My breathing finally began to get labored as I ran. It took quite a bit, but I suppose even this form had its limits.

That was just more bad news on top of everything else.

The giant spider had chased us through the never-ending forest for what felt like hours, completely unrelenting, and this time, not even Wi using the ring could knock it back long enough for us to get away or fight it off. We had come across several other boars and other monsters as I ran, but even those opted to run when they spotted our pursuer.

And the worst part…?

Another screech came from behind me and I immediately threw my body to the side, still doing my best to hold onto Wi. Right where I’d been, a splash of green liquid landed on the greenery and began sizzling.

Part of me silently cursed Casey for creating an acid-spitting giant spider in this damn forest.

The only good news was that Wi finally seemed to see me as an ally. If I had to still chase after her, trying to convince her I meant no harm, she would have been long dead.

“W-we need to hide somewhere! Wait it out!” Wi suggested.

I nodded. It would probably be the best course of action. Since it was so big, it couldn’t follow us into a tight opening… Although, it could still spit acid inside, couldn’t it? And where could we possibly even hide? I couldn’t see any place like that.

Eventually, the trees finally thinned out and gave way to a rocky cliffside. Not too high but fairly steep. Even the spider would have some trouble climbing over it. And best of all, I could see a series of rocks I could jump on to climb it.

I made the snap decision to go for it despite part of me screaming to try something else. I sped up, summoning my remaining energy, and leapt up to the first rocky step.

I landed without a problem and immediately jumped off again, aiming for the next step. Then the next, and then…

My luck ran out. The stone I landed on moved and my foot slipped, throwing my upper body backward.

I sucked in a breath as my eyes widened.

I couldn't use my arms to right myself, since I was carrying Wi, and I didn't have any magical item to help us either.

We were going to fall right back down where the spider waited for us.

Time seemed to slow down as my mind raced, trying to figure out a way to save ourselves. My eyes darted all over the place, searching for something.

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And then, I felt a force grip me and push upright again, preventing us from falling.

“Wha–?!” It took me a split second to regain my balance, but when I did, my eyes snapped to my charge. She had her eyes clenched shut and was cradling the ring.

Did she just…?

I didn't get to ask the question as the familiar screech behind us stole my attention. I quickly righted my posture, located a nearby rocky formation, and jumped to it, narrowly dodging another spit of acid. Luckily, this time, my footing remained firm.

I snuck a peek behind us at our pursuer and to my horror, the giant eight-legged monstrosity decided to climb the cliffside to continue chasing us.

Why was it so dedicated?! Why not snack on all those boars we had left behind?

Regardless of its motive, it prodded me to keep scaling the cliffside.

I kept my eyes peeled and tried to watch out for any unstable ground this time and successfully made it all the way up. I glanced behind us and saw the arachnid struggling with the steep footing.

Seeing as we had the high ground now, I decided to put Wi on the ground again, who scuttled a bit further away, and pulled out the shurikens once more.

I briefly noted that my right hand seemed to have stopped bleeding at some point during the chase. Did I also have some kind of heightened regeneration in this form?

I pelted the beast with shurikens, aiming for its squishy body, but only a couple of them actually did any damage. Most bounced off.

Just as the beast screeched again, I shot both shurikens right down its open maw, before jumping out of the way of the acid.

It screamed again, but barely faltered in its pursuit.

Dammit! That thing was way too resilient! What were we even supposed to –

I felt the familiar touch of the ring’s field, but rather than moving me, it affected all the loose rocks around us, pushing them down and creating a rockslide.

With yet another screech, the spider got pelted by rocks as it lost its footing and slid all the way back down.

My jaw hung open as I watched that happen before I flicked my eyes at Wi. She gave me a small bashful smile in return.

What the heck?

The ring was supposed to push away enemies. Since when did inanimate objects count as enemies? Since when could you decide in what direction it pushed and how much force it applied?

“How…” I started, but then shook my head. “Let’s run before it recovers.”

I swiftly scanned our surroundings, and with the lack of trees nearby and our vantage point, I spotted the castle out in the distance to our right. I winced at the distance, but at least it wasn’t directly behind the spider, so we didn’t need to go around it.

“There’s the castle,” I said before exchanging a quick look and a nod with Wi.

My legs and arms hurt from all the running while carrying her around, but I had to endure it. We just had to get back to the castle and we should be safe.

Once again, I picked Wi up and dashed away from the spider and toward the castle.

I idly wondered just how the heck Wi had managed to master the ring’s rune in such a short amount of time while I struggled to use any runic items for their intended purposes. Sure, she was the girl who would one day canonically be called a sage and her mastery of magic would be known across the land… or something like that. But that was supposed to be this world’s magic. The rings were something else entirely.

Maybe Casey’s magic system was just similar to RLO’s?

I mentally shook my head.

We could experiment with that later. For now, we had to get to safety.

Unfortunately, the damn spider saw us running and chased us along the cliffside, trying not to lose us.

This wasn’t over yet.