Chapter 30: Amongst the trees

The next morning, Loki familia members gathered around a fireplace, shushing each other. Some were brushing their teeth, whilst others were gathering their equipment. Most were sending glances towards a lone man, who sat on a log. The intruder had raided their supplies and sat drinking a cup of strong black coffee; although, his expression suggested that he wasn't enjoying it. Hit's eyes were barely visible as he squinted forwards into space, frowning.

'That was officially the worst sleep in history. I've had better rests on planets orbiting quasars...'

Hit dumped the rest of the disgusting drink, and the entire mug, into the dying flames, and trudged off. This was going to be a productive day, whether the universe liked it or not.

...

Multi-coloured leaves whirled around in the warm breeze, and insects chirped from their burrows, as Hit entered the Large Tree Labyrinth. Its area was immense: just the 19th floor alone was half the size of Orario. Wooden floors, ceilings, walls, and winding passages grew from the 19th to 24th floors of the living dungeon, a stark contrast to the barrenness of the upper floors. Rather than pulsing stones, bioluminescent mosses emitted a comforting blue glow at night, whilst also acting as habitat for spawning creatures. Mangrove-like roots snaked across the ground, providing a myriad of hiding spots for ambushing monsters, or tripping hazards for inexperienced adventurers. This plethora of ecological niches, created by the plant life, led to an obvious explosion in monster biodiversity. Hit's eyes scanned the vegetation, searching for any rare herbs, or unwelcome guests. 'It's as if I've alighted onto a completely different planet...'

A bead of sweat dripped from Hit's brow; he was certainly feeling the greater humidity here, caused by the surrounding plants' transpiration. However, he enjoyed the crisp air, filled with a greater oxygen concentration. Heavy, muddy boots halted in their descent as Hit noticed a sleeping dark fungus, a monster specialised in releasing poisonous spores. He retracted the appendage and jumped up, higher and higher into the tree canopy, until his head peeked out into the air above. 'So vast... I can see why there are so many unexplored areas on the maps.'

*BZZZ*

An immense dragonfly buzzed above the tree line, searching for its next meal. Hit recognised it as a Gun Libellula, an insectoid monster whose length was over twice that of Earth's Meganeura, of the late carboniferous.

'Gun? The citizens of this planet have not developed firearms, yet have a word for them... How is that possible?'

Hit's ponderings were halted as the monster stopped and turned towards him, fore and hind wings beating rhythmically. It extended its abdomen and fired a sting-like projectile, directly at Hit's head.

*Shing*

Hit grasped the, now motionless, object at its sides, firmly, and deactivated his skill. The insect rubbed its compound eyes in confusion as its attack vanished from view. Hit held the stinger in his closed hand and flicked his thumb.

The projectile whizzed right back and sailed through two of the insect's wings. The dragonfly beat its remaining appendages, pitifully, yet could not halt its hasty fall. Branches cracked as the body plummeted to earth, with a sickening pop of its exoskeleton.

'What a waste... Flight, enabled by anatomy alone, will always fall short of ki based movement.'

Most of the floor's monsters exceeded a Minotaur's base stats; however, some focused more on speed or debilitating secretions. It also seemed that monsters were limited to a 'base pool' of abilities, which could be used to specialise them into specific roles. Monster rexes and irregulars did not fit this trend. For this reason, monsters on the deepest floors could be exceptionally powerful, simultaneously possessing high base potential and exogenous characteristics.

Hit took out his blank map and began noting down the sights that surrounded him, as well as any monsters encountered thus far. One nearby region was not bordered in great detail, its periphery drawn as smooth end points, rather than the caves and protrusions seen elsewhere. Hit's eyes twinkled at the prospect of exploring somewhere no one ever had. He folded the map into his pocket and leapt from branch to branch.

...

Almost reaching his destination, Hit took a moment to refill his waterskin at a nearby stream. It was extremely fortuitous that water sources were so abundant, in these deep reaches. Hit glanced at his reflection and saw that it was surrounded by a red halo. He dodged.

*BOOM*

A fiery projectile exploded into smoke and ash, just where Hit had stood. Its approach was completely silent, unexpected for a raging inferno. Hit strained his neck, and locked eyes with the perpetrator: a Firebird. It was a sleek creature, covered in shimmery red feathers; golden eyes sparkled as it stared into Hit's blood red orbs. Hit recognised the rare monster, as one that specialised in long range elemental attacks. He realised that there was reason for its attack, just in time.

Hit's body veered to the side, while time was stopped, to face a swinging flower; said plant was somehow metallic, as if it had mineralised over time. The 'sword' was held by a scaly humanoid monster, a lizardman, which brandished a petal shield in its other hand. Hit kicked out at the creature's chest.

*Shaaa!?*

Slitted eyes widened, as the crocodilian foe was forced back a few steps. Its enemy had somehow countered its ambush attack, turning around instantly.

Hit dusted himself down and faced the swordsman, recalling what he knew of the two opponents. 'Firebirds: strong fire magic, low durability. Lizardmen: Mediocre swordsmanship; strategic fighters that rely on shields for protection. ...Again with the bland names, huh?"

The closest approximation to the Firebird, from Hit's multiverse, would be Tokitoki, the divine bird of universe 7, capable of creating time, or Roshi's immortal phoenix. The turtle hermit had actually offered the bird to a young Goku; however, had instead parted with his flying nimbus, since the phoenix had... died of food poisoning.

Hit dodged another fiery blast and readied himself for the subsequent teamwork attack. The lizardman hissed and stabbed out at Hit, shielding its core.

Hit repeated the previous tactic, and skipped time, dodging the jab. A normal fighter may have been taken aback by the monster's human fighting style; however, this was not the case for Hit. Ironically, the sloppy swordsmanship was wasted on the monster, in this scenario: it was much easier for Hit to predict angled sword swings, than an animal's furious swipes. In fact, if the Firebird was not there, Hit would simply engage Subliminal Time Skipping.

Trench coat sleeves ruffled, as Hit punched out at the lizard's shield hand, eliciting a series of cracks and pops.

*SHHRAAAAAA!*

Hit smirked as the petal shield was set free, which he gladly scooped up. The ingenious boy pulled his arm back and flung the disc upwards, with a shout, towards the Firebird. Just as the disc sailed under the confused enemy, and was at the perfect angle, Hit skipped time and mounted his counter attack.

*Shing*

Hit rocketed upwards, leaping towards the shield with his full might. This tactic allowed him to jump again, using the shield as a platform! As time was just barely still stopped, the shield remained in place, providing the boy with an immovable springboard.

As Hit's skill wore out, he sailed upwards, towards his flying opponent. Red feathers exploded outwards, as the avian enemy was utterly startled, unable to conceive an escape strategy, and hovered in place. Hit twisted his body, yet again, and kicked the phoenix into oblivion, performing a momentary time skip. Due to its high elemental attack, an incredibly rare ability for a monster, its low defence was unable to resist the 'missile' that struck it. The avian creature burst into black flames; however, it did not resurrect, as would a true phoenix of legend.

Hit used the phoenix as another platform, and whirled around, joining his hands in a characteristic triangular formation. The plummeting shield, some distance below, lit up in a purple glow, which slowed its descent and spin. Hit rocketed down, easily catching up with the spinning disc. The world froze as Hit skipped time, seeing the perfect opportunity: the shield's flat face pointed directly at the stupefied Lizardman below. Hit propelled himself from the shield and rocketed towards the aghast reptilian. The Lizardman barely had any time to react, as a fist buried through its scaly hide, materialising into an impossible location.

Hit crashed through the terrain, earning him a number of gashes and scrapes.

Once he stopped, Hit ignored the pain and staggered up from his crater, pleased by the heavy magic stone in his grasp. "Perfectly executed."

Such a beautifully complex, and dynamic symphony of time skips was only possible for someone with Hit's experience, and reaction time. He had used a limitation of time skipping: the inability to actually move objects, instead simply transferring force unto them, to his own advantage. In this way, any object could be transformed into a temporarily immovable, and indestructible, platform. Hit's heart beat, reminded of aerial battles in his past life. Today, Hit and the monsters had played a deadly game of pinball, a rigged game, since the 'ball' could move itself, and control the 'flippers' movement to some degree.

Hit mourned his burnt waterskin, collected the Firebird magic stone, and carried on to uncharted territory.

…

*Munch*

Hit's pained expression became alleviated, as he chewed on a green herb, freshly picked. He had made sure to read up on any valuable dungeon flora, before diving down, and had already amassed a small bundle within his backpack. This particular plant conferred a minor healing effect and had a pleasant minty flavour. The grazes and scrapes slowly disappeared as Hit finished the bundle of leaves. One may wonder, why Hit did not simply use a healing potion. The reason was simple: they were currently a pseudo-finite resource, since Hit did not want to pay over 8000 valis for a single vial. He would not give those greedy bastards a single coin; upcharging was understandable, but their prices went beyond that. No, it would be much more appropriate to save them for an emergency. Although, if Hit did not intend to spend so much on drinks, money would not be such a grave problem at the moment.

Shadows crept over Hit's face as he walked through the forest floor, intermittently batting away jutting branches, and broad leaves. Birds cawed loudly within the trees, likely sharing habitat with those on the 18th floor. Hit was completely isolated from civilisation, and any other adventurers. He had made sure to listen out for telltale sounds of footsteps or conversation; and scoured the ground for boot prints. However, there was absolutely no sign of anyone nearby. This was likely due to Hit approaching an unexplored region, which would ordinarily be ignored. Also, the floors would be less populated with monsters for some time, after the Loki familia cleared them out. The dungeon would need time to recuperate its losses, like any living creature.

Hit brought out his map and realised that he had already passed the border of the diagram, into unknown lands. He stopped at a hill, which provided him with a clear view of his surroundings. Most of the area was enshrouded in vegetation; however, a dark cave was barely visible, just ahead. Hit strained his remarkable hearing and picked out faint shuffling and dripping sounds from within. He prepared himself for battle and set forth for the cavernous maw.

...

Hit's vision adjusted to the darkness instantly, and he walked through the damp passageway with ease. Greenish light began to shimmer across the ground, as he approached a wider section of the underground labyrinth. Hit's eyes widened in recognition upon reaching the end of the tunnel: it matched the description of a 'pantry'.

Pantries were specific rooms of a floor, where monsters could gather to gain nourishment. An immense quartz pillar jutted from the base of the room and secreted a viscous honey-like fluid. Beams of light filtered in from cracks above and illuminated the banquet below. A myriad of creatures lapped up pools of ichor, looking rather pleased at the taste. Lizardmen, dark funguses, and two larger creatures, a bugbear and a battleboar, coexisted in this monster paradise. The lizardmen were more refined eaters; whereas, the battleboar snuffled across the puddles, greedily. Dark funguses extended filamentous hyphae to absorb the sweet nectar, whilst the bear scooped the liquid up with an immense paw. Hit observed them for some time, taking down notes within Mary's notebook, and pondering the strange phenomenon.

The existence of pantries suggested that magic stones were constantly being used to maintain a monster's physical form, and therefore required regular recharging. However, what exactly was this fluid? How could it be absorbed by a non-porous magic stone? How did monsters survive on the surface, without a pantry? How did they evolve to lay eggs?

Hit also noticed bunches of purple leaves, growing out the quartz pillar's base. Blue 'veins' pulsed as they absorbed the rich ichor that rained onto them. These were incredibly rare alchemical ingredients, potentially used in the fabrication of elixirs and magic items. Hit stowed his notebook away, and walked towards the herbs, nonchalantly, footfalls making no perceptible noise on the sticky terrain. Only when he began plucking the purple leaves and roots, did a few monsters' heads turn towards him. They were utterly baffled, green liquid pouring from open jaws. The change in atmosphere forced all eyes to turn to Hit, silencing the festivities. Hit stowed the ingredients away and nodded to his furry friends. "Morning... Nice weather today..."

The beasts screeched in bewilderment, shaking the cramped space. Rocks clattered from the weathered ceiling above.

*RIIIIIIIIII!*

*GROOOOAR!*

*RAAAAAA!*

**CRASH**

Hit raced back the way he came, fleet of enemies in hot persuit. The cavern entrance exploded as a freight train of monster barrelled out, after the intermittently disappearing adventurer. The smaller monsters followed him into the dense woods, whilst the bugbear and battle boar tore at the vegetation.

Unable to find him, the furious monsters fanned out in all directions, still a little groggy from their meal. Hit dashed through the canopy and used its branches to perform impossible turns. Time skip transformed even the thinnest twigs into perfect launching pads. Hit rolled forwards as he landed in front of a group of smaller monsters. A brave dark fungus drew in a gulp of air and prepared to launch a spore attack. Hit skipped time and lunged next to it. Skill deactivated, he picked the puffy mushroom up, mid attack. The poor creature could do nothing as it was thrown back, amongst the rest of its pack. Purple fog erupted outwards, poisoning the group of lizardmen; Hit remained in place, and waited for the coughing reptiles to emerge from the deadly cloud. As they did so, they were greeted with a barrage of instantaneous punches, unable to even raise their shields. Dark clouds of fog mixed with purple, until nothing was left.

Hit did not take even a moment to rest and went back to his search. Inhuman screams erupted from the treacherous rainforest, as the terrifying adventurer slaughtered the runaway monsters, focusing on those that employed poison and landform weapons. These conditions, rife with stable vantage points, were perfect for Hit, and allowed him to activate his [Time Lag] without a single hindrance.

Finally, Hit crashed down to earth and faced one of the final bosses: the battle boar. It was a ferocious wild boar, two metres in height. Fog erupted from its pink snout as it huffed in consternation: one moment it was feeding happily, in an area not frequented by living enemies, and the next, its world had been turned upside down. Hit beckoned the boar, already knowing what attack it would employ. The pig squealed and sprinted towards Hit, sharp tusks ready to stab at anything in its path.

*Shing*

'A powerful charge. If that struck me, I would be torn to pieces.'

Hit skipped time, jumped to its side, and kicked the beast's ribs. As Hit returned from his time dimension, the pig squealed and tipped over, sliding across the ground. The boar tossed and turned, but managed to raise itself, huffing, and faced Hit once more. The animal kicked at the ground with a front hoof and held its head low. Hit placed his hands in his pockets and stared forwards, looking unconcerned.

The forest floor shook as the battle boar raced forwards, sending leaves careening from above. As it was about to impact Hit, the pig raised its head, neck muscles bulging, intending to gore the boy.

*Shing*

Hit's subliminal time skip was activated, as a tusk grazed his flesh, and he rushed to step back. The boy purposefully deactivated his time skip and allowed the beast to overextended in its movement, before activating it once more.

*Shing*

'You're wide open.' Hit bent down and pushed upwards, fist shooting towards the underside of the boar's jaw. With nothing to hinder its swing, the boar's head had careened upwards, and was now frozen in time. Hit's flash fist crush struck its mark, and he dodged to the side.

*CRACK*

A stomach-churning crack sounded out, as the battle boar's neck snapped from overexertion. Eyes lost all focus, and the limp corpse sailed ahead, into a nearby boulder. Hit had used the boar's strongest attack against it, and combined the upwards swing of its neck, with his killing technique.

"It's important not to rely on your gimmick too much. Although, that is incredibly hypocritical of me to say..." Hit marched towards the crater, now empty, and wondered if his strategy should have even worked.

'Was that cracking sound from actual bones breaking, or hardened regions within its body? If it was the latter, why did it perish? Are there fault lines throughout its body? Why do these creatures even inhale and exhale? Why...'

Hit's descent into madness was interrupted by a crashing sound as a tree was felled. A towering figure threw the trunk aside and stepped out into the open. It was the bugbear, likely attracted by the shockwaves and bellows from the previous fight. Brown fur waved in the breeze, and red eyes glowed. The creature had an incredibly uncanny appearance, features completely out of proportion: its head was enormous, and was not held atop a neck. Long arms held another branch, and clawed hands squeezed it into splinters. The bear roared and ran at Hit, using its powerful arms to propel itself forward, pushing against nearby trees and stone blocks.

*GRRRRROOOOAARR!*

Hit barely dodged the furry bulldozer, but its eyes did not leave him, tracking him easily. Subliminal time skipping would be useless here: the battlefield had been completely ripped to shreds, shrapnel flying everywhere.

'This one's trouble.'

Bugbears possessed one of the highest base potentials amongst monsters of the Large Tree Labyrinth, greater than even a Minotaur's. Its strength and defence were slightly higher than the bull's, but it was far more agile, which was especially problematic within a dense forest. The creature was also in a better state of mind than Hit's previous strongest opponent: the mutilated Ligerfang.

Hit launched several time skip jump spikes, flash skewers, and tremor pulses, before falling back; which successfully stalled the Bugbear's approach. The bear monster roared and swung its arms around, flinging anything it could grasp towards Hit. Great trenches formed as its clawed hands dug through the forest floor. Hit pushed his athleticism to its limit, chaotically jumping through the trees. The noise of destruction, and rain of projectiles, followed him, no matter where he went. Unfortunately, the unstable thickets, and destructive rain, prevented him from using [Time Lag].

Suddenly, Hit left the sanctuary of the dense trees, and found himself running across a wooden bridge. The treeline parted as the Bugbear ran out, still flinging splinters and rocks, towards Hit and the arch. Hit stopped and turned, as he gained stable footing on the other side, and noticed that the footway was far less pristine than before. The wooden structure groaned as the weighty beast lumbered across, ignoring the damage it had delt to it. Expectedly, cracks splintered out from the holes that marred it, causing the bridge to begin sinking down.

The bugbear looked down, realising the danger that it was now in, and prepared to leap away. Hit skipped time and took advantage of the monster's lapse in activity. With a grunt, [Time Lag] was applied to the Bugbear, which could do nothing as the platform broke apart and plummeted down.

Hit stared at the falling creature, until it struck the ground below, bursting into black smoke and dust. 'Tch. A troublesome opponent. I'll either need a new technique, or status update, to counter that annoying strategy.'

Hit looked around, trying to gain his bearings. 'Now... how to get back...'

Author's Notes

Poor Hit, awkward situations arise even when he's around monsters…

Another use for Time Skip! Since his actions are being sent into the future, Hit cannot actually interact with objects directly. E.g.: Hit cannot skip time, pick someone up, and drop them off a cliff.

It's nice though. These limitations, and Hit's inability to fly, means I have to think of new ways to use Time Skip. I hope I have interpreted the technique correctly… If not, this is all garbage…