Along the bottom of the pass, the trail was wide and free of obstructions. For the moment, the tribe was able to stick together and maintain a steady pace. Nick was limping, wincing with every step, but thanks to his heavy investment into Toughness, he was able to keep pace with the main body of lemurs. Unfortunately, the difficulty of the climb would soon escalate, well before he reached the summit.
Only an hour later, less than a quarter of the way up the mountainside, the path narrowed and began to fork. He looked up with a grim expression on his face. Past this point, the trails were narrow, winding, and treacherous. The tribe was forced to break into smaller and smaller groups to stay ahead of the rising sea.
In places, the raw earth forming the trail was unstable. Two lemurs fell over the edge as the ground gave way, wailing piteous cries before they were swallowed first by the ocean and then again by the swarming sharks. By this point, the path had transitioned from a gentle rise to a steep incline, making the climb slow and arduous. The ascent was rough enough that the sea was steadily gaining on them, erasing the distance they had opened during the early stages of the climb. Gritting his teeth through the pain, Nick forced his body into a burst of speed, running alongside Bandit and a trio of lemur warriors.
As he had feared, the winding, ever-branching paths dispersed the climbing beasts, drawing the various species into contact with one another. By now, fighting had broken out all along the mountainside. The piercing cries of lemurs and the roaring of the giant frogs echoed alongside less identifiable noises, reverberating across the rocky heights to add thick and mounting tension to his every step.
By this point, Nick was certain that, like the other aspects of the tutorial, this phase had been designed to force the beasts on the island into direct conflict with one another. The scale of their ordeal was such that his presence in the mix felt like an oversight. He was glad that he had thrown his lot in with the tribe. He would never have made it this far acting alone.
He knew that it was only a matter of time until his path drew him into a fight that he couldn’t avoid. Sure enough, just as they were about to merge with a trail that was even steeper and sketchier than the last, a giant frog appeared from behind a blind turn, following a different path leading up the mountain. Nick would have been happy to let the acid-spewing amphibian pass in peace, but to his dismay, the deadly beast had other plans.
Before the tribe could hope to close the distance, the frog turned to face them and spat. The neon yellow ball of mucus caught one of the smaller lemurs square in the face. Engulfing her furry head completely, like what had happened to the colossal snake during the battle for the hilltop.
The poor little lemur didn’t even have time to flinch before the acid started dissolving her face, reducing her head to a weeping lump of flesh within a handful of heartbeats. At least it was quick. Nick didn’t have time to mourn the loss because the battle was already underway.
Bandit let loose a primal scream of primate fury, preparing to leap straight for the killer frog with his club poised to strike, followed by the two surviving lemurs. He had already sprung into action as well. He used the lemur’s final moments to summon a Mana Dart and launch it at the frog, staggering toward the melee while drawing his dagger from its sheath.
While the close confines of the twisting mountain pass were unfavorable for the lemurs, they were even worse for the frog, who would normally have used its agility to maintain distance and disable its opponents at range. The lethal amphibian had just enough time to fire a second barrage before his group closed the distance, somehow shooting two globs of acid at once, just as Bandit sprang for the kill.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
One of the caustic missiles flew straight for him, while the other went streaking to intercept Bandit mid-flight. Nick barely managed to dodge in time, almost tumbling down the mountainside in the process. As a result, the glob of acidic mucus went sailing past his head instead of eating his flesh down to the bloody bone.
Bandit, however, was still soaring through the air, unable to alter his trajectory mid-flight. He was certain that he was about to witness the final moments of his brave, furry friend, but that was not what happened.
Faster than Nick would have believed possible, Bandit took aim and threw his club, swatting the acid from the air in an impressive display of martial prowess. “Bandit!” Nick yelled, tossing his dagger toward his now weaponless companion.
Bandit heard him cry out, turning his head in time to snatch the dagger out of the air. Bandit took aim and plunged the knife into the frog’s hide, his blow landing in time with Nick’s dart. The painful bite of the spell stunned the ferocious amphibian for a handful of seconds—ample time for the tribe to exact their revenge. The enraged lemurs rained blows upon the bulky beast with a furious vengeance, striking out at the frog time and time again. Not giving the beast a chance to recover after the dart had run its course.
He came to a stop when he realized that his presence wasn’t needed. Bandit finished the fight by stabbing the frog through both eyes back-to-back, returning Nick’s dagger with a satisfied grin.
He shook his head in wonder, then started running up the mountainside. While it was good to see that the lemurs had grown stronger than he had realized, the water had climbed ever closer during the course of the battle.
By now, Nick was no longer confident that he could outrun the voracious maw of the rising sea. It was going to be a near thing, even if the maze-like trails didn’t lead him into direct confrontation with another hostile beast. If this path loops around and then dips back down at any point, the water is going to catch us. Which, despite Nick’s best efforts to pick up the pace, was exactly what happened.
To his dismay, the next segment of trail wound around to avoid a sheer section of cliffside, then came back down to cross only a few yards above his head. By the time he reached the spot ten minutes later, the surface of the pass was submerged by several feet of seawater, obscuring the path until the trail rose sharply another hundred feet out.
Nick and the lemurs had no choice but to rush into the surging water before their feet could no longer find purchase and the current washed them out to sea, where the sharks were waiting with open jaws. Out of options, he drove his body into the flooded portion of the pass.
The water was shockingly cold, which quickly numbed the surface of his legs, much to his relief. As they fought to reach higher ground in time, the waves pulled at their limbs like the grasping tongues of ravenous creatures. It was hard for Nick to keep ahold of the mountainside and even worse for the lemurs, who were barely able to keep their heads above the waterline.
Each step was more arduous and treacherous than the last, the water that much deeper, the current that much stronger, ebbing away at the remnants of his reserves. If Nick had a stamina bar, it would be sitting at just an eyelash above empty. When it ran out, his grip would falter, and he would no longer have enough energy to resist the pull of the surf. Just as that whimsical thought crossed his mind, an enormous wave slammed into the side of the pass.
In that terrifying moment, he was overcome with a disorienting blend of blindness and force that nearly dragged him out to sea. Unwilling to give in, Nick screamed in defiance. He gritted his teeth and clung to the face of the mountain, holding on for dear life until the surging water receded. When the stinging saltwater cleared from his eyes, Nick realized that one of the lemurs was no longer standing beside him, leaving only one primate alive besides Bandit.
He felt bad, but there was no time to search the dark water for their missing companion. No time to do anything other than press on. He wouldn’t be able to shrug off another wave of that size. He simply didn’t have enough strength left. Although it was a nerve-wracking, grueling slog, they made it to the far side of the submerged section without further calamity.
After emerging shivering from the water, Nick’s group climbed the steep slope for another ten minutes before stopping to catch their breath. They sat down along a broad bend, where a terminal tumble down the mountainside was not a constant threat.
However, danger of another sort reared its ugly head only a handful of heartbeats later.