Chapter 53

Chapter 53: Chapter 53

Ingrid stared at the giant Evolved One, unable to believe what she was seeing. The creature towered over the trees, its enormous body covered in protruding bones and patches of rotting flesh, while its glowing red eyes remained fixed on them. Every step it took shook the ground beneath their feet, and the stench of decay grew stronger with every passing second.

’What the hell is that thing?! How is this even possible?’ She had encountered Evolved Ones in her previous world, and she knew that it was only a matter of time before one appeared here but what she didn’t expect was to see one this huge!

"Fuck," Lysander cursed under his breath, his expression turning grim as he struggled to get back on his feet.

Ingrid immediately looked at him, and her stomach sank when she remembered how badly injured he still was. His bandages were already stained with blood, and even standing upright had to be painful for him. There was no way he could fight that monster in his current condition, and she certainly couldn’t take it on herself. If they stayed here, the creature would tear them apart before they could even come up with a proper plan.

"What are we going to do?" Soren asked, his voice trembling as he pulled Kiana closer to him. The other foxes had gathered behind them, their faces pale with fear, and none of them seemed to know where to run. They had escaped the gates only to encounter something even more terrifying on the road, and Ingrid couldn’t blame them for being frightened. She was just as scared as they were, although she knew she couldn’t afford to show it.

"I’ll hold it off while you escape," Lysander said, moving in front of Ingrid despite the pain written across his face. "It might give you enough time to get the others away from here, and if I’m lucky, I can find a way to lose it afterward." He glanced at her briefly, his purple eyes firm with determination, before turning back toward the approaching monster. "Take the foxes and go, Ingrid. Don’t waste time arguing with me."

"Have you lost your mind?" Ingrid snapped, grabbing his arm before he could move any farther. "Look at yourself, Lysander! You’re still injured, and you’re barely able to stand without hurting yourself. You think you can fight that enormous thing in your current condition? You’ll be dead before you can land a single decent attack!" She tightened her grip on his arm, refusing to let him step away from her. "We’re running, and that’s final. We can’t afford to fight it!"

Deep down, however, Ingrid knew that running might not save them either. The distance between them and the Evolved One looked considerable, but its enormous legs could cover two steps in the time it would take them to make twenty. If it decided to charge, the foxes wouldn’t stand a chance of escaping on foot, and Lysander was too injured to move quickly. Her mind raced as she searched for another option, but every possibility ended with that monstrous creature catching up to them.

"Wait!" Soren suddenly exclaimed, looking down at the ground before turning toward Ingrid. "Look at the soil around us! It’s too soft!" He pointed toward the muddy ground beneath the giant’s feet, where the creature’s enormous weight had already forced one leg deep into the earth. "It might be big, but it’s not as nimble as we are. If we climb through the trees, it will have to follow us on the ground, and we might be able to get away before it catches up!"

Ingrid looked down, and her eyes lit up as she finally understood what he meant. The ground really was unusually soft, almost as though the earth had been loosened, despite the fact that it hadn’t rained since she arrived in this world.

For once, their surroundings no matter how weird it was might actually give them a chance to survive. She immediately turned toward Lysander and pointed at the trees.

"Soren is right! We can’t outrun that thing on the ground, so we’ll have to use the trees instead."

Before Ingrid could protest, he bent down and lifted her into his arms, holding her securely against his chest. "Hold on to me tightly, and don’t let go no matter what happens," he instructed, his purple eyes fixed on hers. Ingrid wrapped her arms around his neck, barely having time to respond before he rushed toward the nearest tree.

Behind them, the foxes also started jumping, their bodies looked like red streaks of light. They really were fast, faster than Lysander.

They began moving from tree to tree as quickly as they could, jumping across the gaps whenever the branches grew too far apart.

The Evolved One let out a deafening roar and charged after them, its massive feet sinking into the soft ground with every step. Ingrid glanced over her shoulder and felt her blood run cold when she saw how quickly it was closing the distance despite struggling against the mud. A nearby tree shook violently as the monster slammed its arm against the trunk, sending branches crashing down around them. One of the smaller foxes cried out when a falling branch struck the tree beside him, and Soren immediately grabbed him before he could lose his balance.

"Keep moving!" Ingrid shouted, forcing herself to look ahead instead of at the creature behind them.

Something about the creature bothered Ingrid, though, and as she watched it struggle beneath the trees, she began noticing details she had missed earlier. Unlike the Evolved Ones she remembered from her previous world, this one hadn’t spoken a single word or shown any sign of intelligence beyond its desire to attack them. Its movements were clumsy, and some of the bones protruding from its body seemed to be coming loose as it dragged itself through the mud. Even more disturbing was the sight of one side of its face, where the rotting flesh appeared to be melting away, exposing an uneven structure beneath it.

’Is this thing defective?’ Ingrid wondered, staring at the creature in disbelief. She had never heard of an Evolved One developing such obvious physical flaws, and she couldn’t understand how something this powerful could look so badly damaged. Before she could examine it further, the monster sank deeper into the ground, its movements becoming slower as the soft earth swallowed its legs. For the first time since it appeared, Ingrid felt a faint spark of hope, but the creature’s next roar quickly extinguished it.

The Evolved One swung its enormous arm toward the trees, striking several trunks at once. Wood cracked loudly, and the branches beneath Lysander’s feet lurched so violently that he nearly lost his balance.

"Lysander!" she cried, struggling to hold on as the trunk creaked beneath their combined weight. Several branches snapped around them, sending the smaller foxes scrambling toward the next tree while Soren desperately tried to keep everyone together. The Evolved One had sunk halfway into the ground, but its enormous body was still moving, and every time it thrashed, another tree shook or fell. They were running out of places to go, and Ingrid could no longer tell whether the next branch would hold their weight or break beneath their feet.

’Lorna, please!’ Ingrid screamed inside her mind, desperately reaching for the system that had abandoned her. ’I don’t care what happened to you, just answer me! We need help right now. If you don’t answer me, I’ll unbind from the system or your host is going to die!’

Nothing happened, and the silence felt unbearable as another tree crashed to the ground behind them. The Evolved One suddenly wrenched one of its legs free, sending mud and broken roots flying in every direction, and its enormous shadow fell across the tree where Ingrid and Lysander were clinging.

The creature raised its hands, and Ingrid’s entire body went rigid when she realized they wouldn’t be able to escape before it struck. Lysander twisted around her, trying to shield her with his own body even though his injuries made the movement painfully slow. For one second, all Ingrid could think about was how they were going to die here as the Evolved hand’s neared them.

’ System upgraded.’