NOVPUB(A few hours later, down in the underground cave, Leo)
A few hours after scouting out his surroundings, Leo finally felt recovered enough to stand on his own two feet, albeit rather unsteadily.
'I can bear my own weight now…. Time to get the hell out of here,' he concluded, as after checking his surroundings for any signs of the big monster, he slowly began mapping his descent from the nest down to the floor below.
However, just as he was preparing to abandon the nest, the egg beside him gave a sudden wobble.
*Shake*
*Shake*
*Crack*
A thin crack ran near the top of the egg, followed quickly by a second one that branched off like a vein.
*Crack*
*Crack*
The cracks widened slowly, with a sickening wet sound, as a small slit began to form near the top, just wide enough for something inside to look out.
And then he saw it.
A single eye.
Round, unblinking, and slit-pupiled, peering through the crack like it had been watching him the whole time.
And just looking at that one eye made Leo's skin crawl.
The beast inside did not look aggressive. Nor did it look afraid, as it simply looked to be curious.
Curious in the way predators got before they decided whether to play with their food or eat it, as Leo immediately decided to bail.
'Aw, hell nah. I am not sticking around for baby birth,' Leo thought, as his survival instincts to run screamed louder than any pain he'd endured so far.
Hence, without waiting for a second wobble, he scrambled over the rim of the nest and dropped down to the cavern floor below, landing as softly as his battered frame allowed him.
*Thud*
But even though he landed clean, the impact still sent a jolt of agony tearing up his legs and through his spine, as every nerve screamed in protest— reminding him that while he could move, he wasn't anywhere near ready to take even the smallest of bumps yet.
'Alright… Onwards!' he thought, as the moment his feet touched the cavern floor, he didn't waste even a single second.
He gritted through the pain, forced his legs into motion, and turned his focus to the eight yawning tunnel mouths ahead— each one a gamble, each one a potential death sentence, as he tried to pick which path to stake his life on.
It wasn't an easy decision.
He had no map, no clues, no layout of this underground maze. But while he didn't know which tunnel was safe— he did know which ones to avoid.
As he eliminated three right on sight.
Two of them were scarred with claw gouges too deep and wide to be anything but a beast marking its territory and warning others against the consequences of entering its area.
While the third was covered in a mess of dried blood and cracked bone, which painted a pretty grim picture overall.
Which left Leo with five viable options.
He staggered forward, sniffing subtly as he passed each entrance, as most reeked of rotting meat, mold or some sort of chemical decay that involuntarily made his throat tighten.
But then came the first tunnel to the left.
Which although smelled moist and stale, wasn't exactly as putrid as the others.
It appeared to be cool, moist and neutral, with a harsh downward slope and a narrow entrance that was far too tight for any large predator to pass through.
The walls of this tunnel were lined with faint moss instead of the blue mana stones that covered the rest of the cave and tunnels, which indicated that it might have no illumination the deeper Leo went, however, since it seemed cleaner than the rest, Leo finally chose it as his ultimate choice.
'That's the one,' Leo decided, as he adjusted his footing and began hobbling toward it— one stiff, trembling step at a time.
*PRIIIIIIII—*
A piercing screech echoed through the cave, sharp and shrill like metal tearing through flesh, as Leo froze mid-step, his entire body going cold.
His eyes widened.
'That was the baby screaming…' He realized, as almost instantly—
*THUD*
*THUD*
He heard it.
The pounding of footsteps.
Heavy. Powerful. Fast.
The mother was coming.
His pulse spiked as adrenaline flooded his veins, washing out the lingering pain as survival instinct kicked in again.
Leo broke into a lopsided sprint, each footstep grating against bone and bruised muscle, as he forced himself forward with everything he had.
One second.
Two.
Five.
Ten.
Every step he took felt nerve wrecking, as he could feel the mother approaching fast, however, his damned body wouldn't move as fast as he usually could, as his recovering muscles could only produce so much movement for now.
*CRASH*
He was almost at the tunnel's mouth—so close he could see the slope angling downward into shadow—when he heard it.
Stone split apart behind him as the Transcendent-tier beast burst out of one of the tunnels near him, its hulking form dragging its body forward with terrifying speed as its slit-pupiled eyes locked onto him with predatory clarity.
Leo didn't speak at first.
But as he saw the beast's head lowering, and it's tongue flicking out toward him—
"Uh-oh—" he muttered, and without another thought, he leapt forward, diving into the tunnel and skidding down the slope.
He twisted his body mid-slide, glancing back over his shoulder just in time to see the beast's monstrous head jam into the tunnel entrance, jaws snapping wildly, tongue darting forward like a whip, just inches short of reaching him.
"Too late…. Momma… ain't no baby feed for your kids today—" Leo taunted as he slid out of reach, the tunnel narrowing around him as he was swallowed into complete darkness.
*ROOAAARR*
He could hear the furious roar of a powerful beast behind him, however, with the tunnel being too narrow for the beast to follow, it couldn't chase Leo inside.
Still, Leo didn't smile.
Didn't breathe easy.
Because while he was out of reach for the beast for now…
He never knew what sort of a new problem he would slide right into.
