Chapter 73: Wrong Reaction (Patreon)

The forest was just as Zed remembered it with the addition of a bit of extra growth. A lot of extra growth. The trees were a countless myriad of colors as if someone had made a garden, planting a variety of flowers for nothing but their colorful beauties then splashed a bucket of bright paints all over the place.

The trees still had barks of fur so bountiful that Zed’s hand sank into them when he touched them and gave him a nostalgic tingling feeling like countless bugs trying to crawl all over him. Tree roots still refused to remain confined to the bottom of the soil, rising above ground so high that he and Shanine were often required to climb over some of them.

The ground beneath their feet was covered in flowers and grasses with unnatural colors, blue and pink and purple where they were all meant to be green. It was the most unnatural beauty he had ever seen. The only thing he felt would beat it was if he somehow came across a monster so grotesque yet so beautiful.

With how much magic exists, I wouldn’t really be surprised to see one.

Now that Zed could sense auras, the forest was more alive than he’d thought. The colors were somehow brighter, their chaotic presence somehow symphonic. He could feel the forest in a way he hadn’t felt it when he’d woken up here. Even the trees let off a faint whisper of wisps of countless colors, soft yet present. He had to focus to truly see them.

They were as countless as the trees were colorful, similar but different. It was like suddenly seeing all the colors Shanine claimed men weren’t supposed to see. He opened his mouth to comment on it then shut it back without a word. He could tell the difference between the yellows or the reds or the blues, but it didn’t change the fact that they remained yellow, red and blue. What was he going to say? That he could see the different colors? If she asked him to name them they’d still end up being light green, lighter green, lightest green and dark green to him.

He could differentiate them but he couldn’t name them. Any comment from him would be a losing conversation.

As for Shanine, she kept her gaze occasionally glancing up at the trees. Her eyes reached towards high branches where fruits would be if any of the trees were actually capable of bearing fruits as she walked in silent awe.

A few more turns and over two hours into their sojourning, she turned to Zed with a frown and a grumbling stomach.

“I haven’t seen any fruit,” she said.

“Neither have I,” Zed shrugged, as if he wasn’t the one who’d suggested they come here for food.

“Are you sure there’s anything to eat out here?”

Zed thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. His mind had gone to his notifications’ idea of sustenance from long ago when it had suggested he feed on the meat of mutated animals in the forest.

“There’s no food,” Shanine said. “Then why’d you bring me here?”

Zed looked at her, confused. “You sound so sure that there’s no food.”

“Because you just said so.”

“When?”

“I asked if you’re sure there’s anything to eat out here and you shook your head.”

“Oh, that,” Zed waved a disagreeing hand. “That wasn’t for you. I was just wondering if you can eat monster meat.”

“Monster meat?”

“Don’t worry about it. I doubt you can. As for the fruit, I’m sure there’s one around here somewhere. I mean, look at this place. It would make zero sense if it didn’t have at least one fruit.”

“I don’t know,” Shanine said, uncertain. “It looks like a magic forest. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned about magic, it’s that anything can happen.”

“And I’ve learned that anything will happen,” Zed said, solemn, as he sensed another monster. It was one stalking around a tree a good distance away.

He sighed as he came to a stop.

“How fast of a climber are you?” he asked, suddenly.

Shanine paused to look at him, skeptical. “Why?”

“Because you might need to climb or run soon. It’s more of a choice thing. But just between the two. There’s no option three.”

Unless you count dying, Zed thought. But she doesn’t need to know that.

The monster he’d sensed was not alone, and while it’s companion’s aura was new, Zed was fairly certain this one’s aura was something he’d sensed at least once before, since entering the forest. The fact that he would lose track of it only to get it back meant only one thing: it was following them. And if it was intelligent, there was more reason to fear, because there was always the possibility that it had been herding them.

“So that’s a no on climbing speed?” Zed asked into Shanine’s silence, his attention still on both monsters’ auras as they drew closer.

“I’ve never climbed a tree in my life.”

“City girl,” Zed muttered. “Who woulda thunk it.”

He moved his gaze from side to side, spreading his aura as far as he could, which wasn’t very far. Coupled with his strained core, his reach was trifling. His mind searched for a potential exit path, something without monsters, even as he wondered what he was going to do; how they were going to survive.

“That way,” Zed pointed off into the distance, between two trees.

“What’s there?” Shanine asked, stopping and backing away from it.

“Wrong reaction,” he told her. “You’ll be running that way soon.”

“How soon?”

“Once I use magic.”

“Okay.”

Shanine’s voice trembled and Zed did his best not to let it dwell on his mind. He had done a good job at easing her mind over the time that they were together, reducing her fear of him, specifically. As for her fear of monsters, right now was not the time to try and get rid of it. Now was the time to ensure she survived and he didn’t damage his core.

Zed thought of the rune he needed and his fingers worked it into existence. His hands came up and he activated it. His mana guttered out before the runes activated, slipping away from his control, and pain flared his core. His knees buckled beneath him and he dropped to a single knee, a hand clutching his stomach.

Shanine rushed to his side almost immediately and he staved her off with a raised hand.

“Concentrate on your legs, kiddo,” he muttered, pushing past the pain. “You’re going to have to run soon.”

“But you’re hurt,” she complained but didn’t reach for him a second time.

“I know.”

Whatever had happened to him, the monsters had taken it as a sign. They stopped stalking and simply approached. They discarded silence to the beauty of the forest and let out low growls, each one rumbling within Zed’s chest, making him feel like prey.

Zed felt their auras easily now and he frowned at it. The monsters he remembered from the forest were meant to be mutated, weak by his current standard.

So why have I only been sensing Betas? He grumbled.

He raised his hands out again, pointing in two directions where he could still feel the two auras approaching. The low growls, terrorized him, tried to invoke fear in him, and it was all he could do to keep his focus.

“C’mon, Zed,” he muttered to himself, pushing past the pain. “It’s just pain. A little more and you’ll get to advance.”

He pushed his mind, leaving himself relegated to his knee as he pulled up the rune of his choice. It came to him easily, easier than it ever had, and he activated it. His fingers carved the runes into the air sluggishly and the air glowed a soft purple as each rune came alive.

Gritting his teeth against the pain, he activated them instantly.

· You have cast basic rune [Force].

· You have cast basic rune [Force].

Zed watched as the runes took effect. It was somehow different this time, given a clearer shape. Purple rings echoed out from the runes, blasting off into the distance, growing in size the farther they went.

The next notifications were a welcome sight.

· [Force] has applied effect [Knockback] on [Feline Mastiff].

· [Force] has applied effect [Knockback] on [Broken Bison].

Zed smirked.

“Put a pause on—”

· [Broken Bison] durability is too high.

· [Broken Bison] has resisted effect [Knockback].

An ear piercing roar rend the air and Zed turned to Shanine.

“Now’s when you start ru—”

Zed met nothing. Shanine was already gone, sprinting down the path he’d pointed out with the accuracy of the fully fed. Zed thought he saw her feet raising dust as she fled.

Can’t be, he chuckled darkly. It’s all grass here… right?

The ground shook, pulling him from his confusion. It trembled from the rumbling of footsteps and Zed pulled himself to his feet, staggering backwards as the pain in his core rose.

All I’ve got to do is advance to category two, he told himself as he struggled, turning to run. That’s all I need to do.

The Broken Bison thundered out into the open as he struggled and Zed’s gaze met bloodshot eyes, if blood was purple.

Zed abandoned his retreat and braced himself as the beast ran into him. He knew one simple fact.

This will hurt.