Martial Online.

Crack, whoosh!

The jungle shook with the thunderous sound, a sign of approaching danger.

Ambrose and Moriarty jumped over the dense foliage, their hearts pounding with adrenaline.

"Run!"

Moriarty screamed in panic as he could sense the danger closing in behind them. He could still sense that there was danger in front of them as well, but since it was not as bad as the one behind them, it was a better choice of the two.

"Haah, haah!"

Ambrose breathed heavily and leaped over the fallen trunks like a gazelle fleeing from a predator.

At that moment, the trees behind them turned into ashes and collapsed to the ground, leaving behind a trail of destruction.

Black smoke moved across the jungle like a shadow of death, turning everything into ash and nothingness.

It was following behind them like a relentless force of destruction.

"How far left?!"

Ambrose shouted panickedly as he tried pushing himself to his limits, but it was just a matter of time before the black smoke reached them and turned them into ashes.

"We are nearing the place, but I have no idea whether there will be any safe place from this goddamn smoke!"

Moriarty screamed at the top of his lungs, desperation etched across his face.

The black smoke seemed to be closing in on them with each passing moment, suffocating all hope of finding a sanctuary.

'This makes me remember the Black Smoke of Verhan!'

Ambrose thought to himself, a shiver running down his spine. It was eerily similar, but he felt like this black smoke had even more destructive power.

'This might be the original Black Smoke of Verhan!'

Ambrose's eyes widened in shock, and a sense of impending danger washed over him.

'D-does that mean we are in Verhan? No, that cannot be. From what I've read, Verhan is the capital city of the Dark Continent.'

Moriarty looked behind him and saw the black smoke billowing in the distance, moving through the jungle towards their location.

At that moment, he saw a few deer that were mindlessly running away get caught in the path of destruction. They were quickly engulfed in the smoke and disappeared within seconds.

The black smoke crushed through the trees and boulders and neared them with scary speed.

At that moment, an ash particle landed on Ambrose's head, and he felt a sense of impending doom.

[HP: 100/100]

[-5 HP]

'That one ash particle caused me to lose five health? This is ridiculous!'

Moriarty dodged out of the way just in time and saw the ash corrupt the ground beneath their feet. It was scary to see how much damage it could do.

If the smoke touched them, they were certain that they would die instantly!

At that moment, Moriarty's eyes brightened as he saw chimneys appearing in the distance, towering over the treeline.

It was also where he got multiple danger signals!

"Hurry, we are close!"

Moriarty shouted, urging him to move faster even though he was well aware that they were both running at their maximum speed.

Ambrose gritted his teeth and stepped forward, but then his boot got caught on a protruding root, causing him to stumble and lose his balance.

"?!"

His eyes widened in shock as he fell headfirst on the soft, moss-covered ground. He let out a soft sound as his body made contact with the earth.

"Urgh!"

Moriarty turned around, his eyes narrowing into a squinted stare.

"Go!" Ambrose shouted and waved his arm, motioning for Moriarty to leave quickly.

"Shit!" Moriarty swore under his breath and quickly scrambled to his feet, adrenaline coursing through his veins.

Ambrose climbed back to his feet and saw his surroundings turn darker as the black smoke reached him. It was closing on him like a net of cold death.

'I never going to outrun the smoke!'

He jumped back to his feet and used the branches of a nearby tree to hoist himself up. He panickedly climbed higher, desperate to escape the black smoke's grasp.

Then, the black smoke covered the foot of the tree and started to turn it into ashes.

Ambrose saw the tree lean forward dangerously, ready to collapse at any moment. He quickly jumped to another tree, which also seemed to be succumbing to the black smoke's destructive power.

He leaped off the tree and landed on another one, just in time to see the previous tree turn into a pile of ash.

However, he didn't have even a second to catch his breath before the smoke engulfed the new tree as well.

"Fuck!"

Ambrose jumped to another tree and used the trees as a pathway to escape the spreading smoke. However, soon he ran out of the trees and found himself trapped in a sea of smoke.

It looked like a sea of thick, black smoke with no end in sight, and it was completely surrounding him.

It was slowly closing in, and he could feel his lungs tightening as he struggled to find a way out.

"Shit…" Ambrose fell to the ground on his knees and put his hands into a soft prayer.

At that moment, the world around him slowed down to a crawl, and all he could hear was the sound of his own heartbeat pounding in his ears.

He then softly opened his eyes and watched as the black smoke slowly neared him. However, it was moving at pathetic speed, but it would reach him eventually.

'I suppose meditating still works in this game.'

However, he tried summoning his soul, but it didn't work as it was one of the abilities that was forbidden.

'I am in trouble.'

Ambrose stood up and crouched in front of the black smoke.

In theory, since he could move in the world of souls, he could escape the encirclement, but he doubted he had enough jumping power to cross the distance of about twenty meters to safety.

All the nearby trees were also evaporated into ashes, so he couldn't use them to his advantage.

"Well, shit."

Ambrose sat cross-legged on the ground and picked up a handful of the light blue soil.

However, when he looked at the soil, an idea started to form inside his mind.

He realized that maybe he didn't need the trees after all.

'This soil is very soft, and my hands might be enough…'

He shrugged his shoulders and started to dig into the ground with his bare hands.

As the time flew by like a shooting star, the hole kept getting deeper and deeper.

…

Moriarty rushed out of the jungle and saw the streets of a town in front of him, with empty houses and abandoned horse carriages scattered about.

He turned around and looked back to the jungle, where he saw the danger signals still going as strong as ever before.

'He isn't dead yet, as I haven't disappeared either, but he can't survive there!'

Tap, tap!

Moriarty quickly hid inside the jungle to avoid being seen, and saw a couple of players emerging from one of the buildings with steel pipes in hand.

They looked around the mist-covered town while using the fallen carriages as cover to move between the buildings.

The two players heard something rushing at them behind them and turned around to see a figure rushing at them with a wooden spear in hand.

Moriarty gritted his teeth and stabbed one of the players in the thigh.

"Bastard!" Another player raised his steel pipe and smashed it down.

Moriarty grabbed the steel pipe with his bare hand and jerked it out of the player's grip, unfazed by the blow. He then elbowed him in the face, knocking him out cold.

He then used his other hand to pull the spear out of the player's thigh and stabbed him in the chest, ending the fight once and for all.

"Whoo…" Moriarty let out a breath and saw items appear on the ground.

However, those didn't increase his mood as he turned back to the jungle with a deep frown.