Chapter 65 - 61

A rumbling sound echoed all around as I watched the cracks spread from the wall up until the ceiling. 'You’ve got to be kidding me…' Not long after that, small rocks and dust began to fall from above as if giving me a signal that the path was about to collapse. 'Oh, boy…' Upon realizing that, my whole body tensed up and I broke into a mad dash.

“KREEEEEEEEEE!!”

Probably sensing the danger that it was in, the Anties King let out a screech full of rage before increasing its speed. 'What?!' Catching a glimpse of that, I couldn’t stop myself from wondering why the monster hadn’t done that from the very beginning. After all, it wouldn’t make much sense to hold back if he could use that speed from the start.

'Wait, hold back?' At that, I finally realized what was happening. 'I see. That guy is trying to conserve his strength. In short, that fight from earlier took a heavy toll on his body to the point that he had to resort to doing that!'

At the same time that I caught on to that, the light coming from the exit up ahead entered my line of sight as if trying to give me further motivation to push through. 'That said, all of that would end up for nothing if I got buried here along with those ants.' With that in mind, I gritted my fangs and forced my legs to their absolute limit whilst ignoring the excruciating pain that my action had resulted in.

“RAAAAAAHHHHHH!!”

Using that roar as a way to ease the pain, I sprinted towards the exit in a desperate attempt to survive. Seconds after that, the Gigarillon finally reached the end of the tunnel but made a sudden stop at its edge. As the Gigarillon turned around, I leaped past that ape just a brief moment before my Shadow Augment ran out.

While being carried away by my momentum, I turned my head back around and activated Accelerate to increase my perception of time. But then, as I looked back, my eyes caught a glimpse of the Anties King that still hadn’t given up. 'Damn it! That ant will actually make it in time!' Seeing that, I made a split-second decision and shot four Shadow Bullets towards the ceiling of the path.

When those bullets hit the ceiling, I heard four small explosions and watched as the cracks spread even further at a snail-like pace. But for some unknown reason, even with all of that damage, the opening of the cave didn’t collapse as I had intended.

'I missed it?!' I asked in a panic.

But after that question flashed into my mind, I saw a big black blur pouncing up into the ceiling like some hungry hawk diving into its prey. And before my body hit the ground, a loud and devastating bang had erupted from above followed by the sound of boulders crashing down.

“Guh!”

As I crashed into the ground, the impact from that fall made me spit all the oxygen inside my lungs along with a mixture of my saliva and blood. And at that very same instance, all my thoughts came to a sudden halt as my vision began to fade away in black.

***

After tethering between the boundaries of dreams and reality, I somehow managed to wake up in a snap. “Huff… Huff… Huff…” But upon opening my eyes, I found myself gasping in a desperate need of air all the while coughing out the blood and saliva that was stuck inside my throat. Furthermore, all the pain from both external and self-inflicted injuries assaulted me all at once to the point that my mind went blank for who knows how long.

For me, it really felt like hell. It was as if I was subjected to unceasing torture and punishment for what seemed like an eternity. And without a doubt, the only reason why I managed to retain my sanity was because of my skills Pain Endurance and Presence of Mind. If I didn’t have those, then that excruciating pain would probably feel far worse and all of that might even break my mind.

“Wheeze… Wheeze… Wheeze…” When all that torturous pain finally started to subside, I heard myself making such weak and pathetic whimpers from afar. Along with that, my muddled thoughts also began to clear up together with all my hazy senses that had previously come to a stop.

'Damn it… How long was I out?' was my first thought upon coming back.

Fearing that there might still be some enemies nearby, I tried to move my legs and pick myself up. “Guh!” Unfortunately, my legs failed to do as my command and they gave out on me halfway through standing up. 'Tsk! Forget it… I can’t…' After failing at my attempt multiple times, I had no other choice but to give up in disdain and scan my surroundings while lying down on that cold hard ground.

Probably noticing that I was finally awake, the bloody Gigarillon appeared out of nowhere and sat down near my spot with a thump. 'So, you also survived, huh?' I signaled with eyes, upon which the ape responded by curving his mouth into a smirk before letting his huge body fall flat on the ground.

Because of his mass, the fall made the ground that we were lying in tremble while also creating a cloud of dust. 'Careful now you bastard! I’m trying to have a peaceful rest here!' I complained inside while coughing up outside.

Realizing that the presence of the ants was really gone, I finally let myself relax and stared at the ape who was lying flat on the ground with his limbs spread out. 'Seriously, this guy is one tough nut to crack.'

Upon carefully analyzing all the Gigarillon’s injuries with narrowed eyes, I came to a natural conclusion that the monster had far worse wounds than mine. And because the ape was already injured when all of that chaos went down, it was nothing short of impressive that he even managed to come this far to survive. Furthermore, the bastard was even able to remain conscious and had enough strength left to pick himself up.

'What a goddamn monstrosity.' I cursed with a sigh. But just as I was about to entertain the thought of taking a nap, I sensed the presence of multiple monsters coming from deep inside the forest moving at an incredible speed towards us.

'You’ve got to be kidding me, what is it now?!' Fortunately, those presences did not seem to be hostile, so they probably still haven’t noticed us. But that was only temporary, after all, I had no idea how those monsters would react once they saw two weak, wounded, and vulnerable monsters free of charge. Basically, we were like a couple of deluxe buffet ingredients that were ready to be served at any given time.

'Damn it, we are not in any condition to fight, we need to move and hide!!' In my panic, I once again pushed my body up in haste but was stopped halfway through when the Gigarillon nabbed me away from my spot and began running away.

'Wha—'

To my surprise, the Gigarillon didn’t even seem to hesitate in trying to save my life even though he didn’t have any responsibility to do so. In fact, I would even dare say that there was no merit in taking such huge baggage like me especially with the wretched condition that my body was in. 'What the heck, a monster saving another monster for no reason?' But before I could even process what was happening, the Gigarillon leaped forward and climb up on a tree.

'Wait, this place seems familiar…' With wide-open eyes, a wave of nostalgia surged through my body as I got a better view of the area that we were currently in. 'These trees, those landscapes, and this scent… There is no mistake, this is the place in my memories…' And while trying to separate myself from those feelings and thoughts that were trying to take over my mind, I made a dry summary of the place to calm myself down. 'This is the forest that I once called home…'

Intermission, Epilogue and Prologue

The Vicious Forest. It was the name of the forest area within the Vicious Caverns which was being dominated by wolf-type monsters. In that area, there exist four alpha class wolf-type monsters; the Lighting Wolf, Flame Wolf, Frost Wolf, And Tempest Wolf. Or at least, that was how it was in the past.

In a certain spot in that forest-type area, there was a group of wolves moving around in places as if they were searching for something. Among them was an exceptional-looking wolf covered with fur so white it seemed to sparkle even in the dim lighting of the forest. And that wolf, without a doubt, was one of the alphas that were ruling a portion of this forest, the Lighting Wolf.

As for what the wolves were doing, the answer was quite simple; they were investigating the sudden disappearance of a group of hunters from their pack.

In truth, the situation in the forest has taken a turn for the worst ever since the death of the Frost Wolf and the annihilation of his pack. This was because the incident did not only destroy the power balance within the forest but also heralded the beginning of a bloodier and more brutal conflict between the three remaining packs. In fact, the situation was so bad that it had gotten to the point where the three remaining packs had created some hunting groups that specialize in both tracking and ambushing the groups from another pack. And then, there was also the issue of the territorial invasions that had become more rampant after that incident.

Plagued with these problems, the powerful alphas that up until that point had been staying clear from any confrontation were forced to take some action. That was why in the current time, the alphas were not only performing routine territorial patrols, instead, they were also now taking part in some hunts outside their territory.

Of course, this action increased the chance of two or even three alphas clashing all at once. As a result, the atmosphere of the forest had become tense and suffocating for both the wolf-type monsters and other monster species living in the forest.

And as if to make matters worse, it seemed like there was another disturbance in the forest causing the mysterious disappearance of some food hunting groups in recent times. This was, of course, the reason why the Lighting Wolf was here; out of his territory searching for the traces of the missing members of his pack. Unfortunately, all they ever found was some traces of blood and battle but there weren’t even any corpses left behind.

Realizing that he had been out of his territory for far too long already, the Lighting Wolf was about to give the command to gather and return when his senses picked up a commotion happening at the edge of the forest.

Noticing that the drops of blood were still fresh, the Lighting Wolf commanded his wolves to search the area for clues. But it was only later on that they would find the traces of a monster and chase after it. Though of course, this incident was a story for another time.