Aurel had never seen creatures like these before. They looked too human to be normal creatures!

  With dark-grey coloured skin, a monkey's tail, and a face resembling a human, these abominations snarled and screeched as they lunged at Aurel. A few ignored him and went for the weakened serpent, claiming the prey.

  The humanoid abominations had eyes as black as ink, serrated teeth as sharp as knives, and well-defined muscles. They were just as tall as humans, but they were fast and agile.

  They had black, spiky hair, pointed ears, and razor-sharp claws in place of fingers. Aurel felt cold dread overwhelm him. Never had he imagined seeing creatures as unsettling as these.

  As for their genitals… Well, that needed no mention. Differentiating between the males and females required no effort. But that was the point!

  Without hesitation, Aurel fired two shots at the closest abominations, one from each weapon. The creatures had their heads explode in a gory mess of brain matter, blood and flesh. Their corpses were flung backwards from the resulting force.

  At the sight of their demise, Aurel felt a wave of nausea hit him. He backed away and fired several more shots at the creatures. A rough count of the creatures placed them at around twenty or more.

  With no intention of engaging the creatures in close combat, Aurel kept his distance as he continuously fired. But the abominations were not dumb. Realising the danger he posed, the creatures employed evasive manoeuvres, leaving afterimages in their wake.

  Suddenly, three of the abominable creatures flanked Aurel to his left and right — one to the left and two to the right. The creatures were fast, but he was faster. Aurel extended his hands to his flanks and fired multiple shots.

  The creature to his left got one of its arms blown off, the resulting force knocking it aside. To his right, one got its brains blown out while the other received a hole in its chest. Having taken care of them, Aurel redirected his guns to the abominations coming straight at him.

  But then the unexpected happened.

  Aurel's heart skipped a beat as his eyes widened in horror. From the corners of his eyes, he witnessed a harrowing scene straight out of a horror story. The abominations were regenerating! And fast!

  The abominable creature that lost an arm and the one that received a hole the size of a tennis ball in its chest were regrowing their lost parts, their bodies visibly shrivelling as it seemed to devour itself to regenerate.

  Ahead of him, he watched as a few among the abominations turned to devour the corpses of their fallen, their ferociousness leaving him visibly disturbed and horrified. The glimpse he caught of the paralysed Steel Viper sent renewed chills down his spine.

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  The creatures had torn apart the steel body of the serpent in seconds! What the hell was he dealing with?! Never in his life had he ever encountered such monstrosities, more so when they resembled humans to a frightening degree!

  Aurel's danger sense tingled when the regenerated abominations and the ones coming right at him opened their mouths wide. Without hesitation, he leapt off the ground, covering several meters in a second.

  At that exact moment, the humanoid abominations let out loud screeching sounds that generated visible sound waves. Aurel instantly felt a slight wave of vertigo hit him even without being directly exposed to the rippling waves.

  Feeling his heart thumping loudly in his chest, realisation struck him. He was gambling with his life facing these abominations. One hit of their shrieking soundwaves would render him helpless!

  'Nope. I'm not dealing with this madness!'

  Aurel momentarily perched on a tree truck and violently took off in the opposite direction. The tree trunk exploded a split second later, reduced to splinters. He executed a speed-boosting technique, pushing his speed to the limit.

  A sonic boom erupted the moment he touched down, his figure disappearing into the thick forest. Just because he was capable of dealing with them did not mean he should. All it took was one mistake, one mishap, and it would be over for him. He had already faced death once. He was not eager to face it a second time.

  Aurel had already lost his bearings. He had no idea where he was going, but anywhere else was better than staying with those humanoid horrors. He did not stop moving until a few minutes later.

  Spotting a clearing, he came to a stop to catch his breath. He had covered several tens of kilometres, quite a distance from those things. There was no way they could keep up with speeds exceeding the speed of sound.

  During his mad dash, he had come across a few creatures roaming the forest grounds. Some were familiar, others were new to him. He neither had the time to be shocked nor to note their forms. His focus remained entirely on manoeuvring the dense forest.

  Just to be sure, he kept his gaze locked on the path he had just emerged from. After a few seconds, he let out a relieved sigh. He could finally catch a break from the relentless assaults the forest sent his way.

  Much of the day was still ahead. He had plenty of light for several more hours. But he needed to find a way out of the forest as soon as possible. The experience was taking a silent toll on his psyche.

  Looking around, Aurel found a particularly massive tree towering over the others and approached it. His eyes darted around as he looked out for danger. The plants were just as deadly as the monsters lurking about.

  But what bitterly stung him about his current situation was the precious herbs he saw along the way. He refused to admit it, but he was traumatised. At the very least, he did not have an urgent need to harvest them.

  A minute or two later, Aurel arrived at the base of the tree and looked up. The trunk was massive, comparable to a small house at the very least. Conscious of the vines around him, Aurel carefully climbed the tree, his movements swift and agile.

  When he got close to the branches right below the crown of the massive tree, he spotted something that made him pause. He cautiously looked around for any signs but found nothing.

  'I should make this fast.'