He grinned, he would have been laughing if he was not falling. The fast-approaching ground forced him to pause any celebrations. He tried to stab at the trunk to gain a foothold but it was he was just an inch away, a distance that suddenly became insurmountable. He took out a sword and stabbed with as much force as he could muster. The sword slid into the wood surprisingly easily. His momentum was suddenly stopped, the inertia trying to drag him down but his body overcame it.

He jumped towards another tree, spinning mid-air as he retracted his sword and cut off the head of a monster rushing at him. They were not as much of a danger as they had been on the ground. It would have been a different matter if they had ranged weaponry though as they were still much better at climbing and moving on these trees. It was just that they lost most of their insane movement capabilities while in the air.

The monsters on the ground kept following after him, their size only increasing with time. Seeing that he tried to run away but they kept following him without any difficulty. It only made him exhausted, sensing which he automatically stopped.

Connecting with his reservoir he checked the energy level, barely above half. Using the energy was so simple, just a thought, and woosh, it was gone. Replenishing it was another matter though and thus every use required careful consideration as he could not confidently say that there was not natural regeneration of this energy.

While being harassed by the monsters that attacked him from all directions he considered his options. More and more of them were starting to climb and it would not be long before he was overwhelmed by their number. Fighting them on the ground never even entered his mind. It was already maddening for him to survive just the 10 to 20 of these and now there was a small army gathered below.

He jumped, it was an exhilarating feeling. It felt as though he was speeding a bike when the air crashed on his air. His hands moved back, waiting, waiting, and then unwinded like a compressed spring. The spear bore a hole through the monster's skull, the jumping momentum caring him forwards and the spear penetrated the tree.

The spear was a fabulous weapon and it shone especially brightly here in these semi-aerial fights, the long reach allowing him to safely take out the monsters mid air.

Stabbing a kife for levrage, he quickly took out the spear. This was the only cons of using the spear, it took precious time to extract it from the trunk. The monsters had surrounded him. He was sure they were not visible just a moment before but there was nothing he could do. It was too easy to hide in this place.

This time all of them jumped at him. He inhaled, a flame hovering over his palm as he waited. The world slowed down and the black, scaled bodies came closer and closer. He swung his hand a wave of spark hitting most of the monster and they simultaneously erupted into screams.

Quiet return for a moment and then hair rising scream rose from below. His head swirled considering what to do. When he circled the tree trunk to its opposite side he sensed the darkness fainter. He squinted his eyes and moved towards that location.

The feeling of weightlessness as he jumped from tree to tree was indescribable. It even allowed him to overlook the exhaustion that he was starting to feel now.

The air became warmer, the darkness gradually lifted, and then suddenly he was in front of the blazing fire that had reached the sky. He barely stopped himself from being launched straight at the blazing fire.

How wonderful would it have been if he could just control this fire to attack all of the monsters below. Unfortunately, he had to climb down, and casting a barrier he ran into the fire. The monster followed him and he once again felt how good they were at using their legs. If not for the fire he would have quickly been surrounded like always and this time he would have been dead because he certainly did not have enough energy to kill all of them.

Surrounded by fire, and chased by the monster he quickly noticed something. He could not feel any heat whatsoever even though his skin should have started burning just from the hot air but despite being surrounded by the fire the heat did not reach up to him. Turning, he looked at the monsters. Aside from a few that had followed him at the start, the remaining were standing outside and now that he had time to take a breath, he could feel the slight pull upon his energy and sure enough a trickle of energy was leaking into the path connecting to the barrier.

He started using guerrilla tactics, attacking them from different locations, quickly killing a few and then running back in the fire.

The fire was not static and constantly the monster had to move back and as the time passed it became easier and easier for him to fight as the fire seeped out energy from their bodies.

***

Quiet and dark. He did not think he would ever be thankful to be back in here but now he was. Finding a hidden space he covered it as best as he could with the creepers and started experimenting.

The barrier covered him form all the sides. Closing his eyes he connected with the barrier, observing the web-like structure for some time and then he slowly, gently started pulling energy from all the other parts of the barrier into a single area situated directly in front of his head. Just like the last time, the color faded away form the rest of the barrier while the part where energy was concentrating too changed in color. From red, to bright red, to orange.

He punched the greyed out area and the barrier dispersed. He thanked God that the monster had not attacked elsewhere or he would have been in a serious problem back then. He repeated and the process, this time trying to change to somehow change the original structure of the barrier into what he wanted but everytime either there was no reaction or the barrier simply scattered away.

Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. It felt terrible to constantly fail but he did not allow the negativity to seep into his mind and instead closed his eyes and looked at everything that had happened since he had come in here and he had certainly improved. For one, he was now bonafide weapon. These spells would be especially helpful once he got out of here.

When his energy was half used up he stopped tweaking. He prayed and then slept. Crystal inbetween his teeth, he walked out of.

The darkness was lighter. He could tell now as he had been wandering in here for a long time now. There was no way to check the time but he kept counting the number of time he slept. Selecting a direction he started walking but then the temperature gradually rose and he reversed his direction which again led him to the familiar pitch black darknesss.

His steps were urgent as he tried to find monster. He wanted to be out of here before the fire spread everywhere.

The groups of monsters were big, ranging reaching nearly 20 members but each one was spaced appart. He appreciated it but at the same he time felt worse. Already the fire was strating to effect the fight. For now it was in his favour as the brighter surroundings no longer required him to to burn torches to fight. But it did not take long for the favour to become disapproval, he knew that from experience.

***

The forest floor was now carpeted with bright red flames. He kept on hopping between the trees quickly escaping from the fiery hell. The hot air moved up towards the sky but thankfully the barrier was there safeguard him. It could not be like so forever. The energy was precious so he could not waste it like that for much longer. He knew that and still erected the barrier to keep himself at his fittest when he start.

Hearing the sound he sprang up, a sword in his hand and he moved with renewed vigor. The only thought in his mind was to quickly complete this floor or he would die a miserable death.

The monster came into his view but they were running away. As he looked there he could see the area being much brighter. He ran at them, the flame quickly bloomed and then he tried to cast another. After some tries, another appeared. Seeing him they converged at him and he tweaked with the flames opening the pressure at the front. The sparks swarmed the monsters rushing at him and the all became living torches becoming an obstruction for his brethren.

Monsters circled around them. Swinging with the full force he beheaded a monster. Moving back he dodged a stab. Another jumped, and he swung the sword. It deflected the swing and grabbed the his sword with full force. He tried tacking his sword back but acknowleded the monster’s strength, letting got of his weapon. A monrning start crushed its head while it tried to rebalance himself.

The fires were closing in from the front and the back so he quickly winded up the battle, his skin rupturing in the process as he had deactivated the barrier long ago. He ran, every step filled with the pain he ran towards the darkness.

He deflected the sword, tightly grabbign the blade before it could retract. He bit his lips and moved in, dodging its bite and then cut off its neck.

He started taking risks to speed up the fights. End one and search for the other fight. It kept on repeating and the temperature kept on increasing. Each battle added to the fries as he did not have time to put them out.

The hoard of monsters was more difficult to find and after repeatedly wasting his time he started creating noise to attract attention to himself. Banging weapons he kept trying to make the biggest of the noises. He felt it work, maybe it was just his senses messing with him but as he encountered another hoard he thought it had worked so kept on trying to create even bigger noises.

The two weapons clashed and the noise he felt was higher. He kept on trying until the critical point was crossed. The surroundings could no longer absorb the noise that he created and it started echoing all around him. Then he felt an apparent change.

***

Panting he rested against the tree. It was the fifth fight that he had finished. His body supporting many wounds moved and again he started producing noise, sweat trickling down to his feet. He looked around at the much brighter environment. It was beautiful. A marvel of nature, one that had been hidden by the darkness before. He did not have the time to appreciate the view as the air became hotter and hotter.

Up above he could see the top dyed in orange color as the light reached the ground. The temperature continued to increase and gradually it started becoming more and more unbearable to stay in. He would run away to the dark part of the forest that was still somewhat bearable while hounding after the monsters.

His vision blanked out, everything becoming black for a moment and then the vision returned. He felt exhausted, sweat and blood covered his body from top to bottom. He could feel the tingling all over his hands and arms as he moved through the forest looking for the next group. His movement was sluggish, becoming clumsy despite his best efforts. He could have slowed down but considering the situation he was in he kept on increasing his speed instead.

The monsters became lethargic, their movements affected by the heating that was on the rise. He too was not spared from the same fate. His own moments started slowling down and he started little mistake very frequently but he did not have enough energy forcing him to physically deflect the attacks.