As soon as the beetle’s roar was over, it started to trot towards us like a horse. Durreg and I quickly split up, which worked better than expected. The beetle carried on rushing in the same direction, gaining horrifying speed until it crashed into a tree in its way, felling it over.
The hundreds of meters tall tree never stood a chance as its trunk exploded and the waves of force traveled up the tree as it flew a few feet backwards, the strain of the impact breaking it into several segments.
The beetle turned around to face us, completely unharmed.
Durreg and I watched on in shock as the beetle began to roar once more, then slowly trotting towards us.
“Kiara. Do you mind telling me how this thing survived for so long in this jungle, being this stupid?” he asked with a nervous grin.
“I don’t know, it might have something to do with its ability to obliterate a mountain in its path, but I can’t tell.”
“This isn’t the time to be snarky, Kiara. When it crashes into the next tree, get ready to attack it with me. That’ll be our chance.”
***
“Remember when you asked how this thing survived in the jungle?” I said, my chest heaving.
“…I remember.” Durreg said, wiping sweat off his brow.
A large number of shattered trees and flipped trunks surrounded us, forming a clearing as the beetle began to roar once more.
“We’ve been trying to pierce the monster’s armor for nearly half an hour now, and its health has not dropped a single point. We might as well cut a recognizable part of the maneater and find something else to hunt.”
“No need for that, I already did.” Durreg said, walking over to the thorned vines he chopped off and picking them up.
“Let’s shake this thing off and find another monster to kill then.”
Just as I baited the beetle’s advance, Durreg and I rushed in the opposite direction and left the open space and the beetle behind.
After a comfortable enough distance, we slowed down to a walk. Then Durreg whispered to me.
“The maneater’s ambush almost cost us our lives; keep an eye out for even the plants on our trek from here onwards.”
“I’d like to, but it’s literally not possible to watch for everything in a thick jungle like this one. Not unless you want to move at a crawl. Also, is it just me, or does this path look familiar to you?”
Durreg was silent for a bit.
“You’re right. Could you climb another tree to see where we are? Preferably in relation to the river and hill you spotted earlier.”
I nodded and started climbing the nearest tree, and it wasn’t long before I was looking for familiar landmarks.
“I was right; the hill and river are behind us, and we’re walking towards a mountain that reaches towards the ceiling. That shouldn’t be surprising; we had to have walked down from somewhere.”
I took some more time to scout the local area, but besides the clearing we just helped create and the other familiar landmarks, there was nothing of note in particular. After I went down and told Durreg of what just transpired, he stopped to think.
“We should hunt in proximity of the exit. We never should have strayed far from it, or else we would have been lost in this forest. Then the exam’s time limit would have been the least of our worries.” I said.
“You’re right. It should also give us a path of retreat back into the first layer if things go wrong. Let’s go to the entrance for now to make sure we know where it is.”
We walked back down the path we came, and it wasn’t long before we found the exit. Unfortunately, I had a feeling that my title [Fate’s Jester] was a little more dangerous than I gave it credit for.
Passing near the exit was a monster, and that monster laid its eyes on us at about the same time we did the same to it.
Stolen novel; please report.
[Abyssal Tyrant Gorilla]
HP: 15300/15300
MP: 1420/1420
SP: 4870/4870
Vitality: 657
Strength: 924
Dexterity: 462
Intelligence: 351
Wisdom: 143
Rank B creature. The Abyssal Tyrant Gorilla is one of the three apex predators native to the second layer of the Unfathomable Abyss. Wielding monstrous strength and nimble movements, no land monster on its layer can withstand its crushing power.
In an instant, the Tyrant Gorilla roared then lunged rapidly at us!
Without a word, the two of us ran back the way we came, yet again, with the beast rapidly approaching behind us.
“Any brilliant ideas?!” I screamed, Durreg looking shaken himself.
“Just one!” he screamed back, then looked back and quickly cast a spell.
Suddenly, the gorilla sunk waist deep in the ground. It roared in fury and start to smash at the ground.
“I thought you couldn’t use earth magic here!” I yelled, not daring to drop my pace for even a moment.
“I can’t sink into the earth or move it around much because of all the roots tangled up in it, but I can use them to sink others and trap them in the earth!” he yelled back.
Not a moment after he finished that statement, the ground beneath the gorilla exploded as it pulled itself out and continued chasing us. What little distance we gained was rapidly shrinking once again.
“What now?!” I yelled.
“What else?! I’ll try again!”
This time however, as Durreg tried to sink the gorilla into the ground again, it jumped and held on to a tree, rapidly climbed it, then jumped from branch to branch to chase us.
“Damn it!” I yelled, casting a few mana blades towards the gorilla.
Most of them missed and hit the branches the gorilla stood on, but that didn’t matter since it jumped off them to other branches. What few blades hit it shattered on its tough hide, and the beast just shrugged it off. As it was almost upon us, it jumped off its branch and flew straight at me.
“Kiara, dodge!” Durreg yelled as he threw the vines at the gorilla, which grabbed them and tried to throw them away, only to fail as its thorns dug into its palms.
It fell right where I was half a second earlier but missed me by a hair as I jumped to the side. Durreg then sunk it into the ground as I got up to my feet and started to run. As expected, it wasn’t held for long, but it gave us some breathing room. However, the gorilla slowed down a bit, although not by much, as it slowly continued gaining on us.
“It’s a miracle the paralyzing poison in the vines even slowed him down a bit! We need to do something before it crushes us into paste!” Durreg yelled, as the clearing began to approach.
“I have an idea, but I need you to trust me!” I yelled, as I told him about my sad excuse for a plan.
He grimaced.
“Are you serious?! There is no way I am going to-”
“Durreg, please! We’re out of time! Trust me!” I screamed, almost begging him.
He shut his mouth and frowned bitterly, gritting his teeth.
***
In a few moments, I entered the clearing as Durreg rushed to hide.
“Come and get me, you big, smelly pile of horse dung!” I yelled, standing in place as the beetle turned towards me.
It roared then started to trot towards me, like it always did. The gorilla then jumped from the branches of the trees behind me, roaring as it prepared to crush me.
“This is going to suck…” I grimaced, but remained where I was.
The gorilla’s enormous mass landed on me, crushing me deep into the earth. My body exploded with pain; my throat filled with blood. I could not even let out a tortured scream as the gorilla began to pound on me with its fists. The only reason my body didn’t explode to pieces is the same reason why I am still alive.
Your HP has dropped to 0.
[Abyssal Cockroach] activated.
Your HP has been set to 1 and will remain so for 3 seconds.
[Abyssal Cockroach] can no longer be activated during this fight.
As I was getting pummeled by the gorilla, we both sank a tiny bit into the ground. Not enough for the gorilla to notice, but enough for me to sink below the ground and for the gorilla to be knee-deep in the dirt. Just as I was worried that my death was certain, the beetle slammed into the gorilla’s chest and kept moving as it slammed it into the nearest tree!
“ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR!” the gorilla screamed in pain and fury, its knees shattered as they were caught between the ground and the beetle’s momentum. A deep gash was spurting blood from its chest, as it held the beetle’s head with mad fury and refusing to let it go.
Durreg rushed to my side and moved me to my side, as I coughed up plenty of blood. My shattered limbs were beginning to fix themselves.
“…Spit out all of the blood. Don’t drown in your own blood.” Durreg said a grim but gentle voice.
As I wheezed and continued to spit blood, teeth, and chunks of flesh, Durreg held my hand tightly.
“You’ve done enough, cousin. Leave the rest to me.”
He quickly moved to where the gorilla was furiously attacking the beetle, cracks already forming on its once pristine exoskeleton. With a quick flurry of thrusts at a gap in the back of the beetle’s neck armor, the beetle shuddered and went still.
You have killed an [Abyssal Rhinoceros Beetle Lv. 17]!
12,720 EXP awarded!
Experience gain from kill split between combatants based on contribution.
“Hehe- oww…” I chuckled then winced in pain.
Seems like I didn’t get much out of that beetle, although that was to be expected.
As I was lamenting that, Durreg rushed at the gorilla.
Despite its heavy wounds, it still had enough strength to throw the beetle off of it and onto Durreg.
He dodged quickly, but the gorilla leapt straight at him, as if it predicted his path. The gorilla was about to reach him as a mana blade struck the gash on its chest and launched it back at the tree trunk it was smashed against. After an unknown number of mana blades, the familiar sound of a notification rang in my head, as I continued to blast the gorilla. It wasn’t long before I ran out of mana, and darkness took me.