Strongest Scammer: Scamming The World, One Death At A Time-Chapter 215: Getting Past The Sleeping Beast

Slowly, an idea began forming in his head.

A terrible, dangerous, incredibly reckless idea.

"...You better still be asleep in five minutes," Han Yu whispered.

Because if not?

He was going to need every ounce of dumb luck he’d ever stolen from the heavens.

With that in mind, Han Yu pressed his back against a jagged crystal, the glow from the mineral pulsing in tune with his anxious heartbeat as if mocking him.

He studied the massive beast nestled in the center of the crystal forest with the focus of a man examining his own executioner. Even from a distance, the sheer spiritual pressure it gave off was crushing—dense, like molten stone pressed into the air itself.

Just like the snake from before.

"A Core Condensation Realm Beast? No... it’s more. It’s like the snake. That means... Nascent Soul realm," Han Yu muttered, eyes narrowing. "There are two of them down here?"

He stared at the beast’s sleeping form, then turned his head slightly and looked back in the direction he had come—the memory of the serpent’s massive coils and cold, predatory eyes made his skin crawl.

Could they be rivals? Did they fight over this territory?

The possibility sent an unwelcome chill down his spine. A territorial war between two Nascent Soul beasts wasn’t something he wanted front-row tickets to.

He took a deep breath and frowned.

Washing up might have been a mistake.

If that snake couldn’t smell him because of all the filth and dung clinging to him, then surely this beast might catch his scent now that he’d scrubbed it all away in the water.

Even worse—he’d swum, thoroughly soaking himself and likely scrubbing away every trace of the natural masking.

"Dammit. What was I thinking?"

Still, there was no going back. He couldn’t afford regret. The only way now was forward.

To be safe, Han Yu dropped to the ground and rolled in the dirt, gathering as much dust and cave grit as he could. His hair, face, and robes turned grayish-brown once more. Then he crawled to one of the pulsing red crystals and began scraping the side of it with his blade.

Powdery red dust flaked off, and he rubbed it all over his arms and shoulders. He didn’t know if it would help—maybe the scent of the minerals would confuse the beast’s senses. Or maybe he’d just die covered in glowing powder like some idiot gecko.

Still, anything was better than nothing.

With slow, deliberate movements, he began weaving through the crystal clusters.

He crawled, crouched, and even rolled, moving in time with the subtle rhythm of the beast’s snoring. Each breath it took was like a furnace bellows, shaking the ground beneath him. When it exhaled, Han Yu moved. When it inhaled, he froze.

Closer.

And closer still.

He could now see its face clearly—the scaled snout, the curved horns, and the thick eyelids that twitched occasionally in sleep. He crept past its massive head, feeling the heat radiating from its nostrils. One wrong breath, one twitch of a toe, and he’d be incinerated before he even had time to scream.

Then he was past. The exit tunnel loomed just ahead, a sloped corridor lined with old stone and fresh air trickling out in tantalizing whispers.

Han Yu took one final step.

THOOM.

A tremor rocked the cave, and Han Yu froze in place.

"Fuck..." he whispered under his breath, eyes wide.

The beast shifted. Its nostrils flared. It let out a low groan that shook dust from the ceiling. And then—

Its eyes snapped open.

Han Yu dove behind a nearby rock, flattening himself against the stone and holding his breath. The beast snorted, then sniffed the air with sudden, sharp pulls that made Han Yu’s skin crawl. He was just a meter away from those massive jaws.

It moved forward slowly, its head swinging left and right, and extended its snout deeper into the crystal landscape.

Han Yu clenched his teeth. If it came any closer, it would find him.

But then—

Another tremor. Stronger.

The beast froze, ears twitching. Its head whipped around toward the opposite side of the chamber.

From the tunnel Han Yu had entered just a while ago, the narrow passage widened—and a massive shape slid out with an ominous hiss. A long, scaled body glided into view, black and red and nearly glowing with suppressed spiritual pressure. The massive snake reared up, tongue flickering and eyes locked on the lizard-like beast.

The air turned heavy.

The clawed beast let out a deep growl that echoed off the cavern walls like thunder in a cave.

And then all hell broke loose.

The snake lunged, fangs bared. The clawed beast roared, swinging its heavy forelimb and slamming into the serpent mid-strike. The sound of impact was like an earthquake—stone cracked, crystals shattered, and the floor trembled violently beneath Han Yu.

He didn’t waste a second.

Rolling out from behind the rock, he sprinted toward the exit tunnel as the two titans clashed behind him. Rocks and dust fell around him, and the howls and hisses of battle shook the cavern like a collapsing mountain.

He didn’t look back.

He couldn’t look back.

Because if he did, he might stop. And if he stopped—

He’d never leave that cave alive.

Han Yu ran like the very fires of hell were licking at his heels.

Behind him, the roars and hisses of the battling beasts echoed like distant thunder—violent, bone-rattling, and far too close for comfort. Every time he stumbled over a loose stone or sharp outcropping, he imagined turning to see one of them lunging through the tunnel behind him, jaws wide and glowing with spiritual energy.

"Why the hell were they living so close together?" he muttered between gasps for breath as he sprinted down the winding, jagged tunnel. "A snake and a lizard... fighting like that... were they rivals? Or was one the new neighbor no one asked for?"

He remembered the melted rock forming the nest-like crater. It looked fresh. Clean. As if it had been made only days ago.