In an open field with grasses tall enough to conceal half of a person's body, three figures were running for their lives. Sweat and blood covered them, making their flight even more desperate.
"Star, it's no good! The boss is catching up!" shouted one of the three, a young woman with orange fur and a pair of bunny ears that perked up in alarm.
Her orange eyes flickered with fear and worry as she glanced back at the two who were slightly lagging behind her. "Running away from it is impossible after all!" she exclaimed in a trembling voice.
"Stupid rabbit! Just run!"
On the other side, another young woman, sporting short silver hair with perky cat ears, roared. Her tomboyish look and abrasive attitude gave her a fierce impression.
The last one, a young man of roughly the same age as the other two—late teens—was out of breath, forcing his feet to move. His obsidian hair stuck to his sweaty and bloody forehead, and the white windbreaker wrapped around his neck felt like it was choking him.
"You two… Stop… Fighting…!"
He tried to mediate but couldn't even finish a sentence without gasping for air. Compared to the other two, he was physically weaker!
'If only those two weren't injured, then they could've escaped to safety by now!' Aster Mistral thought, biting his lips as he tried to think of a breakthrough for their situation.
His gaze turned to Cassandra, the orange rabbit girl's thigh, where a bloody gash was roughly wrapped in a bandage. Then to the cat girl behind him, Kali, who had a bleeding wound over her stomach.
Aster ground his teeth before turning around and skidding to a stop. "Go! You two! I'll hold back the boss here," he shouted intermittently, gasping after every few words.
"What? No, you can't, Star! That's suicide!" Cassandra shouted immediately, stopping as well.
Even Kali halted, turning to him with a deep frown. "I don't plan to sacrifice the one who saved me from danger just to save myself! You should go. I'll be the one delaying the boss!"
"Come on, you two! Stop joking and go! I've hunted the boss before; I can make sure I don't die at least!"
Aster shouted back, but the other two didn't budge. All three of them stopped in place, failing to escape.
"Shut up, level 1! Just hurry and drag that rabbit out of here!"
"No! I'm not escaping without everyone together!"
"Damn! Too late!"
While they were busy quarreling, a large shadow approached them from behind. It was a massive wolf with light gray fur, standing tall at about 2.5 meters, and its body was more than five meters long. Its red eyes glared at them while it roared in a low, rumbling voice.
*GROOOOOWL!*
"...!"
The roar froze them in place out of fear. Fortunately, Cassy and Kali were at level 3, allowing them to fight off the paralysis and move shortly after.
"You damned mutt! I'm not scared of you!" Kali roared as she held both daggers in her hands, rushing forward in a mad dash.
The wolf—the field boss of the first floor, the Dire Wolf—glared lightly before opening its bloody maw and snapping at the cat girl.
Her eyes widened at the incoming attack, and she stopped her dash, spinning around to dodge the bite with her flexible body. As she passed by the Dire Wolf's side, she didn't forget to leave a few strikes across its face and neck before jumping away.
"How's that?!" she grinned, panting hard as she felt drained after just a single set of actions.
However, despair soon covered her face. The wolf didn't even feel her attacks, much less get wounded by them.
Although she felt despair from the gap in strength, Kali let out a fierce smile, her lips trembling a little as she commented. "Hah! Not gonna fall that easily, eh?"
Its next action, however, wasn't as she expected. Instead of targeting her, it rushed toward the others, particularly Aster, as it pounced and swung its claws down at him.
"Aster!"
"Star!"
"...!"
Two worried voices called for him, but he didn't even register their shouts. Instead, Aster focused all his nerves on watching the incoming claw and tilted his body out of the way. The wind pressure as the claw went past his face sent chills down his spine!
As soon as the claw missed him, Aster put his sword across his body. As if targeting his weapon, another claw attack came at blinding speed, hitting right in the middle of the blade.
*BAM!* *CRACK!* *GASH!*
A bone-breaking impact hit Aster, sending him flying and rolling across the ground before he stopped, losing momentum. He stared blankly at the sky, blue and bright, as a loud ringing sound echoed in his ears.
"Star?! Star! Stay with me! Don't die!"
Cassandra quickly rushed to his side, tears dripping from the corner of her eyes as she extended a hand forward. "Priodis Sirreo Cura! Minor Heal!"
As she finished her casting, a gentle green light fell from her palm to Aster's body. Seeing her so desperate, Aster was forced to move his head, only to see a spurt of blood fly toward Cassandra's face, staining it with a streak of red.
Looking down, he could see that his armor was ravaged. Everything below his chest was already red from the blood he was losing. 'Ah, so that's why she's so desperate,' Aster thought as if it were someone else's problem.
His vision flickered, as if everything he could see was merely a dream. His mind was fuzzy, unable to think about complicated things, as his breathing was shallow.
'Right… Maybe this is all just a long dream.' He mused, almost smiling sarcastically.
Closing his eyes, he tried to recall how it all started—the fated moment in his life where he was forced to live thousands of years in suspended animation.
'It feels like a thing long past, but it all started… a mere five days ago.'