***
One and a half days ago…
A flash of light enveloped Amelia, and in the next moment, she felt solid ground beneath her feet again. The scent of nature filled her nose, but before she could scan her surroundings, a wave of dizziness hit her. She stumbled forward, bracing herself with her hands on her knees as her head spun.
"I really can't handle these teleportations… They—ugh—really make my head spin. And the way space twists around… huh, it's really disturbing," Amelia muttered, raising her head to take in her surroundings.
She found herself surrounded by towering trees, their lush green leaves forming a dense canopy overhead. The sunlight struggled to pierce through, leaving most of the forest in a dim, shadowy gloom, with only the occasional ray of light breaking through.
"At least I landed in the right place, or at least I think I did" she murmured, reaching for the bow strapped to her back. She swiftly retrieved an arrow from her quiver and nocked it, her eyes scanning the area for potential threats.
Seeing none, her gaze lowered to her thighs, where two daggers were securely strapped. She gave a satisfied nod. While she primarily fought with her bow, preferring to take down enemies from a distance, she always carried daggers in case an opponent managed to close in on her. She might not use them often, but they ensured she wasn't left defenseless in close-quarters combat.
Her eyes flicked to the trees before flickering to her bow and then the trees and back to her drawn bow once again, before a slight flush of embarrassment crept up her cheeks. 'Drawing my bow here was a bit dumb… Having my daggers ready would've been smarter in this situation.' Letting out a small sigh of relief that no one had seen her mistake, she strapped her bow back onto her back and returned the arrow to the quiver.
The next moment, a blue aura flared to life around her, cloaking her body and dramatically enhancing her physical abilities and defense. She then drew her daggers, gripping them firmly in her hands.
Swish.
Moving like a blur through the darkened forest, Amelia reached the base of an ancient tree with a massive trunk spanning several meters. With a powerful leap, she soared into the air, landing gracefully on one of its thick branches high above the ground.
The moment her feet touched the branch, her legs tensed, and she immediately launched herself upward again, landing on another branch several meters above her previous position.
She repeated this process multiple times, jumping from branch to branch, climbing higher and higher. It felt just like the times before, but as she neared a branch positioned diagonally from her initial trajectory, a realization struck her—'I won't reach it!' Her heart momentarily leaped in her chest.
Her momentum carried her close to the branch, but not close enough. Just as she reached out, her ascent came to an abrupt stop, and gravity took over, pulling her downward.
Tens of meters separated her from the ground, a fall high enough to reduce an ordinary human to a bloody mess. Even with her powerful physique, further reinforced by her aura cloak, a direct impact would still hurt—not enough to break bones, but certainly enough to be unpleasant. Worse, she would have to start her climb all over again.
A brief flicker of panic flared in her mind, but she acted swiftly. With a sharp motion, she drove both of her daggers into the bark of the massive tree.
"Thuck."
Despite her blades biting into the ancient wood, her momentum still dragged her downward. The daggers carved a deep line into the bark as she slid down, but after losing two meters, her fall finally came to a halt.
Now, she hung in midair, suspended tens of meters above the ground, gripping her daggers at arm's length.
"Sigh."
She exhaled, feeling foolish for her miscalculation. Pushing aside her frustration, she refocused and began climbing once more, using her daggers as anchor points. One after another, she drove them into the wood, steadily ascending.
Before long, she reached the branch she had originally aimed for. With a small exertion of force, she pulled herself up until she was standing on it.
Her sharp gaze locked onto another branch slightly above her. This time, she made her jump with greater precision, ensuring she wouldn't miscalculate again. The rest of her climb proceeded without error.
It wasn't long before she broke through the thick canopy, emerging at the very top of the towering tree, finally gaining an unobstructed view of her surroundings.
"Wow…"
She breathed in awe as she took in the sight. Now standing between 100 and 200 meters high, she could see the forest stretching endlessly toward the horizon, an untamed expanse devoid of human interference. There was something undeniably breathtaking about it—a raw, primal beauty untouched by civilization.
Yet, despite the mesmerizing view, her eyes were inevitably drawn to something else.
In the distance, four black 'spears' stood in a line, piercing the earth like remnants of a divine battle.
They were incredibly far from her position, and even with her enhanced eyesight—further reinforced by her aura cloak and the considerable height she had climbed—she could only clearly discern the first two. The remaining two were barely identifiable, a testament to both the immense size of these structures and the vast distance separating them.
Indeed, these 'spears' were anything but ordinary. Each was a colossal structure at least a kilometer long, made of an eerie black material that exuded an aura of indestructibility. They looked as if a god had hurled massive lances into the ground, impaling the world itself.
From what she could see, all four were identical in shape, yet there was one distinct difference—their colors.
While each was primarily composed of the same black material, they radiated different hues. The first one in her line of sight, positioned to the north, emitted a vibrant, emerald-green glow that bathed the surrounding forest in its luminance, stretching tens of kilometers outward.
Behind it stood another, nearly identical in structure, but this one emanated a golden-yellow light.
Further along, the third 'spear' pulsed with a deep orange glow.
And finally, at the very edge of her vision, barely distinguishable, was the last one—radiating an ominous red hue.
As she gazed at the towering obelisks, a small smile formed on Amelia's lips.
"I'm exactly where I wanted to be. The four obelisks are in my line of sight," she murmured to herself, satisfaction evident in her voice.
The world she had chosen was unlike any other, a place that stood apart even among the countless realms under the Akashic Records. It was a world devoid of humans or any intelligent species—only mutated beasts roamed its vast, untamed wilderness. A world of primal beauty, where the only law was that of the jungle. The strong devoured the weak, and survival belonged solely to the fittest.
Verdant forests covered every inch of the land, stretching as far as the eye could see. Without civilization to taint it—no cities, no pollution, no interference—its raw splendor remained unspoiled. Here, she could simply exist in nature's embrace, focusing on the only thing that mattered: hunting. With every battle, she would gain levels, grow stronger.
No complications. No distractions. No need to think about everything that had happened recently. And especially not about… Dirarnia.
But if this world was merely a vast hunting ground filled with mutated beasts, she wouldn't have qualified it as a special world unlike any other that she previously saw. After all, while she hadn't explored many worlds herself, she had heard of Mikael's adventures across multiple realms and the countless worlds he had visited during his military missions. Most of them, despite their differences, followed certain 'logical' principles—fundamental laws of physics that remained consistent.
This world, however…
Did not.
For one, it wasn't a sphere like Dirarnia or Earth—something she had learned was the standard shape of most worlds. No, this world was flat. A revelation that would have made every flat-earther ecstatic. But its oddities didn't end there.
The world was divided into five distinct 'zones,' each existing in a strict linear order. There were no alternative routes, no shortcuts—one had to pass through each zone in sequence, much like progressing through the levels of a game.
The first zone, where she currently stood, was essentially a 'safe zone.' It was an area devoid of dangerous beasts—at least for the most part. While mutated creatures weren't entirely absent, they were an extremely rare occurrence, making the zone relatively secure.
The second zone began at the obelisk emitting a green glow. More precisely, all the land covered by that green light was part of the second zone.
This was where the real hunting began. Mutated beasts roamed the area, their strength enhanced by the obelisk's glow, but only up to a certain point. They were stronger than ordinary animals but remained manageable.
Beyond that lay the third zone, marked by the yellow obelisk, where the creatures became significantly more formidable. The pattern repeated with the fourth, where the orange obelisk radiated its energy, and finally, the most dangerous zone—the red obelisk—loomed at the very end of this world.
Amelia's gaze lingered on the distant structures for only a moment before she sprang into action.
Her nimble legs carried her effortlessly as she leaped from tree to tree, her movements smooth and fluid. Each jump that previously covered multiple meters each, now that she didn't need to be as careful as when she was climbing up and could now do horizontal jumps she covered tens of meters per jump. With each bound, the landscape blurred beneath her, the towering canopies serving as her path through the endless expanse.
Even with her speed, however, it took nearly twenty minutes of relentless movement before she reached the periphery of the green zone. The instant she arrived, she began her descent, leaping from branch to branch with precise, practiced motions, rapidly closing the distance to the forest floor.
After all, she was here to hunt. And if she remained in the treetops, the only prey she would encounter would be the occasional flying beast…
A deep, guttural roar shattered the relative silence of the forest.
"Roar!"
An eerie chorus followed.
"Awooo!"
"Awooo!"
Perched ten meters above the ground, Amelia's sharp gaze immediately flicked toward the source of the sounds. Below, amidst the dense foliage, a towering grizzly bear—easily over three meters tall—stood its ground, bellowing at three wolves that prowled around it. The wolves, larger than any ordinary specimens, moved in a calculated formation, their bodies low, muscles tense, fangs bared as they answered the bear's defiance with piercing howls. Their blue eyes gleamed with aggression, their fur bristling as they prepared to strike.
A classic struggle of raw strength versus coordinated predation.
Amelia watched with mild interest, her expression calm as she assessed the situation. Though the wolves had the numbers and pack tactics on their side, the bear possessed sheer size and overwhelming power. It could likely take down one of the wolves in a single swipe, but against three? It was uncertain who would prevail.
She wasn't here to watch, though.
Sliding her daggers back into the holsters strapped to her thighs, she silently reached for her bow. In one fluid motion, she nocked an arrow, its shaft steady against the string as she pulled it back. A faint blue glow flickered around the arrowhead, a telltale sign of the aura infused into it.
She exhaled slowly, her body stilling as she closed one eye and took aim. The bear stood directly in her line of sight, oblivious to the silent predator above.
With a practiced flick of her fingers—
"Swish!"
The arrow sliced through the air at blistering speed, a streak of blue light tearing toward the grizzly's skull.
"Twang."
Before the arrow even struck its target, Amelia had already loosed several more, this time aiming for the three wolves.
Author Note:
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