Chapter 75: On the Edge of the Abyss
Dylan’s POV
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against a wall — well, it wasn’t really a wall. More like a giant rock, half-buried outside the wooded part of the forest. A massive hunk of stone that looked like it could topple into the nearby chasm at any moment... but it was so huge that even with their newfound strength, they wouldn’t have been able to move it.
To their right: the abyss.
To their left: the forest.
And with no faith left in their ability to defend themselves after the backlash from the core shock, the trio had chosen to camp right there — out in the open, at the edge of nothing.
Dylan felt paralyzed. Every limb numb, heat pulsing through his body like a slow-burning fire. Moving was out of the question.
"Never again..." he thought, gnawing on the idea that they were stuck in such a hostile place, with zero means of defending themselves. One of the worst-case scenarios.
Especially since Dylan was still marked — still being tracked by that twisted demon, the one who clearly got off on hunting them down like easy prey.
But he hadn’t had a choice. They’d been ambushed by a swarm of second-tier beasts, led by a fully awakened demon — basically the same as the Hystrix. The same nightmare that had terrorized them when they first stepped into the forest. And even though they’d grown stronger... they still didn’t have what it took to take on a creature of that rank.
Dylan suspected he’d have to rely on that "boost" more and more often. He knew it. But the damage it did to his body kept him from fully accepting it.