A huge screech echoed through the forest as the horror screamed in agony. The pain it felt by getting one of its eyes pierced was unimaginable. Shivers went down Asher's spine when he thought about it.
Suddenly, Asher gritted his teeth.
'Move back!'
Asher grimaced internally as a claw appeared just one inch away from its left eye. Time seemed to slow as he jumped backwards with stunning speed.
The claw trusted where he was previously. His heart raced. '
'If I was a second... no, a fraction of a second late. I would be dead now.'
Suddenly, the abomination that Asher had expected to be halted for a moment burst forward with tremendous speed. Going for a thrust with the claw.
Immediately, Asher twisted his torso, barely managing to dodge the thrust as the behemoth went to retreat his claw; Asher gripped it with a diabolical grin and immediately burst forward with tremendous speed.
'Just one more time, and I can win.' Asher grimaced internally. He used the behemoth's bony shoulder as footwork to jump towards its eye.
However, this time. The abomination could not be fooled.
Immediately, the abomination crashed itself to the ground. Annihilating Asher's plan.
Or did he?
With a devious grin, Asher jumped backward as the abomination crashed itself into the ground. And using his weight to his advantage, Asher fell with his sword pointed towards the behemoth's skull.
Blood splattered everywhere as the blade penetrated the behemoth's transparent skin yet chainmail-like skin, going deep into its brain. Instantly, the behemoth let out a horrifying shriek before dying.
Blood had stained Asher's clothes as he sat down, gasping for air tirelessly.
However, suddenly, a voice echoed in his ears.
[You have slain a Weak-Mundane Beast: Lower Guardian of the Forgotten Temple]
However, Asher ignored it completely. He had simply not heard it due to him breathing restlessly.
'Gosh,' Asher thought as he finally got the hang of himself. A couple of minutes passed as he stood up eventually with blood staining his threadbare tunic and half of his face. He continued moving down the hill.
As he moved, he heard quite a lot of noise from the trees surrounding the path. It was the sound of snoring.
'Maybe the other abominations here are simply sleeping?' Asher thought as fear held his heart tightly. The moment these abominations woke up.
It would be the end of him.
Suddenly, Asher's speed increased tremendously for some reason. Moving through the jagged pathway. He paved his way through the mountain.
However, as he moved, suddenly, the sky started to change, vaguely albeit not as visible.
As he moved, the sky turned orange. And from orange, it turned red. And after that, it turned blood crimson. The mountain's path beneath him had a blood-like hue now.
Along with it, a sense of fear filled the air. It was as if the blood god had awakened and was now showing his might to the mortals.
'Heh, quite ironic.' Asher thought with a smirk. If the gods were really alive, then he practically hated them. Just the fact that they allowed the people on the outer edges to rot told him that they didn't care.
By the end of the day, when the moon had the reign of the sky, Asher had finally reached the surface. Behind the mountain was where he had come from previously. Or where the black spear had attacked specifically.
A sense of relief came to Asher but immediately went away when he remembered the state of the sky during the day. The ground still had some of its bloody hue.
With a sigh, Asher moved forward. He had to find shelter for now. He couldn't be bothered about the future right now.
He was tired.
Asher delved into the ocean of trees. He knew the dangers of entering the forest. Anything could attack him at any moment. He had to stay alert at all times.
Moving straight towards the temple. Asher calculated that reaching the temple in just one night of constant moving would be impossible. It would also take a toll on him as well. So, in the end, he concluded that it simply wasn't worth it.
As Asher moved forward, moving left and right constantly. Every now and then, he would hear a growl from the trees, forcing him to move in another direction. So in the end, he was practically lost.
He didn't know which way was the mountain. However, he knew the way towards the temple for some reason.
'How weird.' Asher thought as he moved towards the temple. It was as if something was guiding him towards it.
As he moved for about what seemed like an hour, the realization finally dawned on him.
'I can't hide somewhere in the land. I have to climb the trees.'
Realizing this, Asher immediately halted in his footsteps. As he examined the trees nearby, he finally shook his head.
'Too big.'
The trees were abnormally huge. Asher's height was already short due to being malnourished, but the sizes of these trees even made that fact negligible.
'Goddamnit,' Asher thought as he continued to move once again. The nights were especially cold. Even breathing gave him immense pain.
Suddenly, he heard a growl behind him.
Instead of looking back, Asher sprinted with even more speed.
'Shit, shit! Goddamnit!' Asher screamed internally as he sprinted towards the temple.
Soon, the growling became visibly audible as many trees behind him started to fall. Creating a lot of noise.
'Even more shit!'
The noise was bound to attract more horrifying abominations to him. Before, his goal was to find shelter to prevent this very thing from happening. Now, he had to run until he found an escape.
"Oh gods, if they are alive that is."