Raven stepped a few meters into the tunnel and collapsed to the ground. The monster's incredible speed caused him to slam into the tunnel with such force that dust flew high into the air. The monster tried to enter, but the tunnel was too narrow for its massive body. Enraged, it began screaming and crying out in a terrifying, hoarse voice. Then, it started tearing through the tunnel at breakneck speed. The rocks were nothing to it; it wanted to dig the tunnel to capture its prey, to kill it.
Watching the monster easily digging the tunnel and getting closer and closer, Raven's heart pounded wildly. He couldn't believe he was alive and thought he'd be safe inside the tunnel, but he hadn't expected this monster to be so powerful.
Quickly, he pulled himself together, turned, and ran as fast as he could. He bumped against the narrow cave wall, but he didn't care about anything else; he just wanted to escape. He was terrified. If he hadn't been so close to the tunnel and reacted so quickly, entering as soon as he saw the monster, he would have been dead. Just a second separated him from death. Just that.
"Damn it, damn it, this isn't a game, this isn't Earth, my life is on the line, this is a total nightmare." He thought it was impossible for a human to kill such a creature, and he was certain that even some of the hunters he'd seen were no match for this monster.
He kept running until he was back inside the hall of the cave. When he arrived, there was no one inside except the prisoners. He turned around; he could still hear the monster screaming and crying behind him as it approached with incredible speed.
"Damn it, what do I do now? In front of me are those shapeshifting monsters, and behind me is this damn nightmare?"
Raven didn't think twice. He knew his chances of surviving the shapeshifters were slim, but surviving this monster? There was absolutely no hope, so without a second thought, he decided to descend quickly.
He started by using the rocks and ledges because the height was too great, and if he fell, he would at least break some bones. So he descended quickly but carefully until he reached the ground.
He looked around, trying to find any way out of this predicament. To his right, the prisons stretched to the end of the hall, and in front of him was the opening the shapeshifters had come out of. To his left was the altar where the prisoners had been killed, and behind it, the tunnel the monster had previously exited through.
"Since the monster is in the tunnel I came from, and the shapeshifters are in the tunnel ahead, the best option is to exit through the middle tunnel on my left." Little did he know that the humanoid monsters had left as quickly as they could and a long time ago, and the cavern was empty.
Raven raced towards the tunnel, reaching the platform in seconds. When he looked at it, he felt nauseous. There were many pieces of flesh, bones, and blood scattered on the altar, along with a strong smell of blood that he could barely suppress. Vomiting, he looked away from the platform and walked off. As he moved, he noticed several weapons scattered beside the altar, forming a small mound. These weapons probably belonged to the people imprisoned there.
He approached the pile of weapons near the platform, hoping to find something useful, but he didn't get his hopes up too high. "If they had anything good, they would have used it to save their lives."
After searching the mound, he found three staffs with crystals at their ends. These were staffs used by mages. There was also a giant shield, a large hammer, a spear, two daggers, a long sword, a bow, some arrows, a bag or something resembling a bag, and many damaged weapons.
"They seem to belong to the group of prisoners! So, were they hunters...? If they were imprisoned like this, how powerful must those shapeshifters have been...?"
At first, he thought that these hunters might have been defeated by the monster, but he quickly dismissed that possibility. Why...? Of course, because the monster was incredibly ferocious and ridiculously strong, if they had fought it, it would have torn them to pieces. So he realized that the shapeshifters were the ones who had captured the hunters.
"So even these shapeshifters must be strong to be able to capture a group of hunters without killing them. But are they offering the hunters as a sacrifice to this monster? And it doesn't seem to attack them. Is it because they bring it food...?"
Only a few seconds passed before he took the bag and put it on his waist. Then he took the crystals from the magic wand and threw away the sticks, which were useless to him since he wasn't even a mage or awake. He strapped the bow to his back along with the box of arrows. As for the shield, hammer, and the rest, he couldn't take them. Firstly, their weight would have slowed him down, and he needed to be fast to escape. Secondly, he didn't like using shields or the hammer while running and fighting.
As he gathered the weapons, a small explosion occurred behind him, sending dust flying from the tunnel he had just emerged from. He glanced back and frowned. The monster had destroyed the entrance he'd come through. Its screams were deafening, a terrifying, irritating cry mixed with maniacal laughter. He looked around and saw Raven near the altar. The monster opened its mouth, laughing and crying, and then charged at Raven at breakneck speed.
"Craaaaaagh!"
"Damn it!" Raven scrambled and entered the nearby tunnel. It was wider than the previous one, which had given him some time to escape.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it! How am I going to get out? Think, think, think! Ugh!"
In his seemingly hopeless situation, he pushed forward, running as fast as he could. He was desperately searching for a way to escape, the creature's raging roar echoing in his ears. Every fiber of his being screamed for him to run faster, to escape this creature that was relentlessly pursuing him.
He ran as fast as he could, scanning his surroundings, but unfortunately, aside from some glowing weeds and scattered bones on the tunnel floor, there was nothing he could use to escape or even slow down the nightmare. The screaming grew closer and closer. He glanced behind him and saw the monster a hundred meters away.
"Damn it! Just let me go, or I'll make you regret it. I'm not easy prey!" Raven's heart was pounding wildly, his breathing was rapid, and his body felt...
He felt exhausted due to his weak constitution.
He glanced behind him as he saw the nightmare rapidly approaching. "Damn it... you asked for this, you bastard! To hell with you both!"
He slowed his pace slightly, then took out one of the three magic crystals, drew his sword, and began striking the crystal rapidly. The first strike, the second... about ten strikes. The surface of the crystal began to crack, and visible threads of intense energy leaked from it. The crystal pulsated with intense heat and power due to the energy leaking out.
He gripped it tightly and waited until the monster approached. When he was thirty meters away, he hurled it with force, but not at the monster. Instead, it struck the cave ceiling.
The moment the crystal hit the ceiling, with the monster directly beneath it, it shattered, releasing an intense light followed by a powerful explosion. The explosion was so powerful that it shook the entire cave and swallowed Raven whole. Due to the sheer force of the blast, a large section of the cave collapsed, completely blocking the path behind Raven. All that could be heard was the monster's enraged scream.
Raven was still inside the thick dust cloud created by the explosion. Seconds later, he emerged from the dust, coughing. His face was bleeding; he'd been thrown hard against a wall during the blast, sustaining some bruises.
"Cough, cough, cough."
"Wow, that explosion was amazing! I didn't expect it to be this powerful, but even with such a massive blast, that damned creature didn't die."
He knew perfectly well that the monster was still alive because the system hadn't alerted him to kill it.
"If it didn't die from this explosion, how can we kill such a terrifying creature...? Maybe this monster can't be killed in this test at all, but it must be damaged. I have to take advantage of the situation and escape. This explosion is powerful; it will attract many monsters and mutants too."
He sped off, not caring about his exhausted body, and didn't stop until he was out of the tunnel. Outside, it was completely silent. This time, he didn't rush out. He looked around and, after making sure the area was clear, headed back towards the forest the way he'd come.