Running in the dead of night was treacherous.
This was something Lokus had found out in between leaving the forest and meeting the woman.
Every step brought with it the risk of tripping on an unseen rock or lump of dirt, and while the pale moon above provided some semblance of light to his flight, he still found himself falling flat on his face every now and then.
Whenever that happened, he would pick himself up and resume his sprint without complaint, spurred on by the roars that only grew closer as time went on.
The beast had his scent.
The pounding of Lokus' bare feet against the grassy ground was finally starting to wear on him after having run for several hours upon leaving the forest, but he pushed through and focused on putting one foot in front of the other as fast as he could.
Despite the unpleasant feeling of his feet slowly losing their first layer of skin, he still didn't feel the slightest bit tired, and his breathing was deep and even.
It was because of this single-minded focus that when the first apparition appeared, he hardly noticed before flying past it. But when another appeared, and then another, he was finally pulled from his thoughts and started to pay attention to his surroundings.
'Are these… people?'
Swiveling his head, he discovered that the plains were littered with what looked like people.
Each of them was ethereal and impermanent, their very forms wavering and warbling as if the slightest breeze would blow them away. They seemed to be made of purple light, lighting up the surroundings and giving everything a beautiful, yet solemn appearance.
It was this light that Lokus was immensely thankful for, as it allowed him to see where he was going without worrying about tripping and falling on rocks hidden in the grass.
The ghosts stared at him as he passed, many with expressions of untold sorrow, but a few bearing wrathful hatred born of centuries of suffering and envy toward the living.
Lokus did his best to ignore the apparitions, using the light they generated to pick his path as the beast's roars sounded closer and closer.
With the city still nowhere in sight, anxiety wormed itself into Lokus' mind. 'I'm not going to make it.'
Steeling himself, he skidded to a halt and spun around, bringing the fire poker up in a pseudo-sword stance. Following that, he tossed the bag of demon claws onto the ground, freeing his other hand. If there was no point in running, he might as well fight.
'I can do this,' he thought. He just needed to remember that he wasn't a normal human anymore. He had his Frost affinity, and superhuman strength.
When he thought to this point, his eyes narrowed. Some of his anxiety vanished, replaced by a sudden surge of adrenaline and a deep-seated curiosity. He was suddenly very eager to see what this new body of his was capable of.
Yet another roar shook the night air, causing Lokus to become somewhat exasperated. Was roaring loudly all this dumb beast knew how to do?
But that derisive thought was quickly quashed as a shape on the horizon, cresting a small hill.
Thanks to the ghostly figures scattered across the plains, one of which happened to be next to where the beast was, Lokus managed to get a glimpse of the foe he was facing.
Sharp, yellowed teeth that could bite through steel. Claws as long as Lokus' forearm. A matted, sparse coat of white fur that would have been dazzlingly beautiful under the pale moonlight if it weren't for its diseased look and the pustules and scars leaving large swatches of flesh bare.
A long, pointed snout reminiscent of a dog, and blazing orange eyes that illuminated the night similar to the ghost next to it. Four long, muscular limbs, and above all, a towering height of over three meters that made Lokus look like a toddler in comparison.
Its eyes locked on him from across the plain, its top lip raising in a canine grin that could haunt one's dreams.
With a quick snap of its jaws, it swallowed the ghost next to it in one large gulp, its white fur glowing with a faint sheen before fading.
Lokus had to squint to see the demon's form in the dark. Since it had white fur, it was easier than it would otherwise be, and because of its luminescent eyes and the ghosts dotting the area, it was never fully hidden from him.
Giving him an ample view of it streaking toward him.
Lokus planted his feet, tapping into the Sovereign Gateway in his spine and using Freezing Aura.
The cold traveled into the fire poker he held like a sword, hopefully giving him an edge that would help him defeat the second of his challenges in this new world.
In a blink, the demon was on him, and he thrust out with the pointed end of his fire poker just as the demon's claws raked out at him.
Lokus was immediately thrown back several meters, bouncing against the ground and just barely managing to keep ahold of the fire poker in his hands. He groaned as he pushed himself onto his elbows, a pool of black blood gushing out of the claw marks on his torso.
A strange sound that was like a cross between a choke and a growl emanated from the demon, and with no small amount of dread, Lokus realized that it was laughing at him.
It stalked forward, hooking a paw under him and flipping him onto his back as it grinned down at him again. It seemed to have far more intelligence than the first one Lokus had encountered, an animalistic cunning in its gaze as it leaned down to taste his flesh.
Lokus panicked and lashed out with his fire poker, but the demon pinned his poker arm under a large paw as its grin widened.
'Shit, shit, shit!' he thought. Freezing Aura was doing nothing to the demon, and his only weapon was inaccessible.
The only thing he could do was watch its teeth inch towards his throat.