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Isaac looked at the approaching horde once more, trying his best to appear as hopeless as possible.
"I hope I'm right about my theory," he muttered under his breath.
He needed a few things to fall into place if he wanted to escape.
First, his theory had to hold true, as it was the crux of his plan.
Second, he had to act convincingly enough to keep the schemer from realizing that he had a glimmer of hope.
If the schemer figured out that he had a plan, it would likely rush the possessed toward him, and he couldn't afford that.
He needed time to test his theory, and he couldn't let on that he was anything but defeated.
'Time to act,' he thought, bracing himself for the performance of his life.
He climbed onto a short rock and sat down, adopting a posture that conveyed resignation and waiting for death.
"Oh, woe is me," he said loudly, trying to sound as desperate as possible.
"How will I ever escape from this place?" He made a show of looking around, feigning a search for an escape route.
"I have been surrounded like a small prey!" He did his best impression of a damsel in distress, casting his eyes about as if looking for a savior.
"Is there no hope for me in this desolate land?" he lamented, attempting to summon crocodile tears but finding he couldn't.
'Well, they aren't necessary anyway,' he thought, a bit annoyed at his inability to cry on command, but he soldiered on.
He glanced at the horde.
He had no idea if his plan was working, but the horde continued to advance at a slow pace, suggesting that he hadn't given away his intentions just yet.
"Oh, how unfortunate for me. I have come all this way only to become prey to the horde," he bemoaned, putting on a theatrical display of despair.
"How stupid of me not to see the horde. I guess I'll have my last meal now," he announced, making it seem like he had resigned himself to his fate.
'I need as much energy as I can get to pull this off,' he thought, trying to look like a lamb led to the slaughter.
He slowly took out his lunch box and thermos from his bag and extracted his last bite-sized meal.
'Oh, woe is me. I only have this pitiful amount of food,' he said, trying to embody the role of a helpless prey surrounded by a pack of wolves.
He threw the last piece of the sandwich into his mouth and drank the cold water, making a show of savoring his last meal.
As he ate, he endeavored to look like a prey savoring its final moments.
'Why do I feel like my acting actually sucks?' he mused, feeling like the worst actor ever on a stage in front of thousands of viewers (the possessed).
'No, my act is perfect. Just look at the possessed; they are still moving at the same speed. My acting is perfect,' he reassured himself.
While he sat there spouting his grand words and performing his act, he kept an eye on the approaching horde, waiting until he felt he had enough energy to test his theory.
'I hope my theory is correct,' he thought, focusing inward to finally put his plan to the test.
Like before, he could feel the many flows of energy circulating through his body as his heart pumped blood and energy in a continuous cycle.
He tried to direct two flows of energy with his mind and intent, this time to his legs.
"Shit, this is harder than I expected!" he thought, straining with the effort.
It felt like trying to move a mountain with his mind.
He was used to directing one flow at a time and had become adept at it, able to channel a flow to his arm within seconds.
But managing two flows simultaneously felt like trying to draw a circle with one hand and a triangle with the other.
Whenever he focused on one flow, the other would start reverting to its original path.
When he attempted to correct it, the first flow would slip away.
The moment he lost control, the flows would return to their regular cycles within his body.
Sweat began to bead on his forehead as he tried again and again.
He became so focused on his task that he momentarily forgot about his act.
'Come on, just move,' he urged, pushing himself to his limits.
As minutes passed and the horde inched closer, he persisted, trying repeatedly until his head throbbed from the exertion.
Each attempt brought him a little closer to mastering the dual flow, but it was grueling work.
"Aghh," he groaned, feeling the strain more acutely with each effort.
He couldn't give up now.
'Okay, one more time,' he said to himself, avoiding looking at the horde to stay focused and avoid unnecessary stress.
He tried once more to direct the two flows to his legs.
'Come on, move,' he urged, concentrating intensely.
The flows wavered and faltered as he moved them closer to his legs, but he lost control again.
Still, he had almost succeeded this time after dozens of attempts.
'Okay, I can do this,' he told himself, feeling more confident about his ability to manage two flows simultaneously.
Once again, he moved the two flows with his mind and intent.
They staggered and faltered occasionally, but he kept them moving steadily toward his legs.
'Almost there!' he thought, feeling as the flows reached the ends of his thighs.
He pushed through the growing headache and dizziness, feeling like the world was spinning around him, but he kept pushing.
He was nearing the limits of his endurance, but his will and intent kept the flows moving.
'I did it!' he thought triumphantly as the flows finally reached his legs.
'Aghhh, my head hurts,' he said aloud, abandoning all pretense of acting.
He rested for a moment, wiping away the sweat on his forehead after the intense effort.
He felt somewhat drained but knew he had to press on. 'Okay, now I have to do one more thing.'
He scanned the area for the tallest black stone that had a good surface for climbing and a flat top.
"There you are," he said, spotting a large black stone about seven meters high that met his requirements.
He approached the stone and began to climb it.
After a few minutes, he reached the top and stood there, surveying the approaching horde.
'Looks like I have around seven minutes,' he estimated, having spent a considerable amount of time learning to direct two flows simultaneously.
'I should use this time to rest for a bit,' he thought, catching his breath.
"Oh yeah, I should act a bit more."
Watching the horde of thousands inch closer, he remembered that he had an act to put on.
"Oh, Romeo, will I not see you again?" he called out dramatically, channeling the theatrical spirit of a tragic lover.
As he observed the horde drawing nearer, he calculated the distance they stretched around him.
'About half a kilometer,' he thought, watching them fill the horizon.
'Three minutes, two minutes,' he counted down as they approached.
With the horde closing in, he began using his mind and intent to direct the two flows to his legs once more.
After almost a minute, he noticed that the possessed had surrounded the rock and were starting to climb it, just as he had anticipated.
"I should still have a minute or so until they reach the top and make a dense crowd around me," he thought.
He was drenched in sweat again as he focused on directing the flows.
'Okay, now I have to break this flow of energy to release the energy to my legs.'
He recalled the moment during his fight with the shadow wraith when he felt like a dam of power had broken, flooding his body with energy and granting him superhuman strength for a brief time.
He surmised that he had achieved this by breaking the flows in his body, allowing him to reach an inhuman level of strength and speed.
This time, he intended to focus solely on his legs.
He had to be quick.
He remembered how rapidly his energy had drained during his previous experience and knew he could only sustain it for a few seconds.
But if he controlled it, he could channel enough energy into his legs to jump from rock to rock and over the horde, making his way out of the black stone forest.
His escape plan was finally revealed.
He looked down at the horde, which was using each other to climb the rock.
"Was my performance really that good that you guys are doing all this? Oh my, I didn't know I had so many fans. I'm flattered," he said, dropping his act and revealing a mocking smile.
He bowed to the horde a few times, left and right. "Well, I must sadly go now, my avid fans. I have to get to town to perform my act. I can't be stuck in this small place forever."
He spoke to them as if they were ordinary humans.
He probably looked like a madman, but that's what isolation and boredom can do to a person.
During his speech, he struggled to hold the flow but now it was time to go.
He began to slowly break the flow, allowing the energy to leak into his legs.
"It feels like warm air is filling my legs. It's weird," he remarked, feeling the energy empower his legs and their muscles to a degree beyond human limits.
"Rahhh," he heard as one of the possessed finally placed a hand on top of the rock.
"Well, I will now go! Take care, my fans!" he said, crouching and feeling the surge of power in his legs.
With a final burst of energy, he jumped off.