Late evening and at the first major crossroads, Arthur found himself needing to burn through his resources at an astounding rate. Already, he was down his trump card with the Refined Exploding Energy Dart from his Pocket Simpanan gone. He was flooding his body with the Heavenly Sage’s Mischief such that he was moving faster than ever, which was a good thing because he was barely able to keep up with the numerous attacks coming at him from his current opponents.
Whoever had decided that a hunting party of jenglot should be allowed to roam the roads sucked. Big time He’d fought them before, of course, with help from his Clan mates on the first floor. However, fighting them alone was something else entirely, especially outnumbered as he was.
He could only be glad it wasn’t a hunting party of orcs.
As it stood, Arthur was pouring Yin energy into the surroundings, blocking and slicing and retreating to ensure the group didn’t manage to surround him. Between all the points he’d poured into Body since and the boost from Heavenly Sage’s Mischief, Arthur was actually stronger and much, much faster than any single jenglot.
Which was rather amazing to think of, considering how much he struggled when he’d first encountered them.
Problem was, with a half-dozen fighting him, he was constantly turning away claws, stabbing his spear into exposed body parts and slamming the shaft into legs just to slow them down. However, wounds and the Yin Aura was slowly, slowly draining them, making them slower.
A lean out of the way, the too slow retraction of a clawed arm meant Arthur managed to sink his spear all the way into the exposed armpit.
Drift backwards another step, use the haft of the retracted spear to push aside another attack and then sidestep backwards while setting the spear on the ground to take the lunge of another. Watch as it sinks in, the creature coughing in surprise, hot air washing over your face with the stench of rotting meat and something sweet and then shoulder charge.
Shove the body off the spear, spin it around to smack a jenglot in the leg and sweep it off its feet, turn and elbow another as its claws scrape along the armor.
Keep moving, keeping spinning and retreating and then, breakthrough to retreat the other way, leaving dead and dying bodies behind. The Yin Aura constantly robbing them of energy, pulling those that were bleeding and suffering already into enforced slumber. Until, suddenly, there was only one left and it was charging you and you only had to put the spear into its heart, the spear extended so fast its attempts to block it was for naught.
Arthur cleaned up soon afterward, pocketing the monster cores and heading for the crossroads. He stretched as he did so, rubbing his hands on his thighs to get rid of the last of the gumminess and eyed both pathways. As expected, there was a small sign right in the middle, similar to hiking signs.
"Mountain peak - 34km. Scenic Route to Peak - 53k," he read out loud, rolling his eyes. What did surprise him was the extra note, at the bottom of the scenic route. - Kampung Baru - 24km.
"A new village, might have some... dirtage?" Arthur scratched his head. How did you rhyme village? PIllage? "Oooh, a new village, to pillage!"
Well, with that kind of rhyme and thinking, it was obvious which way he had to go. And it wasn't that much longer, right?
Who was he kidding. This was going to take him a few extra days at a minimum. He would need to speed up, but that was for tomorrow. Today, he was going to take it easy, until he was certain he had a good grasp of the kind of random monsters, traps and nastiness that was waiting to mess up his day. Then, and only then, was he going to speed up.
Better safe than dead.
***
Half an hour later, Arthur was sprinting all out. Not because he was trying to catch up on lost time, or was running away from a monster. In fact, if he turned his head to the side, he would spot a half-dozen other creatures running beside him - from the kuching hitam to a small sounder of babi ngepit to a weird, warbling thing that was missing half its body but threw itself forward on its rotund other-half and pushed off with its sole leg and arm every time it finished its bounce and roll.
Every single creature was sprinting as fast as they could, all because of a ridiculous trap. Or just geographic hazard. Hard to say what triggered the event, since Arthur was almost certain he had not tripped or stepped on anything that would have caused it.
Even so, the landslide kept pouring heavy rocks and earth down on the group. Rocks that varied in size from tiny pebbles to rocks the size of his torso careened down around them, the initial edges of the rumbling mass striking with impunity.
A hard crunch, a pained squeal as a babi ngepit was taken down. The rock, twice the size of Arthur’s own fist had smashed into the monster’s leg, leaving it crippled. Not even its own sounder slowed down, the animal panic of their impending demise gripping the group tight as they sprinted to get away from the rocky cliff.
In the distance, Arthur could see the line of safety. An unnatural cessation of the rockslide, a magical barrier that bounced rocks and other hazards away. That was causing its own problem, as the area just ahead of the safe zone bean to fill with obstacles, boulders and uneven ground that would need to be traversed at speed.
Something to concern himself with later, when he reached it.
If.
Ahead, the bouncing monster - something from Chinese folklore Arthur was certain though he knew not its name - was half in the air, ready to come down when it was struck in quick succession by one, two and then a third rock as it was diverted.
Suddenly, it was no longer headed for the narrow but firm trail, but directed into open space to their left. As the dust from the stirred air choked him, Arthur could swear the creature met his gaze, despair writ large before it plunged off the end of the curving trail.
Foot hit the ground, hard, rock nearly turning over under Arthurs own feet. He shoved and stumbled, righting himself a moment later, ignoring the constant beat and ping of rocks striking him. Something sharp cut across his face, drawing a stinging line across his nose and nearly taking out an eye, and all he could do was run.
A hundred meters never felt so far.
Another strike, across the head from a rock threw him off a little. He kept moving, arms pumping, his backpack swinging behind him as he tried to keep his spear tucked in close. Once again, he wished he had a magical storage ring, something to keep his weapons and gear magically put away.
None of that for him, of course, so he had to risk his spear getting yanked out of the way, the backpack struck, his own body thrown around.
A particularly large boulder bounced ahead of him, slamming into the earth. Without thought, Arthur triggered his Cloud Step as he leapt, bouncing off the formed cloud just moments before impacting the rock so that he was in the air again.
He knew it was a bad idea in a way, but with enough clearance above the ground, he was, he believed, safe enough from falling hazards. They were still coming down, all around him, driving into the earth. In mid-air, with nothing but his techniques to pay attention to, he risked a look upwards.
Saw the massive amount of rock still coming down, the knowledge that if he got caught in it, he’d probably be so much squished Climber.
Then, finally his feet struck the earth again. Ankle turned under the uneven ground, but adrenaline and fear kept him moving, even as a lightning bolt of agony raced up his shin. Around him, more of the creatures had fallen by the wayside even as a sharp s-turn came up before the end of this race.
A turn that was already half-filled with bouncing rocks, a choking cloud of dust that took out even his eyesight and only a few seconds left before the entire mountain came down.