Ten meters tall, a giant black beast stepped once out of the clearing on four, three jointed legs, tipped with four dagger like back claws.

Its two scaled wolf heads reared toward the sky and an ear piercing screech rang out causing Julius to fall to his knees covering his now bleeding ears, this was almost too much, a true gold with soulflame. An opponent no other gold could touch and one that was a quasi-underlord.

The Wolf like creature beared its four saber like fangs at Julius in a terrifying sneer, the globs of spit that came out of its mouth melted and bubled on the dark soil below.

Shit, I thought the beasts spit is acid. I backed up slowly bringing my arm around my back reaching for my glaive, only to grab at air. Crap, I forgot I don't have my weapon. I prepared to charge the beast as it looked ready to meet me in the middle, I ran instead. Although powerful, I knew that I was nothing but an already uncooked meal for the monster.

I ran ducking under dead branches and rushing through brandles cursing my luck with the gods for being placed in an unknown situation with an enemy that I could never defeat. My madra, thankfully solid and full depleted slowly as I used it to power my rush through the trees, however, I could feel its presence gaining on me a few metres at a time, I had to think fast.

I took a quick scan at my surroundings looking for anything that could prove useful in my endeavour against the beast. Nothing, just barren trees, wait, no. There was another colossal presence was up ahead, but inactive. Slumbering I thought as I pushed my body to the edge in trying to gain a foothold on the gaining beast.

This could prove deadly, however, it was my only solution in the dire situation that I had landed myself in.

I hopped over a fallen log, and wrapped around a tree changing my direction by a few degrees to the left, straight towards the lair of another deadly monster.

What was up with this place, almost no place except some of the forbidden territories in the kingdom had Dreadbeasts as powerful and cunning as the one already following me, and none had several in the same territories of forbidden grounds. It hit me, what if I wasn’t in the kingdom anymore, where was that so many powerful DreadBeasts could reside, near the center of crucible. I sure hope not I thought I’d be able to be killed by nearly anything.

As, I slowly neared the presence and as the monster slowly neared its future victim, a massive platough of thigh high grass with a lake appeared with a massive dark oppressing form in the bottom of the lake.

I gathered my madra in my arms into the form of the burning droplet, not much of a name when it just makes a giant ball of lava I thought, but thoughts aside I used my madra to jump high in the air and tried to as accurately as I could hit the slumbering giant in the lake.

“Woosh”, the lava sped to the bottom of the pond hot enough to burn the water around the it, so that the sphere would not turn to rock with the touch of ordinary water. A ding rang out loud enough to send the scaled wolf that was following me to whine in pain. My still ringing ears had barely enough sound to even register the noise as I landed on my toes crushing the grass below me into a heap of tangles and ran off, just as the sound of another much more base roar rang out tearing many of the trees around the clearing out of the soil into the air with the sheer force of it.

I kept running realizing that I bit off more than I could chew in this hope for survival as another whine sounded from the now distant dog as crunching sounds filled the air. I pushed my iron body further than I thought I could now cracking my skin with the force of the madra intake, and veins pulsing with a blue light as I finally realized that I was in the clear, and that such a lazy beast would never try running after an ant.

However, as I thought back to the encounter I realized that the beast must have been an overlord dreadbeast or more to even be able to instantly kill the the wolf dreadbeast. I put the thoughts to the back of my head, as I know ran forward at full speed looking for and end to the dangerous environment I intruded upon.

……..

The crunch of leaves was eerie under my boots as I continued forward later that day, now not only in search of civilization but in search of a way to resolve my rumbling stomach. The now dimming light in the sky was not a good sign, because all the lessons my master had taught me were that only the most dangerous dreadbeast and remnants came out at night.

And, so speak of the devil, a remnant was once again fast approaching me with the hope for absorbing more madra from my dead corpse. The remnant was a large scaled lizard with a gory sight to behold as several spine were bursting out of its back. The remnant although on the same level as me was frighteningly fast as it sped towards me faster than the wolf beast from before, and slashed my lower leg as I cried out in pain still trying to take the opening and hit the create with my now madra made glaive of flowing lava.

I smashed it in the back as it tried to rear to the side and dodge my attack, although fast, not near as nimble enough to dodge an attack from the path of the Burning RIver. It screamed in pain as its back had been destroyed and all that lay was a slab of burnt and bleeding flesh with bones of madra sticking out.

With its resolve destroyed I slammed the rest of my glaive into its head, exploding it in a cloud of gore and flame. From the remnant I leapt into the tree, hoping to use it as bait for a more… edible animal.

Luckily moments later, a type of green rock crab ran through the footage at the corpe. My meal had arrived.

…

Later, I drew out of the forest cooked meat in my hand and and the world ahead of me, what now, would I look for my master, or would I search for the lore of my lost past.