The first day in the jungle reminded Erik somewhat of the Beastman Dark Woods he assaulted over a year ago now. The foliage of the trees was so dense barely any light made its way through to the bottom. Except that, unlike the Dark Woods, this jungle was crawling with things trying to make a meal out of Erik.

Snakes, insects, carnivorous plants and increasingly larger reptiles continuously bugged Erik as he stumbled through the undergrowth.

This area was more of a border at the jungle where all the young plants grew fast and dense in an attempt to smother out the others, so when Erik slowly entered deeper into the jungle, the plants grew older and grew farther apart, having won over their competitors.

This space allowed Erik to move faster, though it also meant the predators became larger and harder to deal with.

For example, beasts reminiscent of the large Utah Raptors hunted in packs and one such packs was currently stalking Erik.

They kept their distance from him, already having lost two of their packmates to Erik’s axe when they got too close. One of which had its belly cut open and a hint of yellow yolk splashed out among the guts and blood, covering Erik’s feet in the process. Now, they were taking their time. And Erik didn’t really mind since the presence of these predators kept the other small fry at bay.

“Though I suppose it’s worrisome they didn’t just give up and leave? Are they planning something or are they just that determined to hunt down their marked prey?” – Erik said to himself, a habit that came into being a week after washing up on the beach and two days after the pack started hunting him.

“How far did I travel by now? A thousand kilometres? Two? How much further is it… I really don’t know.”

The only reason Erik was still sure he was making progress at all, amidst the endlessly repeating sight of green leaves and trees, was that the sun was always somewhat visible during the day, even if just a slightly brighter spot hidden behind the green ‘clouds’.

Later, after another fretful rest where the Raptors tried their luck once more, Erik encountered what had made his hunters so complacent. A steep ravine, at least a kilometre wide and twice as deep, cut through the landscape and made it impossible for Erik to cross by conventional means.

Sighing, Erik turned around to see the pack had swollen to a ridiculous number. At least a hundred of the beasts now stared at him with their yellow, vertically slit eyes as they hissed and honked, like very large and deadly geese with sharp claws and even more vicious temperament.

With practiced movement, Erik summoned his armour and carefully took hold of his Glaive. The edge of the ravine was a perfect clearing, a small stream leading out of the forest and over the edge, making it a perfect place for Erik’s polearm.

“Alright then you cold-blooded freaks, I’m more than fed up with this jungle and you lot following me around all the damned time, so killing all of you myself will be just fine for a bit of stress-relief!”

He had no intention whatsoever to summon his Daemons. Not because of the soul-cost involved, but for the simple reason he was angry.

To start things off, Erik hurled a Burning Head where the Raptors were packed the densest, the fast moving Fire-spell catching a dozen of the slower ones before continuing on into the jungle beyond, leaving a fiery path and charred corpses in its wake.

As if on cue, the rest of the reptiles converged on Erik in a mad fury, but would Erik let them do as they pleased?

Twirling the deadly weapon in his hands, Erik charged into them. Bisecting one, decapitating another all while making sure to continue whirling himself and the weapon around. No opportunities for surprise attacks were presented and every time one of the raptors managed to score a bloody hit on an unarmoured part of his body, Erik would retaliate with deadly force.

When Burning Head came off cooldown again, he immediately cast it and turned another couple of monsters into charcoal.

The fight continued and slowly wore away at Erik’s armour and energy, the Raptors’ numbers and fury slowly pushing him back.

The Black Steel breastplate was dented and scratched to the point it got in the way, so Erik removed it and continued on fighting. Trusting in his Regeneration to keep him alive. Even then, the blood made the Glaive’s handle slick and hard to control while the continuous contact with bone and tissue wore away at its sharp edge, so Erik replaced it with his trust Greatsword and continued the battle.

Switching from polearm to greatsword as easy as breathing, Erik killed and killed until the entire clearing at the ravine’s edge was slick with blood and reeked of iron and carnage. And yet the Raptors did not halt their assault, even more reinforcements coming seemingly out of nowhere as if killing Erik was their sole purpose in existence.

Morning turned to noon and slowly the sun began to near the horizon once more and after the weeklong, sleepless journey Erik now truly began to tire for the first time in months. Not ‘take a refreshing shower after an intense workout’-tired, but bone-breaking tired akin to forcefully running a full marathon on a full stomach after a night of heavy drinking while lugging a tractor-wheel behind you.

Covered in blood and gore from head to toe, most from the Raptors but a lot of his own too, Erik now held a mad smirk on his face. He had gone from angry and determined to exhausted and desperate before crossing that threshold entirely and all that was left was a grim determination to continue.

To kill one more of the damned lizards.

To make one more charge.

Unleash just one more Burning Head and thin out the endless horde of Raptors converging upon him.

Any thought of summoning his Daemonic commanders and their forces were lost, he should have done that at the start of the fight when his mind was clear. Now all he desired was to feel his blade sink into flesh, to feel a skull cave in beneath his boot as he stomped down or delivered a high-kick.

So intense was his focus on his enemies, Erik did not spot the figures standing higher up in the trees.

Watching, waiting, judging and softly deliberating.

“Priestess, how many Cold Ones did this invader kill? Our warriors keep leading more packs here, but it has almost been a full day! I am afraid if any more get killed, the Balance will be disturbed by their absence!” – One of them spoke to their leader, a tall woman wearing a feathery cloak, her body covered in white markings and only a simple leather bra and panties covering her privates, leaving the rest of her bronzed and toned body in plain view.

“Then we just have to take their place in culling the herbivore numbers. You have seen, said, it yourself, no? This Man has been fighting non-stop all day even after travelling through the jungle’s floor for over a week. I doubt many of our Sisters or those accursed Lizards could do the same!”

Hoisting up the strangely out of place weapon in her arms, another Amazon with considerable white markings on her body and an eye-catching scar on her sternum mixed into the conversation:

“They why not deal with him now? If all of us use Rigg’s Gifts on him at once, in his tired state, we are sure to rid ourselves of a remarkable enemy!”

“Hush Cataleena! Why waste a good specimen? We have the herbs and other Gifts with which to pacify him. And we should learn our lesson from the horror at the Chamber! Even if we ignore the stumbling of those lesser, heretical humans they will not leave us! So War is inevitable and for war, we need more Warriors!”

Pointing her spear at Erik, who just fired off another Burning Head before decapitating two more Cold Ones in one swing, the Priestess continued:

“We can capture him and with his strength, we will make our soldiers. Girl or man, they will only ever be second class but their numbers will be greater and therefore useful in the coming conflicts.

Therefore, this is what we will do…”

And she continued to explain their next steps as Erik fought on throughout the night, not noticing the Raptors only came in manageable numbers and new ones only came after he almost finished the latest batch.

Finally, as dawn broke once more and no new enemies approached, Erik stabbed his sword into the ground and sunk to his knees in pure exhaustion. A pure and blissful moment of rest, before the rustling of leaves alerted him to a new presence.

Looking up, he saw a group of tribal women approach amidst the carnage.

“Huff, huuuuff… Amazons.” – He panted almost inaudibly.

From the corner of his eye, a sharp movement drew his eye and Erik reflexively blocked whatever danger he sensed with his metal-clad forearm.

*Ting!

He saw a small needle-like object ricochet off his vambrace, but felt half a dozen little pricks enter his body from the other side.

Darkness began to edge his vision as sleep came swift and sudden to him, the last thing he heard being the excited voices from his captors and a final clear thought before the void took him.

“Even after a day and night, to be sunk to his knees and still spot Antja’s attack…”

“Is this a good idea? I don’t think this is a good idea at ALL!”

‘A trap huh. Well, guess I’ll just go to sleep for a bit then…’