Regnum Aetern: Dual Rebirth

Chapter 136: The twenty-two hours long struggle

"Huff... Huff..."

Adrian took a sharp turn as he continued running with everything he had.

The bear-like monster, despite its massive size, was faster than him. So if he were to run straight, then the monster would catch up to him easily. That was why Adrian continued taking sharp turns from time to time.

If he found a large tree, he would climb up ‌to it and rest until the tree was knocked down. And then he would continue running again.

Repeating this process, Adrian had somehow passed two more hours. Only twenty hours were left now. Still, his muscles were already strained from all the running, and he didn’t think he would be able to keep this up for twenty hours.

No, even keeping this up for two hours would be too much for him.

While running, mana began gathering on both his palms, materializing into starlit black spheres. Adrian shot both of them at the same time, each aimed at the monster’s eye.

But even with two starlit black spheres coming its way, the monster swatted them away with ease.

Still, it distracted the monster for a bit, giving Adrian the opportunity he was looking for.

Adria swiftly climbed a tree with dense leaves and tried his best to hide himself.

’I have a feeling that this isn’t going to work.’

As he had expected, the monster looked around briefly after being unable to spot him. But then, it raised its nose high and began sniffing the air.

And moments later, the monster turned in his direction and roared.

"RAAAGGGGHHHH!!!"

Adrian clicked his tongue.

’I knew it wasn’t going to work!’

The monster charged towards the tree, intending to ram into its trunk, but he had already jumped down by that time and started running.

It was clear that the monster possessed a strong sense of smell, and hiding from it wasn’t an option either. And based on how obsessed it seemed with the idea of hunting him, it was likely that this monster would track him down with his scent even if Adrian were to lose it.

’Now what?’

How was he going to survive for twenty more hours?

’Think! Think! Think—’

An idea suddenly flashed through his mind, causing him to look around. But he couldn’t spot what he was trying to find. The jungle was simply too dense.

More than that, he suddenly realized that he didn’t even know where he was right now. He had been running without thinking, only focusing on not getting caught by the monster chasing him from behind.

Adrian gritted his teeth.

’It’s all messed up at this point.’

He was certain he was lost now, and he had no idea which direction he was even running.

He quickly climbed another tree. But this time, he didn’t wait until the tree fell. He jumped to the nearby tree the next moment. It was not that hard because of his light weight combined with the strength increase from Phase Two.

And so he continued jumping from one tree to another.

The monster seemed briefly confused by the sudden development, but it began chasing him soon after.

This was when things got a bit easier for Adrian.

Since he was jumping between trees instead of running on the ground, he didn’t have to worry about being struck down by the monster’s paws from behind. The monster also seemed to have a hard time keeping track of him.

If Adrian landed on some large tree, he would take a few moments to rest and then begin jumping between trees again.

But even with that, he didn’t think he would be able to keep this up for long. He would eventually run out of stamina.

’And this monster doesn’t seem to be growing tired.’

Just then, Adrian spotted something in the distance. It was exactly what he had been searching for.

It was a cave.

Adrian didn’t think much and began going in the direction of the cave. It looked deep and seemed rather narrow.

’Perfect!’

He ran straight inside the cave. Its entrance was rather narrow, but he was able to enter easily thanks to his small size.

But the next moment, the entirety of the cave shook as the monster rammed into it. Thankfully, the cave seemed to be a gap between several massive rocks. It was sturdy enough not to get demolished even after the beast rammed its head into the entrance several times.

Adrian could see the monster’s hunger-filled eye looking at him through the narrow entrance.

He sighed

’I just need to hold out here for twenty hours. The monster wouldn’t be able to attack me as long as I’m in this cave.’

Thankfully, he was neither hungry nor thirsty enough that he would die within a day.

And so, Adrian sat motionlessly at the end of the cave as time continued to pass.

Outside, the monster roared in anger, rammed into the cave several more times, and even tried to destroy the massive rocks forming the cave. Thankfully, none of its attempts were successful.

And just like that, about sixteen hours passed, and only four more hours were left before The Curse of Nortos took effect, which would kill the monster.

But that was when the monster did something Adrian never expected.

It covered its paw in mana and began clawing at the entrance, as if trying to widen it.

’Ah, hell!’

Adrian’s heartbeat sped up.

That was because even though it was slow, it was working. The cave structure, which had held out against all ‌the monster’s attacks, was slowly widening bit by bit, creating space for the massive paw to enter further.

At this rate, it would reach him before four hours were up.

He couldn’t attack the paw since it was covered in mana, which meant that space implosion would barely have any effect. Instead, he materialized the starlit black sphere and fired it at the end of the cave.

’This is the only way! I need to dig the cave further so that the paw doesn’t reach me in time!’

And so he did, covering both his hands in mana and shaping it into a shovel-like shape.

Thus, the race began.

A race with his survival on the line.

"Hufff... Ugh..."

Adrian didn’t know how much time had passed, as all his focus had been on moving his hand faster and digging more quickly. But by now, the monster’s paw was right behind him, and its mana-covered claw was moments away from piercing his back.

’No...’

Adrian gritted his teeth.

But just then, the monster’s paw... froze. And the next moment it was as though it suddenly lost all strength.

He paused and looked at the paw tensely.

’...Did it work?’

The mana covering the paw slowly dissipated moments later. Even though the paw now blocked the cave’s entrance, he somehow got out through the narrow space.

As he exited the cave, the massive corpse of the bear-like monster came into view. Looking at its lifeless eyes, he felt as though the monster had died without realizing it.

’I should get away from here before its smell attracts some other monster or beast.’

Adrian recovered The Curse of Nortos and quickly left the area. He had obviously lost his way and ended up in the wrong direction. Still, he began moving towards the direction he believed to be north.

He was careful to hide and did his best not to encounter another creature.

’-Uh?’

In the distance, Adrian suddenly spotted the silhouette of a person. And when he focused more, it turned out to be a human.