Ceaseless Horizons [A LitRPG Progression Fantasy]

An odd standoff took place. Sweat flowed down Lev's forehead as he held the monster's gaze just as it peered at him like he was some zoo animal. Both terrified and too curious about whatever the hell was happening, he let it go on.

Should I attack?

There was no logic behind it, but Lev felt like that would be a big mistake. Somehow, the centipede was showing signs of intelligence, except it most certainly wasn't the creature stalking him from within the woods.

"What are you doing?" Sherron asked, the tension in her words obvious.

"I don't know, it's not attacking, and I think doing that will be a mistake for me."

Lev was about to slowly back away to see how the creature reacted when it shook, almost as if a jolt went through its body. The centipede's horizontal eyes were wide as it turned around, staring somewhere far past the treeline.

Its aura rolled out in earnest, and every single being present on the battlefield paused. Humans froze in fear, and monsters didn't fare much better. Even Sherron was deathly quiet, lightning tightly clinging to her form to act at a moment's notice.

For a brief instant, the centipede turned towards Hakim standing close to the bubble housing Lev's teammates. Then it screeched, the sound producing visible shockwaves from its raw intensity and power.

Lev didn't even realize when he was barreling towards the ground, having blacked out for a few moments. Even more concerning was that his kinetic absorption had absorbed the sound to empower the armor.

If everyone wasn't daring to move before, now they were paralyzed. Most hunters bled from their ears; some even writhed on the ground from the proximity. Lev healed himself quickly with restoration mana as he lightly landed on the ground, watching with terrified eyes as the giant centipede picked up speed.

He was also realizing just how close he had come to dying. The creature's lunge to bite him was slow in comparison to its current speed, except that didn't matter whatsoever.

Nothing it could do would matter. Not against what was waiting for the centipede in the forest.

Lev's mysterious stalker finally revealed its presence, and that alone was enough to arrest his breath. The centipede rushing into the forest lost meaning as he lost himself in that vast, ancient aura that scrambled his brain like an egg.

Forming thoughts became impossible as the ground shook. A battle was taking place, but he doubted anyone other than Hakim or Sherron even had the presence of mind to watch it-

Shit, my team!

The worry cut through his paralysis like a sharp blade. Lev quickly imbued his armor and flew back to the wall as fast as he could. His team was absently staring at the ground, too overwhelmed to even realize what they were going through with their eyes glazed over.

Ignoring their condition for now, he grabbed the bubble and took it to the nearest shelter entrance. The jolt of movement was thankfully enough to rouse his teammates again, and the increasing distance let them slowly realize what had happened.

Lev didn't have time to explain more. They hesitated in the bubble's opening, looking at him with a silent question. He just gave them a tired smile and watched them descend the stairs amongst the throng of people rushing into the shelter.

Life's not fair, he sighed to himself and landed on the western wall again. Intense tremors and shockwaves reached him from even so far away, and for the first time, he could feel the colossal enchantments running in the wall. The entire stone creation was enchanted, and yet, his evolved Mana Perception barely picked up on it despite the enchantments being active.

Any other time, it would've been a ridiculous feat that he would've tried to decipher for hours. Only, he was too absorbed in the events turning his worldview upside down currently. A few dozen kilometers away, a big distance even by his standards, two beings were fighting. Obscured by the trees and other things, he couldn't see what was facing the centipede, only that it was losing.

The outcome was further set in stone when a hill slowly started to rise. Light brown stone made up the entirety of it, growing in jagged, random spikes. Amidst them, the centipede frantically danced and weaved with extreme agility, the feat mind-boggling for Lev, who foolishly wanted to face that creature.

Just how had he and Sherron missed its extreme strength?

The question didn't linger for long. In less than a minute, the hill had turned into a small collection of mountains. The battle, if it could even be called that, was swiftly coming to a close. Massive spikes slowly sheared off the carapace protecting the centipede, and before long, the creature was completely impaled, unable to move even a muscle.

It was terrifying. An extremely strong third-threhold monster had been reduced to naught but paralysed prey, like a fly stuck in a spider's web. The more it tried to break free, the more the stone spikes stirred, sometimes even spinning inside its body to widen the wounds in showers of blood.

A long, pitiful wail reached the frozen battlefield as the battle came to a close. The centipede was knowingly kept alive, and the sentience of the stone user became evident when the stone spikes receded, letting the centipede retreat deeper into the woods with its life.

Then things became much worse. The mysterious creature turned its attention towards the frozen battlefield, and every single monster immediately ran away from the source of dread. Humans didn't have that luxury as they quickly retreated back to the walls. Carriers were already transporting all strategists and non-Masters to the shelters, frantically burning through their reserves.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

It didn't matter. Hakim took a single step on the wall, flying towards the treeline in a straight line. A small crater formed where he landed, just as a towering creature walked out of the woods.

Just beholding its visage was enough to utterly freeze everyone again.

Lev always wondered what a world-ending calamity would look like. Would it be a giant creature that would swallow cities whole? Perhaps something akin to a dragon would raze the continent to the ground in a single breath. Or maybe a horde of giants would trample on everything humanity had built for themselves, proving just how negligible it was in the grand scheme of things.

He would've been wrong. Death walked on four legs as it casually trotted forward. Head held high, the hound gazed upon the paralysed humans, somehow looking down on them despite staring into their eyes directly.

Steps measured and gait oozing royalty, not even a blade of grass was disturbed in its passing as the hound stopped in front of Hakim, a scant few dozen meters away. The human in its way was strong, unbelievably so, but it was also a chosen of the Goddess, one who looked kindly upon all with sentience.

Lev had barely taken in the hound's massive size, standing at over twenty meters tall, and the light brown fur that looked like the same color as the mountain of stone the centipede had to deal with.

A lengthy tail swished behind it too, possessing three sharp ends similar to spearheads. Slowly scanning its body covered in pristine fur and gleaming claws, he looked towards its head.

His soul almost jumped out of his body when he found the hound's eyes looking into his own. They looked normal— far too normal given the horrifying circumstances.

Hakim was also looking at him, the resigned expression on his face a bitter pill to swallow. The guildmaster waited for Lev to do something, and a small sigh escaped him when Lev remained rooted on the spot, too terrified to even move.

Something happened between them, and alarmingly, Hakim stepped to the side, letting the hound walk forward uninterrupted.

Why is it coming towards me? The shaky thought echoed in Lev's head. The hound took its sweet time, both walking too fast due to its massive stature, and too slowly because of how far it was.

All the while, Lev struggled to move, and the approaching being didn't help. Its aura was unbelievably massive, and at this point, he wasn't even sure what to feel anymore. If someone asked him who would win in a battle between Hakim and the hound, he would hesitate to vote for the former.

As seconds passed, his mind became increasingly sluggish. The hound's aura contained something far too profound for his human brain to decipher. An element so complex that he could only ignore it to the best of his ability.

Regardless, he didn't have a choice. The hound was no doubt something akin to either royalty or a pack leader of its kind, and making it seem slighted would be the worst mistake he could make currently.

Taking control of his armor, he wobbled down from the wall and glided to the ground. The hound paused once he started moving, so Lev walked forward, even as the world became increasingly domineering around him.

Stone was the greatest impression echoing in his mind. Surrounded by the thick fog of the being's aura, all he could see was the endlessness of its might. A Manawell granted it far more mana than anything at its level had the right to possess, amplifying its stone manipulation and second element to height that shouldn't have been possible for a third-threshold monster.

Except the living proof was standing right in front of him, and it was strong enough that Lev's knees shook. The armor was manipulated by his mind and shouldn't have been affected, yet he still barely trudged forward, pretty much throwing himself to cover the distance.

Sherron floated closer, intending to intervene. The hound simply turned to her, and she froze in her tracks. Even Hakim gave her a slightly panicked look, one that Lev's addled mind barely registered.

[Stoneblessed Hound - ????]

Blessed? he wondered with a gulp as the pressure slowly became bearable. His aura was getting better at preventing him from getting overwhelmed, clinging tightly to the skin and fighting off the external influence. Standing a few meters away from the tower hound, he had bigger things to worry about now.

"HU-MAN," a scratchy, discordant voice boomed in his head, immediately flooring him. "WHY. ENTICING?"

With an effort of will, Lev pulled himself up until he sat cross-legged not to fall over again and replied through the telepathic connection. "What do you mean?"

"Presence. Calls."

"My presence?" he questioned back, finding his bearings.

"Yes."

"I don't know," Lev said, being honest. Perhaps the being could finally give him some answers.

The world sharpened to the extreme as the hound's eyes narrowed, staring into his very soul. There was nothing he could hide in that moment, be it his past or his reincarnation, and all he could do was wait until the being was satisfied.

"CURIOUS. MANAWELL. PATH, POTENT. SHOW."

Lev gulped. He really didn't like the sound of that.

"… Show what?"

"ANSWER. HIDDEN. IN YOU."

The words hadn't even finished echoing in his mind when Lev's world slowed down. A long, thin stone needle was flying at his forehead, aimed to impale right between the eyes and above the nose.

He barely ducked underneath and threw himself to the side, creating distance as a wall of stone rose between him and the hound. Stargazer was already in his hands, attracting an interested look from the being as it refused to budge a single step.

Lightning streamed into the glaive and his armor as he flew back, capitalizing on the slow nature of stone. At least, it seemed that way, until dozens of sharp shards were suddenly flying his way. Shields and walls shattered just as quickly as they formed, giving him barely enough time to fire an overloaded lightning slash at the approaching stone wall.

It landed squarely in the center amidst a giant explosion. Lev was about to turn to the hound when the stone wall continued approaching as if nothing had happened, showing only small cracks for all of his efforts where the slash had landed.

… No way.

That was nearly a twentieth of his own pool. How had it done absolutely nothing? Pushing it out of his mind, Lev flew back to the wall under the hound's judging gaze, but he paid it no mind. Instead, he took control of his secondary bubbles the moment they were in range before returning to the hound.

Even now, it merely watched without moving a single inch. The lances flying its way were easily intercepted by stone shards, and the waves of arrows were blocked by a wall that sprang up in a blink.

Lev's face became more and more resigned as the barrage continued. One may imagine that it would be a battle of attrition, but the hound's projectile count literally never dimmed. Stone shards obliterated his lances and remained completely intact, and the nicks and scratches produced by his arrows were repaired with a single thought.

And it has a Wisdom Boost, like me, he noted, mind whirring at high speeds to come up with something. Anything. Hell, I doubt its regeneration was even slightly stressed by this exertion.

The impromptu spar seemed more hopeless than anything he had ever experienced.