Chapter 175: Hope Or Disaster? (2/2)

With a flick of his hand, Arthur appeared three kilometers away. He used what little mana he had left in him and began to run away as much as he can. He could feel the ground shake behind him but he was too scared to look back.

'Well, I did manage to injure an Astra-ranker.' Arthur thought smugly. 'It'll be a nice story if I manage to live.' His thoughts in his panic were weirdly irreverent. He teleported on top of a hill but suddenly felt the world tilt.

Looking back, he saw that the tiger that was chasing after him clawed at the hill, cutting it neatly from the bottom and making the whole thing get obliterated. Arthur teleported again as he felt the heat of the tiger's white flames scorch his robes.

'Why is the Astra-ranker not attacking me himself? Is he treating his wounds?' Arthur wondered but then felt the presence of the Paladin close in on him.

To his terror, Arthur knew he couldn't run away anymore. He might be able to teleport, but the Astra-ranker can cut through that distance just as fast if not more.

When he activated his rune again, he felt a space underneath the ground. Without hesitation, he teleported into the underground cavity that he found.

Silence and darkness replaced the frantic rain and thunder as Arthur found himself standing on solid ground. Without stopping to light any fire, he kept using his teleport rune underground as he teleported across the gigantic cave.

The ground rumbled above him as he felt the Paladin's presence grow closer. His mana was already running out and he had to use his Restore-II. His body was filled with mana but he now only had one hour before he would be mana-less.

The underground cave was gigantic and damp. However, Arthur feared traveling too deep underground and tried to keep himself close to the surface. He didn't want to risk facing a dead end.

He was about to teleport again when he heard the sound of the wind. With a frown, Arthur squinted his eyes as he looked around for its source. He used his fire rune as his hand became a torch that illuminated the surrounding.

He was standing in a gigantic underground clearing that he couldn't even see the end of it. However, he couldn't see any opening that could be the source of the wind. He looked around in confusion for a possible exit.

As he felt the Astra-ranker closing on him, Arthur looked for the source in hopeful expectations that he might get to run away.

At last, he found that the wind came in intervals from a man-sized opening in the landscape. With a frown, Arthur realized this was too small to lead to anything.

Pieces of the ground fell as the whole underground cave shook. Arthur realized that the Astra-ranker was close by and he needed to teleport away. However, it was at that moment that something above the man-sized opening moved.

What Arthur thought to be the ground started shifting and parting away from each other. His breath couldn't leave his lungs anymore as he felt a lump in his throat due to the fear. He didn't even dare to breathe as two giant eyes stared at him in the darkness.

'It… wasn't wind.' Arthur slowly realized as he felt the fear grip at his heart like that the hand of a death reaper. 'It's a breath.' The reaper whispered in his ears as the hair on his body stood up. It was the eyes of a celestial monster that made Arthur look like an ant in front of it.

Now that he had a better look at the landscape, Arthur realized that a lot of it was the monster's body. With how big it was and how dark the underground, he couldn't see what kind of monster it was.

No matter what species it was, Arthur knew it was powerful. If such a giant monster could exist, it had its time to evolve over the years. Arthur wondered how much time has passed since it was lying in this underground cave and why no one was able to find it yet.

The rune disappeared slowly as the eyes stared at him and Arthur sneakily used his Stealth rune. He knew it was futile, but he hoped his giant monster would ignore him.

'How did I not notice its presence?' Arthur wondered to himself as he felt the ground shake. 'Maybe I'm not worthy to feel its presence if it wanted to hide it.'

A large hole was created as a loud explosion resounded throughout the cave. Arthur cursed the old egg-headed, potato-nosed, paladin in his head as he saw the irises of the monster constrict as it blew out through its nostrils.

As the monster moved its sight toward the Astra-ranker's direction, the old Paladin's laughter resounded throughout the cave.

”You're finally out of mana, you little rat!”