The power fantasy in the forest was much different from anyone he had read in novels. It did not integrate with him and fit into the hole he never knew was there seamlessly. Instead, it rippled like an angry wave the more he absorbed them.
For a few seconds his scope expanded, encompassing so much his brain sent him a warning notification through a pang in the head. The range he could see wasn't extraordinarily so large, but just more than the average human should have been able to see. And in that few seconds, everything sparked into clarity.
The veins of the forest became drawn in HD graphics, and its inhabitants were naked before him. He saw the predators as seven defined figures, trailing him. Their formation was much more literate than before, as if being lead by another.
His pupils constricted as clarity faded and a faint flicker of his hunters remained. He would have liked to run, but with Saul's injuries, he wouldn't get far before they would catch up. And when they did, he would not only have to fight them, but protect Saul too.
The consequences were too dire to bare. If he lost Saul before he got into his good books, then all his work would have been a waste. He wasn't going to let that happen.
He flexed his arms, feeling the eel react. It didn't swim across his veins like usual, it swam alone the lines of flowing current that spread warmth and energy throughout his body. He observed his muscles, the thicker beat in them and then he smiled. And then moved.
The roots at his feet became a slideshow, passing by rapidly as he sprinted. His body still burned with the strain of incredible pain, but the energy of the cores lied to his mind for a bit, that everything was a bit better. It was and wasn't at the same time.
He ran nonstop, and his mark flared. Making the predators to rush at him with even more enthusiasm. After a mild while of running, his ears caught the first of movement.
One of the predators staggered through the space between trees, still weakened by the fire burn and uneven with burnt patches. Pluto smiled crookedly.
' Burn some more you abomination.'
He lit a resin pouch mid-stride and hurled it. It detonated like the first one should have, with a clean concussive shockwave and a medium sized wall of fire.
Fire reached out and claimed it before it's hinds dragged against soil. The shriek it made was abrupt, cut by its body slamming into ground.
Pluto closed the distance in a moment, plunging his blade into it.
He quickly learnt how he had overestimated himself. The strike had been lacking. He had fueled but he had not aimed. The blade sunk deep, but not decisively.
The action was more detrimental than helpful. The smoking predator snapped towards him, with something deeper than rage dancing in its eyes.
It was faster than he expected. And before he could unhinge his blade and move out, a maw closed in around his thigh, and a claw ripped across his chest.
The pain was bright, but not overpoweringly so. He already had almost two dozen wounds on his body, so two more would do nothing more than a fresh sting. Nevertheless, it hurt like hell.
He groaned and drew back, stumbling against a conveniently placed root. Blood ran down his sweat drenched clothes.
His distancing was another opportunity. The predator lunged at him, seemingly rearranging its own physique to be able to attack without turning over from its fallen state.
Pluto reacted, too late to prevent the slight penetration of his side, but fast enough to redirect momentum and slam it sideways.
They fell together, and the attacks that followed were nothing short of barbaric. Mud swallowed and spit out his elbow as he relentlessly punched the predator. Over and over again until his own knuckles gave way for blood to sip out. And still, he didn't stop. Blow after blow, his breath ragged and the beast's head sunk deeper into sludge.
Eventually the predator stopped resisting. Eventually made it sound less than, but in reality, no description could define how long he spent tearing its skin with his. He felt like he would have lived a great chunk of his life in that moment if he had been in the regular world.
He remained kneeling over it, detesting its horrid shape and stench. Realisation hit like cold water. He couldn't take all others. Not like this. Not when he had knocked on his grave while fighting one
Pain resumed, pulsed faster than his heartbeat did. Every wound sang a chorus of agony, of which Pluto was forced to join in with a suppressed groan.
He lifted the core that had revealed itself during his bashing. He thought to himself.
' Continue? Retreat? '
Leaves parted just after.
He had barely registered the change in airflow and the the tremor beneath the soil when a massive shape tore through the trees. Not in-between, through.
It was the most defined creature he had seen so far. It resembled a rhinoceros, with a body layered with chitin too dark to be regular bark. Bone and fibre popped out at multiple points, irregular in length and width.
Its central horn charged forward like a battering ram, breaking mist apart almost audibly.
It missed him by inches.
The wind dragged along with its enormous weight was almost enough to flatten Pluto as he rolled out of its way. The ground where he had been kneeling exploded with force of several hundred kilogrammes, maybe even tonnes.
Pluto sprang up with his heart in his mouth. The beast pivoted with surreal grace for its large size.
As it charged at him again, he hurriedly threw his last resin pouch at it. This one exploded with the most efficiency, thundering along the face of the beast.
The force pushed the creature back, it mega frame stumbling through the trees. Still, it wasn't harmed much, just annoyed.
It bellowed deeply and charged again.
***
Pluto ran, taking paths that were never intentional. He blindly, moving in angular zigzags that could hopefully throw the rhino off his tail.
The rhino did not have to hop over trunks and slide in-between tight spaced trees, instead it just broke. It was an unstoppable force yet to meet an immovable object.
Pluto leapt trunks that laid higher than most residential fences. His speed would rival any world champion, any champion that could magically double his speed that is. The effects of the cores hadn't faded, and that was his only saving grace.
Branches and thorns hugged him on his face and chest as he didn't bother to swipe them out of the way as he ran. His thigh and side scream as he ran, begging his to face the rhino instead.
Despite his aimless sprinting, the rhino tagged along quite well. It adjusted for discrepancies in path align as soon as Pluto created them.
It was drawing closer the more Pluto ran.
And worst of all, the heat signatures of the other six were becoming clearer, signalling that they were not too far off anymore. The rhino must have been the force that united them. And now they were returning to comply with its orders and exact revenge.
The forest seemed to narrow with them as they closed the net. He sprinted across water that displaced his steps a little, slowing down his overall speed infinitesimally.
That didn't apply to the rhino though, much to the astonishment of Pluto who had done that for the reason of slowing it down. It instead, displaced water violently as it rushed across. And worst of all, it displaced the kind of water that was clean enough to drink, or rather, not dirty enough to kill.
It was built for reshaping terrain. When he jumped over a fallen tree, the rhino tore through it effortlessly.
Pain flashed as Pluto landed again. To his left, three smaller heat signatures, two to his right.
They weren't just chasing him anymore, they were steering him to their home advantage.
Towards places that no help was coming from.
***
The rhino was too close. Too close for him to think about anything else. Its horn clipped his side, ripping fabric, but falling short of skin.
He didn't slow, he changed rhythm. Short erratic bursts and stops. The beast took a step too much, overshooting the distance it needed to mame Pluto's head. Pluto struck as it skidded in mud, feeling his blade bounce off hard chitin.
One of the smaller predators lunged at this moment, trying to take advantage of his distraction to deliver a lethal blow. But Pluto had already seen the spring tension in its muscles through its heat signature. He dropped low the moment it leapt, allowing it to collide with the rhino's flank, almost toppling it over.
He vaulted onto a rock, ricocheting off it with his leg, allowing the charging rhino to splinter the rock into fragments. When it turned back to attack, residual momentum dragged it back, giving Pluto enough time to dodge again. And more time, to wrestle the predator that had climbed his back off.
He was winning battles, but losing the war. The predatory formation was almost complete with the smaller ones cocooning the rhino and Pluto at the center.
He feigned weakness for a moment, prompting a predator to break formation and rush at him. He turned to it, grimacing and forcing his hands to raise. The beast veered off his weapon's path and snapped at him from the other way.
He abandoned the act and slashed at its throat, a bit too lazily to kill it. Another leapt at him as he retracted his outstretched hand.
He was too slow to avoid or counter and could only wedge his tongue between his teeth as claws raked across his back. He staggered forward, but was careful to maintain awareness.
The rhino was already ready to charge, and a brief moment of unreadiness on his part, could literally cost him an arm and a leg.
The rhino rammed forward, bellowing at Pluto. He was going to move out of the way, and by all means was going to make it, but a smaller predator blocked his path.
The skirmish only last for a second, but it was too much to spare. He tried to shift, but was too slow. The horn struck his abdomen, but did not pierce.
It felt worse than a wrecking ball.
Pluto felt his mind zone out for a bit as he became airborne. Ground streaked by for a while, then he crashed into foliage.
He felt useless. His strength was on empty. Sound and shape blurred. He was on the verge of slipping away from consciousness, and that would spell death.
Seven figures, no six. The one he had slit its throat had died eventually. But the rest were alive and closing in to finish the kill.
Just then, he felt it again, the power that transcended strength and speed. It was his will to live made manifest in form of battle prowess.
He rolled as claws struck where his throat had been. Pain shifted to the periphery, allowing him to become efficiency and not efficient.
He stepped forward, feinting to the side and kicking the rhino's foreleg, altering his charge by inches that would displace even more as it stepped forward.
He pivoted, allowing another predator to streak past and bump shoulders with a second one.
He wasn't fighting them outrightly. He was breaking their economic.
Redirect.
Deflect.
No head on force.
He wouldn't win that way. He wouldn't win anyway, no matter what he did. But he could survive long enough for them to unintentionally tear each other apart.
The rhino roared and the swamp vibrated with murderous glee.
Despite his temporary boost, he wasn't dominating. He staggered back and cleaned the blood off his mouth. Waiting for the next move, and thinking of how he would counter.