Now, more than the thick fog, I feel terrified by the pebbles that keep rolling down from above.

Even if you enter a dense fog, the chances of a mudslide will not necessarily decrease. However, staying still means waiting for that chance to occur, which is still a dead end.

Since we're facing a dead end either way, I want to keep the initiative in my own hands. Our only chance of safety is to get through this area as quickly as possible.

Anyway, I've encountered those life-threatening dangers more than once or twice. Now that Pat can't use its vision in the fog, I can only rely on Top's keen hearing to explore the surrounding environment.

We cautiously stepped into this land shrouded in thick fog. With each step, the fog deepened, creating a vast and mysterious atmosphere.

Top is right next to me, but I feel like I'm all alone in this vast white fog. My hands, holding the crossbow, are slightly sweaty, and the tense, oppressive feeling makes it hard for me to breathe.

Top walked two or three meters ahead of me as usual. I could see that its ears were always erect, constantly searching for information in the vicinity as it turned its head.

After walking carefully for a while, the path ahead came to an end.

Another patch of overgrown bushes appeared in front of me.

We were still shrouded in thick fog, but the rain had lessened considerably. The dense thickets that appeared before me made me frown.

The shadow of that saber-toothed tiger hasn't completely faded yet, and here comes another thicket of bushes so soon, and this time it's in dense fog with visibility of no more than three meters.

My hearing isn't as sharp as Top's. If a swift beast like a saber-toothed tiger were to attack, I would have to accurately determine its location in the first instance to escape unscathed.

This is very disadvantageous for me. Even if I have a shotgun and a pneumatic hidden dart, I might still be ambushed by one of these beasts.

But I soon realized that the animals here weren't stupid, and in fact, no animals would come to this area at this time of year unless they were tired of living.

The real tragedy is that I, an unsuspecting person, stumbled into this place. If I had known the road ahead would be so treacherous, I would have found a way to take a detour no matter what.

I still haven't been able to completely overcome that bit of wishful thinking that's inherent in humans, and this time was no exception.

I thought I could do whatever I wanted with my powerful firepower. But nature, with its mysterious forces, taught me a harsh lesson.

Since I've made this choice, there are no "what ifs" anymore; there's no turning back now.

Going back would still present many unpredictable risks, so I could only sigh and grit my teeth to continue forward.

Top and I have worked together many times, so it naturally knows what the potential threats are in this kind of terrain.

Top barely made a sound the whole way, just quietly listening to any noises that might come from the vicinity.

Top quickly stopped and looked in one direction.

Top had clearly discovered something. But its expression seemed somewhat puzzled, as if it was unsure whether the noise was coming from an animal.

"What's wrong, Top?" I asked.

Top didn't respond to my words, but just continued to stare at that suspicious place with a puzzled look.

After a while, as if he had confirmed something, Top once again returned to normal from his wary expression and continued walking forward.

But I hadn't gone far when I stopped. I looked at a spot on the mountain with a puzzled expression, an expression that, upon closer inspection, was exactly the same as Top's.

It wasn't that I heard any strange noise, but rather that I felt a slight tremor under my feet.

But this feeling was fleeting; it disappeared before I could even get a good look at it, and it even made me wonder if it was just my imagination.

There must be something fishy about this unusual thing. I absolutely do not believe that so many coincidences can happen in the world.

Although my hearing isn't as good as Top's by nature, I've been here for so long that I still have a sense of danger, and what happened just now was definitely not an illusion.

Something must have happened on this mountain shrouded in thick fog, and there must be some reason why it suddenly stopped.

Based on Top's previous actions, I quickly searched my mind for relevant information.

Just then, that slight tremor came again. Not only me, but Top also became alert again, because this time the tremor was stronger and clearer than before.

I racked my brains, and even an earthquake couldn't possibly cause this; there are only slight tremors at intervals.

As I watched, I unconsciously focused my gaze on the stream in the distance, which had now become a rapid current. There was a drop of more than a meter in front of the stream, and the water crashed against the rock face of the mountain cliff with a roar.

As I thought about this, a flash of lightning struck my mind. This lightning instantly jolted me awake from my daze, leaving me drenched in a cold sweat.

Water flow! Drop in elevation!

My brain kept repeating these two words that seemed completely unrelated to the current situation, but they were already sending chills down my spine.

There is naturally no water flowing down the mountain, but what if the water were replaced with rocks? Then, when it experiences the drop in elevation, the impact force would naturally reach its maximum, and the tremor would be felt at that moment.

Just like the places where water flows, there will always be relatively flat areas where there are differences in elevation.

When the stone passes through this section, it should roll forward, so the impact is not as great as when there is a drop in elevation, and I naturally did not feel any vibration.

Based on Top's previous performance, it must have been the faint vibrations that Top detected when the stone first moved.

I can clearly sense those stones now, which proves they are not far from me.

In this kind of awful weather, there's only one possibility that could cause such a large rock to vibrate so loudly!

This was absolutely a massive mudslide!

"Oh no, Top! We have to run!"

I didn't have time to explain, so I yelled at Top. Then I threw Pat out of the basket, and then, not caring about the fog, I just wanted to get as many people as possible away.

He immediately issued a command to the bewildered Pat.

"patrol!"

Then I burrowed deeper into the bushes diagonally below, and Top noticed my sudden surprise.

They didn't dare to delay and quickly caught up with me, jumping together into the dense bushes diagonally below.

Although Pat didn't know what was going on, it sensed my urgency, so it flapped its wings and took off, soaring into the high sky above the jungle.