The sun, having past its zenith, grew increasingly unable to pierce the thick fog atop the Lumut Mountains, leaving only a faint, dim light behind. Within the dense mist, the silhouettes of several figures could be seen running as if flying across the cliff. At that moment, Solor, who remained motionless as his horse refused to take another step out of fear, heard the footsteps of the running figures stepping onto the white paving stones. As they drew closer, three young men revealed themselves, running a marathon. "Hurry over here...!!!" The shout echoed across the cliffside, piercing through the fog. They ran across the Moss Bridge. "Ouw... So that's where the path is!" Upon realizing it, Solor tried to tighten and tug at his reins to continue the journey. However, his progress was halted by his horse, which stubbornly refused to run. A giant white crocodile had been staring at his horse from beside a massive, lushly leafed rain tree. "Come on... Wus Wus, move!!" Solor's forceful push startled his horse into standing upright, just as a tooth-filled jaw with a gaping snout suddenly lunged from behind the bushes. GRROAARRPPPPPSSS! Solor and his horse were thrown apart toward the edge of the cliff, nearly falling into the ravine. GRROARRR! The giant white crocodile's mouth lunged, pushing Solor's horse, and pinned it at the tip of its snout. Instantly, the horse was hurled high into the air to be devoured by the wide-open jaws waiting below. However, the crocodile's deadly bite was delayed when Solor's small kujang stabbed right into its eye. Slattcchh tcaappp! GRROAAARRR..! His horse's body slammed against the giant white crocodile's face, then tumbled down into the ravine. "Wus Wuss!!!" Solor's heart shattered instantly. Yet, his grief was cut short by the snap of the crocodile's jaws, which he fortunately managed to evade in time. Strethhh... He extended his hands and feet to the side to balance his crouching posture, his left palm touching the ground. "You bastard!" With swift movements, Solor intended to charge toward the mouth of the ravine to save his horse. However, the giant white crocodile moved closer to block his path. He alertly took a few steps backward. GRRRRR... He glanced behind him. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of another giant white crocodile already standing directly behind him. Plakkk.. Plaakk.. Plaakk.. His palms slammed repeatedly against the ground. Both of his eyes stared far ahead at the three youths who had reached the middle of the white stone bridge. "HEY.. RUN..!!" The three youths turned to look at Solor. The ground's tremors grew stronger. It turned out the three youths were being pursued by dozens of giant white crocodiles, stacked over one another like surging waves. Because there were so many giant crocodiles, some could not fit onto the white bridge of the Lumut Path. Several of them crawled along the cliff wall, fell into the ravine on the opposite side, swam across the river, and attempted to scramble back up toward them. Fiiuuuiiittttt...! Plaakk.. Solor's palm slapped the mossy ground once more. Fiiuuiiiiitttt.....!! Solor's whistle echoed. He created vibrations again by repeatedly slapping his palms against the ground. Plakk! Plak! Plaakkk! Solor raised his right hand, then slowly turned to run into the forest. Instantly, the two giant white crocodiles that had been blocking Solor turned and crawled after him. "SAVE MY HORSE!!" Ffiiiiiuuuiiittt... .. The echo of the whistle resounded throughout the forest. The three youths, having successfully crossed the bridge, continued running along the cliff's edge. However, as they reached the end of the bridge, the dozens of white crocodiles that had been tailing them suddenly shifted to follow the direction of Solor's whistle. "Phew... phew... Hey, that guy...!" A tall, fair-skinned youth stopped running. Behind him, a burly youth followed, panting heavily. Showing off the muscles in his arms, he bent over with both hands resting on his knees. "Hahh... so what do we do now...? Hahh..." "That guy earlier... hahh..." A youth with olive skin and long sideburns stopped between his two exhausted companions, who looked as though they had been running all day long. "Hahh.. Come on... let's keep going... we have to help his horse!" All three youths looked pale, their lips turning bluish. Eeeekkkkkkh... "Hey...!" The tallest youth ran toward the edge of the cliff. He saw two giant crocodiles swimming toward Solor's horse, which had been standing bewildered atop a root branch on the ravine wall. "Ag... the horse is over here!!!" Quickly, they rushed over and peered down. Solor's horse looked scared to death as two giant crocodiles tried to climb up the cliff wall toward it. The echo of Solor's whistle continued to sound further away. "Should I throw my spear??" The tall, fair-skinned youth turned to the youth whose center-parted hair was soaked with sweat, bound by a black udeng with long sideburns clinging to his sweaty cheeks. "No! It's useless...!" "Let's help pull the horse up!!!" The short-haired, center-parted youth knew that Solor's horse was relatively small, so there was a chance they could lift it. Without wasting time, he ran into the forest to find something. The nearly bald youth looked down into the ravine, watching Solor's horse squirm helplessly. He looked up, his narrow eyes now fixing on the handsome, fair-skinned youth whose hair was tied into a slight top knot bound by a wrapped black udeng. "Why is there a child all alone in these mountains!" "Hey! Are you crazy!" "That was an old man earlier!" The tall, slender youth raised his spear to aim at the head of the swimming crocodile. "A person with a full beard like that, and you call him a child!" "When will you ever stop being crazy!!" The burly youth immediately wrapped his arm around his neck in a headlock. "What did you say? Me, crazy?!" "Yes!!" The tall, fair-skinned youth turned to look straight at him. "And you never get better!!" Instantly, the burly youth tightened his headlock, trying to force his companion down to the ground. "Hey!" "Here...!" Before they could wrestle, the short-haired, center-parted youth returned carrying a thick vine, its end firmly tied to a tree trunk. "Come on, pull!!" That call immediately prompted the other two youths to grab and pull the thick vine to hurl it into the ravine. They worked together to pull it. Kraakk! The vine snapped. "Argh... there's no time!" "Joko!! Grab Handoko's legs!!" declared Agniran, the short-haired, center-parted youth, as he wrapped the remainder of the vine and tied it tightly around the waist of Joko, the burly youth. "Remember!!! We must be strong! Use all your strength...!" Handoko, the fair-skinned youth, swallowed hard. His long lips moved, revealing his dimples. "What are you going to do, Ag??!" "I trust you guys!" Agniran looked back and forth between them, ending with a firm nod. "We're making a human chain!!" Without warning, Agniran leaned his back outward to reach into the ravine. "Grab my feet, Han!!" he shouted to Handoko. Before Handoko could react out of shock, Joko snatched Handoko's spear and bag and tossed them onto the ground. Quickly, Joko forcibly spun Handoko around and pushed him over, plunging back-first into the ravine. "Crazy fool!!" Handoko's back swung in the air, but his hands swiftly caught Agniran's ankles. Meanwhile, Joko from above held tightly onto Handoko's knees. Thuddd..! Their dangling backs slammed against the cliff wall below. "HOLD ON TIGHT!!" "Aaaaa...! You guys are out of your minds!!" screamed Handoko, mentally unprepared. Nevertheless, they succeeded in forming a human chain. Agniran's hands immediately reached down from above toward the belly of Solor's horse. Their backs pressed against the slick, moss-covered stone wall of the cliff. "Lower me a bit more...!!" Joko bent his legs until he was almost lying flat on his stomach to hold Handoko's ankles. "Pull quickly!" Handoko felt as if his strength was running out because the weight pressing down on his body was growing heavier. "Don't give up, just a little more...!" Agniran raced against time to reach the short horse that kept whinnying and squirming on the cliff root branch. Now, both of Agniran's hands managed to scoop around the horse's belly. "PULL!!" The giant white crocodile below almost snapped its jaws. The echo of Solor's whistle could still be heard, though it was fading. Unfortunately, the whistle was no longer paid attention to by the two giant white crocodiles below, one of which was already about to snap at the horse's legs. "COME ON, PULL!!!" Their movement briefly halted. The weight was simply too heavy to lift just like that. "Aghhh..." Quickly, Agniran switched his grip to embrace both front legs of the small brown horse, then shouted again to pull. "PULL FAST!!" Solor's whistling grew fainter in the distance. The two giant white crocodiles below grew wilder, the snout of one already prepared to snap. Joko, standing at the edge of the cliff, mustered all his strength. "Aghhh..." With all his might, he pulled Handoko's legs, shifting his grip until he managed to embrace Handoko's thighs. "PUULLLL!!" Without pause, Joko kept lifting. His muscular arms tightly hugged Handoko's inverted thighs. His face turned to the side, groaning under the strain until the veins on his forehead stood out between his thick eyebrows. "Didn't expect your butt to be so flat, Masee..." Sroottthh! The tip of his pointed nose rubbed against the fabric of Handoko's pants. It felt soft as it slid across his face. "Heyyy.. Don't you dare try anything funny!!" Handoko yelled. He was scared to death of falling, but his face was a mix of amusement, wanting to laugh, and annoyance. "PULL QUICKLY!!" Agniran, hanging at the very bottom, began to panic because the giant white crocodile's snout was crawling up, nearly snapping at him. Joko mustered his final remaining strength. His legs, which had been bent in a deep squat, slowly straightened. With a powerful heave, he pulled Handoko's body up, crawling his grip from thighs to waist. As he pulled with all his might, Handoko's buttocks rubbed against his nose once more. The vest Handoko was wearing slipped down until it hung around his chest and armpits. His bare, sweat-soaked back rubbed directly against Joko's face, dampening his cheeks and lips. Joko even squeezed his narrow eyes shut tightly. His breath caught, his jaw hardened, and his face tensed as though his entire life force was being squeezed out in a single heave. With what strength he had left, he finally managed to stand while pulling Handoko's body up like hauling water from a well. His muscular hands then switched to grab Agniran's legs. That movement was met by Handoko, who joined in by pulling his own legs backward. Agniran, still gripping the front legs of the short, light-brown horse with its golden tail tightly, was gradually pulled out of reach. The gaping crocodile snout was now only a few inches below them. The horse's hind legs moved quickly to scramble up the cliff wall, helping lighten the pull until its body was pushed out over the rim of the gorge. Bruaaghhh! They finally succeeded in pulling Solor's horse out of the cliff, leaving Joko slumped limp on the ground, nearly passing out. "Ah... we finally made it." Handoko sat leaning back, his long arms supporting his body from behind. Despite his exhaustion, his gaze remained wary, watching the giant white crocodile still at the mouth of the ravine. "Hurry! We have to help that guy!" Without taking time to rest, Agniran immediately ran while holding the reins, leading Solor's horse into the forest. "Hey, Jok! Get up, quick!" Handoko turned toward Joko, who was lying flat, with an anxious expression, then rushed over to him. The burly youth's face looked purplish. His mouth was agape, his breathing labored, while his narrow eyes were nearly closed beneath his almost-bald head, contrasting with his thick, black eyebrows. Handoko knelt beside Joko's sprawled body. Their faces were now very close. "I'm going to give him CPR!" Instantly, Joko's index finger pressed right against the middle of Handoko's lips. Slowly, he opened his eyes and smiled. The thin mustache above his defined lip line curled up, making his handsome face look all the clearer. "Wait..." Both pairs of eyes beneath their sweaty foreheads met at close range. "This is not the place..." Handoko abruptly stood upright, then grabbed his spear. "You crazy fool!" "I thought you passed out!" He quickly grabbed his spear and ran off fast to catch up with Agniran, who had already entered the forest ahead of them. "Hand!" "Damn it! Leaving me behind!" In a single burst of motion, Joko performed a backflip to spring his body back up, then bolted off to catch up with them.
