Chapter 7: Strategy

Chapter 7: Strategy

This was hell. It had to be.

That was the only explanation Tom had left. His situation, or rather the implications of it, had taken a while to dawn upon him. The saying ignorance is bliss, had never been more accurate as he ran away from the sight of his encounter with the [Ankra Beast], he realized how close he had come to dying.

However, it was not the [Ankra Beast] itself that was the source of his fear. No, what truly terrified Tom was the possibility of sustaining an injury. His shoes had protected him from the worst of the flames the beast had sustained upon him, but what if they hadnt?

What would he do with a hobbled leg in the middle of a forest full of hostile monsters with magical powers?

Die, thats what.

He had no means to heal, or for that matter, even seal a wound. His medical training was non-existent and as for magical means the [Divine System] conveniently seemed to have left that part out. Perhaps he could fashion a gauze out of animal hide if he managed to kill another beast, the thought not exactly striking him back when hed just finished a deadly battle. but for all he knew it would infect his wound and only kill him faster. The thing did bleed yellow ichor after all.

Come to think of it, the whole reason why hed been sent to Artezia didnt make sense either. The bearded man had claimed that everyone didnt have a powerful Soul Card, making them sound incredibly valuable but the very first beast hed killed had dropped one. Would he really travel through the space-time continuum to give him a [Card] that projected scary illusions? Tom was certain that the bearded man, no matter how strong or mysterious, couldnt pierce through [The Fools] concealment.

Nothing seemed to make sense.

A flash of movement flickered in the corner of his eye, but when he pivoted to face it, it only revealed a broad-faced leaf shimmying through the air. Another ten minutes later he heard a sound that he mistook for a solitary footstep, only to see a collapsed branch laying haplessly upon the ground.

Paranoia assailed his senses, his every breath strained whilst his mind betrayed his cause, amplifying a harmless sound into the low growl of a monster, envisioning the gaze of a terrifying beast trained upon his person, watching him bumble through the forest as it positioned itself to strike.

The only thing that gave Tom the courage to keep going was the rapier clenched in his right hand and [The Flame] card in his left. He had come close to firing off a gout of flames in a moment of paranoia, but thankfully that disaster had been averted in the last second.

He had to find a way to ease his nerves, or his anxiety would finish him off before any monster did.

Shit. The dagger.

He now faced another conundrum. He didnt have a sheathe for his rapier, and Tom refused to not have [The Flame] card in his left hand. So he had to make a choice between the dagger and the rapier. Its additional range allowed him to clinch victory over the [Ankra Beast], but he had another powerful weapon now, with a greater reach.

A strategy began to form in Toms mind.

He had no military training. Tom acknowledged that. He was not chosen one. He acknowledged that too. The only thing he was right now was high-strung and any strategy that involved complicated pirouttes or over-ambitious maneovres was likely to fail right off the bat.

No hed keep it rough and simple.

If something came too close to him, or was charging towards him, hed blast it with fire and run if it didnt immediately die. If it continued to chase him again, hed unleash his flames again and again, until it either died or gave up. In the worst case scenario, if it managed to either evade or run through his flames, the dagger was the only weapon in his possession wiith which he could imagine killing in a single blow.

If it still didnt die. well.

He gave his rapier a wistful look before tossing it inside the crack in space. With another thought, his [Inventory] winked out of existence.

When Tom got up again, there was something resembling determination reflected in his pupils. Surprisingly his anxiety had begun to recede, now that he had a plan in mind, a new weapon that was wickedly sharp and his own personal flamethrower.

He did not run any longer, for that was foolish his footfall, despite his efforts to move stealthily, would still probably be audible to any beast that was listening. Thus he moved slowly and cautiously from one trees cover to the next, progressing in the same direction hed chosen to run in the first place. Logic dictated that eventually the forest would end well that was Earths logic, but hed take it.

An hour had passed eventlessly, and Toms guard was beginning to get laxer when he heard not one, but two animalistic grunts.

His reaction was much faster this time, as he instinctively threw himself behind a thick clump of light blue shrubbery, hoping it wasnt poisonous to his skin.

Thankful for the body of a teenager, he managed to conceal in what he believed was the nick of time, but his [The Flame] card was ready to go off at a moments notice.

The grunts drew closer.