Chapter 4 #2
Mental thoughts Alex shrieked, because he didn’t dare utter a single word aloud.
Instead, he began to sweat a thick viscous liquid that was a combination of universal lubricant and a contact poison made of the most monstrous and venomous horrors he had run into in his most recent pair of lives.
At least those that wouldn’t deplete nutrients he really couldn’t afford to lose at the moment, flittering through the jungle in a chaotic desperate attempt at evasion…
only for his instincts to scream as he DUCKED!
Just a heartbeat before the impossibly fast and deadly Gold-tier shadow puma could rip him open from crotch to belly.
A creature just as malicious as it was aware, and most definitely determined to make Alex pay.
You have successfully Bullrushed 56 times!
You have suffered two Light Wounds. You have suffered two Medium Wounds.
You have successfully saved versus crippling injury!
You have successfully saved versus disembowelment!
Spring Leap is now Rank 7!
Alex’s world became one of terror and transcendence as he danced with death at a pace he had never fathomed before as his arms were shredded, his skull mauled, and his abdomen so close to being ruptured that had thought and action not become one, he would have already perished.
Had his pores not covered his body in universal lubricant and the most toxic of poisons as well, he would have perished.
Had he not been communing so deeply with the woods as a whole as vindictive shadows that seemed always a split second ahead tore open his thigh, gouged his ribs, flayed the skin from his ankle, he would already be enduring the most excruciating agony in the stomach of a Gold-tier monster before coming to in the choking bitter cold of the eternal river, strangled in Shui Jun’s coils once more.
Instead, Alex embraced the perilous dance that this truly and eternally was, dodging death with near supernatural cognizance as cruel injuries meant to cripple and torment became strikes that only just hit.
The Gold’s roar of frustration shook the forest as Alex darted about at speeds he last recalled a lifetime ago.
He dared to smile through his terror as limbs fueled by dread and desperation found it ever easier to dodge, dart, and Spring Leap away from claws that were no longer content to torment their prey but now wished to outright kill the vile interloper whose ears were filled with the endless thrum of his super cable shrieking through the spiritual ether at ever greater speeds, saturating his body with the potency of so many who had died in the final act of the Fox and General’s most recent battle.
Power that was slowly becoming Alex’s own.
Congratulations! You have successfully dodged Disemboweling Blow!
You have been critically struck by Shadow Puma.
You have taken one Serious Wound!
You have saved versus Stunning Blow.
Legendary Shadow Puma fails to rupture your skull!
Alex’s fierce smile became a mask of horror once more as a single instant’s blinding pain became his world, jaws snapping from everywhere against his skull—before sliding right off, universal lubricant and indestructible prismatic bones allowing Alex’s most perilous foe to tear off half his scalp and his left ear before sliding right off his Divine-tier skull.
A screaming Alex then Bullrushed so fast and far that the entire forest seemed to blur as he poured every iota of his focus and being into moving FASTER than he ever had before.
And by some miracle, it worked.
Or at least his momentary flash of agonized panic had turned into unbreakable focus.
Once more, he was one with the endless jungle as he sprang from tree trunk to lush, thick foliage to branches rustling with the passage of death as the massive spirit beast moved to intercept him yet again.
Massive shadow claws lashed out with fury to shatter the stout trunk of the tree Alex was about to spring to before he abruptly twisted about, Spring Leaping to the very crown of the tree, because he was finally listening to the desperate rustles of the countless leaves warning Alex of peril—and salvation—just a single sliver of oblivion away.
You have successfully dodged FATAL PERIL!
Spring Leap is now Rank 8.
You have had a breakthrough!
You have ASCENDED TO SILVER!
You spot a gate just ahead.
The messages stunned Alex for less than an eyeblink. He had no time for joy, hesitation, careful planning, or any other move at all, save to dart with all desperate haste for the shimmering rift of obsidian darkness crackling on the treetops just ahead.
Of course, he knew what to expect from a Gold-tier monster so impossibly fast and deadly that it had managed to strike at Alex and rend his flesh over half a dozen times. It would certainly be waiting to end him at just the moment he thought himself free.
Yet Alex didn’t bother trying to dart around while changing position and altitude with the use of his Spring Leap and Forest Sense. The cat had already proven far too skilled at predicting his movements. Whenever he landed on a branch or perch was when he was most vulnerable.
So he kept his vulnerabilities to an absolute minimum as he charged forward with one final Spring Leap now every bit as great as his original movement skill had once been at its prime, having ascended up to Rank 8 in this one excruciatingly deadly encounter.
Allowing him to clear the distance in a single leap.
But because he took absolutely nothing for granted, the split-second leap was done with a howl that was more a furious scream of defiance than anything else, Alex whipping his fangtian ji around in a Darkness-Infused Storm Strike that tore right into the snarling maw of the predator that, of course, was right where it needed to be to tear Alex’s throat out and finish him once and for all.
Only it was somehow the puma staring at Alex in surprise, eyes bulging with disbelief as the air exploded with impossibly bright obsidian lightning that tore right through the spirit beast… and Alex as well.
You have critically struck Legendary Shadow Puma!
Legendary Shadow Puma has taken: Serious Wound.
You have suffered 1 additional Medium Wound.
Prismatic Bones absorb Dark Qi backlash.
Shadow Puma has FLED the vicinity.
You have touched Wild Gate!
Do you wish to port through?
Warning! Exit point is currently: Unknown.
Alex didn’t hesitate. He knew damn well that it had been a surprise as much as anything else that had allowed him to wound the Legendary Shadow Puma to the extent he had.
Because as much as he gloried in the speed and grace with which he had swung his fangtian ji, he knew there wasn’t a chance in hell that he would have gotten in another swing before that monster pivoted around him and struck him from behind, jaws clamping on his throat before it disemboweled him with endless rending kicks.
Such would have been his fate the moment after he had dared to disrupt that cursed configuration, had he not spent every moment desperately fleeing for all he was worth.
Because in this jungle, he was most definitely not at the top of the food chain.
And when death was a sure thing behind him, then pushing forward was the best option there was, no matter how perilous the unknown.
You have chosen: YES!
You have successfully accessed Wild Gate.
Shadow Puma FAILS to crack your skull before you leave the area!
And save for a final awful jolt that disappeared almost as soon as he felt it, making it damn clear what his fate would have been, had he hesitated for even a moment longer, Alex slipped free of that chaotic dungeon instance now forever separated from countless thousands of others, never to return.