Varian dashed through the streams and passed by the mountains.
He could hear the creature crushed the pebbles and sprinted behind him.
However, there was only one sound.
Varian glanced back and saw the smaller red-scaled rat.
Usually, a Level 3 should've caught up with him in no time. His only chance then would be dodging based on his agility.
However, this rat was clearly a novice.
Varian saw the path splitting into two in front. Instead of taking either, he leapt onto a tree and jumped onto a hill.
Shhh!
The rat couldn't adjust its speed and went ahead in the path.
It had to stop itself with difficulty and chased him up the hill.
Thanks to its high speed, it was always behind him, but Varian was able to avoid becoming its prey by exploiting its inexperience.
"But…" Varian felt the chi reserves in his body.
They weren't depleted, but he wasn't in his peak condition either.
The explosion injured him, and his actions in saving everyone took a toll. Later, the white light happened, and he ended up here with new injuries.
'I can't continue running forever.' He slid down the hill and just as the rat leapt at him, he jumped to his right.
Crash!
It slammed into the hill, and the impact resulted in gravel flying in all directions.
Varian reached the bottom of the hill and as he ran, he shot a glance at the rat.
Some of its scales were broken, and it was slightly bleeding. Except for the minor injury, it was perfectly fine.
'The defense of scales is not as high as I expected.'
Then he glanced into the distance. Even with his greater human sight, the towering rat figure was almost invisible.
'So the mama rat is training the kiddo to hunt? And I'm the prey?' He figured the intentions.
'Bitch please.'
He didn't teleport till now to not alert the mother rat.
If it was alerted that Varian was a bigger threat, it might hunt him personally, and that'd be the end.
Despite that, his level 2 Chi reserves wouldn't be able to outrun a level 3, even if that is a new level 3 and an inexperienced one at that.
'Just a bit more distance.' Varian continued to sprint down the path strewn with strange green shells.
The sight of the mother rat was longer than his. He had to wait till he reached a safe distance and then attack.
"Roaar" The rat squeak almost sounded like a roar.
It was starting to get impatient.
'Just a few hundred meters.' Varian wanted to soothe it before it died. Alas, it gave him no chance.
"Roaar"
After covering what felt like a safe distance, he glanced back for confirmation.
The mother rat wasn't in his sight. It might have followed, it might have not. But he had to take his chances.
He picked a mountain again. But only this time, it had a cliff.
"Come closer." He smiled.
The rat chased him without any caution.
As they climbed the mountain and were almost reaching the cliff edge, Varian spread his space sense.
A sword appeared in his hand.
'One teleportation and you'd be out.' Varian channeled his space power and prepared himself for the perfect moment.
If the mother rat was still watching, then he had no chance of escaping in the first place and had to die in the end.
If it wasn't watching, then with the precondition that they were outside its sight, he'd be able to escape far away.
This was his bet to survive!
He dashed towards the edge and the rat was a dozen meters behind him.
"Roaar"
The time had come.
Varian gripped his sword and channeled his space power to teleport.
"Eh?"
"Roaar"
He couldn't teleport!
The rat leapt at him, and Varian felt his entire body go cold.
He didn't have the time to question why teleportation didn't work.
In the blink of an eye, the rat's molars approached him.
In those moments between life and death, Varian flipped back into the air.
As his body rotated, his back was exposed to the rat's teeth.
Right then, he used space binding on himself. Thankfully, it worked.
Crrrunch!
"Roar"
The red-scaled rat bit on his back.
His level 1 Space binding barely managed to hold on for a moment before its teeth chewed on his flesh.
Varian slightly pulled his back and saved his spine. But in the end, a large chunk of his back was bitten.
Sssssh
At the same time, his sword thrust into the rat's eye. His abrupt change of move at the last moment meant the sword didn't go deep enough to pierce its brain.
"Roaar" It wailed in pain.
This was still a novice that didn't experience much pain.
The cold metal piercing its sensitive eyes was the worst pain it ever encountered.
"Screech" It stagnated for a moment and didn't control its speed.
Thus, with it leaping into air with high speed resulted in it reaching the cliff edge and only stopping a few meters away.
Thud
With a large chunk of his flesh missing, his center of gravity shifted, and thus, Varian landed unsteadily.
However, unlike the rat, he wasted no time in the pain and kicked at the creature in front.
"Roaar"
The rat was kicked off the cliff.
"Arrggh" Varian crouched in pain.
The healing potion was still working and thankfully, he wouldn't have to waste the limited amount of those life savers.
"I need to get out before that big rat realizes something." Varian gritted his teeth and ran down the hill.
He almost fell a few times. It wasn't from pain, but from the imbalance.
Blood slipped down his back and trickled down his legs as he left a trail of blood.
'Exit! Dungeon Exit!'
He set the goal and ran towards the exit.
In any dungeon, one could point out the zones through the concentration of the aura.
So Varian went in the direction where the aura thinned.
'I'll just need to exit. Earth or whatever planet this is, my cadet identity will help me out.'
Even though the healing medicine stopped bleeding, Varian was in no position to fight or even escape if he encountered another monster.
Soon, he saw the white barrier. It was the dungeon's boundary, and touching it, he could leave.
[+10 Xp
+10 Xp
Body Path Level 2: 200/200]
The chi in his body increased, but Varian was in no position to care.
He didn't even think why his space powers failed, nor how he ended up in this strange location.
Survival came first.
Soon, he reached the white barrier.
As he touched the barrier and saw the outside, his body froze.
Varian's voice trembled. "What?!"