Chapter 156: Variation

'My next job is to earn more Exp points and upgrade the spell models.' At that moment, Charles's heart palpitated all of a sudden!

Simultaneously, a small tremor appeared from the ground, causing the hill to shake a little.

The shaking soon caused the sharp stone, attached to the cave's ceiling, to fall directly towards Charles's head!

As the stone was about to pierce his head, he suddenly raised his hand and caught the stone swiftly.

'An omen? No, it seems to be indicating that my life is in danger.' Before he could think further, he sensed that the ground was still vibrating.

'Something is approaching.' Charles's face turned dead serious as he cast [False Blink] spell and reappeared near the cave wall.

Then, he hurriedly picked up the Twin Leaf, stored in his space ring, and then once again cast [False Blink] spell.

A moment later, he appeared near the sealed entrance, moved the rock, and then walked out from the underground hall.

It was only a few minutes before he walked into the underground cave, but the surroundings had already turned a little darker.

At that moment, the ground vibration started to go fiercer and fiercer and soon turned into a mini earthquake.

ROARRRR!

A sudden thundering noise echoed above his head, causing his face to pale in fright.

He clearly remembered the familiar feeling and hurriedly used the [False Blink] spell five times.

In two seconds, he appeared in the nearby woods, turned around with a solemn look on his face, and started to walk backward with careful footsteps.

Meanwhile, a 20 to 25-meter tall humongous bird with a lizard-like face descended from the sky and landed on the hill with its monstrous body. Its body was as large as a large three-stored building and appeared thirty to thirty-five meter long.

Its scales were pure reddish and were sharper as daggers. Two tough legs, reddish wings that were almost as long as its body, and a long sharp tail.

It was the same freaking Red Dragon that Charles saw when he entered this Savage Forest!

The monstrous Red Dragon flapped its wings twice while sending shockwaves in every direction and let out another thundering roar.

The whole hill started to shook for a moment before returning to normal.

On the other hand, the Red Dragon moved its head towards the river, opened its mouth, and started to drink water!

Once it finished drinking the hot water, it made a satisfying burp with a lump of fire and then released its ruler power.

The power of dominance came from its body like a ripple and tore the nearby rocks, plants, and even trees' branches.

At the exact moment, Charles felt the same suffocated feeling from the Red Dragon.

But unlike before, he felt that he could resist the invisible power with his wisdom power!

'This creature must be above Rank-5.'

He was damn sure of it!

Before he could process his thoughts, the monstrous Dragon squinted its yellowish eyes all of a sudden and turned its head towards the forest.

No, the Dragon's gaze peered into the leaves and tree trunks and soon landed on Charles, who was hiding behind a tree trunk.

Upon sensing the Dragon's gaze, his body started to quiver involuntarily.

'F*ck, I'm exposed!' He cursed at his damned luck and began to think at a fast speed.

'This Dragon has already locked its eyes on me, so there is no way it can let me escape... I also used the Holem's Crown's 'Travel Leap' spell once, so it's an out of option... My next option is the Twin Leaf. If I can use the Twin Leaf to escape...Nah, I should use that as a last choice. If the Twin Leaf ends up in the Dragon's hand, it might found out the coordinates of Edhen. I also knew nothing much about the Dragon and its intelligence...' While he was in muse, the Red Dragon suddenly made a loud snort, turned his head towards the dim black sky, and flapped its red wings.

The next instant, it directly flew up towards the sky, causing another round of shockwaves, and disappeared from his vision!

'What is this all about?' Even Charles got stunned for a moment, and soon realization dawn on him.

'It doesn't consider me as a threat at all... No, it's similarly like when I look at the ants. If I saw a red ant among the black ant group, I might take one curious look at the anomaly and then resume walking on my one... Just now, this Dragon also gave a similar response...' He was a bit speechless when he thought of such a possibility.

'But my heart is still beating faster...' His expression went stiff for a moment.

The next instant, his expression turned solemn.

'Something is still not right... It's not that my life is in danger, but the kids!' He instantly cast [False Blink] multiple times and appeared in front of the underground cave.

Although the Dragon stood on the large hill, its weight wasn't enough to collapse this underground cave at all.

He carefully walked inside and soon saw many broken rocks were scattered all over the place.

But he didn't put much thought into it before he went deeper into the cave and soon placed the gem-like leaf on the wall.

Then, he made a short chant and disappeared from the Fire Elemental Plane.

...

Strangers Street, Helm Ville, Iron Kingdom, Edhen World.

The gloomy underground basement suddenly turned bright due to the dim green light.

The next instant, Charles appeared in the basement, conjured a ball of fire, and made it float in the air.

At the exact moment, he suddenly felt a chill sensation from the surrounding air!

He quickly changed his appearance into an old man's one, took a black frock coat, and wore it over his linen shirt.

Then, he tapped the red-gem bracelet and ordered the Holem's Crown to change it into a black cane.

Following that, he turned around before gripping the black cane's handle and started walking towards the staircase.

Within a few seconds, he appeared in the outside yard and then frowned.

The sky appeared abnormally darker with no red moons, giving him an uneasy feeling.

Not only that, but the temperature also started to rise at a fast speed.

'Something is definitely not right.' His wrinkled face turned colder as he started walking towards the backyard entrance and soon paused for a moment.

'Wait... When my heart started to beat abnormally faster to give me a warning, the Red Dragon suddenly appeared and fooled me into thinking that I'm the one who was in danger... The perfect timing to fool my thinking... Was it a coincidence? Or, someone used the power of Fate?' He subconsciously thought of the Royal Family members and Iron Tower Mages.

'They must have already found out that Rhea has a powerful backer to change the fate of this kingdom... So, they made their first move?' He narrowed his eyes in suspicion and soon shook his head.

'No, even Red Prince took six months to find my exact location... So, the chance of the current Royal Family members or the Tower Mages finding out about Rhea's exact location is close to zero. That leaves with one other option and that is... There is someone else creating this anomaly.'

While thinking, he appeared in front of the backyard entrance gate, opened it with a click, and started to walk on the gloomy dark corridor.

Soon, he saw that the main hall was still illuminated in the bright yellow lamplight!

Charles walked on the concrete floor while making light noises and soon reached the main hall.

But the next second, his face froze as he focused his gaze at the center of the hall.

There, he saw a black-haired woman's body was floating in a horizontal position and appeared motionless!