After finishing his hunting for the day, Vain decided to return to the cabin for some well needed rest. After eating a large dinner, Vain fell into a deep sleep. Sometime about four to five hours later Vain woke up, not completely rested. "Strange, why did I wake up?" As to answer Vain's question, a large thump sounded throughout the forest, echoing through the night. Following the large thumping noise, the cracking and breaking of trees could be heard.
*Thump Thump Thump*
All of the groginess Vain felt from suddenly waking up was completely gone as his heartbeat seemed to match the large thumping sounds that were coming ever closer. Vain shot out of bed, grabbing all of his gear and rushed outside. It was still the middle of the night with a strong overcast making visibility in the forest extremely poor. Vain frowned because he could clearly hear the sounds of the thumping noise and the trees breaking but he couldn't see anything at all. Vain thought about what to do for a few seconds and quickly decided to run in the exact opposite direction of the thumping noises. Vain never thought something like this could ever happen so he didnt have any plan for a retreat in the middle of the night. That being said, the best option at this point is to run away. "Whatever is making those noises is way too big, It's too dangerous for me." Vain thought as he hurriedly ran towards the river feeling the ground shake beneath him. Vain kept running towards the river and after a few moments of time he finally made it. Vain dove down the river bank and stuck to the inside of one of the meanders.
*Thump Thump Thump*
*Thump Thump Thump*
The giant size footsteps kept getting ever closer and Vain could feel his soul getting ready to leave his body. After a few minutes there was an even louder crashing noise and a monstrous roar that sounded towards the sky. Vain didnt dare move, breathe, or even let his heart beat. Luckily, After about five minutes, the thunderous thumping sounds started to head back into the forest, leaving a wake of howls and plenty other animal screeches in the middle of the night. Vain slowly left the mend of the river, crawling back up the bank to the flat ground. While wiping the sweat from his body, Vain started walking closer to the cabin, maintaining a cautious mindset, constantly scanning his surroundings. Although he couldnt see much due to the current environment, Vain was doing his best to make sure nothing went wrong and also activated camouflage as insurance just to be sure. When Vain was just about fifty meters away from the cabin, his body suddenly stopped and started to shake violently. Vain could now see the cabin... or what was left of it in shambles. Vain stood there clenching his fist so tight his nails started to dig into his skin and draw blood. His home had just been destroyed and he was on the verge of going mad. However, Vain did not forget the situation he was in. He didn't scream, cry or make any other noise because he couldn't tell where or how far the creature had gone with how dark it was in the forest. Vain didnt know what else to do so he went back to the riverside and hid until the sunlight could breakthrough the clouds. Hours passed and the sun finally started to rise. At the break of dawn, Vain hurriedly rushed towards the cabin. When Vain saw the rubble that was once his home, he finally broke down crying aloud. This was the place where he had his fondest memories in both lives. The only place that he truly felt was his home. After about half an hour, Vain managed to recollect his sanity and started to sift through the rubble to find anything he could. Sadly, there was almost nothing left. All Vain could find were a few books that were now in a ragged condition. Vain was at a loss for what to do now because he wanted to take his time and grieve, but he knew that he couldnt stay much longer in case that monster came back. Thinking of the creature that destroyed his home, his rage burned on like an infernal beast but it didn't overtake his reason. Vain gathered his rationale, took his bag off his back, and prepared as much as he could. Sadly, It was time to leave the Pallid Rotwood forest, Vain's first real home. Vain finished packing his things and started heading east after giving his home a long and deep bow of gratitude. His goal was to reach the town of Wysteria just like him and Uncle Ale agreed upon. It was only ninety kilometers away so Vain figured he could leave the forest and reach the town in a few hours. Vain could travel quicker and shorten the time but his only movement power was devastating leap and Vain didn't want to use it in the forest lest he draw attention to himself. After just a short while, Vain could hear a faint sound coming from the east, where he was heading. Vain furrowed his brows but didn't go off of his planned route. After another twenty minutes or so, Vain could hear the sounds of two creatures howls and screeches going back and forth. It sounded like a nasty battle was taking place, however Vain couldnt see any sight or traces of the battle yet. Now understanding what was going on, Vain decided to climb a tree and wait for the battle to stop before he continued on his way. Right when Vain was paying attention to the sounds of battle, a voice played out in his mind "Blight blood mutation 6%" Vain's body trembled in disbelief. He couldnt understand just what happened to cause this terrifying change. "Blight blood mutation 7% 8%." Vain jumped off the tree and hauled ass in the opposite direction going back towards the inside of the forest. However, the messages didn't stop "Blight blood mutation 9% 10% 11%."
"What the hell is going on!?" Vain shouted after realizing that no matter which direction he went, the percentage of blight blood percentage was constantly increasing. "12% 13% 14%." After dead sprinting and using devastating leap in the direction of the cabin, the percentage was still increasing rapidly. The only thing Vain could think of, was that it was related to the fighting monsters. But he wondered why it wasnt increasing earlier when he first heard the fighting noises. Vain couldnt hear the noises now but the percentage was still constantly increasing. To give Vain more anxiety, he couldnt use his blood powers to expel the mutation like how he could expel everything else. Vain had no clue as to what to do, but he thought that killing whatever creature that kept making his percentage rise could maybe stop the mutation. Thinking of this, Vain once again changed his direction and darted back towards the fighting creatures as fast as he could. Thankfully, to find a little treasure in tragedy, Vain realized that it didnt matter how close he was to the fighting monsters, the rate at which his blood was mutating was constant and not exponential.
Ten minutes of Vain sprinting and leaping his hardest passed and Vain could finally see the two monsters fighting in the distance. However, his face had an extremely ugly expression at this point. His blood mutation level was now at 35% and the two monsters fighting in front of him looked way too powerful for him to interfere. About two hundred meters away, Vain saw a giant four meter tall frog like creature that had rotten lumps of flesh that seemed to fall off its body with every move and shake the giant rotten frog made. The lumps of flesh on the ground seemed to pulsate and soak into the ground tainting everything close to them, dead or alive. Currently, Biting into the rotten frog monster was a ten meter long black lizard that had six legs, two horns, and a giant bone spine ridge traveling from its forehead to the end of its tail. Luckily, they looked evenly matched and both were injured. Vain, seeing the fight between the two beings, inhaled a deep breath as his nerves went cold. He had never seen a battle of this scale in his entire life. Also, seeing the pale white lumps of flesh falling off of the the rotting frog, Vain guessed this was the reason for his blight blood mutation. However, not wanting to get in the way, Vain continued to watch the two giants fight each other while his blood slowly kept mutating. After thirty minutes, Vain's blood mutation was at 55% and the two monsters fighting were still going at each other's throats in full swing. During these thirty minutes, Vain was constantly relocating to stay out of the two monsters way. Another ten minutes passed. At this moment, Vains blood mutation was at 63% and a turning point in the battle had finally come. The black lizard swung its spiky tail into the blighted frogs leg, shattering it completely. The frog didnt seem to care, but its ability to hop around and dodge the black lizards attacks were significantly decreased. Noticing this, the black lizard rolled up into a ball and thrust itself rapidly towards the rotting frog. The attack landed causing the flesh of the frog to go everywhere, it even penetrated deep enough so when the black lizard retreated, pulling its spikes out of the frog, what was left of the organs of the frog could be seen. However the frog didnt just stand idle. At the time the lizard was retreating to wind up another attack, the rotting frog leaped forward, grabbed the horns of the lizard, and popped the boluses on its body, completely covering the lizard with the blighted rot liquid. The Lizard became enraged perhaps because it knew its fate was already sealed or perhaps it was just disgusted by the frogs attack. The ten meter long lizard detached the horns from its own head, catching the frog off guard, causing it to lose its balance. The lizard took advantage of this opportunity, rolled up into a spiky ball again, and blitzed the frog while it was falling backwards. The attack was successful, causing the rotting frogs body to fly a distance of eight meters until its body slammed heavily into a massive tree. Surprisingly, the force didnt destroy the tree completely, but it uprooted most of it. Not letting the giant frog get a break, the lizard rolled up into a ball again and charged towards the frog at a rapid pace. However, the giant frog leaped diagonally, in Vain's direction managing to dodge the attack. Vain, seeing the frog get way too close for comfort, used devastating leap to further the distance between him and the monsters. After using devastating leap to further the distance to where Vain thought it would be safe, he turned around. Vain about shit his pants when he turned around after furthering the distance because it turns out that he didnt further the at all. As a matter of fact, he was now much much closer. While Vain was retreating, the giant black lizard must have charged into the rotting frog again and brought it ever so closer to where Vain was. Vain was now about ten meters away from the back of the rotting frog. Seeing this, Vain went to use devastating leap again to retreat. However, at this moment, quite the inconvenience happened. The lizard unfurled itself, biting into the already almost dead frogs chest tearing it completely open. Then, The rotting frog, even though it was completely corrupted by the blight, seemed to know its life was coming to an end.
*BOOOOOOM*
*SROOOOOOOOSH*
*CRCKCRCKCRCK*