How Is This Possible?

"I can't keep doing this," Felix muttered to himself, as his blade retracted.

"Agrh," he grunted in pain as he took out a small pill container from his inner pocket, and with a deep frown he threw a single pill into his mouth.

"Bam," he suddenly staggered, his knees violently hitting the ground as a feeling of dizziness overwhelmed him.

"I've lost too much blood," Felix thought to himself as his vision blurred.

"Caw," a piercing bird cry resounded throughout the horizon prompting Felix to look up.

In the distance, he could see a flock of pink birds flying towards him.

"Badump!"

Felix suddenly felt his heart miss a beat as he tightened his fist, "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" He chanted in his mind, his expression one of hopelessness.

"What the fuck!"

He yelled out loud as he staggered to his feet, his heart beating violently and his gaze one of fear.

"Am I afraid?" Felix asked himself, and a feeling of disgust overwhelmed him, "No I don't fucking fear death!"

"Slash!"

He yelled in his mind as two blades tore threw his arms, his blood scattering everywhere, Felix was ready to fight but reality dawned on him.

"Bam!"

He suddenly fell to his knees, "I-I can't move," he thought in shock, as his gaze wavered. He felt weak and dizzy.

Looking up he could see the birds closing in and the presence of death drawing closer and closer.

Felix tried to get up and fight with all he had, but instead, his eyes slowly closed and his vision became blurred.

"Another one?" a calm male voice suddenly cut through the air; it came from behind him, making one feel the urge to turn back.

The sudden presence of another person behind him made his heart skip a beat.

And if it wasn't for that voice Felix would have been oblivious to the presence of another person behind him.

"Tap, Tap, Tap," heavy footsteps sounded out as a towering figure walked passed him.

In the next moment, Felix saw a red-haired man standing in front of him.

A large greatsword rested on his shoulder as a heavy pressure radiated from him, a pressure that made Felix shudder.

By now the birds had already reached them their wings spread out as they descended.

"Bang," the red-haired man suddenly stepped forward his feet cracking the ground as he swung his blade.

"Sulphur!"

He yelled as an overwhelming amount of red aura radiated from him sending a huge gale forward.

"Splat, splat, splat, splat," the birds fell to the ground like dead flies losing their momentum as they convulsed, their mouths foaming.

There was no collision, there was no confrontation, the birds just died by coming in contact with the small gale formed by this figure's sword.

"How cool," Felix thought and at that moment his vision blurred, as he lost consciousness he heard the voice of a woman asking.

"Is he from Aiden's group as well?"

----------

(A few hours later.)

At another part of the abysmal enclave, you could see a huge river surrounded by a large amount of vegetation on both sides.

Two people could be seen hiking by the river, a dark-haired man with a red-haired woman following behind.

Obviously, these two people were Aiden and Mai, they had been walking for hours and in this period they had only run into a tiger once.

Fortunately, the group was able to handle it with Mai jumping into the river and Aiden fighting the beast.

During his fight with the beast Aiden discovered that it wasn't as strong as he'd anticipated being only slightly stronger than a threat level six demon.

Fortunately, its ferocious appearance seemed to be just for show as it posed no threat to him at all, in fact, all Aiden did was kick it once and it ran away.

"If the tiger is so weak then what's making me feel so uneasy?" Aiden thought to himself.

His perception still warned him of something, you could call it a looming threat.

They had been walking for some time but the tingling sensation Aiden felt still hadn't reduced, this could only mean that the threat was following them.

Meanwhile, Mai who followed behind Aiden couldn't take her eyes off him, judging by how big the tigers were she could take it on as well, but not in the way Aiden did.

He literally sent the beast flying with a single kick, "how strong are you?" Mai couldn't help but ask.

She had an inquisitive look on her face, her eyes wide and focused as she looked towards Aiden eagerly waiting for his answer.

Obviously, Aiden couldn't give her an answer, doing so would reveal his secrets.

"It's getting late," Aiden said ignoring the question altogether.

"Hump!"

Mai scoffed in disappointment but she quickly regained her composure, since Aiden didn't want to share, she wouldn't pester him, it was none of her business anyway.

"In all my time here I haven't seen a single demon, not to talk about being attacked by one, I think it has something to do with the river." Mai suddenly quipped.

Hearing Mai's words Aiden let out a sigh, "that's a relief," he muttered his expression one of confidence.

Aiden didn't want to get involved in too many fights, if he ran out of soul energy the situation would take a turn for the worst and the only way to recover was either to wait for a few hours or to consume a soul.

Because of the unknown dangers lurking around them, Aiden didn't want to go even a second without soul energy, so waiting for a few hours was out of the question.

Of course, he could also consume a soul but Aiden was sure that consuming another soul, even if it was that of a fly would lead to his breakthrough.

Landon had warned him not to advance to the second gate without him, so until Landon finished evolving Aiden had to wait.

Aiden suddenly felt his ears twitching as the sound of a roaring waterfall could be heard in the distance.

"We're here," Mai's voice sounded out, a hint of caution in her tone. Obviously, she still feared the tigers.

As Aiden and Mai approached the large waterfall, the deafening roar of cascading water filled Aiden's senses, becoming more and more apparent.

The lush trees and vegetation on both sides of the river created an enchanting yet foreboding atmosphere.

The water closer to the edge of the waterfall was filled with rocks and pebbles, and on these huge rocks, one could see tiger-like beings with gray fur and unreasonably long canines coming out of their top jaws.

Aiden's keen eyes scanned the surroundings, and he noted the trees filled with lush green leaves.

Hiding among these leaves were more saber tooth tigers staring at the duo with malicious intent.

"Growl!"

Several low growls sounded out, increasing with each passing moment.

Aiden frowned his eyes showing a hint of caution, Mai however felt her heartbeat quicken with each growl.

"They're much more than I expected," Aiden suddenly muttered prompting Mai to stare at him, her eyes widened in disbelief.

"Are you serious Aiden?" She suddenly asked, before darting in, "Let's retreat."

Mai's reaction was met with a nod from Aiden, as he said pointing behind them, "I would like that, but whatever was following us is over there."

Using her eyes, Mai traced Aiden's fingers until her eyes landed on something that made her frown.

Emerging from the flowing river was a sabertooth tiger twice the size of its companions.

The overwhelming currents of the river didn't seem to pose a threat to it as it slowly swam to the surface, its golden eyes focused on the duo.

"It's not it?" Aiden thought as he stared at the golden-eyed tiger.

The it, Aiden was referring to was the hidden threat following them, he still felt a faint tingle at the nape of his neck, and it wasn't coming from this tiger in front of him.

"Aiden what do we do?" Mai asked, her calm voice coming across as a whisper.

Frowning a bit Aiden said, "A frontal confrontation isn't ideal, we have to run now."

Saying this Aiden didn't wait for for Mai's permission as in the next moment he picked her up like a princess.

"Whoa!"

Mai exclaimed as he carried her, "growl," the tigers on the other hand leaned forward as if waiting for the human in front of them to make the first move.

Looking around Aiden noticed that they were surrounded by a large amount of weaker tigers in front of them and a stronger tiger behind them.

"Badump!"

"Badump!"

Aiden felt his heartbeat increase as a rush of adrenaline forced its way through his veins prompting Aiden to channel a large amount of soul energy into his legs.

"Bang!" Aiden took off, his feet leaving a deep crater on the ground as he burned soul energy.

Seeing the human take off into the forest the tigers followed suit, moving in to encircle him.

Unfortunately for them, the only being that posed a threat to Aiden was the golden-eyed tiger that followed behind him.

"Whoosh!"

A tiger in front of Aiden leaped towards him, but Aiden was too swift changing his direction towards the waterfall.

"Roar!"

A roar suddenly filled Aiden's ears followed by the sound of galloping footsteps.

Hearing this, Aiden didn't slow down, instead, he increased his speed rushing towards the waterfall with unwavering determination.

"Aiden! Aiden!" Mai suddenly yelled before darting in, "It's a dead end."

Upon hearing Mai, Aiden focused and his eyes caught sight of the rocky and desolate terrain beyond the waterfall.

They were currently at the edge of a lush and unending cliff, jumping down would mean jumping from a height of about forty meters.

Even though Aiden was stronger a fall like that was enough to injure him severely, or in a worst-case scenario kill him immediately.

Aiden had a moment to choose, stopping now would mean fighting up to twenty tigers at once, and there was also the unknown threat lurking in the shadows.

Gritting his teeth Aiden made a decision, his eyes blazing with a will to fight, jumping was the only way.

"Ahhhhh!"

Mai screamed at the top of her lungs as Aiden increased his speed leaping off the edge of the lush cliff, all Aiden and Mai felt was the force of the wind as they rapidly descended.

The tigers on the other hand decelerated not daring to follow behind the two, as they couldn't survive a fall like that, but something happened.

As the tigers stopped the ground beneath them trembled as a demonic presence permeated the air.

The golden-eyed tiger sensing something let out a hurried roar as it ran away prompting the other tigers to flee as well.

Meanwhile, Aiden tries to focus on the ground below him, and in a few seconds, "bang," his knees buckled as his legs hit the hard and desolate soil scattering dirt and pebbles everywhere.

"Crack!"

The apparent sound of bones cracking sounded out as his bones shattered and his flesh tore. Thick blood so vivid that it looked black spurted out of Aiden's nose and mouth, as an overwhelming feeling of shock and numbness coursed through his ruptured veins.

Simultaneously his soul energy worked at overdrive struggling to heal his sudden wounds.

Mai on the other hand wasn't entirely unharmed. At some point, she had been flung out of Aiden's embrace during the collision.

She lay on the ground groaning in pain as she struggled to get up, also she seemed to have injured her spine causing her even more pain.

As Aiden healed he gritted his teeth bearing the overwhelming pain that threatened to render him unconscious.

The reason Aiden didn't just jump into the waterfall was very simple, the edge of the cliff was filled with sharp rocks and a collision was eminent, following the waterfall meant certain death.

His senses suddenly flashed as the tingling sensation he felt at the nape of his neck increased with each passing moment.

"Argh!"

Aiden grunted as he rolled on the ground, his eyes widening as he observed the height he had jumped down from.

At the same time, he struggled hard to spot what it was that his enchanted senses were warning him off.

Vaguely he could spot something slowly climbing down the cliff, and in the next moment, his eyes widened in disbelief.

"How did it follow us?" Aiden thought as he forcefully circulated his soul energy, his wounds healing at a faster pace.

"Fuck, Fuck!" A female voice cursed from the side, obviously it was Mai, and she seemed to have noticed the demon as well.

It was headless and its entire upper figure was skinned but it had no blood.

Its headless figure had six legs, a mix of flesh and bones with a faint resemblance to the legs of a crab.

And the only rebalance this creature had to a human was its torso, which resembled those skinned figures in biology books.

It had two bony and long arms about five Meters long. Its arms had scales and its permanently clenched fists were as huge as a dining table.

From its back, you could see two shorter arms that didn't seem functional, and at this moment those crab-like legs dug into the stony edge of the cliff as this demon climbed down, it's being focused on the two humans far below it.

Obviously, this demon was the same demon that Aiden and the rest of the group had struggled to escape from, and for some reason, it followed them.

"How is this possible," Aiden thought as he finally detected the cause of his tingling sensation.