobolds snarled in anger and started chasing after him again.
Lu Yuan turned his head. He looked at the kobolds and began tossing the stones in his hands as his lips curled into a smile.
The effect was pretty good.
He casually tossed out stones again, throwing at the head of a graystone beetle who was enjoying its meal on a stone pillar.
The graystone beetle was instantly aggroed as its meal was interrupted. It shrieked and summoned two more companions before they charged at Lu Yuan.
At this moment, Lu Yuan was already tossing stones at the other graystone beetles he spotted.
Not long later, the two kobolds once again closed in, narrowing the distance between them to roughly 30 meters. However, there were already over ten graystone beetles chasing behind Lu Yuan.
When the two kobolds saw so many graystone beetles, their expressions turned gloomy.
"Despicable human! Actually using such a method!"
The brown-furred kobold cursed. He brandished the long blade in his hand and waved it around due to his extreme anger.
The gray-furred kobold had an ice-cold expression. He stared at Lu Yuan in the distance and spoke.
"It's fine, we can just run slower and follow him leisurely."
"Ah? Elder bro, are we not rushing over?
"If we rush over, we will draw the attacks from the graystone beetles. Since there are so many of them, we will definitely need to spend some time handling them. But by then, he will already escape."
"What should we do then?"
The gray-furred kobold coldly laughed.
"Doesn't he want to run? As mature hunters, we have to have enough patience. Let us wait until his strength and stamina are completely depleted before we catch him."
The brown-furred kobold was enlightened. He then smiled.
"That's true, his endurance is definitely inferior to us!"
The two kobolds smiled sinisterly as they followed leisurely behind the group of graystone beetles, no longer closing in the distance.
Hence, a strange scene appeared in the Graystone Forest.
A handsome human was rushing madly forward with a group of graystone beetles following behind him. And behind the group of bugs, two kobolds with sinister smiles on their faces could also be seen.
…
In a region of the Graystone Forest.
A small team of four had just killed four graystone beetles. The male elf that had a beautiful appearance was clad in yellow leather armor. He then stared at the four spirit crystals in his hands before coughing lightly and keeping the crystals.
"I will temporarily keep them first. Later on, we will tabulate our spoils and split them."
The other three consisted of a tall and skinny elf, a kobold, and a human.
The human had an average appearance. At this moment, he scratched his head as he asked.
"Leader, how many spirit crystals do we have now?"
The kobold who had gray-yellowish fur laughed.
"I remember that we have a total of 46 crystals. Our gains aren't too bad."
The tall and skinny elf opened his eyes wide. "Yellow, you remembered wrongly. We have a total of 47!"
"Is…is that so?"
Yellow's eyes were wide open.
The elf leader glared at everyone. "What did you all say? There are clearly only 44!"
"Leader, why did you reduce the number? Don't tell me you wish to embezzle some?"
The human male glared at the leader, feeling somewhat unhappy.
"How can that be possible? How long have we known each other? Don't you guys know my character? How is it possible that I would embezzle our stuff? Don't tell me you guys don't trust my mathematical abilities? Back then I was the top scorer in my class!"
"Is this real or fake?"
The tall and skinny elf glanced at the elf leader as he smiled. "I can be the witness. We were classmates back then."
"Alright then." The human male and Yellow nodded their heads.
At this moment, they heard a commotion from afar so they turned their heads in that direction.
After that, they saw Lu Yuan sprinting forward at a distance not far away from them.
After seeing Lu Yuan, the elf leader widened his eyes.
"That human…isn't he the one we failed to chea…cough, failed to invite?"
Yellow scratched his head.
"Leader, you remember his appearance? In my eyes, all humans and elves look the same. You guys resemble furless monkeys."
"I naturally remember. It's very rare to see such a good-looking human. If it wasn't for the fact that his ears aren't pointed, I would have assumed he was an elf."
"What is he doing here?"
The tall and skinny elf asked with some curiosity.
The next moment, he learned the answer.
A large group of graystone beetles charged out of the tunnel that Lu Yuan had exited earlier and was currently rushing in Lu Yuan's direction.
Their shrieking sounds rang out incessantly.
The other four were speechless.
They exchanged a mutual glance and were somewhat dumbfounded.
After that, they saw another two kobolds grinning as they ran after the group of bugs.