"Run!"Edgar quickly thought. He was very nervous because it was certain death if he fight the gray wolf. He was running toward the river.
"I can't run to the truck because the wolf can definitely catch up! Damn! Why is it on the periphery of outerzone?! It usually lives in the inner area of outerzone. Is it because of the poison guild?!" He read some news that members of the poison guild blocked the retreat of a pack of magic beasts to the inner area, intending to annihilate them, but some beasts escaped to the periphery of outerzone, causing many casualties to low level hyperbeings.
As he moved closer to the river, the trees became taller. There were thirty-meter-tall trees. On the left side, near the towering trees, were wild plants with huge flowers. There were half-foot bees and dragonflies flying over them.
On the opposite side, there were ten-meter-tall mutated banana trees. Their leaves were completely yellow, and red giant fruits were hanging on them. The fruit tree was called Megallow.
Not too far from the Megallow trees, there was also a huge banyan tree where purple monkeys lived. They were one and a half meters tall.
There was a purple monkey enjoying its food with relish on top of a Megallow tree. It was startled when it noticed Edgar intruding into their territory, then it felt furious. How can a weakling intrude on their territory? It jumped on a Megallow tree, took the red fruits, and then jumped on a huge leaf. The huge yellow leaf moved down, but it was able to bear the weight of the beast.
WHOOSH! The monkey jumped forward. It furiously stared at Edgar, then threw the huge fruits in his hands. The megallow fruits flew like boomerangs.
Edgar noticed the action of the monkey.
"Damn monkey!" Cursed by Edgar. There were huge roots in front of him. He jumped forward and rotated his body in mid-air. His head was facing the ground.
Bang! The fruit missed him, and hit the ground. The fruit was crushed, but it caused a dent on the ground.
Edgar stretched down his arms. His hands were touching the root, then he used them to push himself forward.
Bang! He avoided the other fruit by a hair's breadth. He rotated his body and then drew his sword in mid-air. He landed on a root and pointed his sword at his back.
Boom! He suddenly moved forward, then threw his sword at a megallow shoot.
WHOOSH! The sword was rapidly rotating in mid-air.
Crunch! The shoot was cut. Although it was a shoot, it was the size of a normal banana tree before it mutated. The sword stopped rotating and stabbed a huge Megallow tree.
Edgar moved the sheath to his right side as he ran. He picked up the shoot and put it on his left side, then took the sword from the tree. He quickly ran away. The monkey was moving closer. It wanted to chase, but it suddenly stopped and quickly retreated. It saw the incoming gray wolf.
Edgar saw that the monkey retreated.
Schwing! He sheathed his sword on his right side while he was still weighing the risk of going or not going to the river. He looked around him. The tallest trees were occupied by huge insects and beasts. The remaining trees were ten to fifteen meters tall, but they were within the range of the magical power of the gray wolf.
"The flow of the river is very rapid and leads to the inner zone. There is no certainty to live, but there is a chance to live! Staying here is certain death!" thought Edgar. He was not at the river yet, but he can already hear the rapid flow of the river.
When he reached the edge of the river, he was overwhelmed by the strong power of nature. The river was more that fifty meters meters wide. There was a loud sound from the current.
BOOM! CRUNCH! CRUNCH! Huge and thick trees fifteen to twenty meters long were crashing into each other. Wood chips and branches were flying into the air when they crashed.
Bang! A thick, ten-meter-long tree broke in the middle when it was hit by a rapidly moving tree.
ROOOAR! An eight-meter-long brown lizard with two gray horns was drowning.
Big trees were easily crushed, and strong beasts were powerless to resist. It was a mighty river that Edgar will use to escape certain death. He subconsciously swallowed while he was looking at the crashing trees and drowning beast.
The river came from the northeast. The burst of some broken world changed the terrain around them. Mountains rose, then later, ice also appeared. Melted ice flowed into the river, but the ice was easily replaced by ice magic used by magic beasts.
The wolf was already near, gathering its magical power to attack. Wind energy gathered to its claw.
WIND SLASH
Edgar quickly jumped to the river.
Boom!! There was an explosion from where he was standing. He could have died if he had been a little late.
Splash!! He plunged into the river. He was having difficulty going back to the surface to breathe because of the rapid flow of the river.
ROOOAR!! He could hear the angry roar of the wolf when he was finally able to go back to the surface."I must stay near the edge of the river or I'll die. I must get out while the river is still in the outer zone!"
Edgar was washed away to the south. He kept puddling hard his feet to stay near the edge of the river because the powerful current was pushing him to the center.
He estimated the distance. He thought he was far enough from the gray wolf. He felt exhausted because he used so much energy. He used all his remaining strength to move out of the river, but fate seemed to want his death. He did not notice a tree moving toward his back.
"Acccckkk!" He felt so painful. He felt like his bones and muscles were crushed. He lost his strength, and he plunged into the river, but he still instinctively held the shoot. When he finally resurfaced again, he was already away from the edge of the river. Despair and powerlessness were flowing in his mind and body.
His parents' sacrificed to protect him and his sister flashed in his mind. He remembered how his dying father entrusted his sister, how his uncle and cousin helped them, and how hard he trained his spear and sword. He also remembered how magic beasts and lawless hyperbeings could easily destroy lives.
"Nooooo! I can't give up! I'm still alive! As long as I live, I will find a way to survive! No matter how small the chance, I will desperately grab that chance! If there is no chance, I will create a chance! Think! Think! Think!" He remembered his reason for seeking power. He might die trying, but he won't give up.
"There is a way!"He got an idea while looking at the huge trees floating and crashing in the middle of the river.
"I could stay at that floating tree and wait for the flow of the river to become a lot weaker. I read in a forum that the river will become a lot wider in the deeper area of the innerzone, so the river flow is weak, but that is the territory of the megadile king and its species. I must get out before reaching where those megadiles live."Edgar moved to a floating tree that was near and did not often clash. He was able to climb. He took a deep breath and felt relieved. He started resting while staying alert.
Boom! An hour after staying on the floating tree, it inevitably collided.
"Ahhhhh!" screamed Edgar. He gritted his teeth and desperately held the branch of the tree to avoid being thrown out.
A few minutes later, the rapid flow of the river became weaker.
"There is still some distance from the safest place to swim, but it might already be too late if I don't start now since I am away from the edge and the river will become wider later," thought Edgar. Then he dove into the river.
Several minutes after swimming, he was already near the edge of the river. The flow of the river became a lot weaker, but it also meant that it was closer to the territory of megadiles. He desperately swam toward a slope on the riverside. He saw a flat ground where it was easier to land, but he had an intuition that he will die if he can't get out of the river at that time. When he reached the riverside, he quickly climbed the slope.
SPLASH! When he heard the splash of water, he jumped over the slope without looking back.
BOOM! Something hit where he was standing. He rolled on the ground, then started running. He looked back at the creature that tried to kill him, and as he expected, it was megadile, a four-meter-long bronze crocodile with sharp spines.