Sief ran quickly, squinting his eyes as he dodged the trees that passed swiftly in his vision, focusing ahead.
As he ran, it was as if the trees became mere blurs until something rose directly in front of him, taking flight, and Sief quickly recognized the shape.
It was a giant beetle that seemed distracted but soon turned and saw Sief advancing toward it, reaching for the dagger strapped to his back.
'I can't easily change my path..." He saw the beetle move quickly through the air and advance. 'Let's go for a double test.'
The monster charged rapidly toward Sief's face, who ducked and twisted his body, delivering a single slash that cut through the beetle with ease.
However, the weapon's weight caused Sief's body to lean forward, and he gritted his teeth, but something slipped from his shirt, and he clenched his jaw, using a burst of strength to position the weapon beneath his chest as something fell from his shirt, revealing a red stone necklace similar to a blue one.
'Even with this strength necklace he got from the warehouse for me, it's still hard to handle.' Sief heard the monster's body fall behind him, but along with the sound, more wingbeats emerged, and more beetles rose from the bushes, making him frown. 'I can't use it now...'
Sief placed his dagger back behind him, sheathing it with difficulty and facing forward, where more beetles appeared and charged toward him.
He quickly raised his bracer and clenched his fist, causing a blade to emerge that slashed the abdomen of one beetle, which fell while still moving. Another lunged at his head, but Sief ducked and swiftly stabbed its back, twisting again and slashing another beetle that was thrown and hit one of the trees, still trembling.
Sief's feet landed and skidded on the ground, but he quickly started moving again, focusing ahead. However, something fell onto his face as he ran, realizing that a beetle was biting his face.
With a strike from his bracer, he knocked the monster to the side, frowning slightly as he felt his speed slowly decrease.
'Anything that stops me even for a moment will hinder my speed. If I stop running, it'll deactivate... even on this route without the alpha, I think at this pace, something will soon stop me.'
Raising his head again, Sief saw more shadows flying toward him, and he clenched his fist firmly, leaping toward the beetles that opened their mandibles.
Time passed, and his steps remained quick, though at a much slower pace than before, as the darkness of the dense forest gradually receded, giving way to sunlight that made Sief squint as he looked forward, seeing a tree standing out from the others, much taller and with dark green leaves.
He gazed at the tree and clenched his fist again, causing the hidden blade to appear, and he quickly advanced toward the tree, making a horizontal slash that easily pierced its bark, though nothing happened as Sief watched.
'I don't want to be swallowed again.'
Sief sighed, releasing his fist and retracting the blade as his steps gradually slowed until he stopped beneath the tree's shade, the glow in his eyes dimming, returning to normal as he pulled his backpack forward, took out a map, and finally activated his mana again, revealing his location, already in new territory.
'Spider's Lair.' Sief raised his head. 'In less than a day, I've reached a new territory, but even though it's green, it doesn't seem that different.'
Looking around once more, Sief found himself on a green plain, though the grass was a much darker green, and the trees stood out, reaching over 10 meters tall, still seeming rather ordinary.
'I imagine the biggest danger is returning from these places to a safe region... but I haven't seen any monsters yet.'
Sief sighed, catching his breath as he noticed he wasn't tired despite having quickly crossed half of a territory. Looking at his arms again, he saw light cuts and bites left by the forest beetles, but they were already healing.
'Regeneration, huh?' He rolled up the map and stored it in his backpack, walking cautiously through the area, observing his surroundings. 'I think I have strong weapons, even though I only started hunting recently; the light green regions no longer pose much of a threat besides their alphas. But now that I've stopped to observe... I don't think it's normal to cross territories so easily...'
As he walked, he lowered his head slightly, recalling the day Dokkel had been attacked and the confrontation at Forta afterward.
'I feel like I was hit in Dokkel, but there's no scar left from there.' He squinted. 'Not even from Forta... I don't know how much of that story about Vetra is true, but there's too much evidence to doubt...'
Gradually, his walk turned back into a run, and his eyes began to glow as he started running with a furrowed brow, but in the distance, he saw the tall trees becoming more frequent, close to bushes surrounding the trees.
There were no signs of monsters as he walked, crossing a tree and leaping over some bushes, Sief kept his brow furrowed.
'So far, this looks like a light green territory... where are they?'
When he landed on one of his legs, something immediately struck it, causing him to bend forward slightly. Sief quickly turned, eyes wide, seeing a wooden arrow piercing his leg.
In moments, his gaze focused on the bush, which had small legs protruding from it, where a pair of glowing eyes stared back at him, while behind it, five more bushes leaped out.
Sief clenched his teeth and threw himself toward a nearby lake, landing behind a tree, quickly yanking the arrow from his knee with a frown.
'Was that luck?'
But as soon as he raised his head, he saw the bushes leap, positioned on both sides, and launched wooden arrows at him again, forcing him to push himself to the side, leaping toward the monsters and blocking with his iron bracer, which destroyed the arrows it touched.
Two arrows struck his back, but Sief continued advancing, clenching his fist firmly to raise the blade that slashed one of the bushes, emitting a strange, monstrous scream and spraying green liquid after being cut.
The monster's body hit the ground, and Sief moved toward those who had landed, leaving only two on one side, and he charged at the closest, reaching for his dagger and quickly drawing it, intending to split the body of another bush that at the last moment leaped, dodging the dagger, which struck the ground, raising stones and dust, causing Sief to frown as he felt more arrows strike his back.
'This is going to be useless.'
Sief released the dagger's handle and advanced, surprising the bush that, still in midair, was slashed, its scream cut short before hitting the ground, lifeless.
Sief heard the sound of wind being sliced and quickly turned, blocking two arrows that were about to hit his face while another hit his thigh.
"How irritating."
He quickly blocked another arrow and returned his gaze to the last bush on one side, which grunted softly and trembled as Sief stared at it.
Stepping forward, Sief slashed, but the bush made a short leap back, attempting to escape again, but before it could take a third leap, Sief caught up and pierced it.
Once more, the sound of arrows came, and Sief blocked them with the monster's body and a bracer, facing the remaining monsters with his eyes already glowing. He quickly threw the bush's body at one of its companions and advanced on the other two, which were eliminated with a single slash, leaving only one, which, before it could recover, was also dispatched, leaving Sief panting as he looked at the monsters' bodies.
Gradually, the heat of the battle subsided, and he grunted, feeling the stings where the arrows had struck, and quickly removed them, noticing they pierced easily, even where his leather armor had protected him.
'Even though I'm fast, these things managed to dodge my slashes, and worse, they were coordinated.' Sief grunted, pulling the last arrow from his slightly bloodied thigh. 'They were hiding and waiting for prey... even using the strength necklace, this dagger is still too heavy for me to handle these quick ones.'
Approaching the monsters' bodies, Sief removed the bushes, noticing they resembled tree saplings, but with a large mouth that spat arrows and glowing green eyes, causing him to frown as he looked at the tree.
"If they grow from these trees, it might not be so bad to attack them freely." He moved away from the bushes, observing a forest with tall trees in the distance. "Maybe it's not going to be that easy, but... whatever...'