Chapter 144 The Swamp That Reeks of Death

Bringing himself to his feet, he was left with an unequivocal wave of dread that washed over his body as he looked around, finding himself surrounded by trees that bore the faces of men staring down at him. A subtle glow gave off of the blood-red spider lilies that bloomed from the many branches around, giving him a faint, but appreciated light.

The enigmatic swamp seemed to stretch in every direction, existing under the permeance of night, or at least what seemed to be as the ceiling of spider lilies above blocked out any light.

None of it was an illusion or crafted through a twisting of his perception; the air was thin and smelled of flowers and soil, the sensation of the loose soil beneath his boots, squishing, was real.

“…I’m trapped,” he muttered under his breath in realization.

It felt like every step forward only led to him being placed further from his destination. Every action he took led to further loneliness, inching him closer to his demise as he felt his body being worn down by stress.

Move forward. Just keep moving one foot in front of the other, he told himself.

Stepping into the swamp, he looked down to find the murky, pitch-black water high enough to reach just shy of his knees.

He was careful to begin walking through the enigmatic waters as he kept his eyes on the swamp, but it was futile as he couldn’t make out anything within the liquid.

Each step was taking slowly as the abyssal water was thick, seemingly dense with sediment as his boots sifted through clampy mud.

As he looked forward, he had to brush vines that bloomed more crimson spider lilies away as he passed by one of the man-faced, elder trees, finding its pale bark to be aged and inscribed with unknown symbols.

Door…find a door, he reminded himself.

Though it was difficult to imagine a door being found in the swamp, devoid of architecture or seemingly anything man-made, for that matter.

It was becoming more difficult to identify if his goal was truly to defeat the Unending Nightmare or simply to escape; the horrors that he faced made it more and more arduous a path to walk down.

As he quietly sifted through the water, keeping his eyes peeled for any doorways, he stopped as a ‘plop’ met his ears, as if something dropped into the water near him.

“…Huh?”

A quick look around found nothing, but he was hardly trusting of his own eyes when the murky waters were clouded and fallen logs obscured his vision along with crimson algae.

Continuing on with further caution, he only moved a few more steps before stopping as the water rippled from in front of him; it was impossible for him to be the cause of it from such a direction.

I’m just about out of mana. I’ll have to rely on swordplay, he thought.

Tucking his staff away, he drew his blade from its scabbard while slowly walking, finding solid ground once again after passing under a low-hanging veil of spider lilies. To call it ‘solid’ was giving it a lot of credit as the grass and mud sank beneath his boots, but it was a far cry from the murky water.

There was a sloshing sound up ahead as if somebody was walking on the moist mud as well, but it was difficult to see through the swamp’s natural obstacles of vision.

…Be ready, Emilio, he warned himself.

Tightening his hold on the handle of his sword, he slowly moved forward before finding an unexpected sight: a girl.

There was a girl, who looked to be about his age, hiding in the hollowed base of a tree, hugging her knees and shivering.

“…A person?’ He audibly said.

The words he spoke were heard as the girl looked up at him with emerald eyes, etched with fright. She lifted her head, parting her lips to say something but struggled to get it out through a stammer.

“Are you alright?” He asked.

As he approached, stepping into the clearing in the middle of the swamp on the isolated patch of land amidst the murky, overfilled waters, he knelt down to meet her eye-to-eye.

There was something vaguely familiar about her; she had long, flowing locks of a silver shade and those emerald eyes of hers had a certain nostalgia to them that he couldn’t quite place.

But, none of that mattered once hearing what the girl had to say:

“…B-behind you…!”

As he spun around, he was immediately struck by something with a harsh impact that knocked him back a good few meters.

“Ghh-!” He winced.

What was that?! He questioned.

Crashing into the swamp water, he landed on his rear before looking up to find the assailant rapidly approaching: it was a moss-furred gorilla that had spider lilies in place of its eyes.

The frightening stature of the rabid creature forced him to jump up and dodge to the right before the abnormal gorilla slammed its hammer-like fists into the spot he previously sat, causing a massive upheaval of water.

A gorilla?! In the swamp…?! He questioned.

Though he questioned the existence of the creature in this dimension, he found it futile to apply logic to the contorted realities of the Unending Nightmare’s creation.

It was a sizable creature; though he’d never seen a primeape in person, he was sure they weren’t supposed to be quite so tall and broad.

Through a wave of rippled swamp water, the raging gorilla with fur replaced by overgrowth, charged through with utmost aggression. It took him by surprise as he was left unprepared, only able to raise his arms as it shoulder-checked him, knocking him back as he slammed against one of the trees.

“Ngh–!” He let out in pain.

The buttons to his shirt popped off, revealing his bruised torso as the collar to his gray shirt opened up.

As he squeezed his left hand, he felt the lack of a physical sensation from his sword, now realizing what happened when he was knocked back.

I dropped it…! My sword! He realized.

Looking down, his stomach dropped at the realization of what happened; it would be like finding a needle in a haystack as his sword was now sitting beneath the black, swamp water. Even worse, the plant-skinned gorilla didn’t seem willing to simply let him search for his dropped weapon.

All he had at his disposal was his own innate strength, or what was little of it was left in his worn state. Against a beast of such mass and aggression, he felt hard-pressed to meet it hand-to-hand in a contest of strength.

I need to find my sword…! He thought.

Though there was no opportunity to start looking as he jumped to the side just as the muscle-bound beast charged towards him, slamming straight into the base of the tree. The entire structure of oak shook from the impact as the spider lilies swayed.

I can’t let that hit me, he thought.

It was a mindless beast; the gorilla seemed to operate solely with the intention of eliminating anything that moved, which was further proven as it rushed towards him again without any hesitation.

Ripples constantly generated through the dark water as the gorilla roared out a distorted call, shuffling waves in its path as it continuously slammed its fists down towards the blonde-haired boy.

Luckily his swordplay training came in handy in sharpening his reflexes, allowing him to predict the savage movements of the beast and narrowly evade its bludgeoning blows.

It wasn’t a situation he’d found himself in before; against a beastly foe, imposing in strength and stature, being deprived of both magic and blade, he was pushed to respond with his fists.

…Use your body weight, swing and hit! He thought.

Using what little knowledge he had about martial arts, or throwing a punch in general, from videos he’d watched online a lifetime ago, he roared out before throwing his fist forward.

There was hardly any expected result as his knuckles hit the burly chest of the mossy gorilla–

THUD.

–Betraying his expectations in a shocking delight, the punch actually carried significant force behind it, allowing him to knock the gorilla out of its flurry and stun it momentarily.

…It worked? I hurt it? He questioned, looking at his fist.

He was shocked at his own strength; though it wasn’t a finishing blow of any variety, the hammer-fisted goliath was definitely affected by the blow as it drooled and shook it off.

Does my ‘Draconic Constitution’ scale with my own level? He thought, if so…we might be working with something, then!

With newfound confidence, he found himself willingly squaring off with the gorilla as the swamp water rippled around them from the subtlest movement.

Beating its chest like a drum, the gorilla roared out in a war cry before charging forward, dragging its fists through the water before thrashing towards him.

In a swift movement, rolled to the side before countering with a straight punch aimed at the gorilla’s head, putting all of his body weight behind it.

THUD.

Again, a satisfying impact awaited the connection between his knuckles and his opponent, causing the violent goliath to stumble and slobber.

Emilio couldn’t help but smile at the ray of hope found within his own body; it was something he’d never expect in the compromised form of ‘Ethan’: supernatural strength, enough to combat even the mightiest beasts of the jungle.

I can do this! He resolved.