Outside Again

We arrived close to the point where the black panther was and the system gave the warning.

The Room was bigger than the temple's other rooms and there were even some lighted torches around, nothing useful as we didn't need light because of the rings. But it was surprising how they were still lit after so much time.

We got close enough to be able to touch it but it was still sleeping.

"What do we do now?"

"Just hit it full strength and hope it gives a lot of damage"

Then both of us got a little further from the sleeping monster and prepared to use Assault Steps. Of the three it's the footwork that causes the most amount of damage.

Assault Steps it's high-tier footwork centered on strength or to be more precise, the control of strength. It uses a sequence of steps to manipulate all the energy generated by every single movement from the body and concentrate it on the hands multiplying the attack power based on the user's strength, speed, and weight. But it's a very dangerous technic because if the user makes a single mistake, all the bones of his body will break including the skull causing instant death. Created by Evan Monapart.

I could feel the force flowing through my body and approaching my fist. It was a very good feeling as always, way better than Shadow Steps.

The monster started to move as if sensing danger and quickly woke up looking directly at my eyes.

I could feel the hostility from it, all of my body started shaking but not in fear. I was excited to fight it, my blood was boiling at the gaze of something stronger than me.

Yellow eyes, five meters tall, black fur, and a long tail. The Black panther stood up and immediately dashed at Evan trying to cut his body in half with its long claws.

Its speed was amazing. But I could follow it with my eyes as I was used to Shadow Steps' speed.

Evan didn't move until the last second and dodged the attack by an inch. Still in her range, the panther attacked him again.

As Evan was using Assault Steps and not Shadow Steps, dodging again was impossible. All three footworks can be used to dodge and attack but all of them have their own strengths and weaknesses.

*Boom!* *Crack*

Evan used all his strength to punch the panther's attack. He successfully repelled the attack but his arm was done for, with a lot of broken bones and blood flowing out of it. He wouldn't be able to use it in the rest of the battle.

Wasting no time, I dashed to the exposed side of the panter and punched full strength.

*Crack* *Crack* *Crack* *Booom!* A lot of the panter bones broke and it was sent flying to the wall making a big hole.

*ROAR* It roared in anger from the pain and dashed towards me. Suddenly Evan appeared just under the chin of the panther and punched it.

*BANG!!!* The punch was too strong and made the panther leave the ground for a second. While it was still in the air I quickly jumped above it and rotated while gathering power then kicked it in the middle of its skull.

The combined power of the two hits was too much for the head of the monster and it fell to the ground.

"Did we kill it?" I asked.

Evan looked at the body of the giant panter while holding his broken arm.

"No, it's not dead yet. It just fainted. It will recover after some time"

"So, do we kill it?" I was a little disappointed about the quick fight. I guess the both of us fighting together was overkill for the cat.

"I never left anything alive after a fight. But we were the ones who intruded into its resting place so..."

"I guess we don't have much reason to kill it" I didn't see a reason to strengthen myself anymore, so killing it seemed wrong.

"Let's go then" Evan said while walking to the stairs at the end of the room.

We started to climb the stairs, I expected it to go a long way up to the exit but to my disappointment, after a minute the stairs ended and what we found wasn't the next room but a wall.

It wasn't a wall from the temple as it was made out of dirt. It probably didn't have a secret passage like last time.

We spent a lot of time searching for a passage but we didn't find anything.

"I don't know how it became like this, but we can't pass using this way"

"So... We have to go with the next plan" Evan smiled at me and I released a helpless sigh.

"Yes"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few days later...

*ℝ𝕌𝕄𝔹𝕃𝔼* *ℝ𝕌𝕄𝔹𝕃𝔼*

"COULDN'T YOU WAIT FOR A GOD DAMN SECOND!!!!"

*ℝ𝕌𝕄𝔹𝕃𝔼* *ℝ𝕌𝕄𝔹𝕃𝔼*

Using explosives Evan made we launched ourselves up the hole we fell from.

"FUCK YEA!!!! THIS IS GREAT!!!!"

We could feel the wind hitting our faces as we went up. I was constantly weary because if we hit something other than the roof, we will fall again and the landing might not be as good this time.

*BANG!*

We hit the roof and used a hook to stick on it.

Balancing ourselves, with a jump we made it back to the top of the hole.

"Never do that again"

"It worked right? stop complaining"

Unfornutelly, the bone village disappeared and all the monsters as well.

We walked for some time. The cave was really long but we could feel the air passing meaning the exit was close.

"We are finally leaving that place"

"Yea..." I was happy to leave it but I will kinda miss it. I have so many good memories of it.

"Remove the ring. I think I can see some light. And, believe me, you don't want to be wearing it in the light"

We removed our rings and the surroundings became a lot darker but I could see a little white dot of light far away. We spend a good time talking and finally reached the exit.

I got out of the tunnel and looked up.

"Haaaaaaaa~" I could see the sky again. This reminded me of the time I left the lab. The wind was really pleasant since the cave was really hot.

The purple trees... They were surprisingly beautiful, the light passed through the gaps between the leaves and created a purple light.

"So pretty, I couldn't properly admire them back then..."

"We need to find a way to leave this purple forest, it can be a very dangerous place sometimes. There are two ways to leave a purple forest. First, by flying, and the second, by walking so much the illusions around the forest stop working on us"

"So that was why I couldn't find my way back the last time. But we just need to walk a lot then?"

"Sure but it would take at least a month of walking straight to be able to do it"

"Wow... so finding the big bird it is"

"Yes but a bird big enough to carry us needs to at least be at the third level"

"It's just the third level, it can't be that difficult"