FREE USE in Primitive World

Chapter 237: Chapter 237: Surrounded Again

“Okay,” Sol murmured, his crimson eyes glowing faintly. “That was a solid warm-up.”

He stood amidst the carnage of the five high-tier beasts, rolling his broad shoulders as the heavy, comforting warmth of the Golden Liquid hummed in his chest. The adrenaline of the skirmish was still singing in his veins, but his mind was already moving to the next objective.

Just a mile away, the apocalyptic clash of the Layer 3 Lord beasts was still raging. The distant, continuous concussive booms and mechanical shrieks echoed through the dense canopy, a violent reminder that the true masters of the Great Orrath were still contesting against each other’s throat.

Sol tightened his grip on the Void-Oak spear. “Now, let’s go see if I can find an opening to third-party that boss fight, of course that would be the ultimate goal, but I doubt, I’ll be able to find the opportunity, but doesn’t hurt checking it out ”

But just as he took a single, confident step forward to move toward the noise, the noise actually came to him.

BOOOOOOM!

The earth beneath Sol’s boots violently bucked, hitting with the force of a localized magnitude-eight earthquake. The sudden, violent upheaval nearly threw him completely off balance. A shockwave of pure, unadulterated physical force ripped through the dark woods, originating not from the Lord beasts, but from the dense tree line directly in front of him.

The shockwave flattened the massive purple ferns for hundreds of yards in every direction, snapping petrified roots and sending a blinding cloud of dust and debris washing over the clearing.

Sol snapped his head up, his Crimson-Sight flaring to maximum capacity to pierce the dust.

The thermal signatures that lit up his vision made the breath completely stall in his lungs.

The forest wasn’t empty. The chaotic noise, the spilled blood, and the dense, heavy essence from his “warm-up” skirmish hadn’t gone unnoticed.

Charging directly toward him through the pulverized tree line were more Great Badgers and Dreadwings. And this time, they didn’t number in a small, manageable hunting party.

They numbered in the literal hundreds.

It was a tidal wave of fur, stone, crystal, and venom. A massive splinter horde, likely driven into a frenzy by the ongoing Lord battle and drawn by the fresh blood of their kin, was stampeding through the jungle. Dozens of massive, Layer 2 Omen-Blood Great Badgers tore up the earth like living bulldozers, accompanied by legions of Layer 1 lackeys. Above them, the canopy was practically blotted out by a massive, buzzing cloud of Dreadwings, their translucent wings vibrating with a deafening, mechanical roar that drowned out all other sound.

To them, the human standing in the middle of their dead kin, radiating a suffocating Golden Liquid aura, wasn’t just an intruder. He was the perfect, glowing target for their leaderless, redirected rage.

Sol didn’t even think for a fraction of a millisecond.

Nope, his pragmatic survival instincts screamed.

He spun on his heel, completely abandoning any arrogant thoughts of observing the Lord fight, and ran for his absolute life.

He moved with blinding speed, his evolved muscles launching him through the dense jungle. But sheer physical speed on the ground had its limits in a primordial forest. Sol had to weave around massive, skyscraper-sized purple trunks, vault over slippery, moss-covered logs, and dodge the snapping maws of opportunistic flora.

The Dreadwings had the unobstructed sky.

Within minutes, the horrifying, vibrating hum grew deafeningly loud right above his head. The Layer 2 Dreadwings, significantly faster and more aerodynamically coordinated than the common mobs, had completely bypassed the treacherous terrain and swooped down to cut off his escape route.

Six massive, heavily armored insects dropped into the small clearing ahead of him, their crystal wings beating furiously to kick up blinding clouds of dirt. Their hooked mandibles clicked menacingly, snapping the lower branches of the trees as they formed a literal wall of chitin and stone.

Behind him, the roaring, earth-shattering stampede of the Badgers grew louder. The trees were violently shaking.

He was completely encircled. He didn’t have any option to just run his way out. If he didn’t fight right here, right now, his only result would be to become a high-protein snack for a horde of overgrown bugs and angry mammals.

Fine, Sol thought, his crimson eyes narrowing into dangerous slits as he skidded to a halt. Let’s dance.

The leading Layer 2 Dreadwing didn’t wait. It lunged, its massive, scythe-like mandibles snapping horizontally for his neck, intending to decapitate him in a single strike.

Sol didn’t retreat. He ducked under the sweeping jaws, feeling the sharp wind whistle past his ear, and used his full, unbridled physical power to thrust his spear upward. The blunt shaft slammed directly into the creature’s armored underbelly. The concussive force of Sol’s Golden Liquid-enhanced strength knocked the massive insect violently backward, sending it crashing into the trunk of a tree with a sickening crunch.

Using this momentary opening, he spun and attacked the second and third Dreadwings closest to him. He became a blur of dark leather and golden essence, his Void-Oak spear sweeping in wide, devastating arcs. He forced the giant insects to frantically back away to avoid getting their delicate crystal wings shattered by his heavy blows.

But they didn’t retreat far. They simply adjusted their formation and kept attacking, swarming him from multiple angles. Sol couldn’t find a single opening to land a finishing blow. Every time he wound up for a lethal thrust, another insect would dive to intercept his weapon.

And then, the ground forces arrived.

The tree line behind him exploded as the vanguard of the Great Badgers crashed into the clearing. The earth physically shook as dozens of massive, stone-armored mammals joined the fray.

The encirclement was complete.

The battle escalated into an absolute, claustrophobic nightmare. It was a chaotic, high-speed melee where a single misstep meant being torn to shreds.

Sol fought like a demon. His Golden Liquid core roared, flooding his limbs with infinite stamina and crushing density. He easily slaughtered the common Essence-Born beasts that foolishly tried to swarm his legs, his obsidian blade turning them into bloody mist. He swept his spear low, shattering the kneecaps of a leaping Layer 1 badger, and smoothly transitioned the momentum into a backhand strike that caved in the skull of a descending Layer 1 Dreadwing.

But the Layer 2 Omen-Bloods were a completely different breed of terror.

There were simply too many of them this time, and under the pressure of the chaotic horde, they seemed to be working in a terrifying, instinctual coordination.

The Dreadwings would dive from the canopy to force Sol into a defensive, upward block, and the exact moment his spear was occupied, a heavily armored Layer 2 Great Badger would ram into him from his blind spot.

CLANG! Sol parried a scythe-like claw swipe from a massive, silver-backed Badger, the impact sending a jarring shock up his arms that made his bones ache. Before he could counterattack, a crystal wing sliced through the air toward his back, forcing him to violently contort his body to avoid being bisected.

He was constantly on the defensive, forced to weave, duck, and parry a relentless storm of stone claws and razor-sharp mandibles.

But as he fought, bleeding slightly from a shallow, grazing cut on his cheek, Sol’s analytical mind processed a crucial tactical anomaly.