Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Inferno in the Forest

“Whoosh, whoosh...” Fire spreads most easily in forests; in mere moments, the entire area was engulfed in a raging inferno. Scorching heat swept across the land, threatening to devour everything in its path.

“Cough, cough!” The suffocating smoke and blazing flames were no relief to Jia Zhengjin; a single misstep and he too could be consumed by the fire.

At least the firestorm served its purpose. The terrifying blaze rapidly expanded, swallowing the skeletons that were relentlessly pursuing him. Some, wreathed in flames, continued their chase—now even more terrifying in appearance—but many others were incinerated to ash in the hottest parts of the inferno.

Of course, numerous unfortunate creatures of this otherworldly forest perished inexplicably in their sleep, burned to death without warning. Only a few, quick to react, managed to spread their wings and escape, or fled swiftly on foot.

[Message] You defeated a skeleton, gaining 10 experience points!
[Message] You defeated a skeleton...

A barrage of notifications appeared, but Jia Zhengjin had no time to cheer; as he ran and set more fires, more skeletons kept emerging from the ground beneath his feet.

The blaze grew ever larger. Realizing there was no way back, Jia Zhengjin saw only an endless sea of fire behind him. He could only press forward, continually igniting more dry grass and dead trees. He needed a greater inferno, one vast enough to burn the army of skeletons pursuing him.

The flames rapidly consumed the oxygen in the air, and soon Jia Zhengjin felt the severe difficulty of breathing. The ever-increasing heat around him desperately evaporated the moisture from his body. His steps grew heavier and slower, until he could only stagger forward, straining to widen the gap between himself and the skeletons.

Suddenly—“Snap!”—a skeleton's arm burst from the earth, grabbing his ankle. Jia Zhengjin lost his balance and fell hard, his torch tumbling from his grasp.

“Rattle, rattle...” The skeleton clawed its way out of the ground, immediately pouncing atop him, trying to kill him.

“Get off!” Jia Zhengjin swung his iron shield, smashing the skeleton's skull and pushing it away.

“Rattle, rattle, rattle...” The flaming skeletons behind him caught up, though many burned to ash as they moved.

Struggling to his feet, Jia Zhengjin snatched up his torch and ran with all his might.

But—“Snap!”—after only a few steps, more skeleton arms erupted from the ground, clutching tightly at his legs. Once again losing his balance, Jia Zhengjin fell, facing an even greater number of skeletons swarming toward him. His only thought was: This is the end!

Just then—“Whoosh!”—the werewolf Wolf arrived in the nick of time. He slashed through the skeleton gripping Jia Zhengjin's thigh, scooped Jia up at the waist, and, with his formidable leap, carried him out of danger. If not for Wolf's terrifying werewolf appearance, Jia Zhengjin would have shouted, “Awesome!”

“Circle back!” Jia Zhengjin shouted as Wolf carried him out of the inferno.

“What?” Wolf stared wide-eyed.

“We can't lure more skeletons forward!” Jia Zhengjin yelled. “And the skeleton army isn't completely destroyed yet! We need to turn back, lure them back into the fire! Cough, cough...”

“That's too dangerous!” Wolf protested. “You won't make it—you'll be dehydrated and die from lack of oxygen!”

“You know about that?” Jia Zhengjin pulled two coconuts from his virtual backpack, along with two pieces of fiber cloth. He cracked open the coconuts and soaked the cloth, “Wrap your face with the cloth. We'll be fine! We must burn them all. If they aren't wiped out, we will be! I'm worried about what's happening back home, so we need to finish this quickly!”

“You're the boss!” Wolf, after all, was Jia Zhengjin's hired werewolf. Together, they wrapped their faces in the coconut-soaked cloth, then Wolf carried him and led the skeleton army back into the inferno.

A thunderous roar echoed—the skeletal triceratops, ablaze from head to toe, charged toward them.

“Let the fire burn even stronger!” As Wolf leapt skyward with him, Jia Zhengjin pulled out his stockpile of coal from the virtual backpack and dumped it all onto the skeletal triceratops.

“Whoosh!” The triceratops skeleton burned fiercer than ever, but still chased Wolf and Jia Zhengjin with relentless fury.

The forest fire was already uncontrollable, now intensified by Jia Zhengjin's addition of coal. Nearly every plant around them was ablaze, even detonating several bizarre plants—those same ones that the kobold chief had used to blow up the giant python before. The skeleton army suffered even greater devastation.

More and more skeletons were burned to death in the inferno, finally reduced to piles of bone ash. The fire's power was astonishingly effective, but it destroyed a vast portion of the forest.

Though this immense area was but a small fraction of the ancient forest as a whole, in later times, such destruction would have meant a lifetime behind bars.

The blaze grew ever larger, the skeletons ever fewer—even the skeletal triceratops was finally burned clean away.

But Jia Zhengjin and Wolf were suffering too. Despite the wet cloths, their bodies’ moisture was utterly depleted—an extremely dangerous situation!

“I can't go on!” Wolf finally stopped, setting Jia Zhengjin down. “This fire is too intense—even more dangerous than advanced magic! I can't take it anymore. I must rest for a moment!”

“Drink some coconut juice and replenish your fluids!” Jia Zhengjin quickly handed him an opened coconut and prepared one for himself.

“It’ll only help a little,” Wolf said, after swatting down another skeleton and surveying their surroundings. “I fear we can't escape—the fire surrounds us on all sides!”

“Is that so?” Jia Zhengjin struggled to his feet. “Looks like I didn’t think of my own safety—what a total miscalculation! The fire that can wipe out the skeletons can just as easily kill us!”

“What now?” Wolf asked. “The blaze is too intense—I can't possibly jump over it!”

“Then let’s do our best to wipe out these skeletons before we're burned or dried to death! Hopefully, no more will appear—at least let Tina survive in peace…” Jia Zhengjin gripped his shield in one hand, his spear in the other, and smashed a charging skeleton with all his might.

“If that's what you want...” Wolf joined the battle, slashing his claws and shattering the flaming skeletons as they approached. The skeletons’ attacks were utterly ignored—Wolf’s body, though battered and scarred, healed itself swiftly.

[Message] You defeated the triceratops skeleton, gaining 300 experience points!
[Message] You leveled up!

“What good is leveling up at a time like this?” Back to back, Jia Zhengjin and Wolf fought side by side, destroying skeleton after skeleton.