Transcending Dreams

Chapter 74: Death Inches Away

A Lightning Berry dropped to the ground before William walked away, slowly picking up speed until it reached the manageable sprint that he was in previously.

He was heading in an almost straight line from the berry, something he was being doubly sure of by focusing on the direction he was running. William knew nothing about how to break out of arrays other than his superficial knowledge from reading novels in his old world.

The extent of that knowledge was things like Qi sensing, mental fortitude, and other vague nonsense. William understood that the people writing those novels didn’t bother to go into details, and for the rare ones that did, he skipped over them to get to the action scenes.

Something he dearly regretted at the moment, especially since he saw something familiar on the ground.

William slowed to a stop and stared at the Lightning Berry mocking him by reappearing. This made his guess of being stuck in an illusion array a reality.

Before he bumbled around and tried the vague tricks he recalled reading in the old world, there was one more direction to try.

Up.

There was a chance that the trap might only be effective if he was on the forest floor.

William made a light jump, reaching the lowest branch easily before following it with two more jumps in quick succession, easily covering around fifty feet in length.

Or so he thought until he glanced down. He was still on the branch closest to the forest floor, as if he hadn’t made the following jumps at all.

William wondered what this looked like from outside the array. He could feel that he was using up some stamina when running or jumping, so it could be possible he was doing all his actions in one spot like an idiot. Or something worse, like the array being able to affect his mind into thinking he’s been tiring himself.

William froze, feeling that there was something he was missing. It was just at the edge of his thoughts but frustratingly far enough that he couldn’t grasp it. However, what he did get was a sharp pain shooting through his head.

Now he knew something was wrong. Headaches, while beyond annoying, couldn’t hurt to the point where the world went a little blurry. At least, not anymore after he had become the punching bag of this world.

Of course, it might be possible that William had just gained some sort of brain damage due to the array keeping it from his sight. Still, if that was the case, this was already the end, so he didn’t worry about it.

Besides, William felt that he might cause himself some brain damage since trying to think about what he forgot only increased the pain he was feeling in his head. Not that it deterred him since more pain meant he was on the right track, at least in his mind.

William flinched when it felt like the headache had increased to a new level before frowning when something warm trickled down his nose. He touched his lips before glancing at his finger, seeing blood covering the tips. William could feel his heart trying to beat out of his chest before he eventually collapsed on his knees, legs buckling under the combination of the ever-increasing pain and loss of strength.

But even with that, William finally remembered what he was forgetting, mainly due to the nosebleed. The blood should have been accompanied by a loss of health, but the system didn’t show him an alert. It meant whatever was happening was part of the illusion.

However, what that truly meant didn’t register in William’s pain-filled mind as he tried to pull up the system logs.

[h̵̘̏e̸͙͓͌̕a̶̝̔͌l̴̘̐̒̂t̷̢̼͘h̶͉̄:̸͓͎̂͌ ̴̩̅̓1̸̲̥̥̏2̵̜̣͝]

The moment he looked at the unreadable message, the world literally shattered like glass around him. It was strange, feeling the mind-bending pain disappear instantly as if it had never existed, but that wasn’t a focus for William. He was more concerned about the world that suddenly came into being around him.

There had been plenty of times when fear was the only thing William could feel. The worst instance he could think of was when that higher leveled Sky Hare was snarling at him mere feet away. However, the current situation easily set a new level.

[Name: Draebern | Level: 54]

The beast was right next to William, and while it was moving around like it was disoriented, it was big enough that every step it took as it wobbled around lightly shook the ground. It must have been a miracle that he hadn’t been crushed under its foot.

Being this close to the beast let William see that the Draebern indeed was some odd dragon-bear mix. It had dark red fur with tiny spikes that seemed to increase and decrease in size with each breath, while the underside of the beast was covered with pale yellow scales that protected what should have been its weak spot.

The Draebern looked indestructible to a weak cultivator like himself, and he made sure to avoid getting in the way of its stumbling steps, but not too far, because of another thing that added to this already deadly situation. He wanted to stay relatively close to this deadly spirit beast.

Surrounding William, or the Draebern, on all sides were diminutive creatures resembling a sleek, shadowy canine with luminescent, yellow eyes. Their fur was as dark as the deepest black, seemingly absorbing all the light around them and likely making them almost impossible to track in the dark.

Luckily for William, it seemed like this dimension would always be filled with sufficient light. In the time he had been here, the night never made an appearance.

[Name: Shadowpack Hunter | Level: 23]

There were far too many to count. All William knew was that he would get ripped apart by these things if he strayed too far from the Draebern. Every time he stepped too far away, a few pairs of glowing eyes moved from the massive spirit beast to him, waiting for a chance to pounce.

He needed to escape, and the first thing to do was use Observe on one of these things.

[-5 Spiritual Energy]

Name: Shadowpack Hunter

Level: 23

Cultivation: Immature Beast (Level 2)

Health: 983/1100

Spiritual Energy: 70/105

Spirit: 21

Strength: 25

Stamina: 24

Agility: 36

William noticed the reduced health and spiritual energy, suggesting that these Shadowpack Hunters might have had a fight with the Draebern. It could also be possible that these things might have pushed the Draebern into the trap. The thought of the massive spirit beast wandering into it was ridiculous unless it wasn’t native to this forest.

He sidestepped again to avoid the stumbling Draebern and took out a Lightning Berry from his spatial stone before throwing it past the mass of Shadowpack Hunters, hoping he could see some of them distracted by it. Unfortunately, none of them batted an eye and continued to stare intently at the Draebern.

William knew he couldn’t continue to depend on deterrence to keep his life, especially since it wouldn’t stay as calm as this forever. Since they were watching the Draebern closely, it meant they were waiting for the right time to attack. He had no intention of being in the middle of that.

He glanced up and noticed the branch closest to the forest floor had been ripped off the tree. It had been intact before William had fallen into the illusion, so again, he wondered how he hadn’t gotten injured in the fight that obviously happened around him.

William gauged the distance of the next closest branch and immediately realized that he needed to use his Impact Boots. With his Agility a little higher than the Shadowpack Hunter he used Observe on, he wanted to rely on his natural physical skills to escape, mainly because he was terrified that in the aftermath of using the Boots, the crater he would leave behind would take the Draebern out of the illusion.

Apparently, it was a risk he would have to take. If everything worked out, perhaps he could even act like a vulture and take out whoever was weakened in the aftermath of the fight.

William kept an eye on the Draebern as he activated his Impact Boots and jumped. The ground trembled as he left behind a small crater, rocketing well past the branch he aimed for. He heard a hair-raising roar echo through the forest as the Draebern was indeed taken out of the illusion. Still, as much as he wished to observe what was happening when the Shadowpack Hunters started yipping in panic, he was frantically trying to find which branch he could grab ahold of so he wouldn't fall right back into that fight below.

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