charged toward the snake at high speed, reinforcing my body with mana while my spear was covered in silver flames.
As I got closer and closer, I aimed to stab the snake, which was as large as a ten-story building.
But the snake did not remain still. Its body dove into the soft sand at incredible speed.
"Damn..." Even with my great speed, the Eye of Truth, and my ability, I could not reach it easily.
The ground remained calm without a single tremor.
I raised my spear cautiously while focusing all my senses to determine where the snake would attack from.
It did not take long. As the sound of digging grew louder, the snake's tail burst out from beneath me.
With caution and fear of being hit, I leaped quickly into the air to avoid it, glancing in fear at the tail that struck my previous position.
Before I could react, the snake's massive head emerged behind me and opened its enormous mouth in an attempt to swallow me whole.
"For the hell—" I could not finish my sentence before the monster rushed toward me at terrifying speed.
I could not respond, even with my ability activated.
I quickly raised my spear in front of my body to stop it, but it was useless.
The snake's head approached with its mouth wide open, staring at me greedily with its terrifying green eyes.
I could not move my body in midair. Only one second remained before the snake devoured me.
I raised my spear as fast as I could, placing it in front of my body in a defensive stance.
The terrifying snake closed its jaws while I was inside, but it could not shut them completely because of the spear.
"Damn you..." As the snake kept trying to close its mouth, I felt as if I were being crushed. The pain in my body intensified, my veins bulged, and before I could even get used to it...
A green liquid dripped onto my right arm.
"AAAAAH!" I let out a horrified scream as pain surged through me.
"Damn it... it was corrosive venom." I could not form a proper thought because of the pain.
Strength was being drained from my body, and my resistance was weakening.
At some point, I began to feel the black spear starting to crack.
"Damn it... my weapon is going to break!"
But once again, the green liquid fell onto my arm, and another scream escaped my mouth.
As the pressure on my body increased, my internal organs began to be crushed.
With a splattering sound, blood burst from my mouth and started falling to the ground.
I tried with all my strength to endure longer and ignore the pain, but I could not. My eyes had turned red from the blood.
"I need to get out of here... now." That was the only thought I could form while being crushed inside the giant monster's mouth.
The beast's eyes began to shine with rage, and the snake extended its tongue, wrapping it around the spear.
"Damn it!" As I let out a painful cry, I used even more mana to activate my acceleration skill on myself.
Seconds before the spear broke and I was crushed, I pushed with all my strength against one of the snake's fangs, from which venom was dripping.
"AAAH!" As I placed my foot on the fang, the green venom began eating away at my foot.
"I... have to... endure..." I gritted my teeth as my eyes gleamed and blood dripped from my mouth.
"AAAH!" I screamed at the top of my lungs and pushed with every ounce of strength I could summon through my leg.
I succeeded. My body was launched backward at tremendous speed. The first thing I saw after escaping its mouth was the spear snapping into two pieces, while the giant snake shut its jaws and glared at me with rage and a cold killing intent that shook the surrounding air.
"You bastard..." Gritting my teeth and enduring the pain wracking my body, I quickly activated my ability to slow my fall.
After stumbling across the scorching sand, I finally managed to steady myself, but...
The moment I planted my feet, a chill ran through me. My senses screamed at me to dodge.
Before I could finish the thought, my body instinctively threw itself toward a nearby patch of sand.
By only a hair's breadth, the snake's tail burst out again—but this time it was spinning like a drill.
I stared in horror at the tail that had transformed into a drill.
"A hair..." That was the distance separating me from death.
The pain in my body intensified again, blood continued to spill, and the burning sensation in my foot and hand from the venom worsened.
I stumbled and fell to the ground.
I tried to stand, but the pain was too severe.
"Damn..."
"Damn..."
"Damn..."
"This is a C-rank rift, not a D-rank..." I cursed inwardly while continuing to reinforce my body with mana, forcing myself to move and resist the pain.
With my jaw clenched tight, I finally managed to stand.
But once again, every instinct in me screamed to run.
This time, however, my body could not respond.
The snake charged at terrifying speed, the earth shaking beneath it. Its green eyes had turned red, and its mouth was wide open.
"I'm going to die..." A horrifying sense of death engulfed me. Though I had felt it many times over the past two months, never had it been this intense.
"Cancer..." Another thought flashed through my mind before vanishing.
I reinforced my body with everything I had and poured half of my remaining mana into
strengthening my defenses.
I gritted my teeth, ignored the pain, and moved slightly to the left.
No... never.
That was nowhere near enough to survive, or even to dodge.
But instead of swallowing me... it...
"AAAAAAAHHH!" I let out another horrifying scream as I felt a fang pierce through my arm.
The venom began working immediately, and a catastrophic burning sensation spread through my hand.
My mind broke from the pain. I could not form another thought.
My hand was pinned on the monster's fang, and my body followed it.
The snake raised its head toward the sky, then slammed me into the ground.
Once...
Twice...
Three times...
A torrent of blood burst from me as my body was smashed left and right.
I raised my head slightly and forced myself to look at the snake.
Its eyes revealed mockery.
Cold mockery toward the prey it had caught.
A flood of emotions surged through me ..fear, shock, and the realization of my approaching death.
But amidst it all, anger and hatred began to stir inside me.
I felt the pain slowly fading as my body regained some of its strength.
It was nothing more than an adrenaline rush.
It erased the pain and numbed my senses.
Using what little mana remained, I activated the Eye of Truth and looked at it as rage drove my body forward.
Flames erupted from my body, covering me like a burning shell.
"HHEESSSS!" The snake opened its mouth and screamed in pain as the silver flames burned its soul and froze its body.
It released a roar that pierced the sky.
My ears began to bleed from the roar, but the adrenaline ignored both the pain and the flowing blood.
I yanked my hand free from the fang while gritting my teeth.
The state of my hand was miserable rotted flesh and a wide hole pierced through it.
I bit my lip until blood flowed, and as I pulled my hand free, I dropped directly toward the snake's head near its eyes.
With turbulent mana surging inside me and silver flames covering my body, I pulled out a dagger with my right hand, which was still intact.
I poured a large amount of flame into the dagger.
"AAAAAH!" With a scream at the top of my lungs, while the monster's terrifying roar echoed across the desert...
I pierced its red eye.
"HHEESSSS!" Another horrifying roar erupted, shaking my very being. Even with adrenaline, I could not withstand it this time.
Blood streamed from the monster's pierced eye, while its other eye turned completely red from madness.
I could not move my body or do anything in my current state. I gripped the dagger with all my strength and drove it deeper into its eye.
But with a crushing sound, the beast hurled me violently toward the ground.
I felt my bones break from the impact.
"HSS!" The monster roared as it slammed its head into the sand, trying to remove the dagger lodged in its eye.
The source of its savage pain.
"HSSS!" Another impact followed, then another.
But it could not remove it.
"Chance..." I thought quickly as I looked at the beast smashing itself into the ground, beginning to ignore me.
"Crunch..." As I bit my lip again until blood spilled, I could feel the pain slowly returning.
"I have to run... quickly." My Calm Mind skill worked with all its might to steady my thoughts and produce one clear idea.
I stood up slowly, staggering across the ground and screaming from the overwhelming pain.
I closed my eyes and focused once more on the mana within me to reinforce my body again.
After a few moments, I succeeded and used every last drop of mana to strengthen my legs and activate my ability.
"Acceleration..." I said through gritted teeth.
Then I shot forward at full speed toward the rift I had entered from.
"HSSS!"
The giant snake noticed my attempt to escape and glared at me with terrifying hatred that sent chills through me.
It roared again, one eye bleeding with the dagger buried in it, while the other was red as blood.
Then it charged after me at terrifying speed.
"Damn... it's going to catch me!" I thought in horror when I saw how fast it was.
The rift was one minute away from my current position... I could feel it.
I could sense its location.
But... could I escape this monster at this speed? My eyes revealed despair.
"No... I have to try."
Everything... every last drop of mana remaining inside me... I poured it into my legs to push my body faster.
Even so, I was still slower than the snake.
60 seconds...
30 seconds...
15 seconds...
10 seconds...
At my current speed, only ten seconds remained before I reached the rift.
But the monster was only centimeters behind me, roaring furiously as the ground trembled.
9...
8...
7...
6...
5...
4...
3...
2...
I was only one second away from the rift gate, but the monster was directly behind me.
"AAAAAH!" With another scream and the
sensation of tearing flesh, I felt its fang begin to pierce my back. But I did not stop.
I had arrived.
I looked at the small rift as pain consumed me.
Gathering every bit of strength I had left, I leaped into it.
In less than the blink of an eye, I found myself in the void once more.
My eyes shone when I felt that familiar sensation.
"I survived..." I thought as my body began falling rapidly toward the ground.
Low mana...
Normal gravity...
And slightly polluted winds...
I knew that I had escaped.
And it was the happiest thing that had happened to me.