It sounded like some sort of glass-shattering tornado, like a hurricane but instead of wind I just heard one hundred gorillas screaming at my back.

On top of the ear-grinding rumble feeling like you're in the epicenter of an earthquake, vibrating every bone in my body as I ran.

And let me tell you, I fucking ran.

I dabbled in cross country while in high school, and I had a decent five-point-five minute mile. Nothing special for competitive runners, but it was better than most people.

But at that moment, I felt like I was surpassing human limits I ran so fast.

I could feel the wind in my hair and the pulse of my heartbeat steadily increasing as the horde of demons got louder.

There really is just something about a life-or-death moment motivating you. They need to bring some gorilla's to the Olympics, they're wonderful for making people run faster!

But to be honest, I was feeling a little in over my depth.

It might have been stupid to try and outrun a hundred gorilla demons.

Actually, it might have been really stupid.

Maybe the most stupid thing I've ever done.

There were probably dozens of ways to get into that Cirilka nest, why did I pick the one where I had to bait an entire Abitsimus colony?

No, there was nothing that could be done now.

The only thing left to do was run.

I had to-

A pain, blinding and horrible, flared in my back and I stumbled, breaking out of my pace and slowing. My vision blurred and darkened around the edges. I felt hot blood soaking the back of my shirt.

Fuck.

Looks like that had just re-opened the injuries from my fight with the Cirilka.

I didn't know why, but it seemed like any wounds that I acquired would heal much faster. Something that would normally take days to disappear, like a cut, would vanish in under an hour.

The horrible slashes I had all over my back and sides from that Cirilka had been scabbed over, and even though they weren't vanishing already, they had stopped bleeding.

Yeah, me running full tilt had been a bad decision.

I was making a lot of those.

And this one was really bad.

My vision began to darken and my hearing dulled.

My limbs began to feel numb, and I started to slow down.

I just couldn't keep up the pace. My body wouldn't let me.

Desperate, I looked back for just a second and saw the leading Abitsimus was barely a hundred feet away from me. It looked like they couldn't run faster than me previously, but now they were catching up.

They would be on me in ten seconds.

What could I do? Was there anything that would help me, anything that would save me?

Goddammit, I just need to heal!

And I did.

The pain immediately vanished, I felt the blood on my side drain away, and my faculties returned, in one rush of force.

What the fuck.

Checking my hp, I saw I was on 8/14.

Regenerate: Level 1 Acquired

Okay. Weird, but okay.

Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, I started sprinting again. It looked like I was still pretty fucked up all over my body, but it wasn't nearly as bad.

That little bit of deus ex machina had saved me. That was a fact. I'm not gonna complain about how unexpected it was and how lucky I had been. I still didn't know the rules of this world, and I wasn't sure if this was a common occurrence or not. Maybe randomly getting a skill that was tailored to save you was normal.

Probably not, now that I'm thinking about it. That would be too convenient.

But either way, back at top speed, I was barely managing to keep the lead.

It was difficult to run at that fast pace, due to the unsteady ground. There was cracked rock, dust that could be slipped on, and boulders in the way.

It was hard to avoid them all while keeping ahead, but I was trying to manage it. It seemed like the demon horde behind me was having a hard time as well, since I could keep hearing them crash into boulders and other obstacles in their mad dash.

Quick Feet: Level 1 Acquired

That should help.

....

To be completely honest, looking back on that moment, I had no idea how I had survived. I hadn't known it at the time, but each Abitsimus was around 30 levels above me. They were also twice my height and had much longer strides. By all normal accounts, they would have caught up to me in seconds. But the one thing I had going for me was that Skill Acquisition Period.

Although completely unaware at the time, that acquisition period had allowed me to survive. It wasn't my suicidal plans or incredible luck, it was the fact I was currently inside that timer.

I would have the ability to continually gain the skills that my body needed the most at the time, no matter what. Along with that, my body would supernaturally adapt and survive almost anything the world threw at it.

Putting it simply, at that moment my body could change at such a speed that I was nearly invincible.

....

I actually made it to the Cirilka nest. It took minutes of running, but I did it.

I crested the top of a small hill and saw the entire clearing laid out. Cirilka were skittering around a glowing hole in the ground, completely unprepared for what was about to happen.

Sprinting directly towards the clearing and entering it, I passed the crabs as they all rushed to fight the Abitsimus horde behind me.

They could barely put up a fight. It was embarrassing, actually.

The gorillas swept through the clearing, barely slowing as Cirilka charged to stop them. It was like some kind of unstoppable wave of simian fury.

And it was too fast.

Those gorillas were too strong! They were almost literally running straight through the Cirilka! I wasn't going to be able to hide!

The crabs all rushed into the tsunami that was the Abitsimus horde, each suicidally charging to their deaths. It was admirable, in a way. In another way, they were useless!

The original plan would be to hide inside the Cirilka hole while the two groups of demons tussled aboveground, but the Cirilka were way too weak!

There was around fifteen Cirilka in total, while there were fifty demon-gorilla's chasing me. On top of that, each Abitsimus was probably ten times stronger than an individual Cirilka.

Add that together, and you'll realize that my assumption about the two groups evenly fighting each other was very wrong!

I suck at math! Or at least comparing groups of demons together. Either way, I needed to change up my strategy.

I changed directions, booking it out of the clearing. New plan: hide in the old Keilatrix den.

The Abitsimus horde followed.

For the next five minutes, I ran as if being chased by the devil himself, who I assume would generate about as much panic as the wave of demons behind me.

I tore into the small clearing that my cave was in and sprinted inside, scrambling down the steep inner slope as fast as I could. The gorillas sounded like they had entered right behind me.

The cave was pretty large, but it would be a tight squeeze for some of the larger Abitsimuses. In fact, it might stop a good amount of them.

But I could hear that it didn't stop them all.

Some of the smaller ones could be heard running down the slope behind me, and I was praying to whatever god was listening that I had the speed to reach the Keilatrix den.

Barely finding the crack in the wall, I dove through and shimmied forward with the grace of a pregnant cow, but I made it through and far away from the opening.

I turned my head just in time to see the hulking body of an Abitsimus tear past and out of sight. A second one tried to stop at the crack, but stumbled and its momentum drove it forward. The third managed to stop at the opening and found it was impossible to force through.

It screamed, roared, thrashed, and clawed at the crack I was inside of, but it couldn't get through.

I couldn't help it, I laughed at its feeble efforts.

I could see just enough of its face to know that was a mistake.

The Abitsimus opened his mouth, and deep within its throat, I saw an orange glow.

Holy shit.

My laugh caught in my throat with a choking sound, and I scrambled backward through the small hole.

I didn't know those things could breathe fire!

I pushed my body forward as best as I could, which was not great, as I heard the sound of a jet engine firing up behind me.

The hole was bathed in bright orange light from the Abitsimus, and I could feel the heat ratcheting up.

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck

I could see a bend in the hole up ahead, and threw myself forward around the corner. I knew it wouldn't be enough to do anything, so I kept on moving.

From around the corner, I couldn't see the opening anymore. The light was flooding through the passage, though, so I knew I had to keep moving.

I didn't make it another ten feet before I heard an explosion of heat and sound.

The jet engine roared around the corner and I saw a wall of fire.

I lunged backward and tried to shield myself with the Cirilka sword.

....

Heat Resistance: Level 4 Acquired

Heat Resistance: Level 5 Acquired

Tenacity: Level 1 Acquired

I felt horrible pain all around my body. Everything except my face and parts of my upper chest burned like nothing I had ever felt before.

Pain Resistance: Level 3 Acquired

I managed to crack open my eyes and was nearly sick as I saw the state of my blackened and charred body, rammed and crushed against the side of the passage.

I couldn't move at all, and the pain was absolutely blinding.

Wait.

There was one thing I could do, something I had been thinking about earlier but had no way of knowing it would work.

"Regener-"

The word caught in my mouth as I was sent into a fit of racketing coughs. Each one sent waves of more pain through my chest. I could barely breathe.

I whispered the word again, so quiet it barely made it out of my mouth.

"Regenerate"

I saw my health, sitting at 1/14, slowly blink up three times.

The horrible burns coating my body sank away and lessened, while my broken bones knit themselves back together.

It was an exceedingly painful process, feeling my body forcefully bring itself back.

I saw my stamina, which was on 7/13, go down to 1.

That skill is really overpowered.

Not that I was complaining.