A week had passed since the praying mantises hunt and Ezio’s unfortunate loss on the deal.

During that time I abused my power over him for a while, purely to tease him, and stopped after he started giving me looks that could kill.

We left the bamboo forest after getting what I needed out of it, and I had absolutely no desire to ever kill another praying mantis. The smell was unbearable.

After crossing the forest we came across the Silver River, a river running east to west that separated the land from another island on the far side. And as the name suggested, the river was a brilliant silver-white that caught the sunlight and reflected it like a mirror.

The island on the other side was about 6.9 kilometres away, far too wide to swim, so I asked Ezio to construct a small boat out of the shadows, which he did with a grunt of annoyance.

Being able to create constructs from nothing was honestly something else. I couldn’t wait until my own abilities could do the same.

We set sail across the Silver River, and with the winds being fairly strong it only took us a short while to cross to the other side. Thankfully, nothing from the deep decided it wanted to eat us.

The ground on the other island was dark green and vast, with no trees in sight. Huge rocks of varying sizes were scattered across the terrain, some cracked, others whole. Far in the distance stood a large mountain ringed by a pine tree forest.

That was the Prairie Land, the start of Section 2 of the Lands of Horror. From Section 2 onward, monsters began at the Greater rank.

The monster ranks, from lowest to highest, went as follows:

1 - Awakened;

2 - Common;

3 - Greater;

4 - Grand;

5 - Ancient;

6 - Primordial;

7 - Divine;

As the section number went up, so did the rank and danger level of the monsters within it. At the higher sections you would find creatures powerful enough to rule an entire section on their own.

I had no intention of crossing paths with any of those.

As we crossed the prairie, I noticed large holes in the ground, each about two to three times my width.

Those holes were made by a very specific and very cute creature.

Where there’s a prairie, there are prairie dogs.

I tried to move as quietly as possible to avoid alerting them.

I failed. Prairie dogs the size of a Toyota sedan popped their heads out of the holes, all eyes locked on me.

They had fluffy brown fur, small noses, and two massive front teeth sharp enough to tear through steel.

Honestly I wanted to pet them so badly. They reminded me of my hamster from when I was 9, who randomly exploded and died.

I am not making that up. It had literally exploded, or at least that was what my memory insisted every time I recalled it.

Cute as they were, being dragged underground and mauled to death sounded significantly less cute.

Seriously, why did every adorable creature in this forest have to be some kind of menace?

So I ran as fast as I could while they chased me, and unfortunately a few caught up before I could shake them, leaving me no choice but to cut them down.

And God, the sounds they made when my scythe tore through them cut deeper than any blade had any right to.

I kept running, and since the prairie dogs were heavier than me, I eventually outpaced them and made it to the forest.

They stopped at the tree line, apparently unwilling to leave their territory.

Inside the forest, I ran into a pack of Greater wolf beasts standing 1.7 meters tall at the shoulder, who decided I looked like easy prey.

Unfortunately for them, I put them down without too much trouble, though I picked up a few wounds along the way since the alpha could generate metal.

After the fight, I collected some of the less damaged carcasses and stored them in my spatial ring. I could trade or sell them later, even if I didn’t really need the money.

Even when you’re rich, you never stop chasing the bag.

The sky darkened and a heavy storm rolled in, so I pulled on my cloak and wrapped myself in a cocoon of darkness to sleep and stay dry.

The days blurred together as we moved through the forest, killing beasts along the way, stopping for breaks and the occasional spar with Ezio.

After a week of that, we finally reached the mountain. Dozens of dark cave openings dotted its face. Knowing exactly which one I needed, I made for the far left.

Inside, it was completely dark. Anyone without a torch or a light source would get hopelessly lost in minutes. But that wasn’t a problem for me.

I could see in the dark, so no torch was needed. And a torch would have been a liability anyway, a beacon for whatever lurked in the shadows.

The reason I was cutting through the cave rather than going around the mountain was simple. Going around would take days. The cave was the fastest route.

It was deep and narrow, with rocks jutting up from the ground.

All sorts of sounds filled the dark around me, some loud, others low and grinding like teeth on stone. Whatever was making them, it wasn’t human.

Did I look back?

No. I kept walking.

Was I scared?

Nope...

...Okay, maybe a little. You can sue me if you want.

The unknown and the dark were two of the things humans feared most, and for good reason. Anything could come at you out of the black before you even registered it.

I would definitely be running if something did.

My darkness powers helped. In the dark, my presence became faint and hidden, while my senses sharpened considerably.

Darkness was where I was strongest.

Eventually the narrow tunnel opened into a larger cave with a high ceiling. The entrance to another tunnel sat on the far side, roughly a hundred meters away.

I looked up.

My body froze and I swallowed hard.

Hundreds and hundreds of bats the size of large dogs hung silently from the ceiling, fast asleep.

All I had to do was cross a hundred meters quietly and I would be through.

And then my boot came down on something hard that cracked under my weight.

I looked down.

A human skull stared back up at me.

Oh no.

Hundreds of red eyes snapped open above me, all locked on me, radiating killing intent.

I didn’t wait for them to drop. Mana surged through my body and I ran.

The bats tore off the ceiling in a mass of flapping wings and came after me like they hadn’t eaten in weeks.

So yeah. That was my current situation.