Thanks to Yi Qiang's incredible regeneration, he only needed to stay undetected for a few minutes before he would be at his physical peak once again. Of course, ideally, he could remain where he was until the horde dissipated, but Yi Qiang didn't believe that was a particularly likely possibility.

  As he lay there, feeling energy fill up his body once again, the marksman took the risk to split his attention and distribute the points he gained from slaying those two powerful beasts. 

  Evidently high-level, the two powerful opponents netted Yi Qiang a total of nine levels, a very impressive sum considering how long it took for him to gain a level these days.

He distributed his points quickly - if worst came to worst, there was no doubt every ounce of power would aid him immensely - and relaxed once again.

Yi Qiang's focus was at its peak. He distinctly felt every inch that a beast drew closer to a hiding spot. His muscles were relaxed entirely to ensure a quick recovery, but at a moment's notice, Yi Qiang was sure he could burst into any necessary action.

A few minutes in, the marksman was jolted by a loud trumpeting, almost twitching at the unexpected sound that seemed impossibly loud.

The cry sounded distinctly like that of an elephant, leaving Yi Qiang to wonder why an elephant would be here - they were herbivorous, and there would be nothing here that would attract an herbivore. That was also excluding the strangeness of an elephant being in this environment in itself.

The scavengers scattered at the cry, Yi Qiang feeling the vibrations of thousands of feet sprinting away as quickly as possible.

Aware that his cover may very well be blown any second now, adrenaline started to pump through Yi Qiang's system.

As he waited there, tense and on edge, he felt a force flip over the lion's corpse.

  Reacting quickly, Yi Qiang grabbed on to the corpse's sturdy fur, trying to remain undetected. Fortune seemed to be in his favor this time, however, and the flip was forceful enough that Yi Qiang ended up on the bottom again.

His luck didn't last - seconds after the elephant left, its curiosity satisfied, the pack of scavengers returned.

Desperate things.

This time, they no longer waited, tearing into the flesh of Yi Qiang's only cover.

There goes that.

The marksman sprung up from under the lion, having squirmed his way to the edge of the corpse without alerting the scavengers. Not daring even to glance back, he exploded into a sprint, each point of Agility used to its maximum on the rocky terrain. 

As it was, Yi Qiang could hazard a guess that there weren't any capable predators in the pack chasing him. They had scattered without a fight when a capable animal arrived, so it was safe to assume none of them would give him too much trouble. However, in their sheer quantity, facing them would likely be just as exhausting as facing the lion and snake was.

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This bulk, as well as the fact that the elephant would certainly not be the last beast to visit the site of Yi Qiang's battle, meant that it was a wiser option for the marksman to distance himself from where all the powerful animals would be drawn.

When his instincts alluded to the safer distance between him and the scavenger horde, Yi Qiang risked a glance backward to confirm that the small animals were less of a horde than a sea.

He could see no end to the vicious critters, expanding outwards beyond even the distance his eye could see in the flat terrain.

Not wanting to risk aggravating the swarm, Yi Qiang resisted the temptation to shoot off a few volleys of Dragon's Devastation to level the skill and collect some experience, as an Identify confirmed their level to be relatively high, at 90. In the sheer amount of scavengers he'd be killing, the marksman did not doubt he could gain even more levels than previously with enough time.

The penalty of death in this case, however, far outweighed any prospective benefits he could secure by slaughtering them by the dozens.

His mind suddenly flitted back to the undoubtedly incredible items the python and lion had left behind. Yi Qiang had held particular anticipation for the drops of the agile snake, and even his stony heart couldn't resist the pangs of pain of abandoning such valuable objects.

He put the thought out of his mind and focused solely on running.

Unfortunately, after a few minutes, not only had the sea of vindictive critters not shown any sign of shrinking or tiring, some beasts had joined the chase. A glance back could easily count fourteen huge monsters, multiple times the size and weight of the scavengers yet keeping up effortlessly.

That settles it; no turning back now.

In such unforgiving terrain, Yi Qiang held no expectations for a rescue, and even the chance of a natural formation that could shelter him from the swarm appearing was slim. As it was, the marksman's future was bleak.

Even the uncannily skilled Yi Qiang couldn't avoid all the countless ranged attacks fired at him. To an even greater extent, he was unable to slip through all of the melee attacks sent at him from beasts he collided into while sprinting.

Peppered by countless attacks, Yi Qiang's health was steadily falling along with his stamina, and even his Qi was being drained. There were speed-focused beasts among the horde, after all, who were far faster than him. Their agility often left him no recourse but to risk a slight decrease in running speed to send a well-placed attack and ensure that he wasn't injured. If he were wounded in the ankle, like last time, once again, death would doubtlessly be the only thing at the end of the tunnel.

  The marksman's mind flitted to the skill he had somewhat forgotten - Draconic Blood-Burning. It was likely that he would be easily able to lose the horde, but at his current HP, it would give him at most 5 or 6 seconds of that incredible speed. After that, Yi Qiang would be so debilitated that he would be easy prey. So, unless his death was imminent, Yi Qiang wanted to avoid using the skill. There was still a chance, after all, he would be able to get out of this.

 It took ten more minutes, with the marksman around halfway through his stamina from nonstop sprinting, for a sign of hope to appear.

It was so narrow Yi Qiang didn't even notice it until he was meters away from it. The marksman stopped, peering into the small but unfathomably deep crevice that appeared almost as if a divine omen.

As he looked back at the rapidly approaching horde, Yi Qiang was quick to make his decision.

It's unrealistic to expect another, safer hope of shelter to appear in the maybe fifteen minutes of sprinting I have left in me. Whatever's at the bottom of this crack could be lethal, but I doubt it's more so than the infinite crowd of scavengers and several hundred colossal beasts all chasing me.

Without further deliberation, Yi Qiang jumped down the crack with a mental salute.