The fall was high. It felt like skydiving while taking a shower. Zach struggled to keep himself balanced, and yet at the last second before he made contact with the body of water, he managed to position himself with his feet pointing downward. He pierced through the white water and pain jolted across his body. Despite his last-minute attempt not belly-flopping to his death, he still felt pain.

But the trouble did not stop there. The constant flow of water from above, pounded at him, catching him in a swirling nightmare of water. Zach panicked a bit as he lost orientation within the whirlpool where he did not know where was up and where was down. But his survival instinct kicked in, he stroked and kicked the rough water as he tried to escape, not caring whether he was going up or down. Out of sheer desperation, his effort pulled off. The deep emerald water greeted him as now he knew he escaped through the bottom. He swam a few feet deeper, distancing himself from the ongoing vicious flow.

Soon, he surfaced. Taking in the fresh air into his lungs as it had never felt better for a lung-breather like him. Looking around, the scene had been drastically changed. For some Brittanians might have seen such floras, but for Zach, who once lived on modern Earth, he knew what kind of forest this was.

‘A jungle,’ he thought. It had been a long time since he saw the tropical trees which could only be found in the hotter climate of modern earth. Zach swam to the shore and dragged himself right out of the calm river. He sat there in a daze, calming down his breath to a stable state. The rush from escaping the giant bear to falling down the highest waterfall he had ever witnessed was something far from normal.

‘Well, that’s what you get when you’re trying to be a hero,’ Zach thought. He could have run back to the Safety Zone of the fort, but he feared he would lead the beast back to their front doorstep, and he didn’t want to imagine what would happen during the night. If he himself doubted he could do a thing to a level twenty-five, what of others that were still below level ten? He would be sending them to their death if he went back to the fort. And perhaps team effort itself wouldn’t work on it considering their low levels, and the fear of a known creature.

They might not be afraid of ants before coming here, but bears were a different thing. Even in Brittania, people staved away from bears as far as they could, so if they faced one, he doubted most of them would have the courage of swinging their swords or taking a claw to their shields. Nonetheless, at least he did something good. He just wished in his absence they wouldn’t be killing each other out of petty things.

Zach got up and brushed off the dirt and sand on the bottom of his boxer. Looking at his empty hands, he sort of lost his sword while falling from the waterfall. For the first time, he felt rather powerless as the thing that complemented most of his skills was now gone. But he had to move on. His fists would do at the moment as he prayed for his luck. It wouldn’t be bad if he stumbled into a treasure chest where a cool-looking sword resided. But dreams were just dreams. This was his new reality, and at the moment, he searched how to get back to the forest he was used to.

He backtracked to the waterfall and spent the last couple of hours searching for a way back to the top. At first, he thought of free climbing the cliff, but looking at it now, he didn’t think his status was good enough for this as well as his courage. The cliff was horrendously designed as if made for those maniacal climb enthusiasts. It started off at a vertical climb which then continued with a literal lateral climb that was probably half a mile or so before ascending back to a vertical climb. First impression alone, that cliff wasn’t meant to be climbed. Thus, he continued wandering near the cliff-side with his eyes kept roaming around the place. Searching for any possible way of getting back up again.

On the course of his path, Zach stumbled upon the first creature of this new land. He thought it would be another animal-insect hybrid, but he was wrong. Its head peeked through the thick leaves on the jungle floor, and Zach recognized that snout even from a mile away. Instantly, he hid, ducking underneath a huge leaf. Blending himself with the leaves around him. He stayed still while keeping an eye on the creature which was now fully visible to his eyes.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

The only thing he could do was frown. His Identify worked its magic, and now he started sweating buckets. Deep down, he was cursing like mad.

[Tyrant Lizard]

‘Tyrant Lizard? That’s a fucking T-Rex,’ Zach thought. The name dyed in red was enough warning for him that it was at least the same level as that giant bear. He kept himself still. Being as silent as possible. The beast that he had always seen on the silver screen was now just a few feet away from where he hid. It was definitely big in real life as every step of its huge foot, slightly quaked the ground beneath him. Comparing this Tyrant Lizard with the Boss-grizzly from before, he could see the T-Rex was a lot smaller in comparison. But assuming that giant grizzly was a boss type then the Tyrant Lizard must have a bigger version.

Either way, Zach had no intention of taking the spotlight and letting the others know of his presence. He lay low under the thick leaves, maneuvering as he searched for a way up. Right about now he regretted not asking for an invisibility spell or something similar from Astabuen. If he had, he wouldn’t have been this cautious. In time, night approached as the sky was dyed orange-purple. Zach took a sip of water near a pond, quenching his thirst, not caring whether it was sanitary or not. He just put his hope on the Value of Water, expecting the skill to counteract any ill effects, and for now, he was perfectly fine.

Soon, the moon was out, and he was in pitch black. The canopies were too dense as there was barely any moonlight to reach the jungle floor. Zach did not dare make a fire especially when the night was here. He worried what might greet him if he put out a beacon here in the darkness of the jungle. Zach stayed low and close to the jungle floor, hiding under a big leave he picked up. He hoped his impromptu camouflage was good enough to fool any creature that might lurk around this part of the jungle.

While he hid, he wondered whether he should just attempt the climb and hoped for the best. The feeling of wanting to return made him move. He silently prowled through the jungle floor, staying low as possible, reaching the bottom of the cliff side. Zach took a quick look around, hoping nothing was stalking him. Hoping the coast was clear, Zach eyed the cliffside. But then he ducked.

There was a shout from afar. A human. Which was then followed by a deafening roar, a roar that was all too familiar to Zach. The logical thing to do was just to stay there and don’t move a muscle. But the sign of humans made him curious. Rather than heading there straight away, he opted for something a bit safer. He found a tree and started climbing. Pricking through his skin with a thorn he found, enough to elicit a pain stack. He leaped to a taller tree once at the top and kept on ascending while jumping to other trees as he got closer to the source of the shout.

Then he saw it. A sign of fire was racing across the jungle floor as the sound of snapping trees echoed from behind. He watched from the comfort of the high ground, following the one who had been running for his dear life. He could not see it clearly, but it was definitely a human holding a torch. Zach watched from the comfort of the high ground and saw where the torch-man was heading.

‘He’s going to the cliff?’ he thought. Leaping to another tree’s canopy as he tried to get a closer look.

“I’m here!” the torch-man shouted. His voice was definitely a man, an old one at that. “Bring down the vine!”

Zach heard it, and then it came down, a makeshift rope made out of vines. But the question was, from where? He traced it back up and saw it led to the underside of the cliff where it was the lateral side. Then his eyes shook in disbelief. He couldn’t believe it but someone found a safe place in the most difficult place to reach.

The torch-man grabbed onto the vine and abandoned the torch in his hand. He climbed to his best. But the loud snap of a tree behind him, made him turn. “Pull me up!” he shouted.

The Tyrant Lizard was now visible under the moonlight, close enough that after a few huge strides its jaw would reach the torchman.

“Fucking pull me!” the torchman begged in his curse. His hand was getting slower with the climb as perhaps the anxiety and tiredness were getting to him.

But seconds before Tyrant Lizard’s jaw reached him, the vine was quickly being pulled. The jaw snapped, and yet the torchman escaped. A few moments later, the torchman was long gone, vanished from the underside of the cliff.

Through someone else nerve-wracking experience, Zach found his next destination. But then he heard a clack to his side. Any sort of noise in this situation was a red flag and he grew nervous. He gave a side glance and there was something perching on the next tree. The half-naked man was about to curse, but then he saw a glint of something hiding in between a bird’s nest.

He turned and looked at it carefully, and he could not hide his shock.

‘It’s a treasure chest.’