Chapter 38 Escaping II

Ethoss's heart sank as he locked sights with the human in all black armor. The vertical pupil slits shrank and his blue eyes reflected the the tall human in front of him. The amount of mana that emanated from this human was insane, Ethoss could visibly see it surging in and out of the human's body.

The 6-foot sword in the human's hand glistened at its sharpest point. Time seemed to had slowed down and stopped. The sounds of a monster far off in the distance as it was eating the corpse of another monster entered his ears. He could feel the adequate breeze brush up against his scales, whistling lightly due to splitting itself through the crystals that laid stationary on his back and head.

Ethoss's muscles in his six legs flexed, causing his sharp claws to dig into the dirt underneath him. With the fastest speed he could muster, he kicked his legs off of the ground, attempting to get out of the trajectory of the sword that hovered deathly above him.

Ethoss watched the human closely, when he suddenly shifted forward and began to lower his sword ever so closelytowards Ethoss's head. Ethoss stalked the blade, his eyes locked on the sword. Calculations ran asunder in his mind. Was it possible to survive after being struck with an attack from this human? No, just off the mana alone that radiated off of him, it was clear all the human needed was one strike to kill him.

Then, would he be fast enough to move out of the way? Ethoss subconsciously estimated the distance he was from the sword, then he quantified his own speed based off his experience in using his dash skill. The harsh truth became clear in that moment: no he wouldn't make it with his speed alone. Even if his rapid dash skill was insanely fast, the human in front of him was no pushover, and that sword would definitely end his life before he dodged.

Were there ways to avoid death? This was unknown. Ethoss couldn't predict this, it was all up to luck whether he lived or died. However, this gray area was a positive factor in Ethoss's mind, if his death wasn't confirmed then there was still a chance in survival.

All of these deductions happened in under a second. Ethoss narrowed his eyes, watching the sword travel toward him.

Rapid Dash!

Rapid Dash!

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Rapid Dash!

Rapid Dash!

He constantly spammed his dash skill, hoping to gain even a inch more speed. The large sword seemed to had been fast forwarding closer and closer to him, while he was moving slowly. Just as he predicted, he was not going to make it with his dash skill alone. Ethoss stretched his neck hoping for his body weight to help push him forward, his legs began fuming, soaking up on as much mana as it could in these milliseconds. His tail coiled and uncoiled like a slinky toy, pushing off of the ground to give even the tiniest boost in speed.

*Booom!*

The sword crashed down. Smoke and dust hung in the air, the forest went quiet as if to anticipate the outcome.

Pain. Pain assaulted Ethoss, yet, he didn't panic, pain meant he as still alive, which also meant he needed to run. Ethoss rushed out of the smoke and further deeper into the forest, heading away from the human in all black. One leg after the other—.

*Thoosh!*

Ethoss stumbled. Quickly, he looked down only to see that his right front foremost leg had been missing, along with a few toes on his far back right leg. His tail also had been sliced by the sword, giving him a thick but short tail now.

The human in particular was frozen like a statue looking at his sword. His giant sword was impaled into the ground, a 3-meter long opening in the ground had been created. The crack was massive, however the human stared at his hands as if he was surprised with the outcome of that attack. Perhaps even he was caught off guard with how lucky Ethoss had been to slip away while still living?

Or perhaps he wasn't shocked but rather disappointed that he couldn't end Ethoss's life right then and there - because he soon looked up, a frightening killing aura dropped on everything in his vicinity. Pebbles vibrated and shook and trees rustled. The human reached forward and grabbed his sword, however, he didn't run after the reptile. Instead, he got in a offensive stance…

Meanwhile, Ethoss rushed passed tree after tree. He had already adapted to his missing and injured limbs. He didn't even care to analyze where he was going, his only goal was to escape this frightening human!

Blood spilled out of the opening that was present on the missing leg, it had been leaking since he first started running. Ethoss could feel himself growing weaker due to losing so much blood, he glanced at his HP; only 38 HP remained, he had to stop the bleeding. He looked down toward his arm, his esophagus growing warmer by the second. Seconds later,flames bursted from his maw onto the opened area of the missing leg.

Hiss!

It hurt, it terribly hurt, he could feel his scales heating up from the heat; it was a good thing he chose to upgrade his scales mutation because had he didn't, this would have been much more painful than this.

The burns from the flames closed up the wound and stopped the bleeding which allowed Ethoss to focus on running.

Suddenly, the sound of sharp, high-pitched shrieks sounded off behind him. Quickly glancing back, Ethoss could see red horizontal sword slashes that were flying his way. The mana infused sword slashes cut down tree after tree, making its way closer to Ethoss.

'Have to dodge!' Ethoss thought.

He immediately ducked his head and body down as flat as he could manage. The sword slash zoomed over him, slicing off half of one of the crystals that grew on his back. As soon as the sword slash passed Ethoss jumped back up and started dashing once more.

It wasn't even a few seconds until the next sword slash came crashing his way, this one, however, was a vertical slash, as it zapped closer towards Ethoss it cut through the ground also causing a long crack in the ground that continued to grow as it moved.

Ethoss easily dodged the attack, simply jumped to the left allows him to safely move out of the way. For the next 10 - 15 minutes sword slashes continued to follow Ethoss, each slash causing more and more destruction within the forest. Trees were cut in half, the ground littered with cracks and craters.

Ethoss continued his running, however, a familiar seen appeared in his view. The lake that all monsters would head too, the miracle water! If he could get into this water, he could grow his limbs back while he still had the chance!

He rushed with even more fiber toward the lake. Unfortunately, his dream was denied as soon as he saw the bunch of humans standing around the lake. It appeared they were forming some kind of formation around the water pool. Wooden tripods extended over the water surface and from each was some sort of crystal or device that appeared to be absorbing blue light from the water.

Having said that, Ethoss could literally see what the tubes to the tripod was absorbing, his eyes made it so. Mana was being drained from the lake, this meant he wouldn't be able to use the water pool as a healing place for the time being!

Ethoss let out a frustrated hiss. His impression of humans were growing worse and worse. These selfish creatures didn't even live in the forest expanse, so why were they taking what belonged to him? Ethoss didn't care about the other monsters that inhabited the forest, he had always looked at the lake as ''his' and now humans were taking it from him and there was nothing he could do.

Without warning, a loud shout came from behind him, causing the humans to look his way. Ethoss's eyes widened, then he took off running in another direction. Most of the humans around the lake chased after him, while the rest stayed to absorb the remaining mana that was inside of the lake.

Ethoss had one remaining plan, If he couldn't heal himself here and the whole forest stayed filled with humans he had to leave. He couldn't stay in the forest expanse, otherwise sooner or later he would inevitably die.

The sounds of humans yelling and communicating with each other continuously ranged out. It seems Ethoss had become a prime target after his first escape from the humans. Fire balls of burning flames continued to be fired in his direction and his rapid dash played its role nicely as he dodged every single one. Still, Ethoss only had so much stamina, pretty soon he would need to catch his breath. Luckily, he had a destination that he could use to his advantage.

Ethoss was heading back to his original cave, the cave he was first born into. The only thing that made him apprehensive about going back there was the fact that the enormous reptile that tried to kill him could still be in there.

Ethoss glanced back at the humans that tirelessly chased after him so desperately, seeing this, his thoughts became firm. Even if the reptile was there it was a possibility of him using it as a distraction for the humans.

Soon the cavern entrance appeared. Ethoss quickly entered and proceeded up the cavern tunnel, however he activated his camouflage subconsciously, just in case the amphibious reptile was inside. As he made into the cave, the nostalgic lights from the small mana crystals illuminated dimly. Ethoss felt old memories return to him, he looked around the cave but didn't see the reptile.

Turning around to look back at the tunnel he had just came out of, there were two extra tunnels other than the one he had entered from. He remembered that the amphibious reptile had invaded the cave through the tunnel route to the left, which meant that specific route would possibly lead to its home.

Ethoss was not about to take that chance, hearing the human's yells and shouts echo through the tunnel he entered from, he quickly decided to go into the right tunnel.