Being chased by a pissed off giant might seem like par for the course compared to all the other shit I've gone through over the past month, but I can honestly say that it was worse than I expected. Before being struck by the largest ship pie in history, the Giant and the Corrupted being had been fighting for control, now they worked together, both incredibly pissed off at me. A berserker's rage had overcome them and they'd forgotten all about fighting each other for control. The giant grew at least another 10 feet tall, and as I dodged out of the way of it's palm I could see tendrils of corruption oozing from where it'd left an indentation in the grassland.
I still hadn't gotten around to getting a movement ability, I'd been so wrapped up in other things. 'Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!' I thought to myself as I kept running, doing my best to dodge. The only reason I hadn't been hit yet was the combination of my barriers and Patrice warning me, she kept an eye out for me so I didn't have to slow myself down by looking over my shoulder.
Matt, the one who had done the actual deed, was just fine. He wasn't nearly as fast as Gunther and I so he had hidden instead of running, leaving it up to us to lead the Giant away. Gunthar had transformed into a buck with 18 incredibly sharp pointed antlers and supernatural stamina. He was running just a bit faster than me, but from the looks of it he could keep going for days.
I honestly didn't think this would be so difficult. The corrupted giant kept gaining speed, it's stride growing larger. At one point I looked back and realized it never stopped growing, topping over 150 feet by that point. Just then, I had to dodge it's foot. The damned monster tried to step on me!
For the next half an hour I did my best to dodge it, shooting bursts of wind at myself to get out of the way, Patrice even froze a part of the land where it was about to step and caused it to stumble but that just pissed it off even more.
At one point, Gunthar started trying to get the Giant's attention, realizing that I couldn't go on like this for much longer. He tried turning into a bird and pecking at it's eyes but it just ignored him. He tried calling all of his spirit animals at once and attacking it's ankles but couldn't even cause the giant to slow down. In the end, all he could do was keep running while keeping an eye on me.
I appreciated the company but really, I knew I needed to find a place to hide. An hour into the chase, I made it to swamplands just as I was starting to run out of gas. I knew that if I went to the north-east from here I'd run into the mothertree and help, but my friends couldn't do anything to the giant either. Instead I turned to the north-west and kept moving as fast as I could. Surrounded by a Storm Barrier, the swamp didn't affect me much. I couldn't smell the disgusting rotting carcasses, the creeping vines that tried to suck others down exploded before they could touch me, and every step I took Patrice froze the muck around my feet so I didn't sink.
On the other hand, with every step the giant was displacing huge amounts of muck that'd then rush back in to cover up it's foot before it could take another step. The giant slowed down considerably. The longer I ran, the deeper the muck in the swamp became. In the end, only the giant's upper body was visible above the muck with his nearly 75 foot tall legs being forced to pull through the muck with every step. Any lesser being wouldn't of been able to move at all, but the corruption gave it endless stamina and fortified it's strength. At least I was able to slow down a bit and catch my breath, recovering some of my stamina.
A couple hours later, I had managed to gain almost a mile on the Giant. Looking at the timer, I'd only managed to buy the fort an extra 6 hours, so I didn't dare to break away from it. Gunthar had to turn into a bird and fly above me to keep up, unable to move through the muck without my barriers. I honestly thought I might have a chance to get out of this alive, but then I realized that we were starting to leave the swamp behind. With every step, the giant was picking up speed as it flung the muck off it's legs.
I thought about leading it back into the swamp and running in a circle but was stopped when a surge of Natural Energy erupted from the the mothertree and things started to come to life in the swamp. The original dark and gloomy place became full of bright colors and life and as I watched in awe the trees started to shake, slowly standing up.
"FUCK!" I yelled as I dodged a swipe from one of the trees. Now I had to worry about the god damned trees too!
I picked my speed back up, sprinting out of the swamp as quickly as I could while the Giant lumbered around behind me picking up speed with every step. At this point, I was starting to wonder just how pissed off it was. I mean, I'd be really pissed off if an ant threw a pile of shit in my mouth, but I doubt I'd chase it around for hours on end. Then again, Giant's aren't known for their brains or forgiving natures.
As I made it out of the swamp and into a grassland on the other side I had to take a moment to gape in awe as the grass seemed to come alive. Gathering together and turning into wolves, deer, bears, even a few grass men could be seen roaming the prairie. I didn't have time to look for more as I could hear the giant quickly catching up, so I rushed in.
A few steps in I tried to stop, but couldn't as my momentum caused me to skid forwards and over the edge into a hole that'd appeared out of nowhere as the Earth began to crack. The overwhelming Natural Energy caused beings that'd been asleep for centuries to wake up, it caused the very Earth to move.
"ARHHHH!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I fell, no end in sight. Sometimes a crevasse is a couple hundred feet deep, and sometimes they go on for so long that they might just reach the center of the world. I never got to know how deep this one was because as I fell something broke through my barrier and slammed into the back of my head.
I jerked awake in Rick's house, my head aching even worse than when my soul had been branded. Patrice was just as miserable, if not even more so. I think this was the first time in her life that she felt pain.
For the next day all we could do was choke down advil and try to survive. That's when Patrice got tired of the pain, and making use of our connection entered my soul and started to help patch it speeding up the natural healing process.
I was far from the first person to die in MSE, and reports had come out that it took on average 2 days to recover enough to function. A week minimum to recover fully and be able to reenter MSE. With the help of Patrice and my brand, it took me 3 days to fully recover, but by then the fight was over...