Chapter 161. Deadly vines.

Aiden shot towards the direction of the lake in the inner perimeter.

When he arrived in the inner perimeter, the temperature plummeted severely. The rains were heavier. Because the forest was thick here, the canopies above were more convoluted and connected. The place was darker and more foggy.

Distant roars of chaotic beasts resounded.

Had a normal warrior been here, their worldly energy reserves would have drained at an alarming rate. But Aiden cultivated by absorbing the blood essence of the dead. The environment was harsh, but his stamina was considerable.

Of course, he had to be on the lookout for biological hazards. He was not immune to environmental threats. The ones here were on another level compared to the outer perimeter.

As he navigated through the thick tree trunks, something whipped across the place.

It was a very large tree branch. It looked like a vine.

Aiden’s senses were already operating at an alarming rate. He had already noticed the attack.

But it was too fast for him to react in time.

The large tree branch slammed into Aiden, hurtling him through the air. His figure crashed into tree branches. Several places in his crimson armor had broken apart, revealing damaged skin. He coughed a mouthful of blood as his internal organs shook. His vision turned hazy.

His absurd regeneration kicked in and eventually, the pain disappeared and his vision stabilised.

But he still hadn’t regained control of his mobility due to the force at which he was hurtled through the forest.

"Damn it. Trees with defense mechanisms. Just because I can see a threat doesn’t mean I can react in time. I need to be more careful."

Aiden managed to regain control.

Blobs of blood appeared before him and turned into crimson wings. The crimson wings attached themselves to his back.

Aiden flapped the crimson wings to attempt to stabilize himself.

But more vines were coming his way.

"Shit," he cursed. "I can’t lose my cool. It will get me killed." He calmed down.

He started to evade the approaching vines.

Aiden moved with calm, preternatural dexterity. His combat instincts, honed through various life and death encounters, kicked in.

He flapped his crimson wings, and turned into a crimson phantom as trails of green phantoms followed after him.

"They are getting nearer. Even if I reinforce my crimson armor, they will break through. I need to enhance my speed. I have also reinforced these wings and made them lighter. But it seems they’ve reached the limit of the speed they can grant me. My natural speed is also not making up for it. I can’t even think of also attacking those vines. They can even kill legendary rank 3 chaotic beasts. I need to find a way to widen the distance."

Suddenly, Aiden remembered something. During one encounter he had in the first pocket world he entered, he made use of crimson hooked ropes to evade hordes of beasts that had been following him and the rescue team he joined at the time.

"I should try that. The current situation is similar to that. Although this time, vines are following me."

Several blobs of blood appeared before him and transformed into a crimson rope. Aiden controlled it and made it very elastic.

The edge of the rope transformed into crimson hooks.

Aiden held the crimson elastic rope and swung it forward towards a particular direction.

He had located a small cave in a mountain adjacent to the lake he had initially been headed towards.

He could not see beyond the entrance of the cave because his range of vision could not reach further.

The crimson elastic rope arced through the air with uncanny speed towards the edge of the cave.

The vines were nearing him.

Aiden spun and flapped his crimson wings. A vine almost grazed his cheek, but he narrowly evaded it.

The vine arced back unnaturally, turned and shot towards his face.

Aiden gritted his teeth.

He could not evade this one. And the others behind were catching up to him.

The crimson elastic ropes made contact with the edge of the cave. The hooks at the edge of the rope sunk into the edge of the cave.

The vine which was shooting towards Aiden crushed into Aiden and hurtled him backwards. Pain shot through his skull. The crimson armor covering his face broke apart. Part of his face had been completely destroyed.

His blood splurged all over. His insane regeneration kicked in as flesh started forming on his face.

The other vines which were previously behind him, were almost in his line of vision. If they hit him, he’d die.

Aiden calmly endured the pain. Now was not the time to lose focus and panic.

Still holding the crimson rope though, he used the force generated from being hurtled backwards by the vine to shoot himself upwards. Controlling the rope, whose hook was attached to the cave large distances away from his current location, he flapped his crimson wings and arced himself into the skies. His figure shot towards the canopies, entered the skies, and descended like a parabola towards the cave, rope edge in hand.

The rope hurtled him towards the entrance of the cave with unnatural speed. Aiden had turned into a crimson streak, holding a rope, descending towards the cave entrance like a meteorite.

His face had completely healed now, and he had reinforced the armor on his face.

The vines however, were following him from afar. But he was losing them by the second.

Soon, they were nowhere in sight.

Very soon, the cave entrance grew larger as he neared it. His figure descended gracefully towards the entrance of the cave.

The crimson ropes turned into blobs of blood and reinforced his crimson daggers.

Aiden sat at the entrance of the cave.

"That was a close call." He had almost died.

He stared at the lake below. Forest trees lined the sides of the lake, forming dense canopies above it. However, tiny rays of light managed to seep through, forming dotted lines on the surface of the foggy, cold lake.

The legendary rank 2 fishes with dark thick scales, large fins and razor sharp teeth were still gallivanting in and out of the lake. Each time they leapt in and out of the lake, the waves of the lake would rise.

Aiden didn’t act immediately. If there was one thing he had learnt from his encounter with the vines, he had to be extremely careful.

He needed to test the environment for hazards before he attacked the creatures and absorbed their blood essence.

However, before he could put his plan into motion, he heard a scowl behind him. It was from the cave.