"I guess its time for you to witness my secret technique as well!" I boasted, lifting my arm and pointing at it haughtily. If it had eyes, I was sure it would have been looking at me with no small amount of confusion. "I call it…the art…of running away!"
Faster than I had ever moved before, I spun around and instantly began to run from the Leshy. It was silent for a moment, before the blasted thing roared into the forest, and I felt the ground beneath me begin to shake.
'I can't believe that actually worked!' Really, the distraction only worked because the thing had a semblance of intelligence and could understand me.
Unfortunately, I didn't account for two things.
The first were the various roots littering the forest. Already, I had tripped over at least five of them in my mad dash. It was a miracle that I hadn't fallen over completely yet. As for the second, well, the Leshy may have regrown and strengthened its body, but it could still turn into smoke.
Something I was painfully reminded of, as the footsteps behind me vanished, and I felt the approaching storm of miasma and smoke getting closer to me.
'Fireball!' My right hand lit up with flames, and though it wasn't an actual fireball which left my palm—more an explosive tidal wave, really—it still did its job of slowing the smoke form of the Leshy from reaching me.
Now, I just had to figure out a way to kill it.
Whilst the System had shown me some large numbers during our initial scuffle, I wasn't under the impression that it had done any lasting damage, especially now that it had not only regenerated its body but also grown stronger from the trees.
Really, the only thing that was currently doing any meaningful damage was the scorch debuff, and even then, who was to say that it was inflicting damage faster than the Leshy was recovering it.
Inside of the forest, the Leshy was practically a god…
'The forest! Damn it, you beautiful smart bastard!'
Obviously, I was speaking about myself there. Why, do you see any other smart and beautiful crimson-haired men running for their lives? No? Yeah, I didn't think so.
'Where was I again? Right, the forest.'
Inside the forest, the Leshy was unstoppable. With the limitless trees that it could manipulate, and use to either regenerate or attack me with, my time was wasted trying to kill it.
But what if the terrain we fought on was changed? What if the Leshy no longer had such a limitless number of trees to call upon. Say, for example, the beach I had woken up on.
It provided me with plenty of space and limited the Leshy's main element. But the only real issue with my plan was my ability to reach the shore. It had taken me over an hour to just get this far into the forest, after all.
Sure, I had walked slowly, but even running at the speed that I currently was, it would still take me too long to get there. Eventually I would make a mistake, or worse, get caught by the Leshy.
In other words, whilst my plan was certainly good, I was simply too weak to make it come true.
'I have at most three seconds of fire left within me.' I thought, turning and running to my right. The miasmic form of the Leshy turned after me only a second later. 'Damn it all. It's catching up to me, and I have literally no-Oh'
I blinked, just barely avoiding another stray root, as from my mouth, small tongues of fire seeped out. Daybreak…it changed my very heart to be akin to a miniature sun, and since then, I've occasionally breathed out small streams of fire.
"System!" A blank screen appeared at my call. Another idea was beginning to form. "Show me the Sequence of [Daybreak]!"
During my earlier walk through the dark forest, I had spent some time exploring the Sequence which had been automatically unlocked through the Starter Pack gifted to me by my mystery patron.
As it turned out, there were three branching choices that came from the starting [Daybreak].
The Root of Kindling, which granted me both [Immolator] and [Pyromancy]. The Root of Ignition, which granted me [Pyrokinesis], and the Root of Radiance, which gave me [Imperial Dawn].
Now, usually I'd have to spend a specified amount of Aspect Points to further advance them. But, as the System had told me before, repeated actions and how I interacted with the world, would also grant me new Aspects.
This was important to remember, because my limited ability to breathe fire was intrinsically linked to the second Aspect I'd receive from the Root of Ignition, directly after [Pyrokinesis], named [Incendiary].
Fun little fact about the System, it allowed me to preview the next Aspect available to me through a Sequence, and because of that, I knew exactly what [Incendiary] really was.
The ability to breathe fire.
To be exact, the ability to breathe fire through the consumption of Energy Points.
"Ack!" A small plume of fire left my parted lips, as my foot finally got caught by a root. I tripped and fell over with all the grace of a drunk, hitting every possible thing on the way down as I desperately tried to right myself.
The Leshy, of course, didn't miss the opportunity my mistake had made for it.
The smoke which made up its body dissipated as it barrelled towards me through the air. The axe it had for a hand rose as it fell, a deep guttural growl echoing through the deer like skull as it parted the air with one mighty swing.
[-][===][-]
|| [Damage Taken!] ||
|| [-300HP to User] ||
|| [Debuff][Bleed]-[Triggered] ||
|| [-1HP Per Minute] ||
[-][===][-]
|| [Omphalos Mind]-[Activated] ||
[-][===][-]
The air in my lungs was pushed forcefully out of me, as the giant axe cut a diagonal line across my scurrying back. My vision went white for a moment, the pain almost making me black out.
Driven by instinct, and a fierce will to survive, from my back, specifically my wound, a torrent of bright flames exploded out in a flare of light and heat. The Leshy howled as I scrambled forward, my hands gripping onto roots and pushing me forward.
[-][===][-]
|| [Debuff][Dazed]-[Activated!] ||
[-][===][-]
|| [Debuff][Bleed]-[Cancelled!] ||
|| [Self-Inflicted Injury…Calculating Damage…] ||
|| [-200HP x 50% = -400HP] ||
[-][===][-]
It took all I had not to kneel over and scream as I unintentionally cauterized my own wound. The only reason I was able to move even a little was purely due to [Omphalos Mind] numbing any sense of pain I currently felt.
Pushing myself to keep running, a singular, unyielding fact remained as more and more fire left my parted lips with every grimaced pant I made.
'Two seconds of fire left. I need to unlock [Incendiary] now!'