Luden's Dash (2)

Luden sprinted as fast as he could through the forest. Being a beta player and having explored this area before, he knew how to get to Inkling Village. However, his first walk through this area was relatively leisurely. At an ordinary walking pace, the changes in the terrain didn't affect him at all, so he failed to take much notice to them.

However, Luden was currently on a time crunch. Running full sprint on bumpy terrain was quite different from walking on it. Obstacles became harder to dodge, and loose footing slowed his sprint.

But he knew he couldn't afford to be slow!

Though Luden lacked game sense and was arrogant, he wasn't a dumb person. He saw the skills executed by the Slingshotter, and when Axis Jack, his trusted game expert subordinate, called her "too skilled", he knew this wasn't an ordinary player.

Axis Jack had confirmed that the Slingshotter wasn't chasing him during their fight with the NPC. Yet he was still concerned that she would catch up to him, even with the head start.

Luden knew better than to be cocky at this moment. He put his full effort into reaching Inkling Village; he didn't waste an ounce of sweat by slowing down. But running full sprint through a forest was something he'd never done before. After all, this terrain was foreign to a Northeasterner. And this unfamiliarity began to show rather quickly.

"D*mn..."

Luden nearly ran head first into a tree while looking behind him.

"Sh*t!"

And after barely sidestepping the tree, he lost his footing on loose sediment.

"F*ck!!"

And this sediment was on a downslope! Luden tumbled to the ground, and gravity did some work on him as well. Luden was unable to regain his footing and... basically "ate sh*t".

But he couldn't afford to waste time here! He desperately tried to get up... but he realized his arm was stuck in the ground!

"Why is there mud here!"

*-5*

*-2*

...

His HP began to fall in small chunks at a rapid rate. And with great effort, he pulled his hand out of the mud. Only to find that he was under attack by subterranean creatures...

*>Name: Small Carnivorous Groundworm*

*>Level: 5*

"How the f*ck is this small???"

Luden's surprise was justified. This groundworm had vicious teeth and was at least a 30 centimetron in length! Luden was free from the mud, but didn't have time to fight these mobs.

He quickly got up and began sprinting once again. This time, he slowed down a little bit in order to maintain his footing. But after some minutes, even after he was being so meticulous...

"Are you kidding me..."

His foot got caught under a tree root that was exposed above ground. Luden tripped to the ground in another ludicrous fashion.

Sprinting at this speed allowed Luden to outrun most mobs, but once he was briefly immobilized, several nearby mobs took notice of him.

Luden was no longer in a starter area. Mobs were no longer a rare encounter. In this section of the forest, though the mobs were still low-level, one would have to remain vigilant. An encounter could happen at any moment! In this moment of Luden's non-vigilance...

*>Name: Hostile Twine*

*>Level: 6*

Some nearby grass that appeared harmless threatened to slice him up. To make matters worse, there was a "group" of them, and one of them had immobilized his leg! He had no choice but to fight his way out.

In order to waste the least amount of time, Luden targeted the Twine that was grabbing his leg.

*This is... unacceptable!*

Luden equipped the Wooden Dagger and started slashing the roots of the Hostile Twine.

*-22*

*-27*

...

But as he was attacking it, the nearby Twine monsters retaliated!

*-2*

*-3*

*-1*

...

Though their attacks didn't deal much damage, their rate of attacks was indescribably high for a low-level mob.

By the time he broke free and was some distance away from the Twine mobs, he had already lost over 40% of his HP. And unfortunately for him, Luden's only item in his inventory was the dagger, which meant that he needed to arrive at Inkling Village to purchase healing items...

Luden continued stumbling through the forest. His current speed was even lower than before. And now, he wasn't fast enough to outrun every single mob...

At this moment, some strange animal-looking mob was on his tail! Luden couldn't keep himself from glancing over his shoulder to make sure he was keeping a pace that was slightly faster than the animals he was getting chased by. But of course, looking behind you meant that you weren't keeping your eyes on the road...

Luden grazed a tree, lost his balance, and fell to the ground once more. The four-legged animal pounced on top of the immobile Luden. It threatened him with death, but...

*I can't die such a humiliating death here!*

With a bit of willpower, Luden was able to block the attack of the animal with his dagger, taking zero damage!

*... I did it?*

Luden, who had subpar game mechanics, pulled off a lucky feat in this moment. However, it was too early to celebrate. He was about to turn around and flee, but before he could...

*-172*

The animal in front of him dissipated into white light and mist...

The first emotion he felt was relief. He was free of danger! But that feeling passed as soon as it arrived. Something obviously wasn't right... Was he really safe? The answer was revealed to him immediately.

"Hello, big boss~"

A cheerful girl's voice could be heard from behind the white mist.

Luden didn't know what to feel!

"Sh*t!"

*>Lujen: Some of you are definitely getting fired today!*