Finding Theresa

Mike looked at the level-up notification and nodded with satisfaction. He felt like it was long overdue. Then again, he had more or less been accumulating 'feats' as he decided to dub them, to level up, and he guessed killing another predator to establish himself as the superior creature was the threshold he needed to cross.

'The dot representing the Boa was one of the smaller ones on the map, so it shouldn't be that strong compared to the other marked monsters. I should be able to level up a bunch, then, if I continuously fight creatures that push me to my limit. And I should be able to reach level twenty by the end of the excursion.' Mike smiled. If he could gain a new skill by the end of it, then it would be more than worth it.

He then decided to check his watch to see how many points he had, and what he saw pleasantly surprised him.

598

The bulk of that came from the Boa, that's for sure.

Mike didn't know if what he had was large or small. He also didn't know if he was high up in any sort of rankings as there was no way to tell what points other people possessed. Not yet, anyway.

Still, seeing that he had a few hundred points already was quite good.

However, he didn't admire it for too long. He had stuff to do, and he would be sure to increase that number by a LOT soon.

"For now, though," He looked at the corpse of the Verdant Boa, and a look of hunger appeared on his face.

"Let's feast for a bit."

***

Namor stared at the corpse of the large bull-like creature that was currently embedded deeply within one of the large trees.

Its body was battered and broken, and it looked like it had been struck by an unimaginable force from multiple directions, dealing devastating external and internal injuries.

His expression was unreadable, then, he turned to the five other students who stood some ways away from him. Each of them stood at attention and looked at Namor with a mix of respect and trepidation.

"Have you been able to get in contact with the others?" He asked calmly as he sat on the trunk of a nearby fallen tree.

"Yes. They are all moving to capture the surrounding flags like you ordered. If things go accordingly, you will have amassed a large amount of points by the end of the excursion. Moreover, Agnes has been located and is being led to our position currently." One of them answered curtly, and Namor just nodded thoughtfully.

"Alright. As soon as everything is in place, give the order. The moment the target is spotted, his location is to be reported to me immediately." He ordered, and all the students, who were really just young guards bred from birth to protect Namor, nodded.

They then went off to carry out the orders, leaving Namor sitting there with a look of slight amusement and coldness.

'You made a mistake coming here, Mike. I'm gonna make sure you don't leave this place.' He thought darkly.

***

'This is troublesome.' Mike thought as he hung from a branch of one of the massive trees with one hand, his legs against the bark.

The line representing Theresa's scent had become more tangible, and he could track her more easily, meaning he was getting closer.

Along the way, Mike had killed several more beasts. None of them was strong enough to warrant his full attention, but the point increase was nice.

Anyway, despite the frequent stops, Mike felt like he was making good progress.

At his current level, he had no problem reaching a few hundred miles per hour with his running speed, and that was without any of his usual augmentations.

Coupled with his keen senses, he had no issues avoiding most unnecessary obstacles to get to his destination quickly.

However, he'd reached a place where he was forced to stop.

The tree he was on currently was one of the taller ones, giving him a great view of the surroundings, and a few miles ahead of him, a massive chasm could be seen.

Its length was beyond what even he could see, and from his position, he could tell that it was several miles deep and wide.

He looked at his map, and his eyes narrowed

'5 red dots, each of them bigger than that of the Boa.' He noted as he looked back at the chasm. He wasn't certain, but something told him that the level of the monsters within the chasm was on a higher qualitative level compared to a lot of the monsters on the surface.

He could imagine it already, dreadful creatures that constantly fought each other, devouring one another to get stronger, only to die and become fuel for other creatures.

In truth, Mike wanted to avoid the chasm. He was sure it would take him a while to get through it, and that's not counting the monsters he'd fight on the way.

However, the trail led directly into it, meaning that Theresa was inside there somewhere. So he didn't exactly have a choice.

'Well, no point in delaying the inevitable, I guess.' He thought, and without preamble, he let go of the branch and let himself fall.

The wind whipped at his armored face as he descended, and a gauge appeared on his HUD, showing how fast he was falling, with the number rapidly climbing.

But Mike wasn't really bothered.

When the ground was around a hundred meters below, he tensed his arm before burying it into the bark of the tree.

The clawed fingertips of his gauntlets created deep grooves as he rapidly decelerated. The whiplash would have killed a normal human near instantly, but Mike barely noticed.

As soon as he slowed down enough, he removed his arm from the tree and let himself fall the rest of the way.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, he dashed forward, the wind from his movement causing the surrounding vegetation to sway.

This time, he completely ignored the surrounding creatures while he ran. If any tried to block his path, a swift Primal Rend would take them out quickly without slowing him down.

It only took him two minutes to reach his destination, and when he reached the edge of the chasm, he was able to appreciate just how large it was.

'I can probably fall for a few minutes before I hit the bottom.' He thought as he stared at the deep darkness within. Naturally, such a thing didn't obstruct, him, as Mike's perception had long given him quite the night vision.

From what he could see, the bottom of the chasm was even larger than the entrance. The deeper one went, the further apart the chasm walls branched out, until Mike couldn't see either side of the chasm without going down there himself.

Moreover, the place wasn't spared from the vast vegetation of the forest.

In fact, if not for him staring at it from above initially, it would have been difficult to pinpoint the position and size of the chasm from the ground level.

However, he wasn't easily deceived. Beneath the vast greenery and vegetation, a dark world of harrowing creatures awaited him.

'No point in delaying further.' He mused, then, he took a step, and went over the edge.

As he felt, his body went through numerous large leaves and vines, but they were of no consequence.

As he fell, the sunlight gradually lessened, making sight within the place increasingly difficult.

At some point, Mike started to slow himself down by digging his gauntlet into the wall of the chasm. Despite his physique, he doubted he could come out of such a fall unscathed.

Moreover, he'd rather not get caught off guard when he landed.

More than that, though.

He was wary.

Because as soon as he reached a certain level, he felt gazes fall upon him.

Not tens, or even hundreds.

No, in just this initial part where he landed, Mike could feel over a thousand hungry creatures staring at him.

He didn't panic, though, and he finally landed at the bottom of the chasm.

Just like he thought, the bottom was pretty much its own little world.

There was still large amounts of vegetation, with vines and large shrubs covering everywhere.

Large flowers dotted the chasm walls, with natural pillars of earth connecting the inner parts of the chasm to the top.

There were numerous plants that also gave off soft lights, so the place wasn't totally dark, but still below average.

Mike cracked his neck and exhaled.

'I can already tell that this will take time.' Mike mused as he felt a pang of worry. What sort of luck did Theresa have to land in a place like this? Was she alright?

'No. Trust her. Besides, it's not like you're stronger than her. Worry about yourself.' He shook his head. No good would come out of worrying needlessly. He just needed to get there.

It was just a shame that it would take time...

After all, the 3 giant spiders that were hanging on the walls not too far away from him made it clear that his path down here wouldn't be a smooth one.

'There shouldn't be anyone who can see me, though.' He calmly took off his gauntlets and stored them in his spatial ring.

Since no one was watching him, there should be no problem with him using a different part of his abilities.

'Partial Transformation.'

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