No, I can't fall asleep in this place! I need to do anything to stay awake! I had already inhaled some fog, so I needed to be fast.
I searched for anything on the ground that could help clear my head. Since this body wasn't fully healed from the previous incident, and the impact from the fall resulted in a fractured ankle, I slowly crawled to whatever direction my mind was telling me to go.
As I crawled, I could hear faint grumbling and frigid noises all over the corners. Am I hallucinating? They said that this forest was a breeding ground for monsters.
Aside from the fog, do I have to worry about these stupid monsters? Let me rest, for Pete's sake!
I forced myself to support my upper body with both arms and let it slump onto a tree. I slapped myself hard to stay awake, and it worked, but my cheeks hurt now.
"Sh*t," I cursed as I stared at the state of my ankle.
My entire body is covered in wounds and bruises. If Averon finds out about the state I'm in, he'll probably go nuts. He almost had a skeleton face after healing me, and now I need his healing abilities… again.
What should I do now? I'm probably in the middle of the forest since the spell of that wretched dark mage was so powerful it blasted my body. I was thrown like a hundred miles from the mountain! I hope those knights and mages can take down the dark mage.
I was lucky that I was able to put a barrier, but my body still hurts like I was hit by a truck. I looked at the artifact, and it lost its color. Does this artifact only have limited uses? Well, I did go all out with injecting my mana because of desperation and fear.
If Adelaide also had an artifact like this, would she also be able to survive that fall? It was only a glimpse, but I remembered it clearly. I have no idea who kept shouting Adelaide's name as she fell, but I know she wasn't pushed.
I let out a deep breath. "I thought I would rest well after the escape mission, but I didn't specify what type of 'rest' I was referring to. Damn, I don't want to die here!" I complained.
I don't know how, but my mana has depleted. From what I've learned from Averon, I can just refill my depleted mana from my surroundings, but I don't think this is the right place to gather pure mana. I think that the mana of this environment is not pure, to begin with.
By the looks of it, this forest looks like a swamp because the trees look like Bald cypress even though there's no water. I hope there's no monster lurking around here–
I jolted when I heard a rustle from a nearby bush. Great, I just jinxed myself.
"Who's there?" I asked, but I was only responded by silence.
I heard another rustle from the other bush.
I grabbed a rock. "I said, who's there? I-I have a gun, and I'm not afraid to use it!"
What the hell am I saying? Guns don't even exist in this place!
I squeezed my grasp on the rock and heard a growling noise from both bushes as the sound got louder. I can distinctly hear its reverberated stomps coming from the darkness.
Finally, they showed themselves.
"Oh, f*ck me," I cursed under my breath as I saw two wolves slowly walking toward me.
Their mouths drooled as they stared at me like I was their delicious prey. They had bloodshot eyes, and their sizes were big enough to swallow me whole. They look like they've been possessed because of their rabid behavior.
My heart was beating fast, and my mind was starting to panic as I had already envisioned how this situation would end.
"Grrr." The wolves' snarl echoed throughout the entire forest. I could feel the impending danger slowly getting into my rationality.
I don't know how I managed to find the courage to throw them a bunch of rocks and slowly crawl away from them. I know it's useless to fight them, especially when I'm in this state. I don't have any weapons, and my mana is depleted—not like having mana will change anything,
Why am I so useless? No one is here to save me, and I'm dumb enough to enter a breeding den for monsters. I'm getting sleepy again because of the fog, but their growls keep me awake. Why am I the only one affected by this fog? These wolves are also breathing the same air as I am!
My movement is slow, so why haven't they attacked me yet? It's like they're stalking and playing with me! But even if there's a slim chance that I might survive these wolves, I will gladly take it.
"Ack!" I screamed as one of the wolves dragged me towards them.
I writhed in pain as their sharp claws penetrated my thigh. The lower part of my body started to feel numb, but I was just squirming and kicking them with my other leg, hoping it would do something.
The other wolf pinned me down, and I couldn't move my arms anymore as his weight was too massive to push away. I can already see them salivating upon seeing my pathetic condition.
"No… no!" I shouted as they opened their mouths, ready to devour me.
Someone… just anyone… save me.
As I was pinning my hopes on the chance that someone might save me, I heard a roar coming from the woods. It was so loud that it made the birds fly away, and the wolves stopped midway from devouring me.
What was that? From the sound of it, it's more massive than these wolves!
Every step it took was enough for the ground to shake. I could hear the wolves cowering in fear, and they immediately ran away.
"Haa.." I was panting heavily, and my thigh was bleeding nonstop.
I'm going to die because of excessive bleeding at this point. I tore some of my clothing and wrapped it around the wound. The stomps of this massive monster are getting louder, and I can even see its stature from here.
I can't see it clearly because my vision is dimming. My eyes are unfocused, and the only thing that causes me to move is because of the pain all over my body. At this moment, the fog dissipated, and my body gave up due to the immense fear and shock.
I looked one last time and saw a winged creature heading towards me.
A… Dragon?