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20 Chapter 19: Sen Lin Fores(2/2)

eepishly and hastily followed her.

"Uh..right."

Meanwhile, from a distance, Qi Fu Ren was glaring in their direction, a murderous look in his eyes.

What the hell?!

I wanted to roll my eyes at the entire scene. What was this, some kind of romantic comedy? Were they seriously pulling this love rectangle crap in the middle of a monster-infested forest? There's a time and place for everything, you know?!

At that moment, Bai Ning Xue stopped and stared at an unusually large tree.

"What's that?"

All of us turned and looked in the direction she was facing. As she had pointed out, there was something embedded in the massive tree, but it wasn't a bug or one of the usual magical beasts carving a home into its huge trunk.

No, it was a diamond-like gem that glowed brilliantly and beautifully.

"Oh, that's a Glacial Gemstone." Xiao Zhang nodded as he mused to himself. "Fascinating. I rarely see one of that size. It will sell for a lot of money..but it's also very useful for cultivation and is extremely valuable as ingredients for Spirit weapons and armaments. It's also very often used to craft jewelry for the royalty and nobles."

All the girls were going googly eyes over it.

"How pretty.."

"It's lovely.."

"Beautiful.."

While the girls chattered excitedly or whispered shyly amongst each other, Bai Ning Xue alone remained silent. She cast a surreptitious glance at Zhu Jiao, but I was probably the only one who noticed it. No, it seemed that Qing Xin Xia noticed it as well, but she merely turned away guiltily and focused her gaze on the Glacial Gemstone.

Qi Fu Ren, who had been watching Bai Ning Xue, also noticed it.

"In that case, I'll get it!"

He roughly declared and quickly moved toward the Glacial Gemstone. Xiao Zhang spun around, astounded by his abrupt behavior.

"Hey! Don't just grab the Glacial Gemstone like that! Check to make sure it's safe first!"

Qi Fu Ren pointedly ignored him and reached the Glacial Gemstone. Despite Xiao Zhang moving forward to stop him, he was too late. Qi Fu Ren had already stretched out his hand and touched the Glacial Gemstone.

At that moment, Teacher Jiao jolted and raced forward.

"Get away from that Glacial Gemstone! It's a trap!"

Unfortunately, he was too late. In the brief moment that Qi Fu Ren touched the Glacial Gemstone, there was already a massive formation circle of qi rapidly expanding from the crystal to envelope the entire clearing.

Oh boy..why do I have a strange sort of déjà vu?

That was because the formation circle looked very similar to the one that was used in many summoning stories. Such as one that involved a certain edgy synergist with a railgun and motorbike.

"Fall back!" Xiao Zhang sounded panicky. "Leave this place immediately! Go!"

The class was already fleeing toward the edge of the forest, but they didn't make it in time. The light from the formation circle flashed blindingly across the clearing, drowning our vision in pure white. I blinked, but couldn't see anything no matter how much I tried. Not that there was anything to see..in fact, I felt as if I was floating, like there was nothing beneath my feet.

The next thing I knew, the white light disappeared and the class was rudely deposited upon yet another place.

"Whoa!"

"Ouch!"

"What the hell?!"

While I managed to land on my feet because of my footwork, the rest of my classmates weren't as lucky. Most of them had lost their balance and fell on their rump, hard. They were groaning and rubbing their bruised parts as they got up.

Pushing up my glasses, I looked around my new surroundings. It was no longer a forest but seemed to be a subterranean cavern. Clearly the formation circle was a transportation technique that brought us across space and brought us to a different place.

That different place was currently a bridge. The transportation technique had deposited us directly in the middle of a large stone bridge that stretched across a hundred meters in length. Below the bridge was nothing but a yawning chasm of sheer darkness so deep that we couldn't see the bottom. I shuddered when I stared down into it, feeling as if I was being watched by something, and suddenly remembered reading something similar.

If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze back into you. Friedrich Nietzsche was the one who said that, right?

Tearing my eyes away from the endless abyss below, I scanned through the bridge. Obviously there were no handrails for us to hold onto, which made it absolutely vital that we get off the damned bridge before we slip off and fall below. On either end of the bridge were cliffs that housed passageways into stairways that led above.

Xiao Zhang must have noticed the same thing, for he quickly instructed us in a grim tone.

"All of you, hurry up and get to the stairs immediately! Get out of here! Right now!"

The whole class moved without any hesitation. Even the usually rebellious Qi Fu Ren offered no snarky reply.

Unfortunately Sen Lin Forest wasn't kind enough to lure us into a trap, only to let us escape so easily. New formation circles materialized on both sides of the bridge, and monsters began emerging from within these circles. On one side was a gargantuan magical beast that reminded me of Fenrir from Norse mythology, with its massive wolf-like frame, spiky fur and gigantic fangs. On the other side was a massive pack of skeletal monsters that brayed hollowly as they galloped toward us, their exposed bones rattling.

Xiao Zhang could only stare at the massive magical beast, his eyes wide in fear. His mouth opened and closed for several moments, and only when I strained my ears could I hear what he was whispering.

Not that I needed him to tell me. I already had my suspicions about the monster's identity, having read about it in an encyclopedia in the library. Even so, Xiao Zhang's words served to confirm my worst fears and send chills down my spine.

"Impossible..that's..that's a Behemoth.."