Atlas' eyes opened in an instant. 'W-What's that noise?' He thought to himself. 'I can't believe I slept how irresponsible.; The young man admonished himself. Sure he could be carefree but not when his own damn life was on the line.
Grabbing the Weightless Sword, Atlas headed out of the cave his senses at full throttle. Simultaneously he checked how much time was left on the mission. '10 hours left, at least a good amount of time has passed. If I am careful now I might actually survive.'
"THUMP!"
"THUMP!"
"THUMP!"
"THUMP!"
"THUMP!"
Unfortunately for Atlas it seemed as though he was unaware as to what a jinx was. Just as he thought this, he heard what sounded like moving boulders. And not just one or two, but five of them. 'The Ogres!' Atlas realised. Using his enhanced hearing Atlas determined that they weren't simply coming from one direction but had surrounded the cave.
'Okay lets think about this logically. They're still some distance away since I can't see them yet, although the trees provide cover its not enough for their hulking frames. So what this means is I still have a chance to escape.'
Somehow the Ogres had tracked him down. He didn't whether he left a trail, or it was his scent, or maybe even just dumb luck on their end. But either way this was now his reality. 'My easiest route of escape would be to go directly to the left or directly to the right. After all if I head directly with how they seem to be fanned out I could risk getting ganged up on by all 5 Ogres.'
Quickly Atlas began deliberating his options. Left or right? It seemed like a simple decision but the paths e could take after would differ greatly. But he didn't have very much time to choose. 'If I head left there's the lake, where as right its more forest a multitude of caves and eventually the plains we started at. Now with the Swift Leather Boots the plains may be an advantage to me. The Ogres with their clubs and large stature already couldn't out run most of us and now I am many times faster.....Fuck it!'
Time was pressing and Atlas knew being indecisive here would increase his chances of death exponentially. Without much further deliberation he headed to the right. In an instant his body shot into the forest and past numerous trees. Some of the "thumping" grew distant while a particular "thump" sounded clearer and clearer.
"RAGHHH!"
The roar of an ogre resounded. Immediately Atlas' eyes darted towards that particular direction. There behind a number of trees stood an over 4 meter tall goliath of a creature. 'Well there goes my hopes of just avoiding them entirely.' Atlas sighed as he continued running through the forest.
Fortunately it seemed as though the Ogre couldn't keep up with him, but the problem was more so when the other 4 would eventually catch up and surround him once again. 'I need to go faster! Once I get out of the forest and head to the plains I can reenter the forest from a different angle and hide my tracks. Otherwise they'll chase me endlessly.'
The desire to live fueled him. Atlas' feet sped up, and with each step he channeled more and more strength into the ground. Little did he know that at this moment he was reaching speeds beyond what the Swift Leather Boots would normally allow him by compounding the effect of the Amulet of Strength. That coupled with his enhanced senses allowed him to manoeuvre through the forest with relative ease.
"Crunch!"
"THWAK!"
"CLACK!"
After nearly 20 minutes of relentless running. Atlas found himself back at the plains. And the sight he beheld stunned him. 'T-They're all dead.' Numerous corpses were strewn around, blood dying the area red. And they weren't simply clustered together, it was obvious that each straggler that lagged behind the group ended up killed, one by one.
The young man couldn't help but gag at the sight, and he stood there in a daze for a few seconds. But soon his fear of ending up the same way overtook him and he started moving again. He ran out into the plain avoiding the blood and corpses as best he could attempting to run by the perimeter of the forest.
"RAGHHH!!!"
Five behemoths emerged from the forest angrily glaring at Atlas, their clubs raised ready to kill Atlas as soon as they got close to him. They then once rushed towards the human man. Unlike before it seemed the Ogres were using their brains. Four of them fanned to cover the plain, while the remaining Ogre stayed back at the perimeter of the forest incase Atlas decided to run back in.
'They're not gonna catch me like this.' Atlas mused. Unfortunately it seemed he didn't learn his lesson. One after another the Ogres began throwing their clubs towards him. The strength at which they threw them was tremendous, but even so they couldn't reach Atlas. But this wasn't what caused the young man much shock. After lugging their club's their speeds increased, and they did so dramatically.
Once they'd reach their clubs, the Ogres would grab them and toss them forth once again. Through this weird strategy they somehow began to stop losing ground to Atlas, and even matched his speed. 'This is fucking ridiculous! No wonder everyone else ended up dead, how did I even get away in the first place? Are they just that arrogant!?'
Not only was the young man horrified at the turn of events. But he was in fact quite angry as well. Did they think he was such a non-issue that they could just let him go or, non, did they see humanity so beneath them as a whole? Naturally Atlas wasn't foolish enough to try fight them, but this still filled him with rage.
'Fuck it these are useless thoughts. I need to get away. As long as I am alive I may be able to get my revenge, one day.' He didn't forget the other 99 who had died in the tutorial, but currently his life was the priority. If he could go back he definitely would've done things differently unfortunately that was not possible.
'If this goes on I am going to tire out. I need to head back in.' Atlas then changed his trajectory angling himself to enter the forest once again. 'I have at least 400 meters between me and the Ogre in the forest, that should be enough.'
With a burst of speed Atlas launched himself in, but the Ogres were determined to not let him go. The Ogre in the forest, left his club and ran past it choosing to chase after Atlas.
Simultaneously, Atlas' speed began faltering. He had been exerting himself fully instead of keeping an even pace, that coupled with his panic led him to using more energy than necessary. Because of that the Ogre began to gain on him. His only saving grace was that the other four he seemed to stop chasing.
'Fuck, Fuck, FUCK!' Atlas raged internally as his mind raced. 'There's nothing I can do. At the current pace he'll catch me and then its over.....' If he knew the Ogre's would employ such a tactic he'd have just gone left, at least then they wouldn't be able to do their dumb club throwing strategy.
As the minutes passed the Ogre closed in on Atlas, and the young man felt his strength waning. Eventually a decisive glint flashed in his eyes. Resolving himself to his fate he noticed a nearby cave and dashed towards it. Entering the cave the Ogre followed after him.
Now in the depths of the cave his senses went full throttle allowing him to see clearly in the darkness. He then immediately turned towards the Ogre. It too could see in the darkness but he wasn't hoping to blind the monster by entering the cave. No what he wanted to do was simple, limit its movements.
"RAGHH!"
Almost happily the Ogre roared as its fist hurtled towards Atlas. Normally he would find it hard to react to such an attack, but now the fist seemed to move in slow motion. Ducking under Atlas slashed his sword upward creating a shallow cut on the monster's arm.
This wasn't even considered an injury to the Ogre, but that didn't mean it wasn't a stain on its pride. Now enraged the Ogre pulled its fist back for a big swing.
"THUNK!"
Like the oaf that it was the Ogre didn't realise the limited space it had within the cave, slamming its fist into the wall and stumbling. Watching this play out, Atlas charged forward jumping between its legs. Once behind the Ogre he quickly turned around and slashed his sword at the Ogre's achilles tendon with all his might. With one mighty slash Atlas took out the Ogre's right leg felling the Ogre, the behemoth dropping to its knees.
"RAGHHH!"
"ARGHHH!"
"GAHHHH!"
The Ogre raged, thrashing about. Seeing it in such a state Atlas wanted to run away it was the safest decision. But something in Atlas begged to differ. 'If I don't kill it now, even with its tendon taken out it might somehow come for me later. I have to finish it!'
With that thought Atlas jumped towards the raging Ogre. This decision was all within a second and the monster had yet to turn towards the young man. Pulling his sword back he landed atop the Ogre before stabbing his sword through the back of its head, piercing its brain and exiting the eye.
"AGHASGHSAHRAHGA!!!!"
One last roar is all that the Ogre could let out before it died. Its body dropping to the floor. Atlas immediately pulled out his sword and was about to leave, when a shimmering light erupted from the Ogre.
"Huh?"