Edited by Aelryinth

Mo Fan had met the woman earlier. She was Wen Xia, the soldier who had applied the Seals on their Elements at the city entrance.

Wen Xia drew closer to them, glancing at Mo Fan without saying a word. She then headed toward the Rock Monster.

"Ain't she proud?" Mo Fan scoffed, staring at Wen Xia's straight back.

The Rock Monster had caused a scene at the city west for some time before the military finally showed up. If he had not happened to be around to buy some time, there would surely have been some casualties. The Basic and Intermediate Mages who were watching him from the side did not stand a chance against the Rock Monster at all!

Mo Fan also walked toward the remains of the Rock Monster. There was a pile of stones lying still at the intersection. It was obvious that the Rock Monster was dead.

There was a sudden movement from the pile of rocks. Mo Fan had a bad feeling when he noticed the tiny movement.

"Watch out!" Mo Fan dashed forward and pushed Wen Xia away.

There was a certain species in Egypt that could reassemble their bodies to attack travelers after they were shattered into pieces. Many inexperienced Mages had died to those sand creatures as they were unable to tell if they were alive or dead.

Therefore, Mo Fan subconsciously thought the Rock Monster was about to rise again when he noticed the movement from the rocks, even though he could not detect any sign of life from it.

Mo Fan was quite strong. The push almost knocked Wen Xia to the ground.

Luckily, Wen Xia was quick, too. She managed to regain her balance with a backflip.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Wen Xia lifted her eyes. Her attractive face was filled with anger.

"You should be thanking me for saving..." Mo Fan pointed at the pile of rocks. He was going to say he had just saved her life when he saw a human rising feebly from the rocks.

It was a skinny middle-aged woman, her clothes covered in a thick layer of ash, like a cocoon. Chunks of ash rolled off her as she rose to her feet.

Mo Fan stared at the woman with a blank expression.

Did a human just appear from the pile of rocks?

What's going on here? Did the woman turn into the Rock Monster?

He had never heard of any magic that could transform a human into a Rock Monster!

The woman was petite and skinny, a great contrast to the huge and tanky Rock Monster just a moment ago!

Wen Xia rolled her eyes at Mo Fan before ordering two soldiers who had arrived late, "You two, take her away and confirm her identity!"

Mo Fan had yet to recover from the shock. He immediately stopped Wen Xia when he saw she was leaving, too. "What just happened? Why is there a living human inside the Rock Monster?" he asked.

"It's none of your business!" Wen Xia snapped.

"You came so late. I had to risk my life to keep the Rock Monster busy to avoid casualties. I have the right to know the reason why that woman was inside that creature!" Mo Fan stood in front of the Battlemaga. He had no intention to back away.

"Risk your life?" Wen Xia was amused by Mo Fan's choice of words. She grinned like a man and said, "A creature of its level is as harmless as an infant to you!"

"That's not the point here!" Mo Fan complained.

"I would like to know the reason, too. Can you please inform the military if you manage to find it out? We will reward you handsomely," Wen Xia shot right back.

Wen Xia brought the middle-aged woman away, leaving without wasting any more time with Mo Fan. The street was still a complete mess.

Mo Fan frowned. He had a bad feeling about this.

The Rock Monster was an Elemental creature, so it was supposed to turn into a pile of rocks after it died. It did not make sense for an older woman to appear from the pile of rocks, unless the Rock Monster had eaten her!

"That doesn't make any sense, either! If the Rock Monster had swallowed the woman, the Mountain Drill Spinning Top would have murdered her, too!"

Mo Fan could not make any sense of it. He returned to the wall to check on the state of the battle there.

The battle at the ravine seemed to have come to an end. Mo Fan only saw a few probationary Mages cleaning up the field. He did not learn anything valuable.

"How strange!" Mo Fan blurted out before returning the same way.

The whole incident felt so weird. Mo Fan knew he was not going to find out anything useful for the time being. He would have to wait until the Rock Monsters showed up again to learn the truth.

------

Mo Fan regrouped with Tao Jing and Lin Qihui. Lin Qihui was treating Tao Jing's wounds. Mo Fan noticed a few of her wounds were still bleeding.

"Use this," Mo Fan took out a potion and gave it to Tao Jing, "Just drink it, it's vanilla-flavored."

"Are you really offering her a drink?" Lin Qihui said.

"Yeah, it will help calm her down. I didn't expect you to be such a brave soul, even though you are normally quiet and gentle," Mo Fan complimented Tao Jing.

"Being brave isn't enough, I ended up giving you a lot of trouble," Tao Jing received the drink from Mo Fan. She drank it right away, since she was indeed feeling a little thirsty.

"It's worth it, since we did save the man's life," Lin Qihui smiled.

"It's two of them," Tao Jing said.

"Two? Oh, you meant the person that appeared from the remains of the Rock Monster… that scared the crap out of me!" Lin Qihui admitted.

"It felt like the woman was trapped inside the Rock Monster's body. I heard that many Mages have gone missing in the city recently. I should be able to find the woman's name on the list of missing people," Tao Jing said thoughtfully.

Trapped inside the Rock Monster's body?

Mo Fan found Tao Jing's speculation to be convincing. Speaking of which, didn't he also hear a Hunter mentioning that the military had found a living human inside the Rock Monster they took care of yesterday, too?

"The Barrier Core might be attracting some strange creatures while it's accumulating the energy of the Earth Element, due to its extraordinary nature. Otherwise, why would the military send so many soldiers here? It's obviously to make sure the Barrier Core is well protected!" Lin Qihui pointed out.

"From what I remember, the Barrier Core has similar side effects to Elemental Detectors, with a greater area of coverage. Therefore, demon creatures are expected to show up," Tao Jing agreed.

"It's going to be busy in this city..." Mo Fan murmured to nobody in particular.