You don't even want to call me godfather

A series of sounds of breaking through the air reached the ears of several people, followed by dozens of brown spikes as thick as fingers that penetrated deeply into the car body and seat.

"Uh!"

Koshe was protecting Raphael, but he never expected that several sharp thorns would pass under the seat and pierce his calves fiercely.

"Wow—"

Suddenly, the car sank and began to skid. The rear tire was punctured by sharp thorns. Ou Ya tried hard to stabilize the direction of travel, but the car eventually lost control and turned to the left.

And the thing that was chasing them did not miss this opportunity. It emerged from the ground and lifted the car up with its huge body.

The car rolled over, and the people in the car felt a sense of weightlessness. Through the window, Koshe was able to see the appearance of the creature that attacked them.

It was a worm-like creature about two meters thick, with an unknown length of body covered with brown hardened substance and countless spikes.

It leaped over the car and then dived into the ground not far away.

Then, the car continued to roll several times before finally coming to a stop.

The car was turned upside down and several people were hung upside down inside the car.

"Quick...unbuckle your seatbelt."

Koshe endured the severe pain in his calf and spoke to Raphael who had been held in his arms.

"Ah, yes!"

Raphael, the only one who was not affected much by the impact, came out from Koshe's arms. She first unbuckled Koshe's seat belt, and then went to help Azazel out of the predicament.

"Ugh..." Koshe felt pain. Without the restraint of the safety belt, he fell to the ground, which hurt the wound on his leg. But the first thing he did was to ask Iris, "Iris, are you okay?"

"No...I'm fine."

Iris unbuckled her seat belt herself. After taking a few breaths, she turned over, kicked the car door open, put Koshe's arm around her neck, and helped him climb out of the car.

Ou Ya and Ben Hong also broke away one after another.

“Ahem…” Ou Ya half-knelt on the ground with some effort. He was gasping for breath, with blood flowing down his forehead. “What the hell…what the hell is this…”

"'The beast that once swam freely in the water has now become dry and greedy, constantly looking for the next delicious meal.' I saw it in the book left by my father," Koshe stood up with difficulty under the support of Iris. He pulled out the pistol with his free hand and reminded, "Don't let your guard down. That thing won't leave so easily."

Hearing this, the nerves of the few people who had just been adjusting their state tensed up again and they all raised their guns.

If they listened carefully, they could indeed hear the faint sound of digging.

Koshei slowed down his breathing, closed his eyes, and listened carefully to the direction of the source of the sound.

The Lupo people's innate sensory advantages seemed extremely important at this time. Koshe listened to the sound from the underground, which kept circling under their feet.

Finally, it came from beneath his feet.

"Iris! Get out of the way!"

Koshe kicked his feet, ignoring the injury on his calf, and rushed to the side holding Iris.

The worm suddenly rushed out from the ground where they were originally. Its huge body brought a lot of dust, which was thrown on several people and blurred their vision.

Iris quickly got up, held up Koshei, and tried to get away from the worm.

The worm seemed to have locked onto Koshei as its target. It emerged from the ground, hovered in the air, then turned its head towards Koshei and Iris and began to rush downwards.

Koshe's vision was blurred by the dust, and he couldn't help but close his eyes.

At the same time, he called out a certain name in his mind.

'Idhela!'

Chapter 29: A Near Miss

"boom--"

Just when the worm's head was only a few meters away from Koshe and Iris, the ground beside them suddenly cracked, and a lamprey thicker than the worm broke out of the ground.

He crashed into the worm's body, biting the worm's body tightly with his spiral mouthparts, and forced it to deviate from its trajectory.

Perhaps others didn't know, but when Koshe saw the lamprey, he immediately recognized it.

This was the lamprey that devoured him in the previous dream related to Idhela.

The lamprey bites the worm and presses it into the sand to prevent it from burrowing again.

"Don't just stand there! Get away from the car!"

Taking this opportunity, Koshei shouted to Ou Ya and others.

"Wait! Asa is entangled!"

Raphael, on the other hand, was using the knife she carried with her to cut the safety belt that was wrapped around Azazel.

Azazel also fell into a coma because he was facing backwards in the previous collision and his head hit the car window.

Just as she finished her words, several bloody holes appeared on the lamprey's body, caused by the sharp spikes shot by the worms.

The spikes pierced his body at close range, but did not hinder his movements. The two huge monsters were entangled and twisting beside the car.

At this time, the worm also tried to use its body to entangle the lamprey, sweeping across the ground with its spiked body, hitting the car body, and knocking the overturned car out again.

At this last moment, the seat belt finally broke, and Ben Hong struggled to drag Azazel and Raphael out of the car.

When the worm's body was about to hit several people, Ou Ya threw the three children to the ground and thus escaped safely.

However, judging from the situation, this car is probably no longer usable.

Ouya carried the unconscious Azazel on his back, and looked at Koshe through the smoke and dust. Koshe gave him a look, and Ouya understood, then ran hard in one direction.

The others followed him, moving away from the battle between the two giants.

When the men had escaped to the point where they could hardly see the two giants, the lamprey seemed to have its own thoughts. It loosened its spiral mouthparts and instead used its body to tightly wrap around the worm's head.

His body gradually softened and finally turned into a sticky liquid that covered the worm's head and then moved along its body, completely enveloping it.

Just like a way of eating, under the corrosion of this liquid, the worm soon lost the ability to struggle and could only allow the lamprey to digest its body completely.

[You owe me a favor.] When Koshei and the others were running for their lives, Idhaila's voice suddenly rang in his mind, with a playful tone, [Don't worry, that thing won't bother you again.]

Hearing this, Koshe realized that the worm should have been dealt with by the lamprey summoned by Idhaila.

As soon as his tense nerves relaxed a little, the adrenaline that surged in the crisis quickly subsided, and the wound on his calf immediately began to hurt, disrupting his pace.

"Uh……"

Noticing that Koshei had suddenly slowed down, Iris also slowed down, and then gradually stopped.

"Koshei! How are you?"

After confirming that they seemed to be out of danger for the time being, Iris immediately asked Koshe to sit down, and looked at his calf that was bleeding, feeling a little anxious.

Hearing the movement behind him, Ou Ya also stopped. He turned around and saw Koshei with his hands resting on the sand.

"Godfather, you..."

When the tire burst, Ou Ya knew that the worm attack came from the back. Raphael was in the trunk at the time. It is not difficult to imagine that it was Koshe who saved her.

Ouya walked quickly towards Koshei, handed Azazel on his back to Benhong, and half-knelt down beside him.

Looking at Koshe's injured calf, where several sharp thorns as thick as fingers and about twenty centimeters long were stuck inside and even pierced the skin on the other side, Ouya frowned.

Not to mention that he was responsible for escorting Koshei, the king of Syracuse, and had to ensure Koshei's safety. Koshei's act of saving Raphael completely changed his previous cold impression of Koshei.

"Godfather..."

Raphael half-knelt anxiously beside Koshe. She looked at the horrific wound somewhat helplessly and was at a loss for what to do.

"Raphael, calm down," Ou Ya hurriedly reminded his student when he saw him panicking. "You know you have the ability to heal these injuries. Now, calm down first."

"Yes Yes……"

Raphael took a few deep breaths nervously and looked at her hands. Just yesterday, she had expelled the bullet from her body and helped Azazel heal his palm that was pierced by a knife.

But a penetrating wound like Koshe's current one...

"Godfather, please be patient," Raphael said with trembling hands as he touched one of the thorns and held it. "If you want to treat it, you have to... pull it out first, otherwise..."

Koshe tried to prop himself up, but Iris suddenly sat down behind him, allowing his head to rest on her. Koshe turned his head and looked at her for a moment.

"I understand." Koshe turned his eyes away, folded his sleeves and bit them with his teeth. "Just don't let me die here, then do it."

"Then... please bear with it. I will try to be quick."

Although she said this, Raphael's hands were still shaking. She held the sharp thorn for a long time without moving.

"No, I'm sorry, I..."

"I'm sorry, Godfather."

Just as Raphael was about to apologize for being scared, Ou Ya suddenly let go of her hand, grabbed one of the thorns, and pulled it out with force.

“Ugh! Ah… Ugh…”

The sudden severe pain made Koshei groan in pain. He couldn't help but straighten his waist, and his calves subconsciously tried to struggle, but Ou Ya held his knees down hard.

"Now, Raphael."

Ouya shouted to the stunned Raphael.

Raphael finally came to her senses and quickly placed her hands on the bloody hole. Tiny specks of light fell from her palms and landed on the bleeding wound.

Immediately afterwards, tender flesh began to grow at the wound at a speed visible to the naked eye, stopping the blood loss, followed by the skin.

In less than ten seconds, the wound healed.

But the bad news was that there were still two sharp thorns stuck in Koshe's legs.

“Hmm…”

Koshe gritted his teeth, clenched one hand into a fist, and used the other hand to support his body, digging deep into the ground, grabbing a handful of sand. All the muscles in his body were tense with pain.

Every time a spike was pulled out, he groaned in pain, and his strength became weaker and weaker, as if the slow loss of blood was also taking away his strength.

At this moment, Azazel woke up.

To be precise, he was awakened by Koshe's groan of pain.

He seemed to have not yet reacted to what had happened before. The last scene in his memory was that Koshe pressed his head down to avoid those spike-like things.

And what happened next...

"What happened... Ben Hong?"

Azazel opened his eyes with some difficulty. He felt dizzy and found that Ben Hong was supporting his body, so he asked.

"See for yourself."

Ben Hong still had an expressionless and emotionless look on his face as he spoke.

Azazel looked in the direction of the sound, and what he saw was Ouya and Iris pinning Koshei to the ground, while Raphael was fiddling with something with blood on his hands, accompanied by Koshei's screams.

Chapter 30: Difference in Status

In the desert, several people were walking forward in the dark.

"I'm fine now, Iris," Koshe, who was still supported by Iris at the back of the team, said to her, "You don't need to support me anymore, I can walk."

"Is it really okay?"

Iris looked at her worriedly, her tone full of doubt. This was her first time going abroad and she was worried that Koshe was still trying to be stubborn.

"Except for the remaining pain, it's no longer a hindrance," Koshe advised, "Go help Ou Ya. He knows the way, but he needs your night vision ability."

"But……"

"We are now in the desert. If we continue walking in the dark, we won't be able to reach Lateran by tomorrow night." Iris was about to say something when she was interrupted by Koshei. His attitude was very determined. "The International Conference is of vital importance to the entire Syracuse. I don't want us to miss it because of the delay on the road."

"...Yes, I understand, Godfather."

Iris looked at Koshe's eyes and finally gave up her persistence. She wanted to call Koshe's name directly, but she noticed Raphael glancing at them from time to time, so she immediately changed her words.

Raphael met Iris's gaze, and she, who had been listening nearby, misunderstood what he meant, so she took the initiative to come over and support Koshe.

"Um... Miss Iris, don't worry and go find Uncle Ou Ya. I will take good care of the godfather."

Her eyes were a little evasive, as if she was afraid that Iris would blame her for Koshei saving her.