Aiden took a deep breath but suddenly shivered.
It was only then that he realized his back was completely soaked in cold water, causing a numbness to spread through his body.
He wanted to stand up, but a wave of intense pain in his chest swept over him, and his body couldn't help but tremble as he gritted his teeth.
In the end, he started crawling.
After crawling for a while, Aiden finally stopped when he sensed that the ground beneath him was no longer wet.
He rested there for about two hours, and once he felt strong enough to stand, he slowly sat up and stretched his sore limbs. However, as he did so, his gaze fell upon something that made him tremble in fear.
He didn't know where he was, but one thing was certain: this was not the world he knew.
The Eternal System had told him that it would send him to a different dimension, and now, the reality of that statement was sinking in.
Aiden saw the lake from which he had just distanced himself. Cold air visible to the naked eye was being emitted from the surface of the lake. On the other side of the lake, a group of strange creatures, whose upper half bodies were that of fishes and the lower half bodies were human-like legs, were playing. There were almost a hundred of them.
Whenever they opened their mouth, rows of sharp teeth could be seen that was enough to make people not dare to go near them.
Not far away from these monster-like fishes, piles of bones were scattered all over the ground, leaving no space for a single person to even walk properly. If one looked closely, most of the bones were human bones.
Human bones?
Seeing this, Aiden swallowed his saliva. His scalp had gone numb, and he couldn't help but shiver.
And when he clearly saw where he was right now, Aiden's face became paler.
Human and beast bones were scattered around him, mingled together in a horrifying display. In front of him loomed a massive mountain of white bones. It was towering ominously.
Earlier, when he had crawled to the dry surface, he hadn't noticed the bone mountain in his exhaustion. But now, as he carefully observed the area, the chilling realization struck him like a hammer. He was terrified to know that he had been resting his back against the wall of this very mountain of bones.
"Ahhh!"
Panicked, Aiden cried out in alarm, frantically tossing bones aside as he scrambled backward.
With a crisp snapping sound, one bone landed on the pile of bones in front of him, and this clear cracking sound, along with his panicked cry, attracted the attention of a group of monster-like fishes playing at the edge of the lake.
Nearly a hundred fish monsters simultaneously turned to look in Aiden's direction.
When they saw Aiden in a daze, it was as if they had found their prey. Their eyes shone with light as they opened their terrifying mouth to show their sharp teeth. Then they raised their legs and quickly rushed over.
The speed of these fish monsters was astonishing, and within a few seconds, they covered over thirty meters of area, shortening the distance between them and Aiden.
Aiden's face turned deathly pale, drained of all color as fear gripped him. In those few seconds, it felt as though the blood had completely left his body. He had never faced a situation like this before. At home, despite his miserable life, he'd never been in such immediate danger.
Now, for the first time, he truly understood why people often said that the path of cultivation was filled with both opportunities and peril.
He had experienced the thrill of gaining an opportunity, and now, he was facing the terrifying reality of the dangers that came with it.
Aiden wanted to stand up and escape, but at the moment, he felt like he was losing control of his body and was unable to move.
"Damn System, are you messing with me?" Aiden cursed the system in a low voice.
Seeing the group of fish monsters that was pouncing toward him, Aiden had no choice but to close his eyes in despair, waiting for the result of being eaten alive by these monsters.
However, after waiting for a few seconds, that sensation of being eaten never came.
Feeling no pain from a "bite" of the monster, Aiden got curious and slowly opened his eyes in fear, only to see those hundreds of fish monsters just inches away from him. Each of them was sprawled on the ground. Their bodies seemed to be trembling, and their eyes revealed signs of fear.
Aiden didn't even dare to take a deep breath. He was sweating profusely and felt chills down his spine. His entire back was drenched in a cold sweat, and he sat there motionlessly. He didn't know why these monsters were behaving like this, but since they were like this, there must be a reason.
And the reason soon surfaced in front of him.
Because the next moment, these fish monsters suddenly scattered like a flock of birds, rushing to the lake.
At the same time, a rapid gust of wind came from behind him.
Aiden quickly turned his head to look, only to see a black shadow dashing towards him at a speed that was several times faster than the speed of fish monsters.
As if the black figure did not see Aiden, it directly jumped over his head and rushed towards the fish monsters. It was only now that Aiden could clearly see what exactly the black figure was.
It was a Jaguar with three heads. It had black hairy fur that stood erect like countless steel needles. Its body was about two meters long and its huge head was filled with malevolence. Its eyes were emitting a faint green light.
Two long fangs were extending outwards, and without hesitation, it caught a fish monster in its mouth and tore off its prey's neck. Its long tail was longer than its body, sweeping out towards the group of fish monsters with the momentum of sweeping away an army of a thousand.
Aiden was horrified.
Nonetheless, it was not the time to be shocked.
"Awoo!" "Awoo!" "Awoo!"
Moments later, the howl of the Three-headed Jaguar could be heard. The Three-headed Jaguar was standing at the edge of the lake with two fish monsters trampling under its feet. Its long tail was waving in the air.
Run!
Aiden instantly comes back to his senses.
Without a second thought, Aiden unleashed a force that he didn't even know existed inside him and immediately flipped up from the bones. Without a second thought, he ran in the opposite direction of the Three-headed Jaguar.
Looking at Aiden's fleeing figure, the Three-headed Jaguar swung its tail, flinging the two fish monsters into the air. It raised its head and swallowed them whole. Then it howled loudly again before running in Aiden's direction.
Strange!
It was too strange.
Bones all over the ground, strange fish monsters, and that Three-headed Jaguar. Everything was strange and dangerous.
Aiden was frightened, but he knew his only lifeline was to run and escape the disaster, otherwise, his death was certain.
Seeing the Three-headed Jaguar behind him getting closer and closer, Aiden rushed into a dense forest in a panic without time to think carefully. He didn't even notice how the surroundings suddenly changed to a forest.
Aiden did not dare to slack off, as he relied on his newfound strength that erupted out from his body at the critical moment to run deeper into the forest.
After running for around one hour, he finally ran out of the forest.
Then he took a look behind him, and after not seeing the Three-headed Jaguar, he lay down on the ground and panted heavily.
He couldn't hold on any longer as he felt that he had lost all his strength.
After resting for a while, Aiden's strength recovered a little. He sat up and started to carefully survey his surroundings.
In front of him now lay a narrow rock path, ending abruptly not far ahead. At the end of the path, there was a stone monument with a few words carved into it. The words and even that stone monument appeared very ancient.
As a result, Aiden was unable to recognize what was written on it.
There was another path that went deeper from the side of the stone monument.
Breathing deeply, Aiden walked and slowly arrived in front of the stone monument. He then started observing the monument curiously.
'It couldn't be another evil place, right?'
Looking at the stone monuments and the path that went deeper from the side, Aiden hesitated and thought.
Who knew if there would be any more ferocious tigers or leopards ahead?
But if he didn't go in, where else could he go?
Standing there was not a solution.