Serum

Dirk knew that spending his time killing people would increase the risk of getting caught. Maybe he would find an enemy he couldn't fight and get captured. Maybe Asura was still scouting the place for him and would see the bodies he left, finding his trail. 

But when Dirk saw those search parties and remembered the past two and a half years, he felt immeasurable bloodlust cloud his mind. 

He had fought through so much pain to get to this point. Now that he could look beyond just escaping that hell, he found himself making a vow for the future.

'I'm going to kill all of them. I will dismantle everything Asura has worked for. I'll do everything in my power to get in his way. I'll get stronger, so strong that I can one day bring Asura to his knees. I'll cut his head off as everything crumbles around him. Killing these people... is just the start.'

He thought to himself as he created metal arrows and shot them toward an enemy. The enemy was impaled, his heart and head pierced. He collapsed instantly.

This enemy, like many others before him, had died while staring at Spyte. Spyte would gaze at them with its golden eyes, and that was a great distraction for Dirk to use. 

Spyte jumped on Dirk's shoulder when he finished. On the horizon, the sun began to rise. 

It had been 70 hours since Dirk left. He had been awake for all 70. And during that single night, Dirk had killed 32 of Asura's men. 

Seeing light stream into the dark jungle, Dirk took a deep breath. Then, he started running. 

It was a moderate but fast pace. His mana sense detected all the leaves and foliage as he ran, and although he tripped a few times, he quickly got used to seeing the various roots and obstacles on the ground. 

Like that, he focused on covering ground. Dirk had only gone 10 more miles during the night, putting him 20 miles away from the mountain. Now, he needed to increase that distance several times over. 

So he did. He ran until he reached the 50 mile mark. And then he kept running. 

He kept running until he encountered a monster. Dirk stopped when he spotted a large bear like creature with razor sharp claws and long teeth. It looked like a bear, but on steroids with obvious muscles under its fur. It was also 7 feet tall on all fours. 

Dirk was baffled by the size of the animal. He was also surprised when the animal instantly spotted him. When it did, it attacked. 

*Roar!*

It bellowed as it ran toward Dirk. At the same time, Dirk saw the earth mana around him go crazy, creating walls that boxed him in and spikes that threatened to impale him. 

[Dodge!]

*Shing!*

Dirk was one step ahead of Spyte as he shifted his body and swung out his knife. He dodged one spike and broke another. Only, when he broke the spike, he felt his hand tremble. The spike was incredibly hard, obviously backed by powerful mana. 

'Tier 5? Ridiculous...'

Dirk gawked at the strength of the magic. While that one spike didn't have Tier 5 power behind it, only Tier 4, it was also only a casual strike from the bear. Dirk knew that there was much more where that came from. 

So as the bear threatened to turn him into a puddle of gore, Dirk quickly made a decision. Spyte made it at the same time.

[Run!]

*Woosh!*

Dirk kicked off the ground, backing away from the bear. Then, he ran toward one of the thick walls. He didn't even try to break through it, instead jumping up it. 

Equipping two knives in his hands, Dirk stabbed into the wall, proceeding to climb it with the knives. He quickly got to the top, but that's when a spike shot toward him. 

Dirk shifted his body on instinct, but the spike still sliced open his side. Dirk disregarded the injury as he jumped off the wall. 

Then, he ran with all his might. The bear crashed through its own wall and chased him. For its large body, it was shockingly fast, keeping up with Dirk and continually casting spikes to stop him. 

Dirk hastily dodged spikes that appeared in his way. Some of them cut him, while he fully dodged others. For most of them, it was a close call. The spikes were created and shot out too fast. 

Not only that, at some point, the ground began to shift under him, throwing off his balance. Dirk was barely able to escape this by using the trees all around as anchors. But this slowed him down, and the bear caught up more. 

Like that, Dirk was close to becoming food for the bear. It got closer and closer while casting complex magic back to back. Dirk used his own magic where he could, but it was still a challenge to keep distance. 

Then, just as Dirk got dangerously close to the bear, he spotted something. It was another animal, a massive alligator that ate some prey next to a river. 

Dirk ran toward the alligator that quickly noticed him and the bear. Narrowing its eyes, the alligator let out a growl before shooting toward Dirk. 

Now, he was being attacked from both sides. Dirk didn't panic though. 

Right when he was about to be eaten two ways, Dirk's body suddenly disappeared in a black cloud. The two monsters collided, and then started to attack each other. 

10 feet away, The cloud that shifted with speeds unattainable by running revealed Dirk's body. He sprinted off after his spell wore off. 

[Good application of Void Walking.]

Spyte complimented him as he took deep breaths. That had been the watered-down Void Walking spell. Dirk couldn't use that often with his limited supply of dark mana.

Still, it had saved his life. Dirk continued to run as the two monsters roared in the distance. 

"What the hell is with these animals?"

[Asura told you that this is one of the most hostile environments within the Horizon Empire's territories. Turns out he wasn't lying.]

"Guess so..."

Dirk shook his head. He really didn't want to encounter more like that. 

Unfortunately, he wasn't such lucky man. After another while of running, Dirk encountered a dark cloud within the jungle. 

This dark cloud buzzed ominously, and when he stressed his senses, Dirk was able to see bugs. They were mosquitoes. 

But not normal mosquitoes. These bugs were the size of a palm, and their needle noses were as long as a finger. Dirk shivered when he saw the thick cloud of them. There were hundreds. 

And they noticed him, too.

[Run!]

Spyte rapidly made the best call, and Dirk instantly turned. He sprinted at full speed, faster than when he was running away from the steroid bear. 

"Shit!"

He cursed though as the bugs rapidly caught up to him. They used wind magic to zip through the air. 

Dirk was stabbed by one, and he felt a horrible numbing sensation from the wound. He slapped the bug, causing it to explode on his arm. 

[Fire!]

Spyte yelled. The next moment, a magic circle appeared on Dirk's hand. Fireballs were created, and he launched them toward the dark cloud. 

*Boom!*

The fireballs exploded, engulfing the swarm in flames. However, many of the mosquitoes used wind magic to keep the flames away, mitigating damage. They continued. 

So Dirk kept throwing out fire like he was a human flamethrower. Gradually, the swarm died down as he stressed his mana breathing. But it wasn't enough. Dirk's head throbbed as he threw out one last magic. 

The swarm was reduced to only 30 mosquitoes, but Dirk was certain that getting bit by that many would kill him. But he was tired. His fatigue built over 70 hours and wounds from the steroid bear's spikes were catching up to him. 

Still, he ignored the pain as he activated his anima, preparing to take them on personally. It was then though that he heard an odd sound. 

*Splat!*

Dirk saw a red streak fly through the air, taking one of the mosquitoes with it. Then, there were 29 more red streaks, and all the bugs disappeared from the air.

*Ribbit*

Dirk heard the deep sound of a frog. Turning, he really did see frogs. 

He saw a lot of frogs.

*Growl!*

An army of frogs. One frog stood in front of a hundred others. This one frog was nearly 5 feet tall, and all the other frogs were a foot or two in height. 

Dirk was no longer surprised as the leader let out low growling noises.

"I'm gonna die in a jungle."

[We've gone from the predators to the prey. Still, a gazelle can outrun a lion. Run, gazelle!]

*Roar!*

Just as Spyte spoke, the frog let out an uncharacteristic roar. Dirk turned and ran once more with all his might. 

The prey worked hard to keep its feeble life.

..........

......

[80 hours... impressive.]

"Ugh... Shut up."

Dirk grunted as he slumped against a branch. He was currently up in a tree, and blood streamed down his body from various wounds. 

He had run for another 10 straight hours, but it hadn't been a casual jog. 

One after another, Dirk encountered dozens of monsters and freakish animals. A bird with a serrated beak, a pack of squirrels that threw acorns like bullets, snakes that whipped you with their razor sharp tails. 

At some point, Dirk even found hostile plants. He had almost gotten restrained by some vines with thorns while stopping to rest for a moment. He had also been poisoned by a plant that spit a corrosive cloud of vapor at him. 

Truly, this jungle had to be one of the most naturally hostile places in this world. If Dirk didn't complete his blood destruction that gave him vastly increased vitality and energy regeneration, he wouldn't have come so far. 

There was one other thing though that had saved his life a few times. 

[Distrubuting potion...]

Spyte spoke as Dirk felt a soothing liquid stream through parts of his body. Any poison or dangerous wounds were treated with the minimum amount of potion. Dirk had been injected with this potion for years, so he naturally had some stocked up. 

But this jungle was forcing him to use a lot of it. Already he's used a quarter of his supply, and that was only for lethal wounds. He left anything that would naturally heal.

Dirk seriously would have died without the potion.

But in exchange, he managed to reach the 250 mile mark. Dirk's anima allowed him to reach high speeds even within the jungle and constantly maintain it, even for a dozen hours at a time. 

But it wasn't enough. He was still in this damned jungle, and he didn't know the way out. 

[I would say look at the stars to track our position, but well...]

"Very funny."

Dirk snorted a bit. He had in fact thought of the same thing, but he quickly remembered that he couldn't sense anything beyond 30 meters around him. And he also had to sense it through mana. It was truly tragic. 

It was at that point though that Spyte found itself thinking.

[We see things through mana. We see solid objects with earth mana, heat sources with fire mana, and biological nervous systems with lightning mana. So would we use dark mana to see dark things?]

"See the dark?"

[Yes?]

Spyte was unsure of itself, but Dirk's interest was piqued. The dark element was the only one of his attributes he didn't use to sense things. 

Unfortunately, Dirk didn't exactly have the mind right now to do experiments. He eventually shook his head. 

"We can think about that later. For now, I need to get at least a minute of sleep."

[Of course. I'll keep watch.]

"Thanks."

With a nod, Dirk rested his head against a branch. It only took three seconds for him to fall asleep. He had been awake for over 80 hours and running for 20. Sleep was overdue.

Spyte diligently watched the surroundings in its cat form, making sure nothing would sneak up on them.

........

"What do you mean, you didn't find him?"

In a city on the outskirts of the Empire, Cecilia was standing in a small reception hall within a mansion. Her eyes were haggard, but sharp. 

But she was also reserved. She faced a single man, and in front of him, she didn't dare speak harshly.

This man stood 7 feet tall, towering over Cecilia with a large body sculpted with muscles that his clothes did nothing to hide. He wore glorious robes that fluctuated with intense power, his head covered in blazing golden hair that looked both wild yet tamed, and a single crest that carried the weight of absolute authority.

Yet, even without the crest, this man commanded valiance and respect beyond all others. His sharp face and flowing hair made him look like the world's hero.

Emperor Horizon, the ruler of the Horizon Empire. 

About 6 months after Dirk was taken, the Emperor himself personally stepped out. Cecilia had long since joined a military intelligence force to track down Asura and his whereabouts, dismantling the organization that was the Fallen Asuras in the process. And then, when the Emperor pledged his assistance to the cause, Cecilia's progress skyrocketed. 

Cecilia didn't care about why the Emperor had finally left his seclusion and stepped out or why he personally worked with her to track down Asura. She knew in the back of her head that there was something much bigger here at play, but she only cared about finding her son. She welcomed anyone that helped, including the Emperor. 

And while it had taken another 6 months, they had finally tracked down Asura. They found that mountain that Dirk was held in and confirmed that Asura was there. It was actually Dirk's escape attempt that tipped them off to the location. Cecilia had been stunned by the fact that her son had even attempted to escape, let alone had a small success. 

Either way, Cecilia immediately wanted to charge in. In fact, she was desperate to. It had already been a year since he was taken, and she didn't know if he had been able to hold out. But the Emperor didn't let her go. He forced her to wait, and instead of a frontal assault, he arranged for a silent infiltration. 

Asura wasn't the only one who trained assassins. The Empire had its own division of spies and infiltrators. So they mobilized some and succeeded in getting two of them grabbed and taken by Asura's men. Like that, they waited another year while maintaining contact with the two spies. The Emperor personally guided them as only he could maintain constant contact without alerting Asura through a special magic. 

Like that, they learned Dirk's situation. They learned about the whipping, his blindness, his escape attempts, the bombs, and more. 

It was finally when the Emperor was ready that he had those two give Dirk a message. Luckily, Dirk was able to pick up on it, and when Dirk came back to the two with his escape plan, they knew it had been a success. 

Like that, they waited for Dirk to move, and he didn't disappoint. The three escaped, and Asura didn't find them. 

After another few days, the Emperor came back. He had his two infiltrators with him, but not Dirk. 

This led them to now, when Cecilia was questioning the Emperor. Despite her restrained rage, he looked at her with a slightly sorry gaze before speaking in a deep tone.

"Your son... I think he did too well trying to hide. After I confronted Asura, I did some light searching so as to not alert the man. But I didn't find him. I searched around the 50 mile mark for an entire day, but came up with nothing. He just... vanished."

"And your people?"

"They released some signals after a while. Both of them were close to dying when I found them. The monsters in that jungle are vicious."

"..."

Cecilia was silent. The Emperor smiled as she started to worry though. 

"But don't worry. We picked up on something else."

"What?"

"It was around 70 hours after the escape, but some of our men sent to intercept Asura's men encountered bodies. We counted 30 intact corpses as well as a few others that may have been eaten by animals. All of them were killed by metal arrows to the head and hearts, knives to the lungs, sliced tendons and arteries, severed necks. The handiwork of an assassin. It was impressive, seeing the images."

The Emperor tossed a crystal shard to Cecilia when he said that. She grabbed it, and data was streamed into her mind. She saw myriads of images, including some eerie ones of corpses nailed to trees. 

The Emperor let out a breath. 

"We know his direction, but not his location. For now, he's heading toward a city. I suggest you take a small group of men and wait there, maybe scout out the path he would take. In the mean time, we must continue our work with dismantling that training ground. They've put up a heavy resistance, but I plan on going personally in a couple of hours to take control of the situation."

"...I will heed your advice."

"As you see fit. I'm sorry I couldn't find your son, Lady Strider. Or, perhaps maybe that's a compliment to his abilities."

The Emperor walked out of the hall as he left those words. Cecilia half nodded to him. 

Then, she left with a blur. She rushed to follow the only trail she had.