Chapter 4: Please Count the Scarecrow's Shadow

TONY immediately stopped talking because he realized that he really couldn't speak about the man in front of him.

  Elon said to the others, "Stay close."

  With that, he stepped forward and was the first to head toward the right.

  It had been getting late when they got here, and now the sun was setting.

  It gets dark early in the woods and the trail becomes completely overcast.

  The girl walked further back, so nervous that she kept sweeping her eyes from side to side, always feeling that something was staring at them in the forest.

  After ten minutes.

  It's completely dark.

  A very large moon, slowly rising from the other side of the mountain, stretched their shadows long, long.

  Elon didn't feel anything.

  But the six men behind him, all of them feeling suddenly so cold, shrank tightly into one piece.

  Just then.

  Elon's footsteps, suddenly stopped.

  His sudden pause caught a few people behind him off guard and almost crashed into them.

  "What's wrong?"

  TONY asked in disbelief.

  Elon didn't answer right away, but kept his head down, looking at the shadows of the crowd.

  The others looked to Shadow as well.

  But the shadows were normal, just stretched thin and long and a little hard to see.

  "How many people were there when we arrived." Elon asked.

  The question was abrupt.

  Because just ten seconds ago, his quest prompt, suddenly changed.

  "The mission has changed."

  "Current mission: find out who the eighth person on the team is."

  So he stopped and looked at the shadow on the ground.

  Count yourself in.

  No more, no less, exactly eight.

  One more!

  TONY thought about it, didn't remember, and scanned the others for a serious count.

  "Eight?"

  "Nope." Elon finally turned, his gaze falling to the crowd as he said slowly, "It's seven."

  "What!"

  That took everyone in the room by surprise.

  Seven?

  Then how come there are eight of them here now?

  Those who were originally cowering in one piece were immediately frightened and scattered, looking at the others with nervousness and fear.

  The live feed exploded as well.

  "Seven people? Didn't there turn out to be eight?"

  "Up front, I remember eight of them, too."

  "My God, what the hell, I remember like seven, and like eight!"

  It's clearly summer.

  They're still in the room watching the live stream.

  Yet they all suddenly felt that the room seemed to have gotten colder, and goosebumps couldn't help but crawl all over them.

  "You're the one who misremembered, aren't you?"

  TONY said a little uneasily, now he was scared too.

  If there were really only seven people to begin with, then when did this eighth person, when did he get mixed in?

  Or maybe ...

  Is he human?

  "I... What are we going to do?" The girl was so nervous she was on the verge of crying.

  Elon is much calmer.

  Is this a hidden mission?

  Or is it a side mission?

  I'm sure it'll raise the reward level if you complete it anyway.

  It's a reward delivered to your door.

  "Don't panic."

  Elon said, "Just a small scene."

  He swept his gaze from one person to another, constantly reading their data.

  Soon, his gaze fell on a short figure.

  Not that his appearance was all that unusual.

  It's mostly his stats.

  [Name: Scarecrow

  Race: Demon

  Physique: 14

  Strength: 17

  Speed: 8

  Spirit: 135

  Introduction: A demonic evil that suddenly appeared in the village of Inagiku, always appearing in the dead of night and enjoying sucking human blood].

  Determine the objectives.

  The corners of Elon's mouth turned up slightly as he slowly walked up to the figure.

  Peng.

  He put his hand on the scarecrow's shoulder and asked, "What's your name?"

  No answer.

  "Dude, answer this, this is no time for silence." TONY said nervously.

  But there was still no answer.

  But the next second.

  The figure, suddenly, looked up.

  When the face came into view, everyone else, minus Elon, was taken aback.

  "Ah!"

  TONY screamed strangely and jumped back a meter or so in shock.

  Because that's not even a human face.

  It was a face made of rags, stitched together crookedly, with a wry smile on it.

  The moment Scarecrow raised his face, both hands popped out at the same time, coming at Elon's neck.

  This is intended to break Elon's neck straight away.

  17 points of power.

  Put it in a newbie quest and it's a total mess to kill, no one can even pawn it.

  You know, there's not a single newcomer here with more than 10 points of power.

  Even if they did, it would be more than ten points at best, and that would have to take three or four people together, but they were all scared out of their wits, so who would dare to go?

  Even if someone had the guts to charge up there, single-handedly it would be a death sentence.

  Seeing that the others were killed in seconds, the others were even more scared and became more and more afraid to go on.

  Let's just say that the scarecrow was well calculated.

  Just a shame ...

  This time he met Elon.

  999 points of power exist.

  He's not nearly as fit as Elon.

  As he struck, Elon struck as well, crushing with both speed and power, and with a large swing, grabbed the scarecrow's hands directly.

  "You're too slow."

  Elon commented, "Little power, too."

  Say it.

  A little push.

  Psst!

  Scarecrow's hands, ripped right off by Elon.

  Immediately after that Elon reached out with his right hand and directly pinched the scarecrow's head, flattening it.

  "Where's your boss."

  Elon asked directly, "Or name the location of your headquarters and I can consider giving you a hard time."

  "Or then you'll be the stove fire for tonight's cooking."

  When his question fell.

  Inside this forest, there was a dead silence.

  Because there were a few people around, and their jaws were about to drop.

  They even suspected they were looking at it wrong.

  Elon actually ripped the scarecrow's hands off and lifted the scarecrow with one hand?

  They were so scared that their legs went weak and their minds went white.

  Elon actually wants to ask for more information?

  Even, trying to make a fire and cook with this scarecrow?

  You're human?

  Now they not only looked at Scarecrow with horror on their faces, but also looked at Elon with some fear.

  "... Against the Grain."

  Countless pop-ups floated by in the live room.

  "I've been watching live for nine years and this is the first time I've seen this."

  "This class of munchkins, seems a bit fierce my day."

  "Quick, a math guy, do the math on the Scarecrow's psyche."

  They all looked dumbfounded.

  As a result, the scarecrow still couldn't say anything.

  Elon crushes the scarecrow's head right off with a hard right hand.

  The scarecrow's feet jerked and he died outright.

  Elon picked the scarecrow's hands back up, then ripped the legs off again, then tore the body apart.

  A few people next to him were scared out of their wits.

  "Big, big brother, are you really going to use this as a cooking fire?"

  TONY cringes.

  "Or what?"

  Elon said, "This thing might be pretty resistant to burning."

  "And, what if it's a fraudulent death?"

  Justified.

  A few people couldn't argue with that.

  "Okay."

  Elon took a handful of straw and said, "Let's keep going."

  Now the system's navigation has changed back.

  "Current mission: traveling to the village of Inuyasha."