Alphonse rushed behind a tree. Without being able to use magic, he felt naked. The footsteps were becoming closer. He could hear the air being expelled from its nose as it took a sniff of the bird's corpse. Alphonse wanted to turn his head, but he didn’t know what kind of weird ability it would have. Knowing his luck, it would have a skill to detect eyesight or something. Better not risk it.

The monster… or whatever it was, approached closer. Its footsteps were heavy, bringing with it a rumbling crash every time it dropped its leg to the ground.

Alphonse could smell the monster, it smelt like shit. Fly’s from the beast began landing on him. He resisted the urge to move, in fear of making any noise. His head dipped down, the sight of a black mottled nose nudged into view. Alphonse’s eyes widened, his hands gripped tightly around his cleaver.

Then, a sound from behind jolted the beast backwards. Its enormous figure stomped away. Alphonse’s head peaked around the tree as he saw the retreating beast. It had huge, thick four legs that travelled all the way up to its stalwart body. Large horns sprouted forth from its skull in all directions like a storm.

It’s heading toward that noise. Although he was curious, he didn’t have a death wish. The mission was all about survival, after all.

Alphonse was carefully treading the forest. He feared making any noise, especially with him not being able to use his magic. He tested the debuff. The dense fur and sharp blades grew from his arms as he entered his Jungle Cat form. Black shadowed teeth took over his face.

Seems like those don’t count as magic? Alphonse thought he attempted to use his fire and ice, but it felt like there was a restriction in his body. His mana refused to listen to him. Shaking his head, he continued his walk.

His ears twitched, sounds started appearing all around him. Alphonse’s face turned grim. He had nowhere to go. He gnashed his lip, his vision turned to a large tree. With no time to wait, he immediately began climbing up the tree. He used the daggers on his arms to pull himself up. Alphonse sat on a large trunk as he looked down.

A swarm of muscle-bound goblins surrounded the tree he was hiding in.

How did they know I was here? Alphonse lamented. Fine, I’ll just wait then.

However, he was awakened from his thoughts when an arrow shot past him and lodged itself into the tree, right by his head.

“Shit.” Alphonse quickly shimmied to the other side of the tree as arrows were accurately fired towards him. He felt a sudden sensation of danger as he jumped up. An arrow, dripping in a strange substance, scraped past his leg. It brought with it a numb sensation, followed by an intense pain that traversed all the way up his limb.

Alphonse continued up the gigantic tree. A massive trunk-like platform appeared in view. He quickly jumped on top as it acted like a shield against the trained goblin fire from below.

He breathed a sigh of relief. The surrounding area was filled with large trees, thick, luscious canopies obstructed the view above.

His eyes shifted to the wound on his leg. He could feel the strange substance slowly travelling up his leg. He quickly tore off a piece of his shirt and bound it around his thigh, in hopes it would stop the poison from continuing.

Shit, what do I do? He had no medical supplies, nor did he have access to a healer. A thought popped into his head. He commanded his form to continue down his legs, he hoped that the Jungle Cat had some sort of poison resistance. The fur continued down; he felt the coarse fur against his socks. Making it quite uncomfortable. The pain lessened. It didn’t stop, but it was a noticeable difference. His head rested against the hard tree trunk, a faint thumping sound transmitted into his ears. Alphonse craned his head to the side. Far down below, the goblins had begun ascending the tree.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Alphonse spat. His shadowed teeth tore into the large tree branches as they hurtled down the side of the tree trunk. It smashed into some of the goblin’s, instantly crushing them to death as they fell down the sheer drop. But the rest of them were quickly getting closer. Their eyes were filled with rage and bloodlust. He could tell they wanted to rip him apart and tear away his flesh.

Alphonse continued chomping away at the heavy branches, sending them tumbling down below. Although they removed a bunch of goblins from the trunk, they kept their bodies close to the tree and avoid it.

He could smell them now. His head lurched back as [ Stomach Bile ] sprayed down onto the goblins like an acid shower. The corrosive substance ate away at their flesh and continued melting their bones. Their blood curdling screeches penetrated his ears. Alphonse jumped to the other side as he repeated his attack. His stomach groaned, an intense pain shooting around his insides. His bile was at its limit. Alphonse’s stomach was empty.

His eyes turned bloodshot as the goblins crawled up onto the platform that he was standing on. Alphonse crouched down with his cleaver in hand. He looked like a demon ready to pounce. The goblins stood still for a moment before they rushed forwards. Alphonse made use of his extra reach as his leg thrashed forwards like a whip. The force of the kick sent the goblin flying, crashing into the others behind it. Their screams descended as they fell off the trunk.

The goblins at the front suddenly ducked, they shot their bows as arrows propelled through the air. Alphonse’s eyes opened wide. He moved his body to the side, but it was too late. One arrow pierced into his shoulder, the other into his thigh. He cut off the arrow impaled into his leg as he shot forward. He couldn’t give the archers space to fire at him.

A goblin’s club rammed towards his ribs, but he ignored it. A sharp cracking sound sprang forth. Alphonse’s cleaver swiped into the soft neck of the goblin. Its head dropped.

A goblin thrusted a rusted dagger straight towards his face. Alphonse’s mouth opened wide, his black shadowed teeth snapped down onto the blade. Swallowing the broken, rusted metal fragments down into his stomach. His head lurched forwards, chomping down onto the goblins’ skull. Fear was forming in their eyes as they watched the demon devour them. Blood, bone, and guts were being spilled onto the wooden trunk below.

Alphonse could feel his strength waning. Despite his high constitution, the blood loss was taking effect.

His cleaver reaped another life. Alphonse swung his arm into the frontline goblins. His arm, covered in razor-sharp knife-like blades and toxic thorns, collided with the other creatures. But, the goblins seemed to be never ending. He was slowly being pushed back.

Am I going to die here? The thought struck him. He glanced back into the trees down below and all around him. He steeled himself. Alphonse turned around and started into a mad sprint. The wind was blowing against his fur, an arrow streaked past his face, causing blood to spurt out of the fresh wound. He grit his teeth and jumped.