Xion CH30: Preparations for Challenge 4

Walking into a boss battle unprepared wasn't my cup of tea. Of the three challenges I've received so far, one had been conditioning, another had been a boss battle, and the latest one had been a duel. With that in mind, I knew my last fight in the prehistory world had to be an even greater battle. I took that to heart while I swallowed my pills and fucked Samael and Elorael. My next fight would be against a tribe of warriors equal to Samael except with shields and the skull god. There was also a good chance I would have to fight the forest god.

It had been six months since my duel with Samael, and I got antsy. What could I say? Training myself to near death only to heal thanks to my regeneration could get old. My goal had been to be as prepared for what was to come as possible and that wasn't like me.

When I let myself be eaten I shouldn't have been able to go through with it. Most people would have ran instead I shut off my emotions and stopped myself from struggling. When I fought I wasn't thinking most of the time. I didn't have some grand strategy or plan in mind before the system. In the few fist fights I've had in my life before the system I didn't think. After the system and the pills I started to plan and scheme. I started acting like the mage I wanted to be.

The first month after my duel had been the worst. Even touching one of the many trees with the intention to harm them had some terrible consequences. Cutting a tree down was like kicking a hornets nest with wasps larger than buses and with bad attitudes. Sapient creatures from legendary moose to T-rexes always seemed to know where I was in the forest. They couldn't wait to take a bite out of me either.

15 days after the duel.

I took a large chunk of obsidian normally used for making spear tips and used it to rake some of the bark off a tree I felled. That same obsidian stuck out of my new ax for a remarkably sharp head. Once I felled a tree and freed up some light, I did the responsible thing and began delimbing the tree for my preparations. One of the massive trees could be carved into numerous boards that could make a remarkably nice fence. In addition, I had some ideas for a little enchanting to keep dangerous animals and bugs away. All I had to do was till the ground, and I could buy a steel shovel or maybe an actual diesel tractor for that.

All I heard was a grunt before it hit me full speed. Ironically like a deer hit by a truck, I folded and rolled over the moose's horns. The second I hit the ground and got a good look at what hit me, I was stunned. While the monster's horns glowed like the lights of a truck and charged again, I couldn't move. The second hit didn't have as much power behind it, but it still hurt like hell.

The world blured in fast moving bulging shapes of silver and gold. At first I felt shocked and mad as hell as the pain from the hit washed over me. Like waking up from a dream those emotions no longer made sense, I moved grabbing ahold of one of its horns for leverage and then punched it in the back of the head. The moose blasted down and flipped from the impact. My training hadn't slowed down after my duel; if anything, it ratcheted up with the last challenge looming over my head. When I seemed to grow used to whatever hellish training, Zosimael, Mekael, or the online forums could come up with, I searched for something new. Whether that was using runes to enchant my body glove for more defense, learning how to build a homestead with an ax, or the basics of locating iron and coal, I was on it.

I threw a cross jab. The punch connected and the moose's head shot to the side, it bellowed before tipping over. I quickly snapped its neck and inventoried the flopping moose. Once the moose was dead, and I calmed down, I tried to go back to what I was doing. Moose were known for being territorial, and maybe I wasn't paying attention. This was my first attempt at building fencing from scratch. I could be forgiven for letting my guard down even in the dangerous forest.

A roar disabused me of those thoughts. On instinct, I scaled the nearest tree seconds before a familiar glowing T-rex charged through the clearing before ramming into the tree I climbed. My perch shuddered, and the lizard had the gall to open its mouth and walk under me. Somehow it didn't need to search; it knew where I was.

I pulled a spear from my inventory and threw it without a second thought before pulling my bow free and knocking an arrow as I jumped between trees. Before I landed in the other tree, a large silver orangutan kicked me. Once again, I was surprised.

Not once but twice, something fooled me. The T-rex leaped up even as it turned its head to keep my spear from penetrating the soft flesh of its upper palate. The monster's teeth closed on either side of me, and its massive tongue pushed against me. I plunged the arrow still in my hand into the hard muscular tongue of the predator.

I stood using the spear I threw earlier for support and delivered an uppercut to the top of the T-rex's upper palate. Blood blasted down around my fist as flesh and bone split from my blow. At that point, my rage couldn't be contained.