* 3

Not long after Lei had left the chest eerily collapsed into dust leaving no trace of it ever existing behind... Until not long after another chest just like the previous one appeared in its place as if preparing itself for the next person to open it.

Lei who had by this time already left would have felt even more frustrated if he saw how the trap had basically been reseted for the next victim.

‘It does feel like i am getting closer to the river’ He pondered from the increasing greenery. Hanging branches brushed across his face which did not make it any easier to travel through the forest as the ground became even more unequal and filled with all sorts of grasses that made it difficult to watch where he stepped.

In this abundance of all sorts of greenery. Lei noted that he could easily be attacked and he particularly was cautious of the lack of insects. Of course, he knew that there might be no insect monsters but he still felt uneasy. He was not really a fan of insects or arthropods in general and the thoughts of monsters' version of such creatures send chills down his spine.

‘The weather really is not holding up today’ Lei groaned as he looked upwards as the sun was once again covered by clouds which darkened his surroundings.. His vision was already hampered by the sheer amount of plants and trees around that made the surroundings darker and the absences of the sun only made it more difficult for him to see.

‘I can not give up now, I have to reach at least the river by the end of today!’ Shouted Lei in order to psych himself up. He checked his play time and it was close to 3 hours and with the total max per day being five hours, he did not have much time left to play. Therefore, he had to be smarter and move much faster despite the many hindrances along the way to be able to reach his goal for the dat; the river.

*drips*

Suddenly, raindrops started to descend from the sky.

‘Come On, please don’t rain. I really do not need this right now to slow me down!’ Angrily shouted Lei and as if in response what was a light drizzle became rain and soon after it became a rainstorm.

Plop* Plop* Plop*

Lei walked over the quickly forming puddles onto the floor of the forest. It also became increasingly slippery and treacherous so he had to pay even greater attention to wherever he stepped.

However, when he glanced at his thirst bar that had been slowly decreasing. It was currently in the low 70s, so he stopped briefly.

‘I should probably at least drink a handful of water, whilst things are calm and I can do it’

‘Croak’ All of the sudden Lei heard a clear sound but could not see the source of it. Until all of the sudden a large creature suddenly jumped out a few meters ahead from where Lei was standing. It was at least double the size of Lei and it had crashed through a couple of trees that fell to the side a few meters away from him. The damage it caused was a clear sign to Lei of the power the creature standing away from him had.

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Lei felt like crying…

‘I just want to reach the village… please’

He felt like the game really did not give him a break, any time he felt he could relax it only threw more and more things at him. If the monster had not been just standing around twenty meters facing away from Lei, he would have shouted out in annoyance.

The huge frog-like monster blended so well with the environment that it was hard to spot it if it was not loudly croaking. It seemed like it had yet to notice Lei and he did not want for that to happen-

However, suddenly it quickly turned towards Lei and lunged into his direction with a hop.

Lei quickly jumped to the side and rolled, he could hear a loud crashing sound behind him.

‘It can not control its jump!’ Lei quickly realised as the frog had once again crashed into many trees.

‘I can use this!’ He thought.

He quickly started running and skipping through between trees and soon enough the monster which stood still for time hopped forward again in his direction.

*Crash*

It hit many trees once again, they crashed down toward its body but it seemed unfazed by them.

Lei continued baiting the monster and driving it towards areas that were particularly filled with trees and just at the moment it prepared to charge he stepped back and raced in another direction. After it crashed another time, Lei thought inwardly how tiring this was. He could not simply run away since it would easily catch up to him but only tricking it by using its predictable AI did not really allow him to run away from it.

He continued doing this over and over again, until he realised it would never create enough time for him to escape. The monster would just quickly catch up to him if he ran simply in one direction. ‘It also does not seem to be suffering anything from the trees crashing down onto it.’

‘Could I hide?’ He thought but shot down the idea a moment later. ‘There is nowhere obvious and with how much power it has I am it would just destroy everything till it found me.’

‘Darn it! running away is so easy in turn based rpgs…’

‘I miss that run away option now!’

I wish I could do that now and just wait for the text.’ran away safely… to show up’

Lei glanced at his sword and the creature that was preparing once again to charge towards him. He could get close to it but was unsure how it would react after all, it had yet to use its tongue which he assumed was one of its attacks.

‘I have to at least try it, otherwise this might go on for eternity’ He thought and once again he tricked the frog into lunging in the wrong direction. However, this time he raced towards it after it crashed into the trees approaching it from behind. He envisioned his plan of action in his mind. First, he would swiftly climb up onto its back then rapidly stab its head repeatedly.

However, in reality it was not easy as its back was slimy and squishy, so he could not get a proper grip to climb it and when he barely did the wetness meant he quite anti climatilly kept slipping down.

‘.......’

‘Well… This did not go as planned,’ Lei thought with a blank expression.

After the failure of his plan, Lei simply slashed the lower back of the monster with his sword and then stabbed fully inserting his blade then he twisted. The giant frog croaked out loudly in response and started to move its back around repeatedly in sharp movements to shake off Lei.

‘Damn It, I won't let go!” Lei did not let go as he was shaken from side to side but instead used the momentum to drive his sword further into the monster’s back.

The giant frog for the first time cried out and started skipping forwards at a fast speed.

‘It seems like it has gone berserk,’ Lei thought whilst he was still hanging on desperately.

‘It was unable to stop its hops, so just maybe it will also be unable to stop all of the sudden from this high speed,’

Lei did not know where the monster was headed but this was his best chance to escape so he grasped his sword with both his arms and cleanly pulled it out.

He was still at high speed and the momentum meant when he hit the floor it only slowed him down whilst he continued rolling at a fast speed. The giant frog also kept running until it reached the end of and flew right off it. It had a lot of momentum, so it went rather far before it crashed down at least 200 meters from the cliff edge, where Lei had just managed to stop himself from falling off.

He had lost a decent portion of his HP as a result of thought, but he was safe for now at least.

Lei stood and looked out at the huge drop and at the waterfall not far away. It was still so distant but the loud sound of rushing water and the spits of water on his face mesmerized him for a second. ‘Wow!’ He said in excitement.

*Crack*

All of the sudden the edge of the cliff broke off and Lei tumbled into the abyss below.

‘Goddamnit!!!!’ His voice reverberated but it grew more and more distant and ulti only the sound of the waterfall remained.