"Heh!"
Looking at the countless predatory vines bursting out of the ground, Ethan smiled instead.
He had just been wondering where to find some experience points.
And now the experience points had delivered themselves right to him.
"Perfect!"
"Chaotic Sword Style!"
With one sword in hand, Ethan instantly formed an airtight defense.
And for some reason, those predatory vines kept rushing toward Ethan one after another, even though every single one knew it would be cut down the moment it came close.
Slice! Slice! Slice!
Swish! Swish! Swish!
One vine came, one vine got cut. Even the Little Master Chef wouldn't match this knife work!
[Chaotic Sword Style: EXP 3982/10000]
[Chaotic Sword Style: EXP 4042/10000]
[Chaotic Sword Style: EXP…]
Watching the EXP rise rapidly, Ethan felt great.
On top of that, these vines were extremely predictable, and they had no other skills. All they knew was to swing toward him and throw themselves to death.
At the same time, Nolan and Nana stared at the vines flying everywhere, their eyes wide with shock.
'Does this still count as a human?'
"He… he's not actually going to beat those monster vines, right?"
Nolan was panicking inside.
He knew exactly what he had just done. If this man didn't die, then he would be the one dying.
"He's basically a human cutting machine!", Nana said helplessly, "From how things look now, there's a very good chance he'll break out."
"Then what do we do? What do we do?"
Nolan knew Nana's judgment had always been accurate.
Especially when it came to instinct.
At this moment, there was only one thought in his mind…
'Run!'
'Run right now!'
"Idris, let's escape together!"
Nolan grabbed Idris and tried to leave.
But when Nana heard that, she immediately realized things were probably more complicated than they seemed. She quickly stopped the two of them and said, "Nolan, explain this to me clearly! What does this have to do with Idris?"
"None of your business!", Nolan slapped Nana's hand away and said, "You're the one who brought trouble into the team in the first place. If you want to leave, then follow me. If you want to stay here and wait to die, then stop getting in our way!"
"Sister Nana…"
Idris didn't really dare look at Nana, but he still spoke honestly, "I… I didn't know beforehand that Brother Nolan planned to use my skill to turn that man into bait. I thought Brother Nolan was just…"
"IDRIS!!"
Nolan roared and cut him off.
Nana looked at Nolan in disbelief and said, "No wonder. I was wondering why so many monster vines were coming out of the ground. So it was because you used the Scent Bait skill on him."
"When a man does things, he has to be ruthless. Half measures are pointless. If you're only going halfway, then you might as well not do it at all!", Nolan snorted coldly. Then he shoved Nana aside and shook off Idris's hand, "Since none of you want to leave and all want to stay here waiting to die, then I'll go by myself!"
"Nolan, do you know your actions are going to get everyone killed?", Nana was furious.
But Nolan had already decided to abandon his teammates to save his own life.
So he didn't waste any more time. He pushed everyone aside and turned to run.
After all… Nana was the strongest fighter here.
But when it came to agility, he was the fastest one. If he wanted to run, nobody here could stop him.
However, just as Nolan had only taken two steps—
"What's going on?"
He suddenly felt like his whole body had been pinned down by a ghost. He couldn't move at all.
And his arms strangely lifted upward into a flat horizontal position, like the weird punishment pose instructors made people do during military training just to torture them.
Not only that, but his legs also pressed together for no reason, and his chin tilted slightly upward.
Then he froze in place. He couldn't even move a finger.
The only thing that still moved was his eyeballs.
Nolan's eyes rolled around wildly. Soon, from the corner of his eye, he spotted a scarecrow not far away standing in the exact same pose as him. The instant he saw it, a strange feeling rose inside him.
'Could it be…'
'Is that scarecrow affecting me, which is why I…'
"Nolan, what are you doing?"
Although Nana and Nini were furious over what Nolan had done, seeing how strange he was acting, they still walked over to check on him. Nana asked, "Why did you stop running? And what's with that weird pose?"
"Brother Nolan?"
Nini looked up at Nolan. Seeing no reaction, she reached out and pushed him.
But Nolan not only didn't respond, he didn't even make a sound.
"Nolan, don't tell me you can't move?"
Seeing the scarecrow beside him holding the exact same posture as Nolan, Nana immediately understood.
Nolan had probably been locked in place by that expert's scarecrow.
But naturally, her question got no answer.
Then, Nana noticed Nolan's eyeballs could still move, so she quickly asked, "Nolan, if you really are stuck in place, move your eyes!"
Roll! Roll! Roll!
Nolan's eyeballs immediately spun around once at high speed.
Only then did the expressions of Nana and the others finally change.
No wonder that man had been so calm even in a D-rank danger zone. It turned out he still had many mysterious methods he hadn't used yet.
"Sister Nana, what do we do now?"
Nini nervously tugged at Nana's sleeve.
Nana glanced at the scarecrow, as if some thought had crossed her mind. But the instant the idea appeared, she suddenly felt her whole body become restrained as well, and she strangely lost the ability to move.
"…"
Nana was shocked, but by the time she tried to back away, it was already too late.
Nini quickly noticed something was wrong with Nana and hurried over to grab her hand. But the moment she grabbed Nana's hand, Nana's slowly rising arm actually lifted her into the air.
Idris, the last remaining teammate in the group, saw this series of bizarre events and screamed in terror as he ran in another direction.
"AHHHH!"
BANG!
However, Idris had only run two steps before crashing straight into someone and falling onto the ground.
When he looked up, he finally saw who was standing in front of him.
"Hero!"
"You think you can leave after setting me up?"
Ethan held the Godslayer Sword and stared coldly at Idris. The killing intent on him was practically spilling out.
Idris's mouth went dry from fear. After a long while, he finally managed to speak, "H-hero, I really wasn't the one who placed the scent bait. I… I'll remove it for you right now. Can you let me go?"
"What do you think?", Ethan asked back.
Idris's teeth shook nonstop. He wanted to say "yes," but the overwhelming fear kept him from speaking for a long time.