Despite my incomplete knowledge of the world, Void Beast still rings a bell. It was the name of a highly vicious and powerful demon that existed in ancient times. The legend told that it was so powerful that the God Tamers back then had no choice but to seal it off in a place where nobody could reach it.
‘Damn! Did we go inside the space sealing it?!’
The legend was as old as it could get, probably tens of thousands of years ago. To think that the Void Beast would still be alive, I can’t help but lament my fate.
Fang ran as fast as she could. Her speed was even faster than Ember’s maximum speed despite carrying the two of us on her shoulders. The Void Beast was chasing after us leisurely as if it was a cat toying with its prey.
“Fang, at this rate, it’ll eventually catch up! We need to hide!”
As I shouted, I felt Fang nod her head. She was so focused on running that she couldn’t even speak a single word.
Fang suddenly took a large turn, heading towards the mountain ranges barely visible from the dusty scene. The mountains were so high that even when we were hundreds of kilometers away from it, we would need to crane our necks to see the peak.
If we could reach the mountain, we could find a cave or a tunnel to hide on. We might survive that way. Fang probably thought of it too, that’s why she changed her heading.
The Void Beast however didn’t find it amusing. As if it was pissed off by us finding and clinging onto a thread of hope, it roared angrily.
The roar was so loud that I lost all ability to hear sound instantly. Along with a strong feeling of dizziness, I could feel a warm liquid flowing down from my ears. My eardrums indeed broke, blood dripping from both ears. Fang, too, was affected by the roar and staggered.
However, with her pure will alone, she managed to maintain her balance and run at the same speed she was running before. Rather than slowing down due to injury, it felt like Fang’s speed increased even more, about twice as fast.
When the Void Beast saw that its roar wasn’t able to stop Fang, it quickly raised its right hand and slapped down toward Fang.
Fang, despite not looking behind, managed to dodge the hand by jumping to one side. The air pressure that came from the slap, however, sent the three of us flying.
“Argh!”
I failed to receive the fall and had my right arm bend in the other direction. It’s completely broken from the elbow down. Fortunately, my sense of pain was numbed already, if not, I would have cried out like a lunatic. I quickly snapped it back to shape and let it dangle. As long as it’s still there, I can heal it with a potion.
Looking around, I quickly found Fang struggling to stand up. Ember was with her, though still unconscious. Seeing that the two were safe for a moment, I quickly used my left hand to draw a health potion from the storage ring. As soon as I held it in my hand, I dumped all its contents inside my mouth and gulped.
A warm feeling started spreading from my throat toward my whole body. The busted eardrum, the broken arm, and the numerous cuts and bruises around my body all vanished in an instant.
“Buying that one million credit potion for an emergency was a brilliant idea… But I should’ve bought more!”
The potion I drank was the only one of its type. The remaining ones were weaker and takes more time to heal the body. If possible, I wanted Fang to drink that potion, but for now, I better take over her role and carry them.
The Void Beast just recovered its stance and was about to resume the chase. I dashed forward and copied Fang’s actions. After throwing the two of them over my shoulders, I suddenly felt a heavy burden upon my body. The two of them are heavier than their skinny looks suggest!
Despite the weight, however, I steeled myself and started running. However, my running speed is definitely slower than Fang’s. The Void Beast would quickly catch up to us if I continue at this pace.
“Don’t underestimate me!!!”
I manipulated the energy inside my body to circulate faster. Although this method would strengthen the muscles, tendons, and bones, it would also place a large burden on the body.
With one large step, I steadily gained distance from the Void Beast. The beast roared in anger once more, however, this time, my ears didn’t burst. I guess the circulated energy protected me from damage.
As the saying goes, the candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long. Although this method makes me move even faster than Fang earlier, it was gradually eating away at my life force.
Although I was gaining distance, I could feel the blood surging up from my throat. Moving my body above the threshold it could handle damaged my internal organs.
“Guh!!! AAAAAAH!”
Despite all that, I steeled myself and ran. The mountain was getting closer and closer in my view, we should reach it in a few more seconds. Although I couldn’t look behind and confirm, since I could feel the heavy footsteps following from behind, the Void Beast was still hot on our tail.
At the mountainside, I could see a large opening. It was like a crack in the mountain’s side. Without hesitation, I started heading for it. Soon, we were almost at the opening. At that moment, however, I felt all hairs on my back raise.
I quickly tried to stop my dash and ducked, but the momentum still sent us rolling forward. I hugged Ember and Fang as tight as I could to avoid separating from them. At that moment, a large boulder crashed a few meters in front. If I didn’t try to stop, it would have landed on top of us perfectly. 𝓫𝓭𝓸𝓋𝓁．𝓬𝓸𝓂
Although I wanted to wipe the cold sweat from my forehead, I quickly picked the two again and squeezed what little of the energy I still had to jump. When I did, I just noticed that the hole wasn’t a cave but more of a pit.
While falling, I held Ember and Fang, placing myself under them. Having spent all my energy, my consciousness started fading. After that, I just prayed that we survive the fall.