The massive serpent lunged, jaws splitting wide in a devastating strike. Luke had missed. The Beast Lord had dodged in the final instant. He had poured everything he had into that arrow, and still failed. The creature's mouth came down fast, fangs gleaming. Even the one he'd broken earlier had fully regenerated.

[Stamina: 1/1970]

With the last flicker of energy left in his body, Luke threw himself backward, rolled hard, and plummeted off the edge of the wall. He fell, crashing through branches and slamming into tree trunks as he tumbled into the sanctuary below. Above, he heard the thunderous crunch of the serpent's bite ripping a chunk from the wall and swallowing it whole.

Branches cracked around him as he yanked open his cloak, letting it catch the air just enough to slow his fall. He still hit the ground hard, pain radiating through every limb, but no bones were broken. He was lucky, or maybe just tough enough now that it didn't matter.

"That bastard... really does have a perception field."

Still lying on the ground, Luke yanked a vial from the pendant around his neck.

[Stamina Potion (Common)]: A potion that restores 503 stamina.

Luke reached for the pendant and closed his eyes, focusing. He still had three stamina potions left. That was the most he'd managed to craft with the materials he had. They were high-quality, far better than average, but even so... only four.

The real problem came after. If he took one more, the system would register a total of 1,000 stamina recovered, immediately triggering a cooldown period where no potion-based regeneration would work. During that time, he wouldn't be able to recover stamina at all.

And to fire another arrow like that, using Force Infusion at full power, he'd need to be at max stamina again. Which meant he'd have to survive, somehow, for twenty to thirty minutes in a one-on-one against the Beast Lord.

[Stamina: 88/1970]

It was climbing. Slowly. He chugged another potion. Then he ran. The sanctuary wall had nearly vanished, the last roots and vines slipping back into the earth. Nothing stood between him and the Beast Lord now.

"Come on, little rat!" the serpent called, voice thick with venom and amusement. "Let's play!"

It could sense him. The mark was still there. The Beast Lord surged forward. Luke bolted, dashing through the trees and away from the sanctuary. No point staying here anymore, no cover, no advantage. The serpent chased him relentlessly, sliding at incredible speed through the terrain.

Luke pushed everything he had into his stride, triggering Dark Dash, and leapt high. His cloak snapped open midair, gliding him toward a nearby building. Behind him, the Beast Lord slammed into another structure, fangs bared. The serpent locked eyes with him. Its mouth opened. A jet of acid shot through the air. Luke vaulted higher, barely dodging, and dove through a shattered window into the building.

Still running, he pulled the bow from his inventory, not even slowing as he nocked an arrow. Just as he passed another broken window, he loosed it. The shot hit the Beast Lord squarely. But the serpent didn't flinch. It knew. The arrow carried no stamina. No power behind it. Just a warning shot. And the Beast Lord didn't care about warnings.

Luke dove headfirst through a shattered window, just as the Beast Lord emerged onto the street. Midair, he fired an arrow at the serpent, but before the shot even landed, he dismissed the bow and drew his kukris. As he hit the ground, he rolled and used the momentum to vanish into the fog he quickly conjured using the power of Wraith Form.

His mana control was leagues beyond what it had been before. He didn't just turn into mist. He created multiple copies of himself, foggy silhouettes scattering in every direction. Each one carried a signature of his mana, enough to throw the Beast Lord off. The mark still let the creature sense him, but now it was reading him in too many places at once.

As he sprinted down the alley, Luke reached for the ground with one hand, casting corrupted roots from the earth. More mana. More misdirection. He wove the roots through alleys and buildings, laying a web of false trails. Then he ducked into a half-collapsed house and crouched low inside, kukris at the ready, sweat pouring down his face. Out on the street, the serpent struck the mist with violent snaps of its jaws.

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"Little rat," it hissed. "Still hiding? Afraid?"

The Beast Lord slithered forward slowly, its perception field scanning every thread of Luke's mana. But Luke had flooded the area with it, enough to overload even a predator like him.

"I'll give you credit," the serpent said. "You've gotten good at this trick."

It lunged again, biting through the roof of a nearby building and swallowing the entire thing in a single crunch. All it found inside were roots, twisting, tangled, exactly in the shape of Luke's mana.

The monster clicked its tongue in irritation.

"Always with the misdirection."

It continued slithering along the road, peering into buildings, each silhouette of mana a perfect mimic of Luke. More roots. More traps.

"I can tell you've recovered your stamina," it said, voice low and deliberate. "You must've eaten. So why drag this out?"

Inside the ruined house, Luke nocked an arrow and began channeling stamina into the shot. Then he fired.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN FOOL ME?" the Beast Lord roared, whipping around the instant it spotted him.

The arrow flew, but the serpent didn't flinch. It had no intention of dodging. Just as it lunged, Luke detonated another burst of fog and vanished again.

The serpent blew the mist away with a single breath, but Luke was already gone.

"I bet you're thinking, 'If I keep running, I'll buy more time. Recover more stamina. Land another shot when he's distracted.'"

Its voice echoed through the crumbling buildings, thick with mockery.

"But there are no more escapes. No more rest. This is my territory, human. And I will hunt you without pause. You had your little cave. I let you have that. I let you live. Let you think you were getting stronger."

It crushed through another house, jaws snapping. Another root decoy.

"I've rested," the Beast Lord growled. "And now I can stay awake for weeks, chasing you down until there's nowhere left to run. But you? How long can you last?"

The hunt was on. And this time, there'd be no mercy. The creature's grin widened as it lowered its massive head, locking eyes on Luke just in time to see him raise a hand and conjure another tangle of corrupted roots.

"That's it. I'm done being patient."

Its mouth opened wide, and a torrent of acid surged straight toward him. Luke leapt. In midair, the Beast Lord tracked his movement, the acid beam twisting to follow. Luke snapped his cloak shut, dropping fast toward a nearby building. He crashed through a window and hit the floor, mind racing.

Without hesitation, he pulled both kukris from his inventory.

"Still running?" the Beast Lord's voice echoed through the ruined streets.

Luke gritted his teeth and hurled himself out of the building. He landed hard on the cracked road and surged forward with a burst of Dark Dash. Another acid blast came flying at him, then abruptly sputtered out. The creature had reached its limit.

Now.

Luke launched himself toward the serpent, flinging a kukri with Force Infusion straight at its chin. The blade struck, and the creature roared, lunging forward with a violent snap of its jaws. Luke dove to the side just in time. The Beast Lord crashed headfirst into the side of a building.

Luke retaliated, hurling both kukris, charged with stamina. Before the creature could recover, he drew a fistful of throwing knives and sent them flying at its eyes as it whipped its head toward him.

The serpent shrieked, its head crashing down like a falling meteor. Luke dodged again, the impact cracking the stone beneath. It inhaled, then spewed another blast of acid. Luke backflipped out of the way, rolling through the debris and unleashing a dense fog behind him as he moved.

"Don't run, human! Let's keep playing!" The serpent's voice slithered through the mist as it pursued.

Luke sprinted down the street, heart pounding. Staying still as mist would only get him melted. As he rounded the corner, a sharp crash echoed behind him, then a deep rumble. He turned his head and saw it.

The Beast Lord had launched itself like a coiled spring, landing atop nearby rooftops. Its massive body wrapped around the buildings to hold itself in place, glaring down at him with cold, hungry eyes. The serpent opened its jaws again. Acid burst forth.

Luke threw himself aside just in time, the toxic blast slicing through the air where he'd just stood. He landed hard, rolled, then pushed forward down another street, flooding his legs with stamina to push his speed even further. He was fast. Much faster than before, his agility stacked high from all the attribute points. But the serpent's sheer size let it close the distance like it was nothing.

It slid forward in a terrifying charge, jaws gaping wide, devouring everything in its path. The image burned into Luke's mind: a monstrous, real-life Pac-Man tearing through the city in a zigzag of destruction. Luke dove down into a lower street, rolling off the rooftop of a partially intact building.

Almost there!

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