It didn’t take three seconds for whatever was standing there to close the distance between them.
It launched at Jisung like something from a cannon.
Poow!
Jisung barely got his arm up before the impact caught him across the shoulder and sent him flying almost ten meters, finally landing hard on his back and spinning into the snow.
"Ack!"
Again, he was thankful for the snow. It softened his landing but that was it. Pain exploded in his ribs doubling him over as he tried to pull himself up.
"Shit." He hissed. He hadn’t even caught his breath from the fall yet, and now this. "...that’s just rude man, honestly."
He tried to pull himself up again when he heard it. It sounded like a low growl coming from somewhere in front of him.
For a second he froze, completely unable to move. Then, slowly, he lifted his head and his body went completely cold.
Standing at a distance, was something built more like an ancient dragon. But this kind of creature was unlike anything Jisung had ever seen.
It was longer than it had looked from a distance, covered with blue and silver feathers and moving on four legs. It had a bright amber-colored beak and large bright eyes.
And its tail whipped behind it as it turned.
It had looped wide and was coming back around. Its movement was strange. Four legs driving into the snow with each stride and then, just before it reached him, its whole body seemed to tighten and lift slightly, like a compressed spring releasing, using the momentum to launch itself and close the distance.
Jisung was completely starstruck by the creature’s unique movement. Before his brain had even finished processing what his eyes were seeing, it had closed more than half of the distance between them.
He cursed under his breath when he saw it approaching closer to where he was and threw himself sideways on pure instinct. But it was not fast enough. The creature blew past him, close enough that the displaced air hit him like a slap. He hit the snow hard, rolled, came up on one knee and spun around.
He had to move. If he kept taking more hits, he may be seriously injured before reaching the end of the Trial. Or worse.
He got up and moved maybe six steps before it circled back and launched for an attack again.
Jisung got on his feet and stared with calm and focus, watching it closely as it moved in his direction. Pressing a hand carefully against his side, he tried to move despite his ribs protesting, pulling himself forward as fast as he could.
He had leveled his stats to Lv. 3 before walking through that door and against a normal person, that would have been something. But against this creature it felt like showing up to a sword fight with a plastic knife.
He needed an edge, and he had just that.
Ding!
[Massive Adaptability To Any Situation Lv.0 (Muscle Memory): Activated]
For half a second something in him lit up, and he felt adrenaline rush through his veins. It was the same feeling that had carried him through the fight with Daniel.
Then almost immediately, it vanished.
"You’re joking."
[Massive Adaptability To Any Situation Lv.0 (Muscle Memory): Deactivated.
Participant Yu Jisung’s Body Is Too Weak To Sustain Activation]
"..What?!"
He didn’t even get to finish being annoyed about it. The Creature landed a surprise attack from behind.
Baam!
The hit sent him flying almost covering ten meters from where he stood. He didn’t so much land as bounce. Once and really hard, off a ridge of packed snow, then again, skipping across the frozen ground like a stone thrown too fast across water.
Each impact felt worse than the last, until finally his back caught the edge of a rock outcrop and he came to a stop, snow sliding down over him in a slow, quiet wave.
He’d never felt so much pain in his life all at once. He went quiet for a long minute and then in a voice almost as low as a whisper, "C-Cold." He mumbled. "I’m... cold."
He blacked out completely.
Thick grey fog pressed in from every side, swallowing both his sight and sound. He couldn’t see his own hands or feet. He panicked, turning left and right, but no direction held a clear answer. He tried to speak but his voice didn’t come out when he opened his mouth. Somewhere inside it, Daniel’s voice called his name. It came again, and again, and soon multiplied into a chorus circling him. He ran blind, arms cutting air he couldn’t see. His lungs were burning but he had to run. He tripped on his feet and fell hard on the snow. Something brushed his ankle. He flinched, looking down at his feet. It was a hand he recognized. He tried again to scream but words couldn’t form. The hand held on to his feet. He pulled but it only tightened. Then the grip multiplied, seizing his wrist, arm, and soon more hands followed, pulling from every direction, dragging him back into the grey fog.
He heard that familiar sound ring in his ear.
[...]
[... Up]
[... Wake Up]
[Yu Jisung, Wake Up]
Jisung suddenly jerked up lifting his head up for the first time in minutes, taking in deep heavy loud breaths. "Oh my God! Shit!"
He pushed himself through the heap of snow that sat right on top him as hard as he could despite groaning in pain.
"Arghhh!"
Finally, he pushed through and rested his back down as he let out huge breaths. Then it hit him, and he suddenly panicked and sat up.
’Man, that hurts so bad.’
Looking far out, he finally saw it. The creature was about fifteen meters away circling around in one position. It hadn’t noticed Jisung yet.
He sighed and lay back down. ’It probably realized I needed rest after that.’ he laughed despite himself.
He sat up again, looking for something and only spotting it on the far right, sitting at the foot of a large snow wall a few meters to his right. It was his bag.
Staring at the wall reminded him of falling off a cliff earlier, and it hit him again. Confusion and frustration, all at once.
"What’s really going on?" He thought as he tried to remember everything that had happened from the moment his trial began to this very moment.
He tried to see if he missed anything. But nothing seemed out of the ordinary from his end.
But still, nothing was making sense.
He remembered getting a second notification about his Trial commencing, and just stared blankly into space.
’Could that be it?’ he thought. ’...could it be that I’m having a second trial because I couldn’t pass the first?’
A message rang out.
Ding!
[Yu Jisung Is Right]
His chest tightened. This confirmation made him angrier than it comforted him. He frowned deeply looking directly at the creature. It circled a bit and then turned and noticed him and looked back.
"I’ve let you have enough fun."
He packed a handful of snow and smirked just as the creature started to charge at him.
"Now’s my turn."
Ding!
[A New Stat Has Been Added to Your Profile]
He heaved a sigh of relief and smiled. It was a very needed stat for the moment.
[New Stat has been Leveled Up]
[You Have Spent 900 Coins]
[Health Lv.0 → Lv. 3]
****
The game plan was set. Jisung clenched his jaw and watched the creature launch forward, closing the gap fast.
He stayed calm watching it approach with complete focus. When it was close enough, he moved to meet it head-on.
Almost two meters from impact, he flung the handful of snow he’d packed, straight into its eyes. It shrieked, head jerking back, creating a split second of blindness for Jisung to slide low and dodge smoothly to the side. He rolled once, came up already running, and cut hard to the right, headed for his bag.
This time, he was going to fight back. And as ridiculous as it sounded, the bag was the only weapon he had.
Behind him, the creature recovered fast, circling in a tight arc and launching straight back at him.
Jisung leapt, snatched the strap off the ground mid-stride, and swung the bag around just as the creature arrived. It didn’t land clean, but it clipped the thing across the side of its head, enough to slow it down for what came next.
[Massive Adaptability To Any Situation Lv.0 (Muscle Memory): Activated]
He swung again. Left, then right, fast and hard, using the momentum of each swing to build into the next. When the creature reared back, he planted his foot against the snow wall behind him, launched off it, and drove the bag down into the top of its skull with everything he had.
Bguarr!
The creature screamed, staggering, and Jisung didn’t waste the opening. He came in with a kick.
Kpoow!
The creature whipped its tail at him in answer, and he threw himself into a backflip to dodge it, barely clearing it, one of its feathers slicing a thin cut across his cheek on the way past.
He landed clean. "That was close. I have to be careful now." He wiped the blood off with the back of his hand, slung the bag back over his shoulder, and went straight at it again.
It was ugly after that. Neither of them was pulling back.
He ducked a swipe that would’ve taken his head off, drove an elbow into its flank, and it answered with a headbutt that sent him skidding across the heaps of snow on his side. He was up before the pain even registered, throwing himself back into range, landing a solid kick to its foreleg that made it stumble. It retaliated with its tail again, catching Jisung across the ribs this time, and he went down hard, breath knocked clean out of him.
"Urgh!"
If not for his new health stat, he would have blacked out again from this hit. He was determined. This time around he wouldn’t stay down.
He pushed himself up, spat blood into the snow, and came back a third time, faster and angrier, landing two clean hits before it threw him off with a shoulder check that sent him sprawling.
"...damnit." He wheezed, dragging himself up yet again. The creature was learning and adapting as they fought. He had to think of a new plan.
As he lay there thinking deeply for a second, he watched the creature from a distance. An idea struck him and he got up and ran.
Just as he expected, the creature gave chase immediately, closing in fast as he angled toward the wall of packed snow ahead. Just before it reached him, he planted one boot against the wall, pushed off, twisted midair, and landed clean on its back.
"Gotcha." He smiled, victoriously.
It bucked instantly, but he was already moving, yanking the scarf from around his neck and looping it hard around its throat.
"Yeehaw!" He muttered, half-hysterical, clinging on for his life.
’I’ve always wanted to try this.’
He pulled it tight. Once. Twice. A third time, both hands white-knuckled around the fabric, hauling back with everything left in his arms.
The creature thrashed under him, twisting and rearing, trying to throw him off, but its movements were getting sloppier, slower and the fight draining out of its strikes the longer he held on.
"C’mon." He gritted out, breath ragged. "Come on, give up already."
It staggered. Stumbled. He felt it losing speed beneath him, and he wrapped the scarf tighter, driving his weight down into it.
He landed a hard punch into the side of its head and it finally went down, toppling sideways with him still on its back, and he didn’t let go, wrapping the scarf around again for good measure.
"Die." He hissed. "For fuck sake, die already!"
Then slowly... it stopped moving.
He stayed there a moment, chest heaving, before finally loosening his grip and rolling off it, exhaling long and shaky.
"...Whoo! That felt goooood! Damn."
He celebrated too early. The creature suddenly jerked back to life the moment his grip loosened, even though it was only for a split second.
It tossed him clean off its back, and he hit the ground hard, rolling twice on pure instinct, narrowly clearing two strikes that would’ve ended things right there. He scrambled backward, breath ragged, and looked up just in time to see it lift off the ground, hovering, staring down at him.
Its mouth opened.
"What... the..." Jisung gasped.
Its feathers along the tail began to glow, the light crawling up its spine toward its head in a rapid pulse.
Jisung’s stomach dropped.
"Oh boy."
He scrambled up and ran as fast as his legs would carry him, and behind him the air itself seemed to tear as whatever it was building let loose, chasing him across the snow.
He screamed the whole way, half in fear, half in disbelief. If he made any mistake now, he would be barbecued.
He ran until he slid behind a jagged outcrop of rock and pressed himself flat against it.
The blast tore into the other side, the whole rock shuddering under the force of it.
He folded over, arms wrapped around his head, and waited. The fear pressing down on him wasn’t so different from the fog earlier, or Daniel’s boot on his hand.
Once again... he felt helpless.
And the feeling of being trapped somewhere with no way to understand what was actually happening to him, crawled over his skin.
’’’
Author’s Note: If you’re enjoying the novel, don’t forget to add it to your library and show some support. It really helps!
’’’