Skyler's eyes narrowed as the golden particles he had collected earlier in the crystal within his heart surged forward, enveloping his fist.
He quickly whipped his body back and punched a wind beetle, its startled buzz halting the other beetles.
Then, without a second thought, he turned and ran in the opposite direction.
The bit of Evol left in his elemental crystal surged forth under his control, and almost instinctively, he channeled it into his feet to slightly enhance his speed.
A monster wave was approaching! He couldn't even defeat the boars and beetles with his current strength; how could he fight and survive a colossal wave?!
He had experienced a sudden surge of adrenaline and confidence after watching himself sitting atop a throne, but he knew that wouldn't last for long! Staying alive was his main priority at the moment!
His injuries ached painfully, and blood gushed from his wounds, leaving a trail behind him. But he pushed forward. The boars and beetles attacked from behind, wreaking havoc with massive dark spears, wind blades, and fire blades. One of the wind blades slashed across his back, sending him flying further forward.
Skyler's eyes turned bloodshot, and veins bulged from his neck as he gritted his teeth hard enough to draw blood. Once again, he stumbled to his feet.
He had been thrown quite far from the monsters approaching him, so he needed to take advantage of this. He tried to draw on more Evol from his body, but the small amount of light particles he had gathered earlier were already exhausted.
His elemental crystal was empty, and he was suffering from the backlash of using every last particle of his Evol. The section of his heart where the dry ant-sized crystal floated contracted painfully.
He needed time to recover from the backlash and refill the crystal. But how could he absorb Evol in such a situation?
With the last bit of strength left in him, he began running, straining his muscles past their limits. A screen flashed in front of him, and he wanted to strangle the system.
("Host! You can do it! Run! A little faster, please! If you die, you die!")
It had remained inactive for so long, and now, when it had no use left, it appeared to tell him that he would die if he didn't run?
If 505 had a body, it would be riddled with holes by the time Skyler was done with it!
The system felt a sudden eerie chill in its circuits and went missing once again.
While cursing the system, Skyler stumbled over a protruding root as he passed through the tall trees, causing his body to suddenly roll onto his side in an area that was caved in compared to the rest. He tried to grab the grass to stop, but he couldn't.
With a loud thud, his back collided with something hard. His eyes trembled, and he let out a silent scream in his head as the pain doubled in his injured back.
With trembling fingers stained in his own blood, he reached out for the tree he had collided with and crawled to sit down. He clutched his stomach and realized he had rolled down from above.
This area was sunken compared to the surrounding terrain. He nearly cried when he noticed a few small holes in the raised grassy ground around him, surrounded by slightly tilted tall trees.
The holes, which clearly looked as if they had been dug out, were barely large enough for him to fit, but somehow he managed to squeeze himself into one of them.
The roars of monsters and their heavy stomps on the ground echoed outside as he hastily crawled deep into the dark hole, pressing his forearms against the cool earth to propel himself forward.
He lost one of his sneakers, which had stayed by his side through so much, but fortunately, his feet vanished into the hole just in time before the boars and beetles on his trail destroyed everything outside.
Skyler breathed heavily. The space was dark, but he could hear faint sounds deep within the hole. Narrowing his hazy eyes, which had returned to their normal blue color, he spotted a faint light.
With sheer willpower, he pressed forward, and finally, his body emerged from the hole into a little underground chamber filled with stacked, strange glowing blue and green grass that illuminated the space.
He was met with a pair of glowing red eyes, and the owner let out an angry shriek at him for intruding into its home.
Skyler's consciousness was fading, but he managed to make out the small, arm-sized white creature before him.
"A rabbit...? cute..."
He whispered softly, and 505 flashed a screen in front of him. It was not part of its duties, but it wasn't against the rules either. So, it went ahead and did it. After all, it was somewhat concerned that its host might meet a pitiful end at the hands of rabbits after surviving such larger threats.
("Host, the bad news is you have entered the home of a colony of rabbits. The good news is that they are just normal animals.")
"Oh..."
Skyler blinked his eyes several times to clear the haze clouding his vision and to keep himself from fainting as he reached out to stroke the rabbit's head. Perhaps his mind had short-circuited from losing too much blood and enduring so much, but he actually found the rabbit adorable.
The rabbit obviously bit his finger, but the moment it tasted his blood, its eyes lit up, and it began licking the spot where it had bitten him with a docile demeanor.
Skyler let out a hoarse chuckle.
"It... slikes... me."
505: "...."
He noticed that the small chamber had several openings in the walls, much like the hole he had come from. It seemed to be connected to the other holes.
Skyler took a deep, painful breath and closed his eyes to draw the golden Evol particles into his crystal once more to heal himself, but he fainted midway.
As if sensing his fading breath, the white rabbit licking his finger moved and nudged the glowing grass piled in the chamber.
It let out strange noises and pushed the grass onto his injured body. Soon, Skyler was entirely buried in grass.
505: "...."
What cute??? This rabbit obviously wanted to suffocate its half-dead host to death!
However, as the system inspected the glowing grass, it was surprised because it was a 1-star herb known as Green and Blue Dew, which could assist newly awakened individuals in sensing their elemental Evol and also possessed healing properties!