Hanging on the side of the tree, John prepared himself to attack as soon as the first monkey came into view. ‘Okay, let go of the sword, then airblast with my full weight, then lower weight to increase speed by… about seventy percent… Or is it thirty? Then summon Larang and use a piercing attack!’

With the plan ready and his legs filled with essence, he waited for the right moment to pounce. The sounds of steps on the strangely soft trees were steadily approaching, sounding like a bunch of stampeding animals. They were moving fast.

Then it appeared, and John pushed off, triggering the prepared spells and moving at his full speed. Then he decreased his weight, increasing his speed by another two-thirds. He could not believe his own pace.

With not enough time to think, he held his hands forward and summoned Larang, ready to strike. Not even a second passed between the monkey's appearance and the greatsword's sinking into its chest, cleaving its torso in twain. It was dead before hitting the ground.

But John had a problem. He was about to fly past the beast and continue flying through the air, unable to stop himself.

‘Ah, fuck! Do I increase my weight again to fall faster? I can use the air burst again, but I need to navigate to a tree.’

He could see the two remaining monkeys running along the branches. They both seemed consumed with rage as he flew past, waving their hands in the air.

John dismissed Larang before increasing his weight and lowering his speed considerably again. Then he aimed for the closest tree and used his air burst spells to stop most of his movement. He landed safely on top of the tree.

‘Phew, only two of these bastards left! They’re not very tough, but I’m scared of being grabbed by those large hands. Should I try a spell? Or… I can try shooting the shortsword again.’

The remaining monkeys were approaching him rapidly from the same direction, giving him little time to think. He summoned the dark shortsword, took aim, and fired it with an air blast.

It pierced the air, heading straight for the head of the leftmost monkey. It seemed to be taken off guard, but still managed to twist its head enough to avoid a fatal blow. The sword cut deep into its face but hit nothing vital, continuing to fly past the beast.

‘Shit! I should have waited for it to come closer!’

John recalled the sword to his core before summoning Larang, holding it out to his side. He was hoping to deal a fatal blow to one of the beasts as soon as they clashed while also dodging their attacks.

The beasts both jumped from the closest tree at the same time, readying their fists for a powerful punch. But John was ready, kicking off from the tree and swinging the massive sword straight for the beast to the right.

Larang once again cut through the air, aiming for the beast's lower torso. John dodged to the side at the same time, letting go of the sword and decreasing his weight once again. He jumped to the closest tree, not having time to check the damage he had inflicted just yet.

Larang went back to his core as he turned around to look. The monkey with the wounded face was already jumping after him, but the other one seemed to have taken a lot of damage. Blue blood was clearly visible on the ground and on its hands.

‘Okay, good! Now there’s just one remaining!’ John thought, dodging to a nearby tree again to give himself some time to think.

‘I just need a good slash on this last one, and it’s over!’

Larang returned to his hands as he watched the last monkey again. Now that the weapon was back, it seemed more wary. Instead of attacking, it made threatening gestures toward John, baring its teeth.

‘Why do they never yell out? Are they scared of bigger monsters around here? Is that why they used the knocking to communicate?

The beast hit the tree with both its hands in frustration before looking back at its dying friend. To John’s great surprise, it went back to look at its friend, ignoring him for now.

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‘... Why do you have to act so human? I’m starting to feel bad about this…’

The two monkeys seemed to communicate some things as the wounded one sat down on the ground. They both looked at the one John had nearly torn apart. The wounded one then lay down on the tree and pointed in another direction.

The scarred monkey seemed frustrated, but eventually calmed down. It looked at John for a second, staring quietly. Then it took a deep breath and roared, unleashing all the anger it felt toward him.

It echoed through the trees, sounding like it would attract every beast around to their position. And that might have been the intention because the monkey turned to run away as soon as it finished the roar.

‘Ah, you fucking bastard…’

John hurried over to the dying monkey and shot his shortsword towards it, impaling its head. Then he hurried to claim the kill, feeling his essence return to full once again. There was no enchantment, but he hadn’t expected it to be so easy.

‘Please don’t bring any demons here before I finish!’

He jumped to the other monkey with the shredded torso and did the same, feeling his core grow even bigger. The entire process since the shout had only taken ten seconds, but he felt it was too long already.

He glanced down at the last corpse that fell from the tree and felt the sight send shivers down his spine. At the bottom of the tree stood a great beast in the middle of feasting on the fallen monkey. It had fiery red skin and looked like a nightmarish mix between a horse and a dog, with giant fangs dripping blue blood and a long, predatory snout.

Despite the distance between them, John felt his heart beat faster, sensing that this beast was stronger than he was. He stood completely still by instinct, hoping it wouldn’t notice him. Was this his first encounter with a demon?

The beast paused its gory meal, slowly raising its massive head to lock eyes with John. Its gaze was cold, calculating, sizing him up like he was nothing more than the next morsel on its menu.

The tail, which was the only thing on the beast that was black, suddenly grew as long as the body itself. With a casual flick, it whipped against the tree John was perched on.

‘Oh fuck! I’m getting out of here, that’s definitely a demon! And its aspect looks strong!’

The entire tree shook and started to tilt, showing that it had been cut in half by a single attack. John knew he wouldn’t be able to do the same, even if he put every ounce of his strength into Larang. He was no match for that creature. It had seemed like such a casual attack.

He lightened his weight and started running in a direction, hoping he would avoid any deadly encounters on the way. His speed was significantly higher than normal, but he still feared that demons would be faster.

‘Please don’t let them track my scent! If I meet that red horse head-on, I’m toast. And I can’t imagine other demons will be much easier to beat.’

He felt it was unfair that the demon would attack him when he had offered it such a nice meal, but that was the way of the world. Hopefully, any other demons would be satisfied with the three corpses left in the trees.

After running at full speed for about three minutes, he started to slow down to catch his breath. He didn’t dare to stop, though, and kept jogging from tree to tree.

‘Ah, this enchantment is a lifesaver! I might have to just stay in the area until I have all the enchantments I can fit into my equipment. Traveling through unfamiliar territory seems unwise without getting as strong as I can first.’

And so his priority returned to finding water and food. He was sad that all the meat from the monkeys went to waste, but he wasn’t sure about eating those things. They were a bit too human in behavior. He still would, but he would much rather prefer chicken.

‘Okay, shelter first. Digging a hole into one of these trees should give me a nice, isolated room, right? But I want to travel a bit further first. I’ll change the direction up a bit to confuse any possible followers.’

His pattern of jumping trees suddenly shifted back, then to the left, then in a spiral, before he finally continued in the same direction he had been heading earlier. The distance between the treetops should make it hard to follow a scent either way, but he didn’t want to take any chances.

‘I can really feel the difference in my core now. It has increased in size by about ten percent since I broke through. Not too bad, considering I’ve only claimed seven kills so far. I’m not sure Serah will be able to do the same, though…’

His thoughts drifted to her again, thinking back to her strange behavior before they were separated. She did not seem surprised when the world started changing, but rather sad, like she knew what would happen.

‘But how could that be possible? Like me, she shouldn’t have any powers beyond using essence. Looking into the future, not even the Lady of Fate could do that—at least, not accurately.

If she did know, when did she learn about it? Is that why she has seemed to be putting on a fake smile lately, and why she got so emotional that night?’

He couldn’t figure out what might have happened, but assumed it was related to her golden fate somehow. But more so than answers, he wanted to find her and keep her safe.

He looked up at the rest of the planet surrounding him, trying to figure out how to navigate back to the portal. But since he had only just arrived in the world before the inversion, he had no information about its geography.

‘... Finding you won’t be easy. At least not alone. But you better stay safe while I’m not around!’