Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat!-Chapter 379: The Unexpected Encounter

The scout gave a crisp nod. "Understood..."

"The Commander ordered thirty men to escort Priest Gorr’s body back, each with three Cliffstriders. They’ll ride day and night, switching mounts. Should reach Beastfall City in three days."

He paused, as if debating whether to say more.

"Alright, then we’ll just take a nice stroll back," the Commander said casually, leaning back against the broad back of his mount. He even crossed his legs.

The subordinate blinked in disbelief. Shouldn’t we be rushing back?

This was the Gorr family we were talking about—three priests from one bloodline. With one dead, Beastfall City would erupt into chaos. That old man from the Gorr clan would definitely use this as leverage to pressure the old City Lord.

Shouldn’t we head back and support the City Lord?

—

Meanwhile, Ethan knew nothing of the events unfolding far away.

He stood still, scanning his surroundings carefully.

This was the spot. He was certain of it. But Uncle Jed and the others were nowhere in sight.

The coordinates he’d set had pointed right to the tent’s entrance. Now the tent was gone—and so were they.

He spread his Soul Sense across the area but found nothing out of the ordinary. Just below his feet, the sand bore scattered footprints—messy, as if many people had passed through. Mixed in were the deep prints of Cliffstrider hooves.

Had they encountered danger?

He crouched down and examined the sand more closely. No drag marks. No blood. No signs of a struggle.

If something had gone wrong, Uncle Jed wouldn’t have gone quietly. With his skill, he wouldn’t be captured easily. Something was off.

His gaze shifted to the withered tree trunk, half-buried in the sand. From that very trunk, they had first emerged. Inside it, he found the carefully packed tent, water, and food he’d left behind.

Less than two days had passed. Why had they packed up and left?

It didn’t look like a hasty escape. The supplies were still there. Everything was orderly. No signs of panic.

Where had they gone?

More importantly, why would they willingly leave with someone else?

And judging by the state of the trunk and supplies, they had packed everything before that group even arrived.

Ethan narrowed his eyes. The footprints led northwest.

Toward Beastfall City.

He stood there for a long moment, then decided against retrieving the supplies from the trunk. What if Uncle Jed and the others came back? The provisions might still be useful. And with the coordinates set, he could always return.

He followed the trail.

The footprints were faint now. No sandstorm had passed in recent days, otherwise the trail would have been erased completely.

How long ago had they left? Could he still catch up?

The eastern sky began to pale. Time was slipping by fast.

Ethan had already traveled most of the night. At midnight, he’d clashed with Priest Gorr, battled the Fire-Eyed Toad, and returned here only to set out again without pause.

He hadn’t rested—not for a second.

After burning through his strongest techniques, exhaustion began to creep in.

But worry over Uncle Jed’s group pushed him forward.

Finally, the trail vanished.

Ethan stopped.

He couldn’t go on—not in this condition. Even if he caught up, he wouldn’t be able to handle another fight.

At least the direction was clear. They were headed to Beastfall City.

He exhaled, long and slow.

Then set up a new tent, took a few quick bites of food, and collapsed into sleep.

—

He didn’t know how long he’d been out. But Little Empty’s frantic chirping pulled him from the void of sleep.

Night had already fallen.

Blinking, Ethan opened his eyes. The little creature was darting around in a panic, trying to stuff something red and glossy into its mouth—but failing.

Curious, Ethan reached out and snatched the item.

Little Empty squeaked wildly in protest, thrashing in his grip and baring its teeth.

As if to say: That’s mine!

[Ding... System Notification: Obtained item [Fire Elemental Monster Core (Tier 4)] x1.]

"Huh? Where’d you get this?" Ethan muttered.

The system’s prompt gave him a pretty good idea.

Probably from the Fire-Eyed Toad’s corpse. Maybe after he’d gone into the cave, the little creature had retrieved it.

Close guess.

In truth, the core had simply fallen out of the toad’s mouth. Little Empty had picked it up and tucked it away in its thick fur. And now that it was starving, it had pulled it out, hoping to eat it.

Too bad it couldn’t bite through, let alone swallow the thing.

Now that Ethan had it, he wasn’t giving it back. He didn’t know what it was good for yet—but it looked valuable.

They didn’t rush to leave. Ethan lay back down and soon drifted off again. His exhaustion was bone-deep.

During these brief moments of consciousness, he’d tried several times to send a command to exit the game.

No response. Not even a countdown.

Just like before—exit was forcibly restricted. At least this wasn’t the Underworld, where time was drastically warped.

Here, time flowed a thousand times slower than on Earth. If that weren’t the case, his real-world body would’ve been in serious trouble by now.

What Ethan didn’t know... was that on Earth, in the brand-new VR capsule he’d purchased, his body had already vanished.

—

BOOM.

Ethan was violently jolted from sleep by a sudden impact. He hit the ground hard, half-buried in sand.

Eyes snapping open, he leapt to his feet instinctively.

A group of people stood where his tent had been. Some men, some women. The women quickly turned their heads away when they saw him, the men, however, smirked with mocking eyes.

Ethan looked down.

Right, he was naked.

He had a habit of sleeping in the nude, especially when alone and in this kind of heat. He hadn’t bothered setting up the air conditioner either—just stripped down and passed out.

With a scowl, he grabbed his clothes and quickly dressed.

The group, all mounted, slowly approached.

He noticed the ruined tent, his torn-up bedding, and a ten-liter jug of purified water—shattered.

Rage flared in his chest.

He didn’t have many tents left. And thank the stars he hadn’t set up the air conditioner—he only had three left. Worse still, only two miniature solar generators remained. If one of those had been thrown, it’d be junk now.

These people... were begging for a beating. That was his first thought, but then—he froze.

Wait. Where was Little Empty?

"Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!"

He turned toward the noise.

There, in a woman’s hand, was Little Empty—its limbs and neck all bound in chains.

Ethan’s fury hit another level, they weren’t just asking for a beating now. They were asking for death.

But something else caught his attention.

Among the group, a few individuals stood out. There was something... strange about their auras.

Not quite human.

Faint traces of beastly energy clung to them. He’d sensed a similar aura on Leeroy, after his transformation.

But these people hadn’t transformed. They still looked human.

A strange thought crossed Ethan’s mind.

’Could they be... hybrids? Half-human, half-beast?’

"Hey, kid," someone called out.

A pale young man in a dust-colored robe sat tall on his mount, eyes locked on Ethan. "You out here sunbathing your ass or something?"

He gestured to Little Empty, still squirming in chains.

"This little thing says you’re his boss. That true or not?"

Ethan looked around, then pointed to himself. "You talking to me?"

"No shit. You’re the only one here," the young man snapped impatiently.

Ethan shrugged, lips curling into a smirk. "You’re right. I am the only one here. I only talk to people, though. Not to whatever the hell crawled out of a fart."

Then he bent down and calmly picked up what was still intact.

The group bristled.

"Kid, are you looking to die?"

"Do you even know who you’re talking to?!"

"If you kneel right now, maybe—maybe—our Young Master will spare your life!"

More than a dozen people spoke up at once, their voices like a rising tide. Weapons were drawn—fine steel blades glinting.

Their mounts snorted and advanced, surrounding Ethan in a tightening circle.