"He's escaped?"

Merlin charged forward recklessly, just like an ancient almighty beast, crushing all of the guards. Currently, a shadow was cast over the hearts of these guards even as they watched Merlin.

With Merlin's frightening destructive power, he could easily wipe out a city.

"You can't run!"

Merlin's eyes narrowed slightly, following which his legs coiled powerfully. His massive body instantly shot out with no concern for anything. No matter what was in front, Merlin barged forward. There was nothing that could stop him.

This violent force that gave chase was incomparably astonishing. After this battle, the Python Army could be considered to be defeated. Even Orsato had fled. The Python Army immediately fell to pieces.

"Sister, how are you?"

Mary, who had rather bold nerves, finally rescued a young girl who seemed to be breathing her last as she appeared to be in a poor state. This girl was not doing so great mentally, and fortunately, there were no significant issues.

"That person is so powerful. Who's that?"

Mary mumbled softly. She had only heard Orsato mentioning "Count Stanwin", so this person must be linked to Count Stanwin.

"Sister, let's go. We'll leave this place while Cedar City is still in chaos."

Mary shot a long, hard look at a distant point. That figure was now deeply imprinted into her mind.

…

"Rumble."

The earth trembled as a lake was instantly smashed by an almighty beast of unparalleled magnitude. The wildlife within the lake was turned into mincemeat, and the surface of the lake was filled with a thick, bloody stench.

"You lunatic. You've been hunting me down for twenty-eight days. How long will you keep this up?"

A gigantic Golden Python suddenly sprang out of the lake in one swift motion. Its eyes were bloodshot and filled with endless fury. This Golden Python was, of course, Orsato who had fled from Cedar City.

Based on his advantage in terms of speed, Orsato thought that he could escape Merlin's grasp. However, he did not expect that his opponent would pursue him so madly, stopping at nothing. Moreover, the regenerative powers of the Blood-eye Dragon were terrifying as well. It could go on without any rest. If it were hungry, it would swallow an entire lake directly to maintain its formidable fighting strength.

This was a true ancient almighty beast, fearsome to the extreme. Therefore, Orsato could not shake off Merlin. He was nearly captured by Merlin a few times. With great difficulty, he had summoned the courage to confront Merlin, but ended up with an incomparably miserable outcome – he nearly died at Merlin's hands.

Thus, that courage to confront Merlin subsequently vanished without a trace.

"Swoosh."

Orsato once again slipped out of Merlin's grasp, swiftly fleeing into the distant mountain woods. Nonetheless, he felt an unprecedented level of dejection, not knowing when days like these would finally end. Being hunted down for a thousand miles was an experience he was unwilling to go through again.

However, there was no other option but to run. The Blood-eye Dragon hot on his heels was too frightening. Even though Merlin was merely a third-form shifter, he was powerful to a perverse extent. Other than those true full-shifters, no one was a match for Merlin.

"Rumble rumble."

A colossal almighty beast raced out from the mountain woods. It was Merlin, who cast a glance forward. He could still vaguely make out the Golden Python's figure.

After chasing for so many days, he still had not slain Orsato. This was rather troublesome for Merlin. The Golden Python's speed was greater than his. Furthermore, the Blood-eye Dragon could only shapeshift into the third-form for now, so some of the Blood-eye Dragon's unique, natural abilities were not yet unleashed. Therefore, he could only resort to the simplest method – to continue giving chase.

As for giving up, this was something Merlin had never considered.

Even so, Orsato's manner indicated that he would not hold on for long. Almighty beasts were formidable, but the disparity between different grades of bloodlines was still immense. The Golden Python's recovery was far inferior to the Blood-eye Dragon's, so after many days of relentless pursuit, the Golden Python was exhausted to the core.

By continuing the chase, Orsato would be caught by Merlin sooner or later thanks to his growing exhaustion.

Therefore, Merlin did not delay further. His gigantic body instantly started galloping. The entire mountain forest trembled under his thudding steps, causing a huge disturbance.

One day, two days… One month!

Orsato who had transformed into the Golden Python no longer wished to run. He could feel the exhaustion of the bloodline's power within his body. Despite the almighty beast's power, it had its limits.

Usually, Orsato would not be fearful at all, but Merlin was trailing him too closely. Orsato did not even have the chance to eat. Therefore, during this period, he was practically holding on through sheer will.

"This won't do. I definitely can't go on running like this. I must think of a plan."

As Orsato rapidly fled forward, he tried to come up with a plan. During this period, he had been slithering deeper into the dense mountain woods. The denser or larger the forest was, the better.

He wanted to rely on the mountain woods' complicated terrain to hinder Merlin's pursuit. However, after some time of testing this out, he had discovered that though this would slow Merlin down initially, Merlin would give chase once more. In truth, Orsato's speed in the mountain woods was diminishing too.

Therefore, after traversing the forest for a very long time, Orsato came up with a new idea.

"I can't continue escaping through the mountain forest. I must lure that freak to some other place. It's best if a powerful existence who's a full-shifter can get involved."

At this thought, Orsato's eyes brightened. It was true. Currently, only contenders who were full-shifters could handle the Blood-eye Dragon chasing after him.

"That's right, the Blackbat Militia! Isn't he Count Stanwin's son? Hehe, Boulder City has been seized by the Blackbat Militia, and General Blackbat himself is a full-shifter. Although the barbarians had left, a full-shifting contender like him should be enough to deal with that freak."

Orsato felt that this plan was increasingly reliable. The Blackbat Militia had taken over Boulder City, so they would surely have paid extra attention to Count Stanwin. At this point, if Count Stanwin's son barged into Boulder City, it would surely rouse the Blackbat Militia's anger.

This was Orsato's plan. At worst, he could count on the Blackbat Militia temporarily, then think of a plan to escape. However, he must first slip out of Merlin's pursuit for sure. Otherwise, he might die in Merlin's hands.

With this in mind, Orsato clenched his jaw and abruptly switched direction, heading away from the unending swathe of mountain woods as he fled.

"Huh? He's changed direction?"

Merlin noticed that Orsato had changed direction, so he drew in a deep breath, and immediately followed behind without any hesitation, speeding away from the mountain forest.