From where he had emerged from the forest the town should have been clearly visible. The grasslands were plain without any obstacle but the town was somehow nearly completely blurred. The area around it was visibly darker than all its surroundings even though the area around it was full of light.

He looked around and after seeing that nothing was there, he started jogging and then broke into a full-on sprint. Last time, after taking the second Body enhancement drug he had run completely wild, weaving through the forest as if he had been living there his whole life. The drug had not only enhanced his strength but flexibility, endurance, balance, and many other aspects of his body which allowed him to run completely wild through a forest full of nearly unkillable monsters. And he loved it.

The wind blew past him as he ran. Taking in large breaths, he could already feel his lungs starting to burn even though he had only just started sprinting. When he had taken the drug he had been able to run for much longer, at least three to four times longer. He slowed his speed but continued to run. The wind blew from the direction he was running making him burn more of his energy. It was exhausting but calmed his mind.

He tried to push himself but his legs were protesting so the only thing he could do was stop and pant. His lungs burnt as did his legs but it was not uncomfortable but rather enjoyable. He started feeling a bit thirsty and hungry, something that he took as an indication that he needed to eat more of the ration so he did just that, enjoying the fresh and exciting flavors that changed with every bite and sip.

Feeling the burning subside, he got up and started moving towards the town. The burning feeling was still there but he liked it. It was something that he had never really thought he would be able to do as his body never really had been healthy enough to do so. He had always seen his big brother being such a maniac about the workout but could never really understand him, after all, how could one know the sweetness or bitterness of a fruit that one never had eaten.

As he neared the town, he opened the inventory. There was an additional space there that he could feel. A picture of a ball was shown in a new slot. He took it out, the inventory still showed it so he took another one out and then another one. It was still showing the ball. Closing the inventory, he focused upon the balls themselves, black in color, they gave a rough sensation as he rubbed them in his hands. On a closer look, he saw lines criss-crossing across their whole bodies.

He tried juggling the balls having nothing else to do. They kept dropping but he kept on going, and after the tenth attempt he slowly got a feel for it. The twin suns were now a bit more up in the sky, their light comfortable for now. Slow winds were blowing over the grassland making a good combination with the soft light from the suns. The slight swaying of the grass made for a good show, the fact that there was nothing here was a bonus. No other thing to interrupt this serene scene.

Now he was much closer to the town and the view was much clearer. Wherever he could see, there were depressions in the space around the town. They started from near the ground and went up higher than the wall and then curving inwards, almost as if creating a dome around the town. The depressions themselves were small, he observed as he entered the darker part. The temperature here was lower than outside, something he confirmed after stepping in and out of the darker zone multiple times.

One of the depressions was a bit further away from the other. He circled around it, finding it to be spherical. It was a strange sight seeing something defying gravity, even more strange was how even he could not really understand what was happening, he felt as if the space was bending towards the depression. He brought his hand closer to the pitch-black sphere and felt a slight force attracting him that was almost unnoticeable. He bent down and broke a stem of grass and poked the black sphere itself. As soon as the tip of the grass touched it, it was instantly sucked in as it was ripped from the middle. He thanked God for not allowing him to act upon the stupid thoughts that had been encouraging him to touch it with his hand.

He created distance from the black depression and threw one of the black balls at it. Somehow it struck right at the center on the first try. The process was fascinating, the depression quivered slowly as it shrank, becoming smaller and smaller until it vanished from his eyes. During this process, he kept himself alert, his pistol in his hand waiting for anything to jump out. Nothing happened for a while when suddenly a small force struck everything in the vicinity, him included. All the grass was pressed down but the more eye-catching was how the other black sphere all around it also started quivering.

He turned and sprinted away at full speed until he was again in the brighter part of the world and then some more. Only when he felt safe did he turn to look behind at the tens of black depressions that were quivering. This had started a light show as the light around them bent and curved strangely.

At the same time, a gust of wind blew through the grassland with enough force that the grass bent downwards. Both of the scenes were lovely and both of them demanded his attention. He decided to enjoy both as he moved towards the forest and captured both of them in his eyes.

The wind caused the atmosphere to become a bit chilly as the warmth of the suns was dragging behind. Another gust blew and he could feel the force in the wind. He had always thought this but as he now sat here enjoying nature he felt it even more strongly. The buildings that humans made to keep themselves safe from nature were also like a prison. Never being able to enjoy these treats. The winds blowing, the rain dripping, he had always felt they were too good to miss out on, even if he had always been missing out on them.

He got up when the light show slowly stopped. During this time he had been tempted to pop a few more of them but controlled himself in the end, though he was going to do it just not at the moment.

He started throwing the balls at them and strangely all of them hit so he started experimenting a bit. Moving away from the vibrating depressions, he threw one ball but this time he threw it off the mark. As the ball flew it automatically adjusted its course moving towards the depression nearest to it. The depression started shrinking and he moved farther away and threw three more with the first one at the center. He ran away and this time created an even greater distance between him and the quivering depressions. This time the quivering was even more violent and he waited for something to happen.

…

And waited, and nothing really happened so instead of allowing them to become stable he ran and threw three more, running back like wind afterward.

This seemed to have broken the dam as all of them shrank into oblivion.

Boom!

The explosion crushed the grass beneath it and was further shredded as violent winds expanded out but this was not where his attention was focused. As the explosion reached other black depressions they also started vibrating and the near only instantly started shrinking. He took a few steps backward, looked at the wave showing no signs of stopping, he turned and ran back.

He was just reaching his limit, his lungs burnt even more than before as this time he ran as if dogs were chasing him.

Boom!!

Another big explosion occurred and the winds came rushing at him, his speed increased even more and his sprint became even more uncontrollable. He tried to keep his balance and for a moment he was able to but as he was running through the grassland his foot suddenly tripped on a rock. He did not have any time to feel pain, his momentum took him forwards as he rolled down the ground. The grass was hiding its fangs. He now knew this as he rolled over the stones both blunt and sharp, all of them hurt the same.

As he was rolling down and then running away, a rustling was echoing in the forest as multiple figures ran towards the explosion. Even more figures emerged from both sides of the town, they were also rushing towards the explosion, it seemed. Most of the figures were the bigger stage two goblins though there were some little stage one sprinkled in between them.

He kept running innocently enjoying the winds, unaware of the world around him. There were some cuts on his clothes but overall he looked okay. By now the activity he had started had stopped. There were still some that were vibrating but none of them showed any intenseness that occurred when they were about to explode. A big hole had appeared on the outskirts of the dome of dim light that covered the whole town and around it, the light show continued. It was a good scene to watch and he did just that.

Standing within the grassland, he watched as the light show stopped. The hole of light surrounded by dimness still looked fantastic. He started moving and felt pain from the whole body, especially his back, but he continued on because by now he could handle this much without a problem.

When he was passing by one of the bigger bundles of grass he saw the goblins running towards the explosion. Most of them were coming out from the town while the remaining were emerging from the forest and both of the groups merged as they looked around the hole seemingly searching for something. The goblins from the town seemed to be ordering some of the other ones as they expanded out and started searching.

He was standing inside the bundle of grass and from the outside, it was almost impossible to see him. There were a lot of goblins and this time there was no forest and no darkness to keep him safe, though as he saw most of them still gathered around the hole he grinned. After positioning himself in their relative direction he started crawling through the grass on all four. Even when he was standing, the grass around here was big enough to reach up to his waist so he thought himself to be practically invisible.

His crawl was not comfortable, to say the least. With grass covering everything it was difficult to move around and nothing needed to be said about the horrible visibility. He had imagined himself running like a lizard, coolly weaving through all the grass and stones and reaching the destination. The reality was not so easy though, moving through the grass while crawling was completely different compared to doing it standing. There were stones, insects, spiky plants and all other manners of things mixed within that were more than capable enough to cut through his skin. He tried to protect his face but even that much was difficult.

He gritted his teeth as he moved further. This damned grassland was full of insects and at this time all of them were feasting upon his blood. What was even more damning was the irritation all over his body, he just wanted to scratch all over. None of the groups came towards his location, for that he was immensely grateful. Crawling through had enlightened him to the fact that if anyone came near him they would immediately be able to see him while he would be oblivious to the fact that someone had even come near him.

By now more than half of them had separated from the group. He was a bit upset but decided to be grateful for these many of them after all he could not protest considering how slow his crawl had been. He spied upon the group by poking his head a bit out of the grass. They were little cuts all over his face as well as red swelling, curtsy of all the insects that had dined upon his blood.

The group was scattered and he would be wasting the grenades if he threw those at them. He looked around, the groups that had broken away were still close enough that they would be able to reach him when the explosions occurred so he lowered his head down and started a fierce battle with the insects. His killings were gruesome but few as the little beings took advantage of him not wanting to attract too much attention.

He periodically surfaced from the sea of grass to keep an eye on his enemies and after seeing that they were far enough he turned his attention towards the main group. By now it had dwindled even further but the remaining group was gathered around some of the goblins that seemed to be instructing others. This put him on alert as he had never seen any except the horned goblins even capable of communication. He focused on their foreheads to see if they had any horns sticking there, thankfully there were none and for that he was thankful.

He slowly crawled closer and once the distance was appropriate, he threw two grenades and then quickly crawled away. First of the grenades was just going to land when it exploded. The group should have been shredded due the pellets inside but they were completely unharmed somehow. In the next moment another explosion occurred and a cloud of smoke hid the whole group from eyesight.

He turned his head back just in time to see another group pop up from the ground, maybe they had been hiding like him. Most of them ran towards him while two goblins ran towards the cloud of black smoke.