Crack

What happened? What is going on? As he heard the sound of his ribs breaking, Midnight's head buzzed. His thoughts fractured alike. They were smashed into powder which slowly seeped away until entirely lost. Chaos and confusion filled the leftover void in his mind.

A second later, a new actor entered his mental stage. It didn't act bashfully and directly stood in the spotlight. The shock and numbness from the initial blow receded, and Midnight felt pain. It was an acute pain he hadn't experienced in a while. It started from his abdomen and chest, traversed through his nerves, and drilled into his brain.

Instantly, the last sliver of his consciousness received a tremendous but undesirable boost. The fog in his head receded like the waves after a high tide, and he awoke from his daze.

Something attacked me?!

His first coherent thought was both a statement and a question. The answer was obvious, but he was unaware of the details.

What horror could send him flying in a single brisk hit? How strong was this bastard to deceive all of his physical and mystical senses? Not even his mana perception had noticed the threat! And he was a half-ling, a natural mage. His mystical senses were nothing to scoff at!

Instantly, a guess popped up in his head. There was only one possible perpetrator. The Lord. That must be the mysterious Lord. Damn it!

With his eyes shut, he heard something enormous slithering over the needles. From his position lying weakly at the foot of a tree, he clearly felt the tremors spread over the surface as the monster crushed roots and squashed plants in its wake.

Fear gripped him and he sucked up a deep breath. However, the next moment he coughed violently, and wet sticky liquid dripped down from his mouth.

Cough Cough

Wheeze

Cough

The scent of iron and fish bombarded his nostrils and overwhelmed his sensitive palate. But he wasn't in a state to worry about such negligent things. He was suffocating. The more he tried to inhale, the more this coughing fit, and the piercing pain rejected his efforts. For a moment he felt like a fish scooped out of the water.

Cough

Cough Wheeze

Cough Cough

Not good. I need to calm down...

Cough

Rythmically...

Cough

Superficially...

With a spark of desperate inspiration, he ignored the pain, suppressed his desire for oxygen, and made his breathing grow shallow. His mind buzzed once again, but the pain in his chest was alleviated. Barely inhaling, Midnight exhaled. He forced himself to compensate for the quality with increased quantity by speeding the pace of each cycle. With the new influx of perfused blood, his brain recovered to a certain extent, and his thoughts turned clear. He rapidly analyzed his current condition.

That earlier swing must have broken quite a few ribs. My mouth is filled with fresh blood. Yes, this means that a fragment ruptured a lung. It caused a small part of one of my lungs to collapse. It's extremely painful, but it's not lethal. Heh, at least for a while. I may still die from the following blood loss.

Thankfully, the fractures are distributed between both sides of my rib cage. Otherwise, the whole cage would have collapsed and I'd be a goner in seconds...

Is this what they call a blessing in disguise? Fuck, I am resistant to blessings!

Grasping the sliver of chance, he cast away the tiny but inevitable notion of giving up and accepting his death.

He cracked his eyes open and finally saw it. For the very first time, he saw his assailant. This instantly made the depressing idea return. He was awashed by despair and the respiration rhythm he somehow regained, nearly turned erratic once more.

It was a snake. A giant snake, at least 7 meters in length! It was so thick that if one could cut it in half, perhaps its cross section would be a whole meter.

This monster didn't seem in a hurry. It calmly slithered over the ground, coiled around trees, and took a comfortable position to end the life of its victim.

Whenever this snake passed under the scattered moon rays, its petroleum-green, sharp, and curved scales glistened reflecting the light. The creature was horrifying and eerily beautiful.

That thing is the Lord? The Lord of this forest was a gigantic reptile? A snake! Damn, I hate snakes! Not that I would have liked it if it was a panda...

He inwardly roared and felt like crying and throwing a tantrum.

The next moment he met the eyes of the monster. They were rusty golden in color with vertical slits that seemed to encompass the whole world. They were intelligent and deep down carried a spark of ridicule.

Slither

The Lord reared its body like a huge anaconda and seized up the pitiful half-ling. It saw his ripped-apart clothes, the exposed mangled-up and scratched flesh, and the fear inside of his eyes. It loved to see fear. It yearned for its prey to reel in despair, cry, run, or beg to be spared. Ah, it was intoxicating when they did so.

The snake opened its mouth, and its long and forked tongue shot out to savor the scent that wafted out of the half-ling. It was such a delicacy that it couldn't help but be pleased.

That bastard is playing with me. Midnight felt a chill run through his spine. He felt cold but instantly grew calmer. His perplexed feelings diminished. He finally understood why the next attack hadn't come yet. That thing could have crushed him into a meat paste long before he could recover his bearings. But it didn't do so.

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A flurry of thoughts came to his mind.

It doesn't want to end the battle too quickly. It thinks it can play for a while, reel in my negative emotions, and finally flick its tail to kill me. To it, I am nothing more than a pile of food...

Heh, talk about bad table manners! Haven't your parents taught you not to play with your food?

He lampooned and used this opportunity to suppress all of his feelings. Just like he had done all of the time back on Earth.

The heart-wrenching fear, the despair born from the difference in power, the pangs of regret for the loss he would incur if he died, the shame he felt for underestimating the forest even tho he lacked negative proof of a powerful monster lurking around, the anger at being ridiculed...

All these complicated emotions instantly flickered and dimmed, and his respiration turned lighter. At this moment, Midnight felt abnormally calm. His eyes glimmered, and his tense muscles relaxed.

Noticing the change in the half-ling, the Lord hissed. It was a deep, protracted, and threatening sound. It clearly expressed its fury at the pitiful, weak creature.

How did this half-ling dare not to tremble in fear? How did this bite of fresh meat, dare not to prostrate himself at the Lord's feet?! Impudence! Insolence! This thing stood before the ruler of this piece of land, yet it looked it in its eye like an equal!

Death... The king gave the verdict and instantly took action to follow his order.

Its happiness and enjoyment were dowsed in cold water and the snake lost the mood to play with its food. It increased the speed of its movements, slithered in a position, and swung its powerful tail forward.

It was time for the half-ling to learn what it felt to be crushed into meatpaste. Let it quiver and die. And then the Lord shall feast on its blood, flesh, and repentance!

Swish Bang

The tail was like a muscular whip stirring the air. It quickly descended and crashed into the tree. Flinders flew everywhere. The tree creaked for a moment, bled out plenty of tar, and collapsed.

However, something felt strange. Something was missing.

Rumble

The pine landed with an ear-piercing sound, but there was no screaming or blood.

Where? The Lord retracted its tail, unwilling to believe that the food had gotten away. It was impossible. But then why didn't it feel the small body rupture and die? Why didn't it sense the half-ling escape?

Suddenly, a pair of bright green eyes with vertical pupils shone in the darkness. They looked at the Lord from beneath its magnificent tail.

The snake saw a small shadow emerge and dash to the side. It agilely jumped between the trees and the roots; it used their surface to change direction and propel itself further away.

The food! The snake blinked its cold eyes and with a speed uncharacteristic for its proportions, slithered after the shadow.

The food was indeed fast, but it wasn't quicker than its kinetic vision and speed. At that moment when the shadow flashed out, the Lord had vaguely seen its appearance.

It was a normal-sized cat, covered in fluffy thick fur. Its hide was colored like ink. While it ran, It used its curved claws to pierce the bark and jump between the densely packed trees or slip under the roots. It wanted to run away and escape. It wanted to evade its imminent death.

The food wants to run! Never! Although it didn't make sense, the Lord was acutely aware that this creature was the same half-ling. The small bite had somehow shrunk even further. It had changed its appearance, but not its essence.

It didn't matter at all. Even if the food had grown smaller and faster, even if it could hardly satisfy one of its teeth, the Lord wouldn't let it escape. It had already given its verdict! That thing was doomed to perish today!

Damn it, it's chasing me! Why is this snake so fucking fast! What happened to the realism of the game? AI, I demand an explanation! Why is this behemoth a sprinter as well? Is this the snake version of the decathlon?

Argh, it hurts. Even though I managed to shapeshift my wounds still remain. That's bad...

Midnight used his surroundings to run faster, but the snake proved to be exaggerated in more than one way. This was very unfair, but he couldn't even lament. He was busy escaping. It may seem cowardly, but his first idea when facing a powerful enemy was to flee. It was the most logical option.

The problem was how...In his battered-up body, he couldn't even move to evade the strike that was right in front of his eyes.

The answer lay in his trump card. He still had a single active weak skill!

With the tail's imminent descent, Midnight gauged the best moment to shapeshift. He used the change in his size to leave the strike zone in a genuine manner. Then he dashed out and decisively ran.

At the same time, he hoped to confuse the monster. Perhaps, this Lord would find it beneath it to chase after a cat? All that fur didn't seem palatable or good for digestion. And if not, maybe it would waste a few moments, enough for him to gain a sizeable lead. This could be his best opportunity.

And now, it seemed that the Lord was smarter and grudgier than what Midnight expected. It reacted remarkably fast and was hellbent on chasing him. Even with the trees blocking its way, the snake somehow managed to keep up the pace. This sudden revelation ruined all of his plans. And in the end, his sole gain was barely extending his life.

Using his agile new shape and the lesser amount of oxygen required with this petite size, Midnight tensed up his muscles and kept his crushed ribs stable. Then he relied on his vision, stamina, and reflexes to desperately persist.

This game of cat and mouse can't be sustained for too long. Sigh, why is the real cat playing the role of the mouse? This is ridiculous...

As he mused without a speck of enjoyment, he analyzed the success of his fleeing attempt.

I am 3 kilometers deep in the forest. Can I outrun it until I bypass the edge? No, there is no proof that it won't chase me into the field. That's two more kilometers until I hide in Lesotte...

Midnight was acutely aware that his situation was bleak. Even with the stamina from his Nighwatcher, he was in too poor of a state to keep up the pace. Soon he would grow tired, slow down, and after a few unmentionable things happened, he would be reduced to snake feces.

Yet, even if he somehow managed to reach the end of the forest, he had quite a few doubts about the Lord giving up this pursuit. It seemed rather furious and unyielding...

Once in the field, Midnight would lose the aid of the trees. And they were the sole obstacle slowing his enemy. Then the outcome was clear. He would inevitably turn into a reeking pile of shit. No matter what, his fate seemed to be sealed.

Maybe I can hide in the tall grass there. No, this thing definitely has strong senses. It's a fucking snake after all. It should have poor eyesight and hearing, but an excellent sense of smell. Heh, with its stealth skills, it should possess a so-so mana perception as well. I definitely won't survive in the field...

Besides I am pressed by the time. I can keep my cat transformed for two hours at most...Well, cats run quite fast. I suppose even in my poor state I can still cover five kilometers in two hours...

Bang

Midnight sensed the attack and snapped out of his thoughts. He propelled himself to the right, wriggled his body, adjusted his posture midair, and landed gently and safely on the soft ground. Then he nearly hissed by the pain. This series of actions exacerbated his wounds, causing them to bleed freely.

Unfortunately, he had no time to care for elegance and self-preservation. He could almost feel his fur swaying from the breath of the snake. Instinctively, he dug his nails into the carpet beneath and dashed once again. Like an arrow released from an arbalest, he made a miraculous escape in the last moment.

Crack Bang

Needles, leaves, bark, and broken-up roots shot in the air from the place he was a moment ago. A tremble reached his sensitive paws, and his mana perception depicted the scene.

The mass of pure muscles known as The Lord had made a huge dent in the ground. The nearby trees were also covered in wounds. Whenever it brushed against their surface, its sharp scales dug out deep grooves. In this process, plenty of bark and wood were ripped away and sent flying.

Is this thing a damn seesaw? This explains the state of my chest. Heh, I should be grateful that it didn't cut me in half. Most of the force in its first strike must have landed perpendicularly and thus sent me flying away and breaking my bones.

I can't flee. I can't hide...Then I only have one option left. Fight for the last sliver of hope and die a heroic death...Before, well, yes...the feces outcome will strike once again...Why is life always full of such wondrous and unwanted experiences?

Without a better alternative, Midnight made up his mind. If he was going to die anyway, at least he wanted to make the snake work hard for this bite!