Grunting as he booted the carcass of a dead boar, Kaius ripped his blade free from its shoulder and ran on. Blood dripped from his blade—crystal and layered steel dyed a deep crimson from the remnants of his ongoing slaughter.
They were almost there.
Their descent down the hillside had been a rough one. Seemingly every one of their pursuers could smell that they had almost reached safety—a new savage furiosity driving the beasts forwards into their flanks. He'd had to drain the last of his charges of Hateful Nail just to break their way through a full pack of wolves that had suddenly descended upon them from the side.
An especially painful expenditure, since he'd long since cast the last of his Stormlash.
They had to almost be there.
Even with his sharpened sight, Kaius had no idea where they were heading. The underbrush was dense, tangled bushes and brambles mixing with shorter trees to create a natural veil that obscured his vision—rendering his ability to see far into the distance useless.
Kenva, at least, insisted she could still see it—if partially only because of being so high in the canopy above.
It was a strange feeling, for one so used to navigating through the forest. It left him feeling…unsettled. Though, he did have to admit that this was far different than the Arboreal Sea he had grown up in. Old growth, and large beyond compare, the trees of the Sea blanketed the ground below, inhibiting much of the brush that he was struggling with now.
Ahead, Ianmus suddenly turned, as the mana he wove with his staff crystalised into a hazy sigil. Light flooded free, settling around Kaius like a blanket—sinking in to revitalise his fatigue and fill him with new fire.
A moment later, Ianmus blitzed sideways in a burst of light—narrowly avoiding a deer that leapt free from the brush in an attempt to gore him. The beast brayed loudly, before it peeled off and sprinted at the whims of whatever compulsion drove them to migrate.
**Ding! You have been Enhanced - Sundrenched Strength!**
Kaius groaned in relief at the reprieve, quickening his pace just a little more.
"Thanks!" he called, slipping sideways as a blurt of doom in his mind warned him of an approaching attack from the rear. He whipped back.
A boar. He cut through the muscles on its shoulder, sending it crashing to the dirt.
"Kaius, we've got a problem!" Kenva called.
His heart fluttered. What the fuck could it be now, they needed this break.
"What?!" he yelled back.
"The delve, It's still below us!"
"So?" Porkchop replied.
"The hill isn't dropping fast enough—I think it's down a cliff!" Kenva replied, before she let out a groan of frustration and lept straight up—punching out of the canopy.
"Fuck!" she screamed in fustration. "I saw it, it's definitely down a cliff, and worse, it's layer twenty-five. We're going to have to bank right!"
Ianmus started cackling in front of him, still running as he swatted a leaping squirrel out of the air.
Kaius couldn't help but howl too. What were the fucking chances?
"We'll take it!" he called up.
"What? Are you serious? I saw what you can do, but a layer like that will chew us up in a day! Plus, it's off a bloody cliff!"
Kaius kept laughing, struggling to believe the fickle hand of fate.
"We don't have a better option, and we'll be fine! We'll level quickly!"
Kenva made a sound like she was being strangled, but made no move to change their heading.
Soon, the trees started to thin, and Kaius got his first glimpse of their path to freedom.
A ravine had split the earth, the ground dropping away like a titan had taken a swipe out of the forest with a great axe.
Deep in its reaches, a river coursed—violent and angry.
"Oh by my Matriarch's tail, this is ridiculous." Porkchop groaned, staring at the monolith of grey stone that erupted from the middle of the rapids below, a circle of dense runes engraved on its surface.
They glowed with a brilliance in Kaius's mana sight.
A portal.
Kenva launched from the trees, halting next to them at the edge of the ravine.
Kaius looked down at the drop. Gods, it was far.
"Well, at least this time I probably won't break my legs." he sighed, eying the deep blue water below—plenty deep enough that they wouldn't hit the bottom.
"What?" Kenva said, looking at him sharply as he started stowing his armour in the storage rings on his fingers. She quickly followed his example—hearing the baying calls of their pursuers fast approaching.
Her words only made Ianmus laugh harder.
"I'll tell you later, now come on!" Kaius replied.
He jumped, a scream of exhilaration on his lips.