The forest exploded behind him.
The earth ruptured as massive claws carved through the slope.
Vein couldn't fight.
His right arm barely twitched when he tried to lift it.
All he could do was run.
Run—
and survive.
A massive shadow swept in from the side.
Vein jumped.
Too late.
The beast's forelimb struck him midair.
DUUM—
His body slammed violently across the incline. Jagged stone tore into his back as the air was forced from his lungs in a harsh, broken cough.
The world flipped sideways.
By the time his vision steadied—
the Nightbound Beast was already above him.
Its bulk erased the sky.
Its breath hit his face.
Hot.
Rotten.
Vein rolled on instinct.
Claws crashed down where his skull had been a heartbeat earlier, splitting the ground like shattered glass. Fragments of rock scraped across his cheek as he forced himself upright.
Pain tore through his body, from shoulder to waist.
White-hot.
Sharp enough to steal thought.
But his legs still answered him.
That was enough.
Vein ran again.
Down the slope.
Over exposed roots.
Past loose stones that threatened to betray him.
Every step felt like a countdown.
The roar followed.
Closer now.
Close enough that he could feel the vibration in his spine.
He searched desperately for the lake.
For the faint shimmer of water between the trees.
For any flicker of reflected light.
But the forest no longer matched his memory.
Paths twisted into one another.
Shadows felt wrong.
Every turn blurred into the next.
Was it this way?
Or the last?
His heartbeat staggered inside his chest. Sweat blurred the edges of his vision.
Vein glanced back.
The monster was still there.
Unhurried.
Unstoppable.
Advancing as if the ending had already been decided.
And then—
a colder realization crept in.
He didn't know where the lake was anymore.
He had been running on instinct.
On hope.
But hope didn't give directions.
He was sprinting without a destination, chased by something the size of a house through a forest that no longer felt real.
For the first time—
Vein felt truly alone.
And in that unfamiliar wilderness, he no longer knew which terrified him more—
the monster behind him,
or the quiet truth that he had already lost his way.
—
Vein kept running.
Branches lashed across his arms, leaving thin cuts that burned against his skin. Roots clawed at his boots, threatening to drag him down.
The roar still echoed inside his skull.
Close.
Too close.
Then—
silence.
The footsteps behind him vanished.
No tremor.
No collapsing earth.
No ragged breath at his back.
Only wind moving through the leaves.
Vein kept running for a few seconds more, waiting for an impact that never came.
Then he slowed.
Gradually.
Carefully.
He turned.
Nothing.
No Nightbound Beast.
No shadow swallowing the trees.
Only the forest.
Still.
Watching.
He checked the ground.
No fresh craters.
No torn soil.
As if nothing had ever been there.
His heartbeat quickened instead of calming.
This was wrong.
There were only two possibilities.
The first—
the poisoned mana was still inside him, twisting his senses, feeding him hallucinations.
The second—
the Nightbound Beast was still here.
And he simply couldn't see it.
Vein swallowed.
His left hand clenched until his fingers trembled.
If this was an illusion—
then his mind was breaking.
If it wasn't—
then something was watching him from a place he couldn't reach.
Before he could decide which was worse—
the ground behind him split open.
DUUUM—
Something struck from his blind spot.
Too fast.
Too heavy.
His body snapped upward.
The world inverted.
Trees shrank beneath him as he was hurled into the sky. Wind crushed against his face.
No panic.
Not this time.
Vein shut his eyes immediately.
Mana.
Flow.
Open.
Defense.
He didn't know the theory.
Didn't know the formula.
He forced it anyway.
Mana surged through his ribs, his spine, his skull, wrapping around him like thin sheets of steel forced into shape.
The ground rushed toward him.
Fast.
Too fast.
BOOOOM—
Impact swallowed everything.
Pain detonated through his back and into his neck. His vision turned white, his senses collapsing into noise and pressure.
For a moment—
he thought that was the end.
But he was still breathing.
Barely.
He lay there gasping, his ears ringing, the world tilting unevenly around him.
And then—
he remembered something.
While he was airborne—
for just a fraction of a second—
he had seen it.
A reflection.
Not from the sky.
Not from leaves.
Light fractured like a broken mirror.
Water.
The lake.
Lower than he remembered.
Hidden behind a steep drop in the terrain, tucked between uneven ridges.
A rough laugh escaped his throat.
It hurt.
But something inside him steadied.
If the Nightbound Beast kept throwing him into the air—
then it wasn't just attacking him.
It was showing him the path.
And for the first time since the chase began—
Vein finally had a direction.
—
The ground trembled again.
Vein lifted his head.
The Nightbound Beast was charging straight at him.
No hesitation.
No doubt.
Its massive body devoured the distance between them like a collapsing wall.
Vein forced himself to stand.
There was no room left for fear.
Only timing.
His eyes flicked upward.
A low branch.
Thick enough.
Close enough.
Vein jumped.
His left hand caught the branch.
Agony exploded through his shoulder. His fingers nearly slipped, his grip trembling on the edge of failure—
but he held.
His body swung once.
Twice.
The beast thundered beneath him.
Vein released.
His body dropped toward the monster.
His right arm was useless.
So he used what remained.
His legs.
Mana.
Flow.
Open.
Not to his arms.
To his thighs.
The strength buff surged downward, violent and uncontrolled. His muscles tightened to their limit, fibers screaming as if they were about to tear apart.
And then—
BOOOOM—
His heel slammed into the beast's skull.
The air detonated outward in a violent shockwave. The monster's massive head jerked slightly to the side.
Not enough to break it.
But enough to stagger it.
Vein hit the ground hard.
He rolled across dirt and stone before finally coming to a stop. The world spun, tilting and blurring at the edges.
The Nightbound Beast slowly turned its head toward him.
Its red eyes burned brighter now.
Furious.
Truly furious.
The monster raised its forelimb.
Vein twisted his body, forcing himself to run—
DUUUUM—
The strike caught him again.
Harder than before.
The sky swallowed him whole.
Wind tore against his face as he was hurled upward.
This time—
Vein kept his eyes open.
He forced himself to see.
And there—
clear.
Unmistakable.
The lake.
Left of the split hillside.
Lower than he remembered.
Hidden between two jagged cliffs.
He locked it into his mind.
The angle.
The slope.
The broken ridge framing it.
Every detail burned into memory.
Then the earth rushed up to meet him.
BOOOOM—
Impact.
White light flooded his vision.
EEEEEEEE—
A piercing ring filled his ears.
His mana was nearly gone.
He could feel it thinning inside his body like a river reduced to its final trickle.
Vein coughed.
Blood spread across his tongue.
Behind him, the beast roared again—
closer than ever.
Vein forced himself to stand.
His legs trembled violently, barely obeying him.
But now—
the direction was no longer uncertain.
He didn't look back.
Not this time.
Vein ran.
Toward the left side of the slope.
Toward the narrow gap between the cliffs.
Toward the lake.
Each step felt heavier than the last.
His lungs burned raw.
The ringing in his ears refused to fade.
But he kept moving.
Faster.
Faster.
If he stopped now—
everything would end here.
Vein didn't know if he could defeat the monster.
He didn't know if this gamble would work.
But one thing had become clear—
he finally knew where he needed to fall.
And this time—
he wasn't running without direction anymore.
Behind him, the Nightbound Beast roared again.
Closer.
Hungrier.
The forest shook beneath every step it took.
Vein did not slow down.
Because if he stopped now—
it wouldn't just be him who died.
The lake waited ahead.
Dark.
Still.
Too still.
And for a brief second—
a thought crossed his mind.
What if the monster wasn't the only thing waiting there?
Vein kept running anyway.
Because turning back was no longer an option.
And sometimes—
the only way to survive
was to jump into something worse.