Majestic beasts soared in the air above, carried on scaly wings through the looping currents of air that gusted high above them. They were propelled by the supernatural strength of the System, as such beings would have plummeted from the sky without it. Each had a wingspan of about a hundred and fifty feet, and a body about a quarter as long.

The creatures were far away, but if Jonathan and Edgar drew attention to themselves, they would come swooping down. They had learned that the hard way about two weeks ago. The creatures were incredibly annoying to deal with, as they were simply able to fly away if they felt threatened, and simply strafe them from the air. It had been so hard to deal with that Jonathan had simply left the realm, hiding in a cave for the required minute out of combat, rather than waiting to fight.

The rocky volcanic scree crunched under Jonathan’s armored boots as he strode towards a nearby lava river, with Edgar in tow. The realm around them was quiet. Too quiet. Although most of the monsters were quiet for the most part, there was usually some sort of noise, at least one that Jonathan could hear with his advanced stats. He paused, and cocked his head.

“I don’t like this,” he said to Edgar. “It’s too quiet here. Almost as if something has scared off all the other monsters.”

“I agree.” Edgar looked up. “Those flying beasts are still there, but they are farther away than usual.”

As the men edged forwards slowly, an ominous presence started to rise up from the lava river in front of them. The molten rock started to bubble and shake as something beneath it moved. Something titanic. Loops of lava flew up into the air as something surfaced, and Jonathan fumbled for his token. Whatever was coming, it was too strong to deal with without a safety measure in place. The men had been lucky thus far, but they were bound to run into something that they could not fight eventually.

As Jonathan started to gear up for battle, he realized that his mana regeneration rate had been improved slightly. It was proof of concept for the effects that his runic array should have brought. It was only a tiny amount, about five percent faster than normal, but it was still noticeable. Making more arrays would do nothing but overload his mana core, but perhaps he would be able to find a more powerful array in the future. All of the runes that he had found this far were very specific, which meant that they were weak.

Jonathan directed this regeneration to his mana as he empowered his fists with purple energy, just in case they were unable to escape. Jonathan held out the token, but to his horror, it did not work. Edgar let go of the token, his face grim, and stared at the lava river. Jonathan only then realized that the ominous presence must have been the aura of the monster, and that it counted as an attack for the purposes of his token

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“Damn it!” He cursed, starting to run. Behind him, a torrent of lava exploded into the air as a sinuous shape rose from the lava. Easily two hundred feet long and as thick as two men standing on each other’s shoulders, it was some sort of eel. Fiery streaks of energy raced up and down its sides, painting the air with heat and light.

It flopped down onto the stone, its body heat melting the rock like it was made of butter. Edgar started to cast his buff skill, which had been upgraded over the last few weeks. It now provided a larger bonus to himself, which meant that he could more easily keep up with Jonathan.

A piercing cry ripped through the air, and a sudden prickling of heat on Jonathan’s neck caused him to roll to the side. Just in time, as a lance of lava speared into the ground next to him, splattering molten rock everywhere. Edgar managed to force the lava droplets away with his wind powers, but the heat was still staggering.

The creature started to slither across the ground, and picked up pace rapidly, moving far faster than it should have been able to. Jonathan risked a glance backwards, and saw that jets of fire were propelling it, leaving a furrow of molten earth behind it. Scanning the beast, he learned that it was almost peak Tier 2. This was not a fight he could win.The aura was incredibly inconvenient, as it was preventing them from leaving. They would have to get out of range to escape. Spotting an Uthraki village in the distance, Jonathan had an idea.

“Follow me!” He shouted at Edgar, changing his trajectory.

Edgar followed him, and the two men legged it as fast as they could. However, the monster behind them was faster. Swearing loudly, Jonathan scooped up Edgar onto his back and used Smite, rocketing them across the ground. Adding in his stamina abilities, he was able to increase the gap somewhat. The village was still over a dozen miles away however, and they were not going to make it.

With a groan, Jonathan sent thirty stat points into Dexterity, increasing it by forty five points. If he had slowed enough to concentrate on allocating them individually, he would have died. As a result, he lost out on 5 stat points, but it hardly mattered.

New speed surged into his limbs, and he started to outpace the monster somewhat. Spotting its prey getting away, the creature upped the pace, speeding across the dark stone of the cavern floor. It was annoyingly persistent. It moved almost like a worm, bunching up parts of its body as it went. The only reason that it did not look utterly comical was because of the speed that it was going at.

It left cracks in the rapidly cooling ground behind it, and its gaping maw dripped red hot saliva in anticipation of the tasty morsels of essence in front of it. Jonathan was almost to safety however, and he chained usages of his stamina redirection ability to get him closer to the village.

As he neared, the Uthraki poured out of their huts, eager to hunt him. Then they spotted the monster. Jonathan dashed through the squat huts of the village, avoiding the spears being thrown his way. Edgar directed the wind around himself to send the atlatls flying away.

The two men led the monster through the village, and it crushed houses and villagers alike in its fervent pursuit. The Uthraki cried out in alarm, and attacked the creature, sending their spears arcing into its flesh. With a roar of rage, the creature paused, and started to attack the villagers instead. They were a lot more enticing than Jonathan and Edgar were.