"Oh, boy..." Gerald was no fool. He quickly realized what the damn beast was doing, especially after a massive stone was excavated.

A giant rock, the size of a car, was lifted out of the ground and at lightning speed hurled towards the sky.

"Oh shit!" It was so far away, yet the speed at which it was approaching was terrifying! Realizing he couldn't simply glide out of the way, Gerald utilized 10X Gravity and pulled himself sideways out of the way of the upward meteor.

Yes, a meteor! The rock started glowing due to the friction with the dense atmosphere! And it just it narrowly missed him, barely five meters or so. However, just as he thought he was safe…

Rumble!

A shockwave behind the supersonic meteor hit him like a mountain of trucks carrying bricks. His entire body was smashed into the invisible pressure wave and obliterated any clothes he was wearing. His silver hand was torn from his body and all of his remaining his limbs twisted at unnatural angles, producing many snapping sounds.

He couldn't hear or see any of it as he went momentarily deaf and blind as the capillaries in his orifices burst and filled it with blood. His lungs and internal organs didn't fare much better and he was sent spiraling down while spraying blood across the sky.

It was a miracle he could even stay conscious with the massive concussion he just suffered.

At the moment he felt nothing. His body was in too much shock to process any pain, and the adrenaline also shot through the roof, making his heart roar like a car engine.

'I'm dead,' Was Gerald's first thought. He shouldn't have taunted the monster, but how could he know it was so insanely powerful?! Just the wind it generated by throwing a rock was enough to obliterate any normal human being and turn it into a bloody mist.

Even his reinforced body nearly crumbled apart, and although he barely survived the first strike, he could not guard against a second one.

He was blind, deaf, and disorientated, all while falling from the sky and coughing blood. Chances of survival? If he did nothing then... zero!

But he refused to simply give up, even if it was much easier. Just let go, go to sleep... It was simple, just give up…

"No!" Gerald roared in a hoarse voice.

He strained to open his bloody eyes and activated Magic Eyes. Then again, he could use them with closed eyes just the same, but oh well…

The world of Mana was revealed to him. He could see thousands of powerful Auras on the ground, waiting for him to fall so they could tear him apart.

'Screw that! 10X Gravity!'

The sudden change in direction of his fall as well as the massive strain 10G put on his body made him spit another mouthful of blood.

He quickly lowered that since he couldn't sustain such strain on his body at the moment, but still he covered hundreds of meters in just a few seconds, and he was still going further away.

Falling sideways was the fastest way to travel, however, it burned through a lot of energy. After a minute or so, after the distance between himself and the monsters was great enough, he gradually slowed down and landed on the ground.

However, he couldn't move. His body felt like it was on fire and his muscles and ligaments were torn. The best he could do was twitch in pain. Luckily this time he kept his magic abilities so he wasn't completely hopeless.

With a thought, he created a stone bed for himself such that it completely molded itself to his body shape. He then took a Health Potion out of his Ring and with the help of Telekinesis drank the contents.

And it wasn't just one, but almost five full vials. Combined with the Recovery he cast on himself, his body should be back in one piece soon enough, he just had to wait.

He had no clue where he was nor did he care. He just wanted to rest for a while. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore the pain in his body that was slowly driving him mad.

He didn't know how long he laid there. A few curious animals came to see what was going on and sniffed him and tried to lick his face. Gerald let them do whatever they wanted as long as they didn't try to bite or move him. What did he care if a curious dear tried to lick the salty blood off his body?

However, when a hungry bear came and tried to nibble on his leg, the only thing it received was an angry punch made of stone to the face. The bear then whimpered and ran away as fast as it could.

Keeping Magic Eyes working all the time was exhausting but luckily he was mentally strong enough to keep it up hours at a time, even if it was uncomfortable to do so.

Anyway, towards the evening, that's what Gerald figured it was because the air became colder, he created a seat made of stone and utilized Rockslide to move.

He was still blind and deaf, but he felt the pain decrease and he could move slightly, although it was still bloody painful to do so.

Traveling on top of a rolling mound of dirt and stone was much more conspicuous than silently gliding in the sky and it was much slower, but it used less Mana and was significantly less straining on his body. He just had to lay there and let his mind do all the work.

He draped the cloak over himself to guard against the cold and traveled during the night while producing rumbling sounds through the forest. No wild animal dared to come close.

In the morning he reached the capital at last. He was half expecting to see many monsters surrounding the city and attacking, however, the place was quite peaceful.

As peaceful as it could be, with all the soldiers on the guard towers and manning the walls. Many powerful ballistae were currently being assembled on strategic vantage points, giving the white city quite a menacing look. The contrast between black metal and white stone was quite great indeed.

Another thing Gerald noticed was dozens of soldiers coming to light from the forests not far away.

They were the same soldiers that left Auralba not long ago and then fought against the horde of monsters. It appeared they finally returned, however they did not look good.

Many were supporting each other, all bandaged up and with multiple scratches and bruises all over their body.

"Open the gates! They are back!" A lookout shouted from his watchtower.

The gates of the capital were until now closed even though the sun rose quite a while ago. The city was taking no chances.

As the tired soldiers entered the city, Gerald seamlessly blended into the crowd and pretended to walk by making himself weightless. His sight was slowly returning although the world still appeared blurry, and even his hearing was already partially repaired. These potions truly worked miracles.