The place where it nearly ate Gustav up the last time was still void of trees and vegetation due to its massive body clearing trees up like they were little sticks.
Gustav stayed in his current position as he sent his senses into himself to channel the power of Yarki.
The serpentine mixedbreed was still moving forward blindly, trashing the trees around, when a pinkish light glow suddenly spread out from a few meters ahead.
Sshhhhwwoooosshhh!
The pinkish glow spread out and covered the entire vicinity of this small forest, causing the serpentine creature to pause its movement.
The creature started feeling uncomfortable as its body basked in this purplish glow that coated the entire vicinity.
At this point, Gustav was very visible due to the massive energy radiating from its being.
The creature recognized Gustav, but unlike the last time, it could sense danger coming from him.
It stared at Gustav in confusion for a few seconds.
Gustav knowing that he was visible, stood up and leaped to the top of the tree with outstretched hands.
His eyes were completely glowing pink at the moment as the aura oozing out of his being was still as strong as ever.
The serpentine mixedbreed face cranked up as it stared at Gustav with an expression of discomfort due to seeing the majestic look around him.
Shhhrroouummm!
Having had enough, Its massive head suddenly descended downwards towards Gustav's direction.
"Submit!"
Gustav voiced out with his outstretched hand pointed in the creature's direction.
The creature suddenly felt a kind of inexplicable force running through its entire body.
Bam!
Its body refused to listen to its command and suddenly slammed to the ground in front of Gustav.
Its head was as big as the tree Gustav was standing on, so Gustav could see the eyes of the creature right in front of it.
It was as if the creature was bowing down to him.
'It worked?' Gustav said Internally with a look of elation as he stared at the creature.
The creature had unwillingness in its eyes as it struggled to fight over the strange force; however, a certain kind of fear was creeping into its mind as it stared at Gustav's glowing eyes.
Gustav slowly moved forward and stepped onto the head of the creature.
He was like a small dot on its massive head, but Gustav liked the feeling.
"Arise!" Gustav voiced out.
Zrrrrroooommm!
The serpentine creature rose up with Gustav on top of it.
They ascended over three thousand feet in the air due to its massive size, and Gustav stared at the forest in front.
Gustav smiled as he willed for the serpentine creature to move forward, and it did.
"So, this is what getting others to submit to your will feels like..." Gustav muttered as the creature moved forward with speed causing winds to blow his hair backward.
("Hey idiot, aren't you noticing something?") The system suddenly voiced out, bringing Gustav out of his merry thoughts.
'What is it?' Gustav asked.
("Look around you,") She voiced out.
"Huh?" Gustav did as he was told and looked around.
At first, he didn't notice anything, but in the next second, his eyes widened.
The range his Yarki covered was shrinking rapidly.
It covered the entire forest area around them before, but now it was only covering about one-third of the forest area and still shrinking.
"What's happening?" Gustav was confused as he quickly jumped off the body of the snake and landed on a tree in front.
He quickly commanded the creature to distance himself from him, willing it to move in the opposite direction.
Gustav started running at the fast speed he could move at as the Yarki shrank rapidly.
Sshhhhhhrroooooummm!
In a few seconds that it retracted back into him, the vicinity returned back to normal.
He had distanced himself quite a bit from the serpentine creature when it regained control of its body due to the retracted Yarki.
The creature who recalled its action a few moments ago was suddenly filled with repression and anguish, which could be seen on its face.
It was about to turn around to deal with the lowly creature that caused it to perform such degrading acts when a massive explosion suddenly rocked its tail region.
Boooommm!
The explosion was loud and powerful, covering a huge part of its tail and even causing three trees in the vicinity to be blasted apart.
However, only a small injury could be seen on its tail.
Regardless, this still managed to delay the creature's pursuit.
It made some hissing sounds that proved it was angered as its eyes squirmed while it stared at its tail.
Thinking someone else attacked it, it turned around to check that direction for the assaulter, but it couldn't find anyone there.
After a few more seconds of surveying the area, it turned back around to check for Gustav. However, Gustav was long gone by that time.
He had used that time to escape from the small forest area and was currently leaping over a small stream that was on the path to leaving the border.
-----
About five minutes later, Gustav had already arrived outside the border.
"Phew," He breathed out in relief as he moved towards the nearest tree and stood under its shade.
"That was close," Gustav muttered as he sat before the trunk of the tree and leaned his back against it.
He had made use of the sixty orbs of energy he conjured before and hid them with gravitational energy. He made them explode at the tail of the creature so it would think it was being attacked from behind.
Gustav sourced for the Yarki within him and found out that it was out of energy.
'It depleted way too fast...' Gustav said internally with a look of disappointment.
'Hey System, you didn't tell me it would only last for fifty-two seconds,' Gustav had calculated the amount of time he spent using Yarki.
("No, it wasn't supposed to deplete this fast,") The system said with a tone of surprise also.
("Even though your YARKI is still in its baby phase and weak... It wouldn't have worked against the creature at all. It was able to subdue the creature completely until it ran out of energy...") The system added
As Gustav heard that, his expression turned into a contemplative one.
"Maybe..." Gustav face lit up with a look of realisation, "I have two theories,"