I carefully swallowed, not wanting to make any noise. Hoping that the ward would be sufficient to keep the monster away.

  It wasn't.

  That much was obvious, with the way it was staring at me, but I'd wanted to cling to the faint hope that perhaps it would just walk away. Instead, it roared.

  I had higher Stats than last time, but there wasn't as much in it as the raw numbers might suggest. My Constitution had almost doubled since the first time I'd taken one of those roars, but looked at another way, it had only doubled. Less relative difference than the gap between level one and two.

  Admittedly back then my base, statless biology had dominated, with one point of Constitution not being infinitely better than zero, but now that my physical abilities were dominated by Stats, I was 'only' twice as tough. Still, it helped. Last time, the attack had thrown me to the ground, deafened and concussed. This time... Well, yes, I was still deafened, but at least I was upright.

  Or perhaps 'attack' was the wrong word. My barrier didn't even flicker, not even attempting to protect me. It didn't seem to feel it was something I needed protection against. Just noise, rather than a deliberate assault.

  "..." I shouted, invoking [Heal] as I invested all of my free stat points.

  I didn't need Dexterity or Processing: I was already faster than it. Strength would be useful, but I didn't have sufficient free points to make a difference. I wasn't going to win a contest of raw physical power. That roar, on the other hand, felt like something I was close to overcoming. If the extra Constitution ensured that the monster couldn't impact my balance, it was worthwhile.

  I spent the half-second required to grab my warding crystal, deactivate it, and store it. It gave the braccus tyrant time to take another pace toward me, but if I lost that crystal, the outcome of this fight wouldn't matter. I wouldn't survive in here without a relatively safe shelter to sleep in.

  ... Putting aside what past-me would get up to, of course.

  I didn't waste that half-second, though. "Wind Scythe!" I chanted, having been charging the spell since the moment [Heal] completed.

  The braccus tyrant took the blade of air right in the face. Right in the maw. Its mouth was wide open, descending to consume me whole, and my C-rank spell went flying straight into it. I saw it hit the tongue, a massive slab of meat that could doubtless crush me without the need of teeth and jaws.

  It scored a thin red line, a small dribble of blood the only wound my effort inflicted.

  The descending head paused, blinking once, slowly, as the mouth snapped shut. The thing looked vaguely confused, obviously lacking the intelligence of the smaller raptors, and apparently failed to understand how its seemingly puny prey had just injured it. While I hadn't managed to inflict significant injury, at least I'd delayed my impending death by a few seconds.

  Monsters didn't have Constitution, at least not in the same way that humans did, but there was nevertheless obviously a similar effect going on. My spell should have cut deeper than it had, but the B-rank flesh could apparently resist it to a significant extent. Even hitting such a soft target, my spell had done almost nothing.

  Could I run? I was fast. Faster than the oversized monster, and I didn't doubt I could get away from it. The problem wasn't so much what I was running from, but what I was running to. I had nowhere safe to flee to: I was multiple hours deep into the Jungle of Braccus. Admittedly, it would be more like a single hour at a run, but it would be an hour in which my stealth would be epically compromised. I'd need to dodge or fight a constant stream of monsters. They'd swarm me, or slow me down enough for the braccus tyrant to catch up, or my sprinting footsteps would attract a colossal worm.

  That left taking it down. Given the lacking impact of [Wind Scythe], I doubted dumping my skill points into it would help. That left [Lightning Strike], but even if I slew the beast with it, the noise would see me swarmed. Not to mention that I was still covered in blood. I had no good options.

  That wasn't a complete surprise. No-one was under any delusions that me heading into this damn jungle was a good idea.

  Perhaps the best bet was to kill it as quickly as possible with [Lightning Strike], hope that the noise and smell would attract everything here, but sneak off before anything arrived. Meanwhile, I wouldn't run, but would try to stealthily find a spot to stop and wash.

  It was a stupid plan, and it probably wasn't going to work, but it was the best one I had.

  Alas, while my Processing helped consider my (limited) options within a split second, it did nothing to accelerate a cast of [Lightning Strike]. Before I could get the first bolt off, the dinosaur had recovered from the shock of its tasty morsel paper-cutting its tongue, and was back for another attempt. This time, it had apparently decided that it was better off killing me before trying to eat me, so went for a claw slice. A pair of claws whizzed at me at a decent speed, given the stubby arm that bore them. Easy enough to dodge, thankfully; the monster had greater reach than me thanks to sheer size, but given that its shoulders were such a huge distance from the ground, it still struggled to target me. There was presumably a reason both encounters had started with them attacking me face-first.

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  Dodging the tail was less easy, the braccus tyrant performing a simple spin that sent the lengthy, muscular tail swinging at a terrifying pace. I was forced to jump it, being unable to backstep far enough in time. The monster followed up with a simple kick, expecting me to fall into the waiting claws. A touch of [Float] prevented that, being very fast to cast and not even costing me my half-formed [Lightning Strike], given that between my Processing and [Mana Mastery] I could, if not multicast, at least put one spell on hold while I concentrated on another.

  Would more Processing or a few more stages of [Mana Mastery] let me charge two bolts at once? Something to think about, for sure...

  And before I'd even landed, the charging was complete.

  "Lightning Strike!"

  The extra two stages had noticeably upsized the spell compared to when I'd used it to fry the acid moth matriarch.

  The B-rank, dungeon boss acid moth matriarch.

  Alas, any hope I had of that meaning that the single bolt would fry the dinosaur ended as soon as the deafening light-show had died away without leaving a System kill notification behind. That didn't mean the monster had had a good time of it, thank goodness. The impact site was charred, blackened and smoking, with congealed, cooked blood oozing from the wound. Given that I'd aimed at the head, hopefully the damage would slow it down somewhat. At the least, I'd taken out an eye.

  The head spun, the other eye glaring bloodshot and angry. There was no confusion this time. No incredulity that such small prey had wounded it. Only pure, unadulterated rage.

  The monster roared.

  "Heal!" I countered, despite the attack having not stunned nor disorientated me at all. It had still damaged my hearing, and I didn't want to rely purely on [Sixth Sense] to pick up other monsters joining the fray. Neither did I want to risk multiple roars causing cumulative damage. "Lightning Strike!"

  Naturally, I'd aimed the second shot at the second eye. If the monster was going to present me with targets even squishier than a tongue, what sort of idiot would I be should I not take advantage?

  This time, the eye didn't just burn, but burst, a rain of jelly showering the area. The blinded monster roared again, stomping around wildly. I was forced to dodge a descending clawed foot, then a swing of the muscular tail. It struck a tree, succeeding where my [Wind Scythe] had failed and snapping the thick trunk like a matchstick, the impact barely slowing it down.

  It obviously wasn't targeting me—couldn't target me—but that barely mattered. Something of that size, flailing around randomly, was a threat regardless. I needed to get away. Strike it from a safe distance, or perhaps give up on taking it down and take advantage of its rampage to make a quiet getaway. With its stomping and roaring, I couldn't ask for a better distraction to pull the attention of nearby monsters while I hid and washed.

  And then [Sixth Sense] went crazy.

  I had little experience of interpreting the input of that Skill. It wasn't as in-my-face as [Mana Mastery], which had made my sight so much more. [Sixth Sense] didn't interfere with my usual senses at all. It was closer to [Mapping] and its sense of here-ness. I had a sense of... safety? Or lack thereof? A feeling that something was or wasn't about to happen? It was difficult to describe, but unlike [Danger Sense], it also offered hints about what to do about it. 'Here' is dangerous. 'There' is not.

  Everywhere was dangerous.

  As far as I could see—not far, admittedly, given that I was in the middle of a bloody jungle—nowhere was safe. My Skill was telling me in no uncertain terms that if I failed to take action, I would die. The problem was that it was also telling me I'd die if I took action. If I moved. If I jumped. If I fled.

  There was only one possible reason. The apex predators of the jungle didn't normally bother with braccus tyrants. Normally. This one was rampaging. Stomping on the ground in a manner very unlike its usual behaviour. A colossal worm may no longer be able to identify it. One must be coming to investigate.

  Well... 'investigate' was probably not the right word. 'Eat' would be better.

  I couldn't run; I wouldn't get out of range in time. I couldn't fight it; it may not even notice my [Lightning Strike]. [Float] wouldn't get me out of range. Was this how my mission was going to end?

  No. If I couldn't get out of range in time on my own, I simply needed to enlist some help.

  "Fuck my life..." I muttered as I ran toward the rampaging, blinded dinosaur, charging up a [Heal] as I went. I was going to need it if this worked.

  And if it didn't, I'd never need anything ever again.

  The braccus tyrant spun, roaring, biting at nothing. And, as it twisted, so the lengthy tail behind it whipped through the air, travelling at speeds far faster than I could run.

  I stepped in the way. Deliberately.

  The air was instantly forced from my lungs as the limb struck me squarely in the chest. Something cracked, but the sound of shattering biology was drowned by the sounds of crumbling landscape. The ground heaved as I was launched into the air. Trees toppled as I burst through the canopy. Then the jungle burst open, a brown column rising from beneath, growing higher than the trees. A cylinder of moist, glistening flesh a hundred metres across or more, the peak a gaping maw filled with circles of white teeth.

  The cylinder collapsed, the mouth closing tight. I had a brief glimpse of the braccus tyrant amongst the falling foliage, and then it vanished.

  So, a monster getting the deathblow apparently didn't count as teamwork. Nice to know, but I lacked the time to really appreciate the gift. I was busy trying to draw a breath. To get the air back into my lungs that I needed to cast [Heal].

  The only response I was getting was pain and an unhealthy gurgling.

  Was my chest supposed to be that shape? There appeared to be something of a dent where my ribs should be, my armour crushed inwards.

  That wasn't good. Unable to speak the spell name, the magic dissipated uselessly.

  So, I was sailing through the air, seconds away from a high-speed reunion with the ground, with shattered ribs and lungs full of blood, with no way to spell-cast.

  Oh well. At least I'd survived a colossal worm attack, even if I was unlikely to survive the aftermath. Not the best silver lining in the world, but I didn't really have the time to come up with anything better.

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