Lush greenery loomed over him in dense walls hiding the outside world from his small bubble, the foliage kept him safe from most threats, but it also hid the threats from him. The strange calls that echoed through the forest were both comforting and intimidating, in a forest with predators Lloyd wouldn’t dare confront, these creatures were confident enough to broadcast their location to anyone within earshot.

  Lloyd was constantly looking around, trying to stay vigilant as he heard the roars of powerful beasts echoing above. Despite his carefulness, Lloyd was not entirely unscathed by his journey so far, at one point a pack of weasel-like monsters ambushed him through the roof of the fern tunnel.

  The sneaky mustelids hadn’t been all to strong, and he had dealt with them pretty easily, but when they realised they were losing, they refused to let him win. They started violently screaming as they retreated, then the leaves started shaking and Lloyd bolted in the other direction as a giant portly bird slammed down on one of the weasels crushing it instantly.

  The creatures didn’t even react to the death of one of their own, they just seemed annoyed that Lloyd had survived, but with their position exposed neither party could afford to continue the fight.

  Lloyd came out of that situation a lot more wary of the beasts in this part of the forest as that bird was by no means an apex predator, yet it could have slaughtered him had it got the chance. This feeling was only exacerbated when he looked into a clearing where he saw the half-eaten corpse of an identical bird, outlining its position on the food chain.

  After this Lloyd was practically tiptoeing as he crept further up the slope, trying not to leave prints that were too noticeable when walking with his false leg. The bevelled point of his fake leg was definitely useful, and it had saved him before like when he had been trapped in the tail of the iguana titan, but it was very impractical for sneaking around.

  The fear of leaving a trail soon became less relevant when Lloyd noticed the ground was made less of dirt and slowly transitioning into a dirty brown stone. This made Lloyd recall his first day on the island, when he had gazed across the beach from the boulder he camped on, staring at the horizon.

  Back then, Lloyd had first noticed the forest across the canyons, but he now remembered seeing the silhouette of what he had assumed were mountains. Had he reached them? Had he really travelled that far already?

  Then again, with how fast he could walk when using his agility properly it did make sense. By his estimates he was walking anywhere from thirty to a bit over fifty kilometres a day so it really wouldn’t be too surprising if he’d reached the mountains already. What was more surprising was just how far away the mountains were, after several hundred kilometres he was only just reaching the foothills, yet he could see them all the way from the beach.

  Considering that the Himalayas could scarcely be seen from over 180 kilometres, and even more rarely up to 230 kilometres, these mountains must be at least that big because he had no clue how else he could have seen them.

  Compared to how flat Australia had been pre-system these mountains would have to be absolutely massive, especially for an area that’s tallest peak had been just under a kilometre above sea level. Climbing that mountain when he was younger had once felt like an insurmountable task, he couldn’t possibly complete, but he now realised that mountain was probably shorter than some of the trees here.

  At first this seemed absurd, how could the system rationalise making trees grow taller than mountains, but then again, they did fit the scale. It wasn’t like the trees were out of place in this environment, everything was unreasonably big now, so if the system was willing to let a mountain ash grow over a kilometre tall, then why not let a mountain pierce the sky.

  The soft clacking of his false leg on the stone was melodic and soothing, but he was careful to stop when he heard a rustle from the bush next to him. Careful not to let whatever was in the bush notice him, Lloyd kept pace but summoned a mana bolt within his cloak to strike if need be.

  the sounds from the bushes weren’t often, but they were consistent each time he heard them, so it was no coincidence he could hear them over and over, whatever it was, it was definitely stalking him. After a few minutes of travelling with unwanted company, Lloyd decided to make the first move.

  Lloyd had been ambushed two times since arrived in this part of the forest, and that was precisely two times too many, he didn’t want to make it three. He dove through the wall of ferns, stabbing forward with Thunder bone as he came face to face with his adversary.

  Crouched down amongst the leaf litter and fallen branches, a bright orange marsupial was waiting for him, lunging toward his legs with its jaws wide open. Lloyd spun to the side making the beast clamp its teeth around his false leg, doing more damage to itself than anyone else.

  Lloyd responded in kind, swinging downwards as the mana bolts hidden beneath his cloak shot toward the beast -which he was pretty sure was a quoll-, aiming directly for its stomach. The beast jumped for his face barring its claws as it grabbed onto his chestplate, gnashing its teeth at his face.

  Lloyd stumbled backwards, pinned against a tree as he tried to push the quoll off with the handle of his halberd. He tried his best to force it off, but the quoll was holding on with an iron grip, relentlessly thrashing to try and make him mess up.

  Three more mana bolts slammed into the quolls back, struggling to pierce the thick hide of the voracious beast. Blood dripped out the bottom of Lloyds chestplate as the quoll dug its claws into the gap under his shoulder, further limiting his range of motion.

  Fuelled by adrenaline, Lloyd pushed himself off of the tree instead pinning the beast against the bark as he supercharged a mana bolt. The quoll saw the danger, and started writhing and thrashing against him, but Lloyd strained as hard as his body would allow to keep the quoll in place.

  When the mana bolt finished charging, something changed, the quoll stopped resisting and hung limply awaiting its fate. The bolt shot forward straight for the beasts head, but the quoll was suddenly different compared to before, darker.

  Suddenly, the beasts body exploded in an eruption of shadows, its body becoming black and ethereal as it bolted up the tree faster than Lloyd possibly could. The supercharged mana bolt smashed into the side of the tree, barely leaving a dent on the barks surface.

  The quoll running away from him had not been something he calculated for, the viscous animal hadn’t seemed like one to back down, but anyone’s morals can change when faced with certain death. Lloyd turned around, pushing the ferns aside as he re-entered his secluded pathway under the cover of the ferns.

  As the ferns closed behind him, Lloyd heard something tearing through the air behind him but reacted too late. The shadowy state the quoll had entered to escape disappeared as it retuned to a dusty orange, midair.

  Lloyd could only try to dodge as he saw the beast pouncing at him, but was far too slow, and was easily caught. The beast grabbed onto his back, slamming him into the ground and smashing his head into a rock.

  Lloyd covered the back of his head with his hands, as the quoll started clawing at the back of his skull with deadly efficiency. Blood poured from Lloyd’s hands and head, but it wasn’t enough to make him give up, a plasma mine slammed into the quolls head point blank, distracting it enough for Lloyd to throw it off.

  Jumping to his feet, Lloyd swung downward with thunder bone, but stumbled and missed, gripping his forehead as it throbbed with a blinding pain. Despite all the progress he’d in his stats, a normal injury like an impact to the head could still do damage to him.

  All it took was one moment of carelessness and Lloyd was stuck fighting with a concussion, not a good injury against a foe focused on agility. The quoll was fast and hard to pin down, with his aim worsened and his mind working slower than it should, he was struggling greatly to pin it down.

  The quoll effortlessly dodged around his swing, jumping upwards and clamping its jaws around his forearm. Lloyd swore in pain but didn’t stop moving, thunder bone vanished into his spatial ring as his palm filled with energy.

  The plasma mine caught in his palm exploded as Lloyd slammed it into the beasts stomach, sending blood everywhere, but failing to do much damage. Despite the quolls seemingly bulletproof hide, Lloyd was confident that he could kill the beast, as it didn’t hunt in a group like the weasels had, his biggest fear was a stronger creature hearing their fight and coming to investigate.

  While the explosion hadn’t done much damage to the quoll itself, it had managed to dislodge the quoll from his arm, throwing it to the floor. Lloyd stomped down with his false leg, but the blade only grazed the quolls side before it managed to get out of the way.

  Before he even had a chance to react, the beast had gripped onto his leg and dug its teeth into his thigh, making him fall to the ground in agony. The quoll held on with a vice-like grip, refusing to let go as it tore into Lloyd’s tendons, Lloyd could barely keep his eyes open through the pain, let alone muster a response, but right now he didn’t have a choice.

  He forced himself to open his eyes and focus on the beast as he summoned a mana bolt, it crackled with supercharged energy as Lloyd pointed it towards the quoll. The bolt shot forward with deadly precision, tearing through the quolls hide and puncturing its heart.

  Blood spurted out of the quolls back like a fountain, shocking the beast into letting go of him. Seeing his chance, Lloyd kicked the quoll in the side of the head, knocking it to the side as he jumped to his feet, clutching his thigh in pain.

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  With its heart ruptured, the quoll wouldn’t last much longer, but it seemed ready to make these last moments worth it. A black, shadowy film encompassed the quolls body, its little remaining vital energy converting into mana as it charged one final skill.

  A swarm of mana bolts slammed into the quoll, not even denting the strange apparition that covered its skin. Then the quoll collapsed, its body lay limp on the floor, but its last act stood strong.

  A sphere of black energy the size of a basketball floating above its corpse. Without warning, the amorphous blob of shadow shot forward morphing into a set of jaws full to the brim with razor sharp teeth.

  Lloyd had no time to summon Thunder bone, he only managed to grab onto the top and bottom jaws with his hands, skewering his palms on the dagger-like teeth. The jaws possessed inhuman strength, overpowering and slowly forcing his hands together, but Lloyd had a plan.

  He channelled mana through his hands and into the phantasmal jaws, instantly small fractures began to show, a bright blue glow amongst the purplish black of the jaws. As more mana poured in, the cracks spread, like a cobweb snaking its way across the jaws surface, until finally, it cracked.

  At first it was just a singular fracture, then a deep crack, and then it shattered like obsidian glass, dissipating into the air. The body of the quoll also returned to normal, the shadowy substance coating its skin retreating into its body.

  For such a small creature, it sure did a lot of damage, pinning him down and holding the clear advantage on multiple occasions, leaving his body riddled with deep open wounds. Then again, its level more than made up for its size.

  Shadow fang quoll -lvl 16

  A level sixteen was no joke, while he had killed -or helped kill- enemies of much higher levels, those were all large, slow-moving targets that struggled against small, long-ranged adversaries like Lloyd. This was an equal levelled, melee creature that far outpaced him in speed and was incredibly resistant to his main avenue of attack.

  This was a much more even fight than he was used to and it showed, he had walked away, but came out with a mauled arm, and severely damaged tendons in his right thigh. It was something to reflect on and something to improve.

  Lloyd grabbed the body of the quoll and stowed it away in his spatial ring, not wanting to let the corpse attract predators.

  But it appeared he was too late.

  Heavy wingbeats overhead shook the leaves and threw up dirt all around him, he was in deep shit now. A high pitched screech made Lloyds ears ring, and he looked up in fear and hobbled away as fast as his false leg could take him.

  He was injured and slow, but Lloyd didn’t even consider slowing down as the form of a titanic parrot slammed onto the forest floor where he had fought the quoll. A jagged hook of a beak raked through the undergrowth behind him, tearing up roots as it went, but not finding what it was looking for.

  Evidently annoyed, the parrot stomped around, trying to find the food it had heard, and then finally ducking its head into the grass, its beady eyes darting around in search of a target. Then they rested upon Lloyd, the parrot had found its food, and it was going to get it.

  The parrot crashed through the underbrush, stomping after Lloyd on its stubby feet as it pecked down at him over and over. Lloyd stumbled away as fast as he could, but with his main leg debilitated by the quoll he could only go so fast, and as things were going, not fast enough.

  The parrot couldn’t see him well, but when you were the size of a small apartment it wasn’t hard to hit something in front of you. The parrot was thundering along behind him, using its wings to hop large distances as Lloyd ran for his life, but he was losing ground, and the parrot wasn’t slowing down.

  He tried to hide under tree roots and fallen logs, but wherever he hid the parrots razor-sharp beak would follow, tearing his safety to shreds. His last hope lay ahead, and if it didn’t work out, he wouldn’t be seeing tomorrow.

  Shortly after the parrot had started chasing him, Lloyd had noticed that rising out of the ferns up ahead, was a cliff. The dirty brow granite rose in a sheer wall out of the undergrowth, offering shade and refuge that might just save Lloyd’s life.

  If he got there that is.

  As things were going it would be a miracle if he even made it halfway, the bird was far faster than something of its size had any right to, and he was certain it would attract other predators soon enough.

  Lloyd pushed himself as hard as he could, supercharging his legs but withdrawing the skill when it started doing more damage to his already wounded tendons. Sweat dripped down his forehead and onto the ground, his vision becoming dark as he pushed himself to his physical limits.

  As his vision became darker and darker, Lloyd prepared himself for imminent collapse, but he didn’t fall, and then more oddities made themselves known. Why was the ground so dark when the canopy remained normal, and why was he fading into the black of the forest floor?

  Lloyds tripped on a log and stumbled, falling into the uniform black of the forest floor, loosing sight of the sky. Nearby, Lloyd heard the giant parrot charging around the undergrowth in search of him.

  Panicking, Lloyd tried to get up and run, but in the eerie blackness permeating the forest floor he lost track of which way was up, barely managing to drag his face across the sticks and leaflitter he laid on. Falling to the floor once again, Lloyd almost retched failing to withstand the onslaught of sudden vertigo.

  Thankfully, the parrot seemed just as lost as him, confirming the mysterious shadow wasn’t just his imagination. This gave Lloyd the motivation to push himself forward, knowing that he actually had a chance of escape, to outrun the parrot while it was lost in the darkness.

  Lloyd closed his eyes and braced himself, before pushing himself upwards as fast as he could. He stumbled and almost fell, catching himself at the last moment, what was originally barely a shadow had quickly escalated into a field of almost pure black, he couldn’t even see his own hands in this darkness.

  But there was one outlier.

  Hovering above the field of shadows was a deep purple magic circle thrumming with power, mysterious runes glowed at its edges, lighting up one by one as it gathered mana. Right now, it was at almost sixty percent charged, and he didn’t want to know what would happen when it reached a hundred.

  A sudden realisation shook Lloyd to his core, whatever this was, it was almost certainly related to the shadows, and thus, whatever was in them. Goosebumps covered his skin and the hair on his arms stood on end as he came to this conclusion, and before he could think his body started moving.

  The primal fear that had guided him a few times before burned with urgency overriding conscious decision with pure bestial instinct. He moved as fast as he could, the force guiding him fading, only to be replaced with one of pure terror bearing down on him.

  Over his shoulder, Lloyd could see time was running short, but he was so close to the edge of the darkness. It felt like a dream in the worst way possible, no matter how hard he ran, he was always to slow and no matter how hard he jumped he could barely clear the ground.

  Lloyd slammed his feet down one after the other, his heart beating so fast he could hear it rebounding through his skull. Behind him, the magic circle entered its final stage, passing the ninety percent mark and changing in ways he couldn’t afford his attention to.

  Ninety

  His muscles strained as hard as they could to push himself forward, but it seemed hopeless.

  Ninety-two

  His clothes dripped with sweat and blood as old wounds reopened from the pressure put on them.

  Ninety-five

  His body pressed beyond previous limits, doing anything in its power to keep going bar destroying himself using supercharge.

  Ninety-seven

  The end was in sight, he could make it, he had to.

  Ninety-eight

  He was seconds away from safety and freedom, he was almost there.

  Ninety-nine

  Mere meters from safety, his body burned with a sense of victory as he soared towards the threshold.

  One hundred

  Not enough.

  Those words echoed in his mind over and over, a reminder of his inadequacy as the shadows congealed, wrapping themselves around his legs and holding him in place.

  The shadows that had situated themselves on his skin solidified morphing into heavy, black chains holding him still and pulling him to his knees. All he could do now was watch it play out, behind him, the true result of the magic circle appeared.

  The core of the circle collapsed inwards, the complex inscriptions compounding into an odd-shaped blob of energy in the centre. This blob soon gained colour, turning a dark grey before growing, seemingly emerging from the two dimensional spaces occupied by the purple insignia.

  Then it got darker, the stony grey giving way to a charcoal black, not stopping, but speeding up, revealing the full picture. Out from the magic circle came the head of a crow with a beak over a meter long, its cold black eyes locked on the massive blob of shadows that was once a dark-green parrot.

  Four runes appeared, circling the still emerging head of the crow as they gained power. In moments, the runes went from dull husks of mana to shining with energy like purple stars, until, without warning, they struck.

  The runes morphed into crude misshapen blades that shot toward the fettered parrot like beams of light. Instantly, and effortlessly, the blades cut into the parrot, slicing through its neck and severing its wings.

  The parrot didn’t even have time to scream before it was reduced to a pile of mutilated flesh. Lloyd’s heart was in his throat as he watched the carnage unfold, and the crow was still in the magic circle, what would happen when it fully emerged?

  The only thing Lloyd could hope to do, was destroy the chains intent with supercharge, but his mind told him it was too dangerous to use no matter how many times he tried to use it. Lloyd felt tears begin to drip down his cheeks as he watched the crow slowly and methodically slaughter every single creature hiding within its shadowy domain.

  Then a thought came, what was this voice telling him it was too dangerous? It certainly wasn’t him, so why should he listen to it? A seed of hope bloomed in his mind as he railed against the cage of the mysterious restrictions.

  The warnings of danger grew more firm, telling him he couldn’t instead of telling him there were consequences to his actions. Lloyd paid these no attention as he pushed his will forward, raging against the restrictions as he had an epiphany.

  How could he be told no?

  He wasn’t asking after all. This was an order.

  The warnings collapsed into incoherent screams as Lloyd tore them down with his will and determination. Supercharge filled his body with energy, mana escaping his skin like steam from a geyser as he gripped onto the chains like he was holding onto a cliff for dear life.

  Muscles in his body burned away as he tore down all restrictions, redesigning the intent of the chains with pigheaded determination. Finally, with his body at its limit, the chains binding Lloyd burst, the fetters scattered across the forest floor.

  With his last vestige of energy, Lloyd stumbled into the forest, blinded with pain, guided only by instinct and will to survive. Lloyd’s vision came in glimpses, small snapshots of his location, the tall roots of a tree hiding him from above.

  Tall ferns parting around him as he pushed further from the shadows. Massive, rounded boulders at the foot of the cliff, he hadn’t managed to reach, and finally his feeble body could carry him no further.

  Lloyds body was tired and broken, he himself was a wretched mess hanging onto life by a thread. He laid on the cold stone of the cave mouth, too weak to move, and in too much pain to pass out.

  He was stuck in a hellish limbo between consciousness and death, but whatever the result, he was satisfied.

  Something, he didn’t know what, had tried to impose control on his freedom. Tell him what he couldn’t do, and he hadn’t let it.

  It might have killed him to do it, but Lloyd would sooner die free than live controlled.

  Satisfaction overwhelmed the pain, finally letting him close his eyes as the earth around him shook. His mind lulled asleep by the beating of giant wings.

  The face burnt its image into his mind, inquisitive, irritated, and unnervingly human.

  He had failed.

  He had failed to escape this thing, and he was going to face the consequences for doing so, his final refuge, no longer so safe.