As the sound of snapping timber grew louder, echoing like cannon blasts through the unnatural fog, Lin Wan couldn't help but curse the wretched hand she had been dealt.
Her legs felt like leaden weights, and her vision swam with jagged spots of light as the sudden, miraculous burst of energy from her cubs began to settle into a dull, throbbing ache in her lower abdomen.
Every muscle in her body trembled with the aftershocks of the Spirit-Draining Vines' assault. She struggled to her feet, her fingers digging into the rough, weeping bark of a nearby tree that smelled faintly of old blood.
Every instinct she possessed, honed by weeks of survival in this brutal beast world, screamed at her to run—to put as much distance as possible between herself and the behemoth crashing through the underbrush.
But her body was a traitor; it refused to cooperate, her knees buckling every time she tried to put weight on them.
