The battle was quickly ended. A colorless, formless aura bloomed from the whistling great hammer, drastically increasing its destructive area and killing power. Before the hunting dog could even let out a whimper, it was struck in the waist, its body broken in two.

Bupa's move was called Xiang Ti Yue Ji (Elephant Hoof Leap Strike). As a skill that consumed Stamina Points, its learning condition actually required a Fighting Specialization of D-Grade or higher, so its power was evident.

Of course, One Sword did not know about these statistics. He only knew that a monster with basically the same strength as him had been ambushed and instantly killed by that seemingly weak Bupa girl.

When One Sword had just reached level fifteen, he had also played the "Slaughter Game" once. He knew very well that if they were in that mode now, facing an opponent like Bupa, he would end up exactly like that hunting dog with just one opening.

Seeing One Sword's gaze, Bupa felt that there was no need to keep pretending. Her original innocent and cute expression was gone, and even her coquettish tone and voice had changed. Her tone of speech became like that of a delinquent girl: "Ah... I can't help it. I originally thought I wouldn't have to do it myself." She dragged the long-handled great hammer with one hand and walked forward. The sound of the hammer rubbing against the ground showed an amazing sense of weight.

"I didn't expect you to be so ridiculously weak..." She went around to the side of the hunting dog's corpse, swung her arm, and the hammerhead drew a semicircle in the air before landing heavily. After the hunting dog had been cut in two, the front half of its body was still twitching, but this time, the entire dog's head was smashed to a pulp.

This brutal finishing blow splattered One Sword's face with dog blood. His expression was shocked, and he stood there dumbfounded, like a wooden chicken.

"Um..." Until just now, One Sword had been posing with a "Big Brother's got your back" attitude, but at this moment, he didn't even dare to speak too loudly, using a cautious tone to say, "Heh... Heh heh... So... So you're so powerful... But... Why did you... hide to the side, looking scared, when we encountered the wild boar and the tiger before..."

The last few words of One Sword's sentence were "you were hiding to the side, looking scared," but he was interrupted by Bupa before he could finish.

"What did you say?" Her tone was no different from that of a thug. "Hey, are you looking down on me?" She tilted her head, glaring fiercely at him, and stood the great hammer upright. "Dare to talk to this old lady like that..." A sense of oppression swept over him. "I'll kill you..."

"Big... Big sister... I was wrong." One Sword leaned against the tree trunk, his face covered in sweat. Although teammates could not attack each other, in terms of aura, he was no different from a dead man. "That... With my little brother's strength, I can only kill those trash monsters. Big sister, you're looking up to me by letting me lead the way... Ha... Hahaha." His face looked like he was about to cry as he squeezed out the laughter at the end.

"That's more like it." Bupa put the great hammer into her knapsack, crossed her arms in front of her chest, and said as if she were a big sister lecturing someone, "Speaking of... that little brother called Feng Bujue seems to be doing pretty well. We haven't heard any news of his death yet, which means he took care of the hunting dog all by himself. His strength is above yours..."

"How do you know he also encountered a hunting dog chasing him?"

"Nonsense. Didn't you see the number of dogs in the castle? I estimate that Zaroff will release several of them, or even more, to split the players into several groups."

"Uh... Actually, I can barely handle this hunting dog one-on-one..." One Sword said timidly.

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Bupa's loud shout, "Stop talking nonsense, baldy!"

"Bald... Baldy..." One Sword's chivalrous long hair style was inexplicably called "baldy."

"You have the bonus stats from the guild, and your level is also one level higher than his. The fact that he can do the same thing as you already shows that he is stronger." Bupa wasn't just being unreasonable. There was some truth to her words. "Tsk... I should have gone with him. Miscalculation."

One Sword was sprayed until he was depressed, and he lowered his head and muttered, "I'm... I'm sorry. I'm so weak that I'm causing you trouble..."

"Ah, forget it. A baldy is just a baldy." Sister Bupa very generously "forgave" him.

If the game had animated expression rendering, One Sword's head would definitely be covered in a gloomy shadow right now.

"Alright, now is not the time to be listless." Bupa raised her hand and pointed. "The northwest direction is over there. Continue to lead the way."

"Uh... Well, I already know which way is north..."

"What are you babbling about!"

"Yes... Yes..."

…………

Before him remained the dark, sunless forest, with its undulating terrain and towering jagged rocks. Underfoot was sometimes dirt, sometimes a winding, twisting path of gravel.

In his trek, Feng Bujue gradually became numb to the discomfort on his body. This numbness was exchanged for mental relaxation. Fatigue was like a burden that could not be thrown off, pressing down on him. His Survival Value was not recovering at all in this constant state of walking, and the consumption of his Stamina Value was also worrying. Although his active skill, Caolu De Weixiu (Slipshod Repair), might not be needed in this script without much mechanical equipment, and the remaining two shots of Xionghaizi De Xia Bian Tui (Bear Child's Low Sweep) would only require a maximum of 200 Stamina Points, if his Stamina Value decreased to a certain level, it would be very easy to lead to death in the event of a sudden situation.

[Time until sunrise: 153 minutes]

At this time, Zaroff had been gone for an hour and a half. In theory, from the moment they received the mission, the players should have been escaping for 146 minutes.

Of course, Feng Bujue had not actually used all 146 minutes. Explaining the situation to his teammates and returning to the castle to retrieve the tools had taken up some of his time. However, it was certain that he was at least 40 minutes ahead of General Zaroff.

Killing the hunting dog had not cost Feng Bujue too much time, because he had sped up and run for a while at that time. During the journey after that, he had encountered two or three similar incidents of pythons hunting wild boars. Fortunately, he was always able to realize it alertly and remove himself from the situation, slipping away without attracting the attention of those animals.

Now, half of the five-hour survival limit had passed. Even if he disregarded the fact that Zaroff's speed was definitely faster than Feng Bujue's, assuming that this boss was deliberately not chasing at full speed, he should have caught up by this time.

If Zaroff still did not appear after another twenty minutes, there was only one possibility: he had not come to the southeast, but had gone after the other two.

Therefore, Feng Bujue sincerely, eagerly, anticipated hearing the system notification that a team member had died at some point...

It wasn't that he disliked these two teammates, but that's just how this script was. Someone had to sacrifice themselves. For either side, it was a 50% probability, and he believed that the other party's mood was the same as his.

After another ten minutes or so, Feng Bujue simply stopped walking. He sat down on a relatively flat large rock, massaging his sore legs with his hands, enjoying this moment of rest.

Obviously, by this time, the plan to exchange space for time could be considered successful. Even if the general killed Feng Bujue or the other two people on the other side right now, it would be difficult for him to return and catch up with the survivors on the other side of the island.

At this moment, Feng Bujue's plan had entered its second stage—a stage focused on survival and slowing down his pace. This stage had nothing to do with the other two people. The reason was very simple... They were two people. But Feng Bujue was alone. If General Zaroff really appeared and killed him immediately, he would have nothing to say. But if the general went to the northwest corner, Feng Bujue would have to be extra careful from now on. If the general didn't come after him, but he was killed by something else, causing all the people in the team to die in the end, it would be a great tragedy.

[Team Member: One Sword Allure, has died.] The system notification suddenly sounded.

The moment Feng Bujue heard this sentence, he shamelessly smiled.

But seconds later, his smile froze on his face. "Why did only one of them die?"

He eagerly waited for the news that Cai Bupa Ne (Not Afraid) had also been killed. Only when he heard that both of them had died could he rest assured. Because Feng Bujue believed that with Zaroff's strength, no matter what skills that "hide-and-seek" girl had, they would be useless. At most, they would only help her live a little longer.

But... if the news of Cai Bupa Ne's death did not come for a long time, there would be many variables. The probability of her escaping from the general's hands was extremely low. The greater possibility was... that One Sword Allure's death had nothing to do with Zaroff. He had died from some other monster or event.

Considering this line of thought, the worst-case scenario was that Zaroff had actually come to Feng Bujue's side, while One Sword and Bupa had encountered some other danger, resulting in one death and one escape. In the next two hours or so, the Bupa girl would be acting alone, facing various threats of death. And Feng Bujue himself...

Thinking of this, the pressure on Feng Bujue returned. He pursed his lower lip and blew a breath at the hair in front of his forehead: "This is terrible... Now there's no way to judge which side the general actually went to."

[Team Member: Cai Bupa Ne, has died.] The system notification rang again at this time.

"Eh?" Feng Bujue was stunned for a moment, and then let out a long sigh of relief, "Phew... I'm relieved now. It seems that they really did encounter Zaroff without a doubt."

Having come to this conclusion, Feng Bujue felt much relieved. What he had to do now was to move slowly towards the southeast while ensuring his own safety.

Actually, staying where he was was also a solution. Under this script setting, staying should not be considered passive gaming by the system. However, Feng Bujue was very wary of Zaroff. If the general sped up and came back now, the distance he had traveled was still not safe enough.

So, after resting for about ten more minutes, Feng Bujue set off again.

This time, he only walked about three hundred meters before stopping, because after passing through a section of terrain with a drop, he found something in a small depression beside him—a human skeleton.