54 Even Worse

Shesmu starred at the bridge with suspicion in his eyes. With the number of dangerous situations he was suddenly thrown in within this exam, he refused to believe that this was but a simple bridge.

'What will it be this time? A primordial three-headed phoenix ready to roast my ass medium-rare?!'

Shesmu knew that whoever made that test was enjoying watching him suffer. As such, he walked back into the forest in search of bait. After looking around for a few minutes, he finally found a rogue tiger, roaming the jungle.

It was a level 20 beast, much higher than that of Shesmu. However, compared to the rest of the maddening creatures living in there, the tiger was like a little pup. Shesmu easily took care of it and carried its slain corpse on his back.

After he made his way back to the bridge, Shesmu found a location far away from it but where he still had a clean shot. That way, whatever he awakened, he would have enough of a head start to run away from.

Shesmu carried the corpse of the tiger on his hand. He coated his arms, waist and legs in Ki before spinning and throwing the tiger right onto the bridge. The body of the beast fell on the wooden bridge with a loud thud, shaking the whole structure.

However, for a few seconds, nothing strange happened. No beast from the shadows, no demon king opening a portal on top of it just to mess with Shesmu. It was just a normal bridge that was shaking from the impact of the throw.

Shesmu took a few cautious steps forward when he stopped dead in his tracks. A beast of immense proportions slithered from below the bridge and coiled around. It was a Titanoboa. A gargantuan serpent whose strength could kill a dozen Shesmus with a snap of its jaws.

It ate the tiger in one bite. The tiger that weighed and measured as long as Shesmu, it ate with one bite. Shesmu didn't even think before turning around and running as fast as he could. He coated his legs with as much Ki as was physically possible and ran with dozen meter strides.

The bridge cracked and bellowed due to the tension of the boa's coiling before it snapped in half. The serpentine beast looked with narrowed eyes at the direction from which Shesmu threw the tiger.

A woman's upper body appeared from the top of the titanoboa's head. It had a sickly grin plastered on her face. She put her hand on her cheek before saying.

"Ssss, escape from me, you thought?"

A shiver ran down Shesmu's spine. He didn't know what caused it as he wasn't the type to crack under pressure, but he didn't mind it. Now was not the time to be distracted.

There was only one-way Shesmu could think of to run away from the situation he found himself in. The gorilla, I need to find it.

With those thoughts in mind, Shesmu jumped atop one of the higher trees he could find. He looked around in a hurry before he found the golden beast. It was fighting with something Shemsu couldn't make out. But seeing how it stood right next to the rat cave, Shesmu could deduct that it was fighting them.

"Ssssss, the fast monkey, aren���t you?"

Hearing a sharp, high voice behind him, Shesmu turned around. The fear he felt in his heart before turning into an all-consuming dread. He made a mistake.

Dammit, it wasn't a titanoboa, it was a titanolamia!

A quick inspection told him everything he needed to know.

Titanolamia (Terror of the Jungle)

Level: 95

HP: 280,000/280,000

Shesmu dreaded the beast's special title more than its level. If it had one, that meant it was one of the strongest creatures in the area. And now, she was focused on only one task—killing him.

Shesmu jumped from one tree to the other with great speed, not daring to look back. All the while, the titanolamia slithered through the trees like an all-consuming machine. Wherever she headed, trees would flatten, monsters would be crushed and dirt would be uplifted. It was the ultimate plowing machine.

The two made their way through the jungle, with the lamia following closely behind Shesmu. Any time it would come close to biting him, he would jump out of the way. Any time it would go past him to block his way, he would Dash right through it.

Like a shepherd dog guiding the sheep, Shesmu was able to make the titanolamia follow after him until they reached the battleground of the golden gorilla.

"Ssss, your plan, I fully understand. Fight with the gorilla, you want me do. But so easy isn't life, and according to your plans, it shall not go."

"Roar!"

With a mighty roar, the golden gorilla jumped in front of the titanolamia. Battered, wounded and exhausted from its fight with the army of rats, it stood tall in front of the terror of the jungle. However, its eyes showed its underlying fear, and the couple dozen rats stuck to its legs, biting to their heart content, didn't help either.

"Ssss, a dumb little creature, aren't you? Face me, you dare?!"

The lamia screeched at the golden gorilla, her face the true definition of madness and terror. It contorted in ways not humanly possible. Only a devil from hell could show such a sight

The lamia's screech made the gorilla cower and whimper. The army of rats fell back, fearing the terror of the jungle. However, right as the lamia thought it gave up, the golden beast roared back to show its might. Maybe not to the serpent, but definitely to itself.

It opened its palm and on it was a golden stone. A rock too big for any normal human grasp, but looked like a small pebble in the hand of the gigantic beast.

"Ssss, How?!! Evolve in front of me, are you trying?!"

While the monsters were duking it out, Shesmu ran away as fast as he could. No matter how the end of their fight looked, he was too weak to have any say in it.

By the time the titanolamia found out his disappearance, he was already long gone.

"Ssss, brought me lots of trouble, fast little monkey." She then focused on the golden gorilla in front of her. "Ssss, how am I to deal with you, now I wonder?"

Shesmu could hear and feel the tremors of the titans' fight from next to the piranha river. The bridge was already broken, but Shesmu didn't despair. He coated his legs and arms with as much Ki as he could before he took a long distance to prepare his jump. He ran straight towards the bridge, making his strides bigger after each step. By the end, he put all of his energy into his legs and jumped high in the sky.

He felt like a bird soaring through the sky as he jumped above the canyon. The twenty meters jump felt like an eternity. But birds had to fall and deers had to run, whatever goes up must go down. Shesmu fell on his butt on the other end of the bridge. He stood up, turned around, and looked back at the bridge. The first obstacle was finally cleared.