2152 Disastrous Luck
Klinsmann was very smart. He hastily removed himself from the Breaksky doll to ensure his own survival when the construct was swallowed. But when Klinsmann was still in the air, the little beast’s tongue flew out and snared Klinsmann, then jerked him back into its mouth. Klinsmann didn’t even have a chance to scream.
Han Sen had thought the Breaksky dolls would stall the Metal Beast, buying the Marquises enough time to escape from the metal city. When he looked back, though, he saw that all of them had already been destroyed.
Han Sen became particularly glum when he noticed that the Metal Beast was now coming after them.
The body of the critter was quite chubby, and it had originally looked like some sort of modern art sculpture forged of metal. Not now, though. Now, it looked like a demon that wanted their blood. Seeing it head their way, everyone felt a huge chill run down their spines.
“Spread out and scatter!!” Kahn shouted, before turning to flee in a different direction.
The other races also realized that splitting up was their best option. They had to escape, but if they all ran together, the beast could swallow all of them in a single bite. By spreading out, there was a chance some of them could survive.
Yuyi used his swordmarks to inform all the Sky Palace students of the directive to scatter. The crew split up into ten different teams.
Han Sen’s team had nine people. He glanced over his shoulder again, and his face turned black. The little beast was wiggling its bum after his team.
“F*ck! I can’t be this unlucky! There are so many Marquises here, so why is it choosing us?” Han Sen felt as if his luck was worse than it had ever been.
That thing that could eat the Breaksky dolls as if they were a light snack, so Han Sen’s Demon Bug Bai Sema probably wouldn’t do much to stop it. He would die no matter what.
“Spread out!” Han Sen had no choice but to dissolve his team. He wanted to ensure the survival of as many of his people as he could.
The metal beast seemed to be toying with them, though. It wasn’t coming at them at its full speed. If it had, it would have caught them already.
The Sky Palace students received the command and scattered, splitting up to go in different directions. Han Sen turned his head to look at the Metal Eater once again, and his face grew bleak. The fiend was still chasing after him and him alone.
Next time, I’m not co-operating with anyone! This is some really disastrous luck. There are a few hundred people here from various races. I’m neither the biggest nor the prettiest. So, what did I do wrong to draw so much of this creature’s ire?” Han Sen summoned the red cloud and held Bao’er tight. He jumped onto the mount and ordered it to flee.
The red cloud’s tail was like an exhaust plume of red mist. It moved like red light, and its speed was much greater than that of most Dukes.
But the little beast was able to catch up easily, and it was getting very close.
“Why don’t you go for the slower ones? Why me!” Han Sen felt very depressed right about now.
As the creature approached, Han Sen actually had no idea what to do. Luckily, the beast didn’t seem to be in a hurry to eat him. It was more like a cat trying to catch a mouse; it allowed him to stay ahead as it chased him.
Seeing that Han Sen was getting close to escaping the giant metal god city, though, the creature decided to speed up.
It opened its devilish mouth. It didn’t need to get close to swallow Han Sen, as its tongue could capture him with ease.
Dong!
In a last-ditch effort, Han Sen summoned his Demon Bug Bai Sema to block the critter’s tongue attack. Fortunately, the beast had only used its tongue to strike, as the Bai Sema shook and made a creaking sound. It sounded as if it was on the verge of breaking.
Han Sen felt a chill. Since the beast hadn’t been able to catch Han Sen with its tongue, it opened its big mouth.
Han Sen felt as if the sky was covered by that mouth. He wiped his swordmark away and fired up his Blood-Pulse Sutra. Then, Bao’er sucked the red cloud back into the gourd, and they traveled back to the sanctuaries.
He appeared back in his home in the Alliance. He patted Bao’er on the shoulder and sighed.
“It is very lucky I was able to survive. But if I cannot exit the Metal World, I will be unable to return to the geno universe proper. Should I go back there from a gate in the sanctuaries? If I do, I will end up in the barren system.”
Han Sen knew this would be a worse choice than returning straight to the Metal World. The Metal World had only one scary enemy, but there would be far more than just one in the barren system.
“We will have to wait. Hopefully, when we get back, the monster will have lost interest in me and returned to the pit it emerged from. Then, I will leave the giant metal god city and escape Metal World.” Han Sen tried to comfort himself.
But Han Sen then thought, “That beast should be the same type of creature as my own Metal Eater. I wonder if their language is the same? Maybe I can take Metal Eater there to negotiate with the metal beast. Perhaps we can work something out, so I will be able to leave.”
After thinking of this, Han Sen took Bao’er with him to see Metal Eater.
Metal Eater lived in an abandoned warehouse. Han Sen would have liked the Metal Eater to stay with him, but the little guy was stubborn to remain with metal. Han Sen frequently filled the warehouse up with steel, and out of all that steel, the Metal Eater had made a home. He also ate an abundance of it.
Luckily, Han Sen was ridiculously rich. One of the Metal Eater’s bites could bankrupt an ordinary family forever. Metal Eater had been practicing the ability Consume, which Han Sen had brought back to the sanctuaries with him. Its metallic body was becoming black.
Right now, Metal Eater was sleeping on a bed of raw steel. It was like a dragon sleeping atop its trove of treasure.
It wasn’t too big, only about two meters long in total. Perhaps it was because it had practiced Consume, but it looked smaller than it used to.
When Han Sen entered the warehouse, Metal Eater got up from its slumber. It ran over to Han Sen’s legs and used its tongue to lick them.
Han Sen stroked Metal Eater’s head but felt an uncomfortable pang of guilt.
After Han Sen kidnapped the creature, it had lost all contact with others of its same kind. And then, after he brought it to the Alliance, he knew Metal Eater would never see its old friends again. And Han Sen didn’t even bother spending time with it. It could only look for the creatures around the warehouse when it needed someone to talk to.
But its personality was very quiet. It liked to spend much of its time asleep atop plates of steel. It didn’t talk much.
Metal Eater looked like the metal beast, though. Aside from its color and size, they were a 90% match.
“If I really cannot escape Metal World, I can take Metal Eater to speak with the metal beast. It won’t be a Noble, so I can always bring it back to the sanctuary. There is no need for me to worry about its safety there,” Han Sen thought to himself.
He was going to take Metal Eater for a walk first, but it didn’t like the prospect. It returned to sleep upon the steel.
Han Sen stopped in on the other creatures around the warehouse, then took some time to look over the collection that he kept there. He saw he had collected many things in recent years. One of the most important items of his collection was the body of the Gold Raven baby, but when he looked for it, he found that it had disappeared.
