Surrounded by towering trees, the forest had already begun to darken when Lucas found a safe place for the night.
What he found was, surprisingly, a tree cavity. It has enough space for him to move inside with no apparent holes around it except for the entrance.
With his previous experience in the cave where he found the tied Cliff Borne Ram, Lucas had thoroughly checked the inside of the tree hollow to avoid complications. Fortunately, there was no strange beast bound or hiding inside of it.
He put his bag inside of it for the ti being as he moved around and inspected the surroundings. In case an ergency happens, he would know where to proceed without panicking.
He also broke so small branches along with the leaves and used them to cover the entrance of the tree hollow and let it act as a makeshift door. That way, the entrance would at least be covered, and if ever a beast passes by, he would not easily get spotted by it.
With just one entrance, though, he would have trouble maneuvering around if ever a beast cornered him inside. In order to avoid such a scenario from happening, Lucas had prepared a few things outside that he could trigger to distract the beast and create an opportunity to escape.
After making all of his preparation, the forest was already very dark. Lucas could vaguely see his surroundings now, so he decided to co inside the tree hollow and wait for the night to end.
Closing the entrance with the branches he broke earlier, the little light that illuminates the surroundings was finally cut off.
The night was still long, and Lucas needed all the energy he could have to prepare for what might or might not happen in the middle of the night.
Taking out the at of the snake, he poured a little water and rinsed it one more ti before he took a bite out of it. Chewing as hard as he could, he resisted the urge to vomit every ti he swallowed a piece of the oily at.
A few bites later, he finally decided to stop. Rinsing his mouth with enough water, he noticed that there was only a little bit of it left in the water canteen.
With no source of water he could refill the canteen with, he decided not to drink water until tomorrow night.
Hoping that he could find a water source tomorrow, Lucas slowly drifted to sleep as he leaned his back on the bag that he placed before the trunk.
His hands held the remaining Armadon Tonfa while the other held the strap of the bag that he was leaning on. That way, even if sothing awful goes on, he would be able to respond appropriately.
With how tired his body was, Lucas' mind went blank and drifted into oblivion without him realizing.
He did not know how long had passed, but his eyes abruptly opened when the sound of rustling leaves and twigs being broken entered his ears.
Gripping the tonfa, Lucas entered a heightened state of alertness. However, instead of moving, he sat still and even controlled his breathing, afraid of it being heard by whatever was outside.
The leaves and twigs he had scattered outside had still continued to sound, as if they were being stepped on by a huge and heavy foot.
Whatever it was outside, it was surely pretty massive and heavy. Each step it took literally shook the ground as if a minor earthquake were happening.
Whatever it was outside, Lucas had no intention to know and find out.
In case it decided to approach the tree hollow that he was in, Lucas had already held the webline that he connected to the distractions he set up outside.
Although he was unmoving and still, the beating of his heart as well as the chaos ensuing in his mind was not.
As the sound of broken twigs and rustling of leaves continued to get closer, the more intense the fear and anxiety that Lucas felt as well.
However, he still remained frozen on the spot. Choosing not to move unless sothing drastic happens.
Fortunately, his actions were proven to be the correct ones.
The beast, or whatever it was outside, seed to have been just passing by in the end.
It continued to move forward without the intention of stopping by.
Lucas felt grateful and relieved as the sound of its massive footsteps grew faint.
After a few minutes, the sound of massive footsteps finally disappeared from his ears.
Although he felt relieved, Lucas still did not try to check outside. The massive footsteps might be gone, but who was to say that the beast was no longer outside just waiting for him to co out?
The surroundings went absolutely quiet after a few more minutes passed by.
Due to what has happened, Lucas ended up having trouble sleeping, afraid that the beast would suddenly lift the makeshift door he made to greet him.
In the end, Lucas only got so nap before he would automatically wake up in alert. His mind and heart were tense, afraid that sothing bad would happen at the next mont.
Aside from that case earlier, though, no other beast had co close to his hiding spot, so he ended up having an uneventful night, to his delight.
Although he did not get a full night's sleep, Lucas was still grateful that no other beast had co to bother him until morning.
When the first ray of light shone from the gaps of the makeshift door toward the tree hollow, Lucas finally decided to co out, albeit carefully.
It was only when he confird that there was no threat around that he loosened his tense nerve and relaxed a little.
Summoning his grimoire, he sensed that Spot had a good rest too. His wounds were recovering swiftly, and in a few hours at most, he would be back in tip-top condition. Read chapters at empire
The healing and recovery function of the grimoire was indeed very good. Too bad he could not use it on himself, though.
Checking on his wounds, Lucas lightly shook his head upon noticing that they were still there.
Unlike in the novels, nothing magical happened to his wounds after eating the at of the snake beast after all. He was still glad that he was able to fill his stomach without having constipation, though.
And although the wounds did not disappear, at least they were already beginning to recover as well. The abrasions already had scabs forming at the top of them, while the deeper wounds were beginning to close up as well. If nothing goes wrong, the shallow wounds will probably heal after three days at the very least.
Looking around, Lucas finally checked the trails of broken twigs left behind by the beast that passed by last night.
As he observed, he thanked himself for not going out.
Below him, Lucas saw the leaves and twigs he scattered around were compressed to the ground, forming a pit that obviously ca from the foot of the beast that had passed by.
Judging by how massive the foot was, Lucas estimated that it was at least five ters tall and probably weighs more than two thousand kilograms.
It was not a wonder why the sound of its footsteps was absolutely heavy, being able to literally shake the ground with each step.
Tracing the deep indentation of footsteps over the ground, Lucas was relieved to know that it seed to be traveling away from his own destination.
After keeping taking his bag as well as the things he prepared as distractions, Lucas finally moved west once more.
The snake at that he had left had already started to sll a little foul. Lucas no longer risked eating it as it might truly give him constipation this ti around.
His stomach was churning as he felt hungry. However, with nothing to eat once more, Lucas could only endure the burning pain in his stomach as he moved forward.
Without lowering his guard, Lucas walked for good two hours before he decided to stop.
Ahead of him was a field full of waist-tall green cogon grass. The field of Cogon has extended for over a few kiloters, and by the end of it was another forested area much like the one that he just ca from.
What made Lucas stop, though, was the beast situated at the edge of the field of cogon grass.
At least a hundred ters away from him, the beast that was devouring so cogon grass had not discovered Lucas yet.
Even from afar, Lucas could tell that the beast was as big as a sedan car from his previous life. In terms of size, it was almost equal to the size of Spot in his Hellhound Manifestation form.
Although the beast was massive, Lucas did not think that it was as threatening.
Due to it eating so grass, he assud that it was not as violent as those beasts that purely ate at and nothing else.
Of course, Lucas knew better not to underestimate every beast he t. The beast ahead might not look violent, but who knows what kind of personality it truly has?
He was not familiar with the na of the beast either, only that it was so kind of pig or a boar—to be precise.
Do not judge the book by its cover, as they say.
Since he could not determine what level of threat it had, he could only turn to the expert and let him assess for himself.
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