“Would you rather kill yourself under that waterfall, or would you come kill some enemies?”

Jerome looked up. It had been five days since he last saw her. “Nyx. Where have you been?”

She raised an eyebrow at him. Jerome looked away. It wasn’t his place to question her about what she did with her time. He wasn’t her boss or master.

“Come,” Nyx said, turning midair. “Your enemies are almost to the edge of the dark forest. I’d like them to enter the forest but there seems to be a conflict of interests amongst them.”

Expectation rose in him. Jerome rose into the air. Finally, he had something to do. Somewhere to put all the energy bubbling inside him. They shot towards the exit and out into the dark forest. Within a short time, they were within half a dozen miles to the edges of the dark forest.

Jerome couldn’t stretch his senses far enough so he activated the pod of Hezvar inside him. His senses expanded covering a large area. He looked at Nyx to see if she noticed but she was busy eyeing his enemies. At least that was what it looked like.

Jerome stretched his senses — with the aid of the pod of Hezvar — beyond the dark forest. He found that they were vastly outnumbered. Different races he’d never seen before, from orcs to strange beastkin, stood at the edge of the dark forest arguing and fighting, some going as far as killing others.

The sad thing was, they were all males. More than three hundred giant brutes, the lot of them. All clamoring to enter the forest and hunt him down. Half a mile behind them were females of every race he could think of. They had either come to watch the show or join in. But from what he could see, many of them were in heat. Glazed eyes and rosy cheeks came into view as he zoomed in on them. Some were even dripping wet between their thighs.

They were starved for masculine flesh.

At a time when Terra Praeta needed the males of the different species, Muna had compelled these to their deaths. She must have known something like this wouldn’t go unnoticed. If he fought out in the open and killed these males, Terra Praetans may never forgive him for such a massacre. But the situation could be salvaged. If they managed to draw them into the forest, he and Nyx could subdue them without harming them too much.

“Nyx,” he said. “These beings are under compulsion to kill me and Csala. But we don’t have to kill them.”

Nyx turned to him with a feral glint in her eyes, one he had only seen when she was still in her dragon form. “You’re not serious, are you? If you don’t kill them, they will kill you.”

“Believe me, I want to kill them,” Jerome said. “But knowing what I know now about the imbalance in the ratio of males to females on Terra Praeta, I don’t want to skew that balance more than it already is.”

Nyx snorted. “Don’t concern yourself with things like that, love. That is for Mother Nature to deal with.”

That only strengthened his conviction as her words brought his oath to Mother Nature to the forefront of his mind. “And you’ve seen me commune with Mother Nature,” he said. “You should at least assume I’d care for her concerns.”

Nyx’s only reaction to that was a slight frown on her brows.

“Try not to kill if you don’t need to.”

Nyx scowled at him and Jerome held her gaze. The forest around them suddenly stilled, as if it hadn’t been silent a moment ago. Jerome refused to look away. But she must have seen something in his eyes — defiance, he was sure, and finality. He wasn’t going to argue with her. He couldn’t stop her either. But then he wouldn’t trust her anymore.

He saw in her eyes the moment she realized she couldn’t convince him otherwise. Nyx looked away with a cute pout.

“Suit yourself,” she muttered.

The mob of different races split into three groups and began entering the forest from three different points. Their grunts as the darkness of the forest suppressed their essence reached him from the dozen-mile distance between them. Jerome knew what they were feeling now; the heaviness that overcame him when he stepped into the darkness, the sluggishness and numbness of his digits. He was amazed at the capabilities of the Hezvar, though. He didn’t miss any detail of everything they did, even as dark as their surroundings were.

Nyx vanished into the darkness. Jerome moved forward as well, muffling his steps with psychic energy. He took off his long coat so he could move around more freely. There was still a lot of distance between him and the closest monster. Monster because it acted nothing like a sapient being entering unknown territory for the first time — like it was being urged on by its bestial instincts. It had the skeletal frame of a man down to its toes, almost. From the way it moved, Jerome reckoned it had the gait of an ape. And its limbs were a touch longer than normal. Long red hair framed its skull, lower face, neck, and chest region — like a lion’s mane. But that was where the similarities ended. Its skin was a red-orange color and was covered in protruding bone-like armor. It also had giant tusks protruding out of the sides of its lower jaw.

Ogre…

The name came from his memory. Jerome couldn’t help but take another look at the strange bone-like covering. From his memory, ogres had strange abilities that helped them a great deal in the regenerative department. No. Their regenerative abilities helped them acquire strange abilities. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to think the ogre grew this bone armor out of its own bones!

That revelation shook him a bit. It would mean he was going to be dealing with a creature that was next to impossible to kill due to its powerful regenerative abilities.

The ogre moved fast, crashing through the forest with no care in the world. It was quite agile and completely ripped with muscles in the few openings Jerome could see in the bone armor. A gigantic centipede dove out of the ground to attack the ogre. It was fast. But Jerome watched as a blade made out of pink bone grew out of the top of the ogre’s fist, starting from its wrist. The ogre sliced the centipede in two with a wide swing of the bone blade.

Jerome watched as the centipede’s chitin began to melt from the point of contact with the blade.

Poison… figures.

He shot forward, covering the distance in less than five seconds. The ogre wasn’t ready when he zoomed past it, slicing through its forearm — skin, muscle, and bone. It was hard! The creature was tougher than he had imagined. And standing closer to it, he found it was at least five times his height. One of its fists was the girth of his waist. Its body felt… ‘dense’ to his senses; just like how Nyx felt to his senses — even if she was a lot more compact. He was only able to put it in context now that he had another being to compare to her.

“You missed,” Nyx’s voice reached him. He resisted the urge to look around, standing several feet behind the ogre.

The ogre roared as pain flooded its senses a moment too late — a hellish, monstrous roar that shook the forest, stirring the different creatures that lived in the forest.

“I’m experimenting,” Jerome responded normally. He chucked the forearm into his void space.

Chaos ensued the next moment. Jerome wasted no time. He donned his armor, limiting the cycling of essence inside it to just beneath the surface. Insectoid monsters tried to overrun him but he sliced through them all with Suzie.

The ogre sensed him and turned around with quick reflexes, ignoring the monsters clamoring to take a bite of him and scattering them everywhere. It launched itself at him. Even as it moved through the air to reach him, snarling with its wide open maw filled with sharp fangs, the dripping blood from the cut stopped and its hand grew… right before Jerome’s very eyes.

They both punched each other in the face… the force of their punches sent them both careening in opposite directions. Jerome’s had come with a flash of light.

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Thankfully, his armor had helped to absorb the kinetic energy from the punch. He only felt a slight sting on his face. The ogre on the other had received the full force of a non-physical but equally powerful punch. Jerome’s punch wouldn’t have reached it otherwise, given that it was too large and had the advantage in reach. The ogre lay on the ground, groaning as it clutched its head. One of the many horns on its head was cracked and broken in places.

As Jerome walked toward it, he saw the horn repair itself. The ogre stood on shaky legs angrier than ever before. It huffed out a breath as it turned to face him. Jerome saw intelligence in its eyes. It was mad that such a puny human could match it.

Its eyes suddenly turned red and heat poured off it in waves… which was quickly swallowed by the darkness.

“Yeah, you walked into that one,” Jerome said with a shrug. He didn’t know if the ogre understood its situation, but judging by the befuddled look it spotted, it had an idea. But that only enraged it more.

The ogre shot toward him with another bone-like claw, much like the one he had used on Hedon a while back. It couldn’t hurt to use it again. Suzie formed a claw similar to the ogre’s on his fist — albeit tiny compared to the size of the ogre’s — and they both met claw to claw. He sliced through the bone claw like it was lard. Jerome followed up with another slice to its thigh.

Though the ogre was fast, he was faster. He ran circles around it slicing through skin and bone at every opportunity. Their clash destroyed the forest around them. The ogre fought like it was possessed — no tactic or skill, just raw strength. Jerome matched it. Other monsters were approaching and soon he’d have his hands full. Best to get this over with.

With a flick of his wrist, Suzie wrapped around the ogre’s neck. It tried to grasp the thin wire but that was impossible with its large claws — claws that were as thick as they were sharp.

The ogre ran at him. Determine to run him through. Jerome moved away from its path and tightened the string around its neck. Blood flow to its brain was quickly cut off and it stumbled and fell. Jerome threw it into his void plane, leaving the string taut around its neck. One could never be too careful with a monster that could regenerate from almost anything.

He turned to face the incoming tide of monsters that wanted to kill him. He needed to leave the forest so he could connect with Achilles. He had questions about how to set them free from their bonds. Even though he knew no way to do it.

Jerome rushed forward plowing through different monsters. He didn’t wait to fight them, just barreled through them as they came at him. Soon they turned around and chased after him as they noticed he didn’t stay. But they were too much. The tide they created with their charge stopped him dead in his tracks.

He let Suzie lose the next instance and seven two-feet long blades whirled through the mass of monsters, cutting a path for him. But even that was not enough and he could feel the suppression of the darkness setting in.

A giant fist came at him and he punched the owner into a tree, which cracked on impact. Claws and more fists came next. Jerome dodged and weaved through them, settling into a rhythm. His flying blades whirled back and forth and he used them for both offense and defense.

A troll caught two of the blades. He commanded the blades caught by the troll to melt away from its fist and hold it captive, taking the monster temporarily out of the fight. Jerome lashed out with a whip at a group of monsters. The tip of the whip sizzled with essence but the essence was consumed by the darkness a moment later. He sighed. His body and senses had settled into ‘battle mode’ that he had acted on impulse, forgetting what happened to other forms of essence in the darkness. He’d have to do without essence.

No pressure.

But the monsters pressured him intensely. Loud bangs shook the forest from a distance and he could hear roars. At least Nyx was doing better than he was. He caught a giant fist, stunning the monster who punched at him. It was a bearkin, or at least that’s what it looked like. The male was at least nine feet tall and as wide as a tree, with a beer gut and more muscles than he might ever be able to gain throughout his life. He was hairy but not to the point of being ‘furry’ — if that made sense. And although he mostly looked human — except for the bearlike ears on his head — he still had facial features that made him look like a bear. And a lot of facial hair.

Jerome punched him in the gut, sending him sailing through the air and knocking over half a dozen monsters.

That gave him a reprieve in one direction so he moved, unleashing his whips and using them to grab, throw, and lash the monsters here and there, sending some crashing into trees and the dirt. It would have been comical to watch if he wasn’t in the dark forest.

Jerome took to the trees and the monsters pursued. He cut them down one at a time making sure to leave them as intact as he could. Some weren’t so lucky though. A monster that resembled the feline version of the unbound came at him. It was slender and tall, with a graceful body covered in dark gray fur. It swiped at him with three-inch claws. It was fast but Jerome dodged. Then he threw a punch at it which it dodged, and went around and under the branch they were standing on like a snake. It was so fast. It came at him from behind but Jerome expected the move.

He moved and the creature didn’t expect him to match it in speed. It burst upon impact with his fist. There was a whole pack of them standing back and watching but as soon as the dominant male died by his hand, they rushed him, frothing at the mouth as they witnessed the horrific death of one of their kind.

Jerome took off. He zoomed past more monsters. But the feline-looking unbound were just as fast in the trees as they were on land. They tackled him out of the trees and he fell gracelessly, crashing through thick branches as he went. The felines, however, moved like they were in their element, landing on branches with otherworldly grace and shooting downward in pursuit of him.

Jerome extended Suzie like a whip to stop his fall. The felines attacked but he swung away, sending his blades to stop them… or at least slow them down. They scattered, trying to shake off the blades. That would keep them busy for a while. But the rest of the monsters had caught up by now.

The troll from before — still wrapped in living steel — barreled into his much smaller frame midair and the impact jarred his bones. Jerome grunted, pushing the slight pain aside as he sailed through the air. The bearkin caught him in a bear hug before he could slow his momentum.

Seriously?! The bear of a male squeezed, wanting to pop him like a watermelon. He sliced through the bearkin’s arms, almost severing them. That forced him to let go. Jerome was frustrated but he didn’t want to kill unnecessarily. He kicked the bearkin in the nuts, bowling him over — low blow, but it was effective.

The felines were waiting for him. Six of them stood on bipedal, digit-grade legs, blocking his path out of the dark forest. He could see the rage in their eyes.

He called forth his blades — which had somehow been embedded into trees and couldn’t set themselves free. How that had happened, he didn’t know. They shot out of the bushes to hover around him as the monsters surrounded him.

Nobody attacked. Some used the break to rest on the trees around, trying to catch their breaths. Others seemed to be glancing at the bearkin and troll from time to time, who were both healing and trying to get rid of his constraints respectively. They were waiting for them to give the order to attack, he realized. Jerome scanned the crowd. Beside the troll and bearkin with their impossibly tough skins and strength, only the felines were much of a threat to him — as a pride. And that was because of the darkness in the forest.

The felines looked like they couldn’t wait any longer. Their disheveled gray fur stood on end with every breath they took. They clenched and unclenched their fist, growling continuously with rage-filled eyes. A few breaths of the stalemate was all they could bear. One of them unleashed its claws and roared. The rest followed suit and they attacked together.

“Fucking great,” Jerome muttered. His hovering blades went to work. The rest of the monsters attacked as well. He knew if he let them, they’d overwhelm him. But Jerome let them. The felines got to him first, clawing and kicking. They were fast, and they dodged around his attacks.

Jerome built up a surge of light in his armor. As the pressure built up, so did the intensity of light. An orc roared and swung a huge stone axe diagonally at him. Its eyes had gone completely black and Jerome could see veins of black protruding from its skin. He looked around as he dodged to see the same phenomenon happening to many of the monsters.

The darkness had begun affecting them.

He caught the orc’s arm and shouldered it as he pulled on its arm. The orc tumbled over his shoulder and he swung the monster around him like a weapon as it lost its footing. The felines went over and under the swinging monster with impressive agility. They clawed at Jerome every which way but his armor absorbed all the impact. He tried to grab some of them but failed. He expected that.

The felines were fast, agile, and flexible. Where he lacked flexibility, he had strength. And they knew it. Hence why they did their best not to take a hit from him or all that would remain of them would be pulp.

Something hit him in the back, taking him off balance. The impact was so great that Jerome was knocked face-first into a tree. The thing hit him in the back of the head again and again, cracking the tree after the third strike. Was that a club? Splinters flew everywhere as Jerome turned around. He pushed off the tree to face his assailants. A huge club came at him and was near to his face already. Jerome ducked and ran under the club. Another orc was at the haft end of it. He sliced into its neck as the felines took him off balance.

As Jerome hit the ground, his light technique activated, pushing the monsters and the darkness away. It also temporarily blinding the monsters. He was shining like a dying star. With the temporary absence of the darkness, his runes were able to work effectively again.

He teleported away. Appearing three hundred feet close to the exit of the dark forest. Jerome shot out of the forest and onto the snow-covered ground. He breathed the air of the North where he lay, enjoying the momentary reprieve. It was cold but unlike the stifling air of the dark forest, it was refreshing.

Achilles, he called. Achilles, can you hear me?

“Busy,” came the AI’s answer.

The next moment he felt Achilles touch his mind and new information flowed into him. Shit! Achilles was in trouble!