The ginormous wyvern's head snapped towards Kailen's direction, then it moved.
Each movement of its legs crossed extremely long distances, its steps causing the ground to quake and trees to sway, its destination, the puny vermin that had murdered its unborn baby.
The shadow creature ran as fast as it could, sensing its master's strong desire to live.
Kailen wreathed in the shadow armor, seated atop Feral, weaved shadows from various trees, a shadow weapon the shape of a ginormous rotating ceiling fan appearing above his head. With every distance he crossed, trees would sway and fall, obstructing the path behind him.
However, he only attempted to buy just a little time, hoping he could escape, because in the face of an A-ranked diabolic beast, he knew his attempts at causing harm to the creature with his current actions were futile.
Szzzzzrrrrt!
A sense of crisis and death suddenly assaulted Kailen, as before he could even register the impending attack with shadow manipulation, a flash of lightning that caused his shadow armor to completely incinerate crushed into him from behind.
[Your shadow creature has died, it will be automatically revived in the shadow expanse and you can summon it again]
Kailen had no time to even notice the notification before him or register the thoughts of the time dilation artifact, as he was somersaulted into the air, crushing into various trees with a force so great that the trees broke apart.
However, his misfortune did not end. Endless pain assaulted the young man. Blood lunged out of his mouth, his body twisted in different angles like a twig.
His senses were disoriented.
He could not think.
He could not breathe.
It was as though his whole being had ceased to function.
His brain shut down, while his lifeless, or rather unconscious, body moved, or fell.
The wyvern stood atop the cliff, watching the creature that had murdered its child's lifeless body descend, aided by gravity.
It let out a ferocious roar. It had avenged its unborn child's death. It turned around and left.
---
"Ugh." Kailen's vision was hazy; he could barely see anything. The sound of running water reached his ears, then his eyes snapped open.
He looked around. "I'm in a cave?"
That's right. He was in a cave. "I survived? How? System? Was it you?"
[It wasn't me. Had you died, that would have been your end]
"That's right. The system gave me this crazy mission in the first place. It's ruthless. It's not like the system in those novels that give the protagonist some cheat ability to escape death. After all, it even threatened me that I would die if I failed the Smallvile County mission. There's no way it would have interfered in this situation. So then how did I survive?" Kailen tried to move.
"Urgh." He grimaced in pain, then sat up. He observed the cave for any sign of someone else. However, he was alone.
Kailen checked his body. He was bandaged from head to toe. "There is no doubt about it, someone found me and healed me. If not, I would have probably died," Kailen mused, then struggled on his feet, ignoring the pain that washed over his body.
He had noticed a sheet of paper pinned to the cave wall. He wanted to see what it entailed. Kailen approached the sheet of paper, holding a part of his abdomen where the pain assaulted him the most.
He unpinned the paper, then read what it contained.
[You are very lucky to be alive. When we found you lying atop a rock near the waterfall, you were barely breathing. However, I'm a healer, a B-ranked one at that, so I managed to heal most of your internal injuries. However, you will need a day or two to completely recover. There's some food left in the bag at the edge of the cave. Try eating something and get some rest, and recover quickly. By the time you wake up, my team and I will be gone. How you survive afterwards is entirely up to you]
"The person didn't even indicate their name. How shocking. To think someone would save my life and I would know nothing about them.
And to think a diabolic beast, one of the same creatures that killed my parents, almost ended me.
(Sighs) There is one lesson I learnt from this whole incident. I have been overconfident in my strength. I am too weak, and if I don't do something about this weakness, I will die before I can even do something about the diabolic beasts. How then will I face my parents in the afterlife?" Kailen mused inwardly, as he moved to the edge of the cave.
He opened the bag the benefactor who had saved him left behind, then began to munch on the meat wrapped in the tissues without even bothering to unwrap them. He was too hungry to care about such trivialities.
A few minutes later, Kailen had consumed all the food, yet he was still not satisfied.
"I have to hunt beasts and cook some meat to satiate my appetite. But I'm still recovering. I need to get some rest first. It's not like it's the first time I have had to endure hunger, and to think I came to the wilderness without thinking of taking food along. Well, even if I had done that, I would have lost it anyway. After all, the outcome of the situation would have been the same. There is only one solution to this current predicament—strength. However, I should rest first."
Kailen lay down, then closed his eyes and fell asleep.
---
Kailen's eyes snapped open. The next instant, a smile of relief appeared on his face.
"I have completely recovered. That means I may have been asleep for at most two days because, according to the note the benefactor left behind, I should have recovered in a day or two."
Kailen stood up, inspecting his body, including his consciousness. "Everything is fine. Feral is also alright. It looks like my shadow creatures automatically appear in the shadow expanse again even if they die."
He removed the bandages that covered his whole body, awaiting the system to make him some clothes like the last time.
However, this time, it ignored him.
He used shadow manifestation to weave a shadow armor to cover his naked body.
"It's about time I try to head out to train. The more time I waste, the nearer the deadline for completing the mission approaches. I can't become a non-awakener again. This system is ruthless. Plus, that wyvern must pay for trying to kill me. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."
Kailen stepped out of the cave. However, what greeted him was a cliff.
That's right. The cave was on top of a cliff. He looked below, and what greeted him was clouds.
Screeeeeccchhh!
He looked above, and what greeted him was ginormous flying monsters.
"Damnation."
His only option was to head back into the cave.
Kailen sighed, then turned around and sat back in the cave. He had to find a way to leave this cave, or the time for completing the mission would run out, and he would become a non-awakener.