The time had finally come. I was as ready as I'd ever be to hunt down the gorilla. Today was the day.
Nibbles raced ahead as my silent, golden-eyed scout. He was faster than me, moving as if he weighed nothing, a shadow among shadows. His job was to spot anything out of place, anything that might pose a risk, long before it reached me. As we moved through the dense cover of trees and tall grass, I kept my focus on conserving energy, only moving when he signaled it was safe.
In the northern sector of this inner circle, territory was everything. It was split five ways—north, south, east, west, and center. My home sat hidden behind a waterfall in the northern part, a place I'd gotten to know well. This gorilla I was hunting was one of three known overlords here. Besides him, an eagle and a bear laid claim to their own territories. It wasn't impossible that others lurked out here too, but I hadn't encountered them yet. I'd been careful about that.
Just as I neared the gorilla's territory, Nibbles caught my attention with an exaggerated series of gestures, his paws moving in wide, frantic circles, his eyes wide as he glanced behind him. But before I could fully decipher his warnings, a rumble beneath my feet had me tensing up. The ground trembled, pulsing in a rhythm all its own, getting stronger by the second.
And then I saw it—a wall of wild buffaloes barreling in my direction.
At that moment, my pulse spiked. There were too many to count, a stampede stretching wide, too broad to escape by flanking. And they were running from something—something massive and relentless. The air around me felt tight, heavy. I didn't have much time.
Instincts kicked in. I searched for a path out, but the sheer force and breadth of the stampede made it impossible. I couldn't outrun them; my only option was to think faster, act smarter.
Just as I was piecing together a plan, a strange sensation washed over me. The mana in the air—no, the entire atmosphere—shifted. It was as if a dam had broken, unleashing a torrent of energy. The entire world turned blue, vibrant mana particles filling the air like a thick mist. I could see them without concentrating, hovering around me, nearly tangible. Plants, grass, trees, even the rocks and water around me, were absorbing the energy as if starved for it. Some were even shifting, changing in appearance. Evolving.
The weight of the mana settling on me sent my senses into overdrive, and I felt something within myself begin to unlock. My own body felt lighter, the familiar edge of a breakthrough approaching, yet now wasn't the time to focus on it. I locked it away, determined to deal with that later.
Nibbles leapt onto my shoulder, and I bolted toward a nearby tree, climbing swiftly. The stampede's thunderous approach grew closer, shaking the earth. From my vantage point, I could see the entire pack coming into view, their eyes wide with fear, bodies glistening with sweat. But the buffaloes weren't alone.
Monsters of all shapes and sizes surged behind them. The sight sent a shiver down my spine. Among the creatures, I spotted the gorilla, the bear, and even a massive eagle swooping low, all running in the same direction—fleeing, just as the buffalo were. Overlords, all of them, and they were terrified.
There was something else out here. Something powerful enough to scare off the strongest beasts in the region. I needed to get back to my cave. There, I'd have an advantage, a better chance of surviving whatever this was.
The stampede was getting dangerously close now, close enough to feel the vibrations in my bones. I scanned for a way forward, eyes darting for a route. Taking a deep breath, I pushed down the fear and leapt from my perch, landing atop one of the buffalo. It was too caught up in its terror to notice me, much less buck me off.
Moving with the stampede's flow, I began hopping from one buffalo to another, balancing, scanning the way forward toward my cave. The rough rhythm of their running worked to my advantage, each jump carrying me farther along the chaotic wave of creatures. Nibbles clung tightly to me, his fur bristling but focused, his eyes as sharp as mine. We were nearly there.
But as we neared my cave, a notification from the Karmic System blared in my mind, its tone colder than usual:
{Detected, Analyzing… world is evolving…}
{Tribulation arrived: Gate Opening Disaster (C+)}
{Failure: Loss of all life, except gate abominations.}
{Reward: Stability for 789 million years, + world treasures.}
The weight of it hit me like a stone. The entire world was experiencing some kind of tribulation? So this was a test of survival—for the planet itself. And if it failed… every living thing would be wiped out, except for these so-called "abominations."
Just then, I felt it, an even colder presence in the air than before. Shadows stretched across the earth as the sky darkened, shifting from blue to an almost pitch-black hue, with only a faint glow of mana illuminating the scene. In the distance, something emerged—a massive black gate, towering against the sky like a grim monolith. The monsters from within began spilling out, grotesque creatures like nothing I'd ever seen.
The abominations.
The first creature that came into view resembled a hound but stood twice as tall as any buffalo. Its fur was a sickly red, mottled with dark patches, and a grotesquely long black tongue stretched from its mouth, tracing over its own twisted face. It moved unnaturally, as if it barely adhered to this world's rules. With a whip of its tongue, it lashed out at a buffalo, leaving a deep gash that immediately began to fester, the flesh corroding with a thick, black poison.
The buffalo stumbled, foam beginning to leak from its mouth as its body convulsed and finally collapsed. Death, swift and gruesome. And more of those abominations followed, pouring through the gate, each a horror in its own right.
Fear bit into me, sharper than any weapon, but I kept it contained, kept my mind sharp. Panic would do me no good here. Nibbles nudged me, urging me forward as we continued leaping from one buffalo to the next, nearing the entrance to my cave. But the abominations were closing in, their grotesque forms spreading like a dark tide across the land.
I glanced at the Karmic System's notification again. If this "Gate Opening Disaster" was part of some cosmic test, then I had no choice but to survive it. I wasn't about to let some overgrown gate dictate my fate.
The creatures grew closer, their twisted bodies dark against the dim light, and I could hear them snarling, growling, some even letting out high-pitched screeches that scraped against my ears. I steeled myself. Survival meant outthinking, outrunning, and outmaneuvering them.
As we approached the edge of the stampede, I spotted a buffalo veering off from the main pack, its eyes glazed but its path clear of obstacles. I leapt toward it, balancing myself as it veered through the trees, getting closer to my home.
Then, a howl—low, guttural, and brimming with malice—echoed from behind. I glanced back to see one of the hound-like creatures, its red fur almost glowing in the dim mana-lit landscape, lunging forward. Its black tongue whipped toward me, too fast to fully evade. I twisted and then deflected it with the blunt side of my spear.
I pushed forward, determined to reach my cave. As I leapt from the buffalo's back toward a tree branch, Nibbles skittered along my shoulder, his tiny claws digging in, as alert as I was. He knew, just as I did, that there was no room for error now.
Finally, the trees parted, revealing the faint outline of my cave in the distance.
The Karmic System's words echoed in my mind again, its stark warning a reminder of what was at stake. Failure would mean the end of everything I knew, every living thing lost, replaced by these horrors.
But I was alive. For now, that would be enough.