Chapter 74

Claude, who had had enough of walking slowly with Lindis, decided to take the lead and check the situation ahead.

"Since it's supposed to be up ahead, I'll go and check first. If I find anything, that would be great. If not, I'll come back. This way, I can save a lot of time compared to walking slowly with this woman."

With this thought, Claude turned around and called out to Lindis, then ran forward. As a high-level two-star hunter, Claude was very agile and quickly left Lindis behind.

"Mr. Claude, please don't walk so fast..."

Lindis, seeing Claude suddenly speed up, tried to dissuade him. However, before she could finish her sentence, Claude had already moved quite a distance away. With no choice, Lindis put her notebook into her crossbody bag and sped up, but as a researcher who often stayed in the library, she had no way of catching up to Claude in this complex terrain.

Unconsciously, the distance between them grew wider, and Lindis could no longer see Claude's back.

After advancing a bit further, Claude suddenly noticed some huge footprints on the ground that he had never seen before. As a high-level two-star hunter, his keen intuition made him stop.

With his rich hunting experience, Claude could identify most animal tracks, so he crouched down to carefully examine these marks left in the damp soil.

"Hmm... These are indeed footprints I've never seen before. They are very likely from the mysterious creature we're looking for. The size of the footprints suggests a monster as large as a flying dragon, and the shape is similar to a dragon-type monster, but there are some distinct features that set it apart from other monster tracks... Could this mysterious creature be a giant dragon?"

"Regardless, I've finally found a clue. Since I can find the footprints and they are so clear, the prey must be nearby!"

The days of fruitless searching had made Claude somewhat frustrated, but the information he found at this moment immediately excited him.

"Hard work pays off. From the direction of the footprints, the prey should have gone to the right..."

However, just as Claude was concentrating on identifying the footprints and preparing to track them to find the prey, he suddenly heard a familiar voice from a distance.

"Be careful!"

"Be careful?"

Claude didn't think any monster could easily attack him, especially since the monster they were looking for was supposed to be very large. Large monsters are harder to hide, and if one were approaching, he would have noticed it.

So, even though he heard the warning, Claude hesitated for a moment, thinking, "Is there an enemy? There are no large monsters around here. As for the small ones, they can't possibly pose a threat to me..."

The hesitation lasted less than a second, which wouldn't have mattered to an ordinary person, but at this moment, it became a fatal mistake. Just as Claude was about to stand up and be on guard, a golden, butterfly-like creature, about half the size of a person, had already approached from behind.

"An enemy!"

The change in the air current behind him made Claude aware of the danger, so he immediately turned around, ready to face any situation.

However, it was too late. As Claude turned, a loud explosion occurred, and the shockwave knocked him to the ground...

...

It had been nearly three hours since they entered the dangerous area, and Wenlong and Catherine were still speeding up to catch up with Claude and Lindis. From the increasingly clear footprints on the ground, Wenlong was confident that he was not far from Claude's location.

At this moment, the sharp-eyed Wenlong seemed to see something approaching from ahead, but the trees and terrain obscured his view, making it unclear.

"What is that? Meow?"

Wenlong climbed a nearby tree to get a better view. Halfway up, he clearly saw what was happening in the distance.

"Hmm? It's not that kid named Claude?"

In the distance, a young woman with glasses and dark green hair, as if dyed with green herbs, was running towards Wenlong, carrying a crossbody bag.

Behind her, a golden, butterfly-like creature was chasing her, and it was clearly faster, closing the distance between them.

"Girl, get ready, someone is in danger! Meow!" Wenlong immediately told Catherine, then jumped down from the tree and ran towards the woman. Catherine, on the ground, sprinted forward at full speed, her hand on the hilt of her greatsword, ready to draw it at any moment.

The woman with glasses was still running, but her rapidly depleting energy had slowed her down, and her steps had become unsteady. In this complex terrain, unsteady steps could have serious consequences.

Sure enough, after running a few more steps with all her might, the woman tripped and fell to the muddy ground. At that moment, the golden butterfly quickly approached!

"No!"

The woman shouted.

However, just as she thought she was about to be attacked by the golden butterfly, a stranger leaped over her and blocked the butterfly's path.

"Get out of the way!"

The timely arrival was Wenlong. As he leaped over the woman, his dual blades were already out, slicing directly at the butterfly's wings!

"Snap!"

The butterfly's two wings fell to the ground, but at the same time, its body emitted a golden light.

"Girl, get into a defensive stance!"

"Okay, Mr. Cat!"

Wenlong pulled the woman with glasses back, and Catherine, who arrived a moment later, rushed to the front, holding her greatsword in front of her in a defensive stance.

At this moment, the golden light from the butterfly's body, which had been cut off and was struggling to fall to the ground, grew brighter and brighter. When it reached its peak, it exploded like a bomb, releasing a burst of fire and shockwave towards Wenlong and the others!