The Draven's wings were outstretched as its neck turned towards Clyde. Its mouth was so large that it could swallow him whole. This was the Draven's natural choice of action.
Teeth started swirling like a whirlpool, sucking in air, causing Clyde to struggle. Every journey he had made in the underworld was dancing with death. Why would this be any different?
'Humans, beasts, it's all the same. To a degree, we are driven by fear. This apex only realizes that something is here. In its defense, there isn't supposed to be another apex in its domain.'
While being pulled in, Clyde slammed both of his hands together, creating a thunderous crack. The noise was so loud that even Clyde's ears were in pain. Luckily, the Draven was looking worse. Immediately, it leapt back using the force of its wings.
A fight could be decided by a single moment. Clyde was waiting for the result.
'Flight or fight.'
The Draven was faced in Clyde's direction, but now its senses have been messed with, unclear about the next move. Knowing this, Clyde remained still as it made a step toward him.
One step, two steps, three…
In the next step, it would touch Clyde. The revolting snout above its mouth was asking to be hit. But Clyde would let the attack be a surprise.
Upon the snout's contact with Clyde, the neck flung backward. Sparks of energy had already flown everywhere. Clyde's forehead was a little red, but by now, his skin had grown tough.
On the ground, the Draven was flailing all over the place, struggling to breathe because its nose was welded shut. Clyde imagined that it rarely breathed through its mouth.
He chose to stay back for now, as an out-of-control monster is unpredictable. In the best-case scenario, it would forget about him.
Continuing to flail, it got up on its back legs, spinning in all directions. Since it wasn't moving as peacefully as before, Clyde had no choice but to get out of the way.
Taking a back step, Clyde narrowly dodged one of the wings coming at him. However, the movement notified the Draven of his location once again.
'Not good!'
Flying into the air, the Draven looked down in Clyde's direction and unleashed a powerful sound wave. The pressure of the sound cracked the ground around Clyde. Bringing an arm back, Clyde aimed a lightning bolt straight for its mouth.
Bringing his arm forward, the friction and electricity blasted outward, hitting the creature in its throat. Clyde's arm started to spasm, but the damage was not the same as it had been. It was possible that Clyde could throw at least six more before an arm would be out of commission.
Noticeably, his armor held, which was good news. After briefly examining himself, Clyde saw the Draven falling to the ground. This would be one of his only chances, so he took it.
Racing toward the falling beast, he met with it as it hit the ground. For a split second, Clyde hesitated where to strike while it was vulnerable. Then he thought to himself.
'The brain. If this thing had a brain, where would it be? Of course!'
Clyde plunged his arms deep into the nostrils of the Draven. Once he was in as far as he could reach, he pulled upward with all of his might and released. Two bolts of energy exited through the other side of the head, making the Draven fall limp.
Pulling his arms out, Clyde couldn't help but notice the sludge covering his arm.
'Great!'
At least his worries would be over. Giving the dead monster one last kick, Clyde was ready to finish his journey to the mushroom forest.
Once around the ravine, he looked back just to make sure before continuing. About twenty steps later, he heard a similar cry. This time, however, there were multiple.
Looking back, Clyde witnessed five Dravens climb their way out of the ravine. They ranged in different sizes, but the most threatening was the elder.
'Hell no.'
He was not even going to bother fighting all of them. So Clyde did what he thought was best: run. Not wanting to exhaust himself already, Clyde did not speed up his mental capacity. The world became a blur as he traveled across the wasteland. There was still an issue concerning Clyde. He could hear several Draven keeping up with him, possibly catching up.
'Not good!'
In the next moment, he felt an intense amount of heat build up in his body. That was when he realized he just ran through one of the geysers.
'Thank God for this armor.'
Clyde could hear them getting closer and closer, encouraging him to move faster. That was when he made a mistake. He wasn't sure exactly what happened, but all he knew was that he tripped. At the speed Clyde was going, it was likely that he could get impaled by a wrong landing.
Luckily, he only experienced the occasional sharp pain as he hit the ground. The world around him was spinning so fast in a blur, Clyde felt that he might puke. The only thing stopping that from happening was that the idea felt so awful to him.
With a loud thud, Clyde hit something soft. Following his crash, he began to hear some cracking noises. Then a loud thud rang out, as Clyde now saw a mushroom stem hit the ground.
'I've made it.'
Clyde was upside down, but he could still see in the distance the group of Dravens. Unexpectedly, they turned around and flew in the other direction.
'Step one is officially complete.'
Although step one was extremely painful, he was expecting to have a better time in the mushroom forest. It would be the calm before the storm, assuming nothing outrageous happened, that is.
Readjusting himself upward, Clyde's vision was fairly poor. A layer of green pollen was thick and covered the entire forest. If Clyde couldn't see the reverse-flowing waterfall, it would be extremely easy to get lost in this place.
Covering his surroundings, Clyde started step two.