Reflections on the Warpath - [An Isekai Progression Fantasy]

Blood didn't spurt into Jay's eyes or spray across the cave.

No, there wasn't enough left for that.

It dripped down from the leopard's neck, pooling into a puddle of pure crimson that oozed across the cave floor.

A tendril crept out of the gash Jay had just opened. It swirled through the air, as if wondering what had just happened before drooping towards the ground.

When it reached the pool's surface, Jay watched the sandpaper tendril pulsate from within. The abrasive red bark wrinkling as something writhed inside.

It burst open.

Hundreds of slithering white feelers spewed out into the pooling blood like thirsting tongues. Each one split into two and then two again. They covered the puddle's entire surface.

Before the leopard's blood had a chance to seep into the rock, the sickly white siphons convulsed within it.

White became pink and pink became red as the pulsating siphons drained the entire puddle.

Within seconds, the only evidence of Jay's mercy killing was the leopard's slashed open neck. Even that wound had begun to shrivel and curl inwards.

The now red siphons slithered back into the vine they emerged from, crawling beneath its skin. It closed itself, retreating inside the leopard's throat.

The fuck just happened?

Jay took care not to tread on any vines as he backed away from the plant infested corpse. He released another deep breath, the underground air leeching the last of the moisture from his mouth. He wondered what the hell was waiting for him at the end of the cave. What kind of vampiric plant was sucking the blood out of all the creatures that wandered into its home.

Each second spent theorising gave Jay even more fucked up ideas of what lay within the cave. But they also gave him hope. Because if the Second Chance Coliseum was one thing, then it was fucked up. He'd bet everything he owned that there was a relic waiting for him at the end of the tunnel, the problem was whatever lay between them.

Plink!

Jay stopped. The faint droplet was the only noise he'd heard in the minute since passing the leopard. He let Ping fly in front of him before slowly following her.

Pli-Plink!

With each step, the dripping grew louder.

Jay strained his ears, listening for any noise other than the eerie dripping seeping from the darkness in front of him.

He heard nothing, but for the first time since entering the cave, Jay saw light.

A pinprick of pale blue poked out from the murky blackness below.

It flickered in the dark but refused to fade away.

Jay stepped closer. The light grew brighter.

The tunnel widened. Jay emerged from the artery of stone into an expansive cavern. Ghastly, jagged stalactites drooped below a barely visible ceiling, lit from below by a cold, white light.

Plink!

Jay saw now that the light didn't flicker. It rippled.

It shone out from underneath a vast underwater lake. Emanating from a radiant orb submerged beneath an abyssal mass of crystal clear water. It's mysterious glow taunted Jay to dive in and grasp it, the undulating water's surface like a beckoning hand waving him closer.

Jay wrestled his eyes from the depths, forcing himself to stare elsewhere. His gaze landed on the far wall of the sunless cave, as if drawn towards the faintly illuminated stone.

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Eye of the storm drowned the distractions from Jay's eyes.

The underwater glow vanished. The cave dimmed.

A vined plant crept across the far wall, latching on to the craggy rock yet branching outwards and hugging the entire wall. The vines from before yet different, stronger. The tendril's weren't rust-red but crimson. Yellow and orange leaves poked from the tendrils lapping at the water's surface.

Jay's eyes journeyed upwards, tracing the slithering vines away from the water. They lashed around a creature's muscular legs, snaring it to the rocks behind. They jutted in and out of the animal, which Jay now saw was a jaguar. The skin that once covered its torso was peeled back, bound to the wall by orange-red vines and exposing its ribcage and the shrivelled innards behind it. The beast's internal organs drooped low, barely held up by the occasional snag against one of the leafy vines.

The Jaguar's corpse was unmoving. Unbreathing.

Except for its heart.

Intertwined with the grasping tendrils that had snatched the lives of its brothers, the beast's heart kept pumping.

Jay relaxed Eye of the storm, taking in the entire room again. He took a few steps forward, before crouching near the water's surface. He resisted the intrusive urge to dunk his finger into the water. He couldn't see any vines near the lake's shoreline, but without knowing more about the strange plant he didn't want to resort to fucking around and finding out just yet.

The alluring glow beneath the rippling water beckoned Jay to join it.

He held strong.

Jay's gut told him that the glowing orb was a relic. It also screamed that it was too dangerous to chase after.

Jay had learned over the years when to trust his gut instinct and when to pound it into submission. Perhaps he ought to just leave the glowing orb alone — his survival instincts certainly loved that idea — but what if the relic was worth the risk?

What if it helped him kill Amaya and Ezekiel?

Jay stared at the shimmering water gently lapping by his feet. He could simply jump into the lake and race the strange plant to the orb. It was certainly the simplest plan.

Simple meant reliable, it meant a plan where little could go wrong.

Unfortunately in this instance it also meant idiotic and reckless.

Another idea was testing the waters. Swimming on the surface, or tossing a rock into the lake to gauge the plants reaction. Jay scrapped those ideas too. He had no idea of the plant's level of perception or intelligence. Anything that could warn it of danger might damage his chances of getting to the orb.

He remained there for a while, debating the merits of each idea he conjured before eventually settling on one.

It wasn't perfect, but plans never were.

And it only needed to work once.

Jay peeked out from behind the tangled veil that concealed the cave entrance before slipping past it and re-entering the jungle. He licked his parched lips and shook out his muddy tracksuit. The Orivian silk shirt kept him comfortable, but the rest of his mud-covered outfit stuck to his sweaty skin, once more under the humid rainforest blanket.

The rainforest floor wasn't exactly bathed in sunlight, but after his journey below ground it still took some getting used to. Jay took a moment to acclimatise to the Verdant Frontier's sensory explosion before walking out and beginning his plan.

A complicated plan based on limited knowledge was doomed to fail. Jay knew that even as he discarded his idea to just jump in. He simply didn't know enough about the vampiric plant to formulate any sort of counter.

So what did he know?

Well, Jay knew it liked animals.

And he assumed it liked the bigger, bloodier ones even more.

If he brought one of those along with him and tossed it into the lake as he dove in, then perhaps it would distract the plant for long enough for him to steal the relic.

It was simple, but it was something.

CRRRRK!

The squeal of splintering wood sliced through the rainforest din. It was distant, and Jay only heard it through Eye of the storm, but it caught Jay's ear.

The next one caught it even more.

Another crack, louder this time, blasted through the air.

It's closer…

Rumbling murmurs rolled through the forest until a deep, resounding boom ended them. It echoed through the forest, silencing everything else.

What's happening?

A part of Jay warned him to flee, but another commanded him to find the source of the noise. It sounded too loud to be a gladiator, or even a team of them.

With something so imposing on his doorstep, Jay decided it was more dangerous to not know what was going on than to go and find out.

He ran towards the noises.

The cracks grew louder. Roars and squeals joined them. There were no deafening booms like before. A falling tree might cause a shockwave that big, but what the hell could've toppled one of the rainforest giants?

CRRRRRRRRK!

Again, the whining splinters cut through to Jay.

Again, it was closer than before.

It's coming from my left…

Jay dove into a leafy bush in between two trees, pulling the thicket back over his rear to cover his tracks. He considered climbing up to the treetops again to gain a better vantage point, but the rising wail of snapping branches persuaded him against it.

Half trapped inside a messy tangle of leaves wasn't exactly the safest place to hide, but it was better than being out in the open.

The noise grew louder.

A flash of yellow whizzed across Jay's view. It slammed into a tree trunk before he could even activate Eye of the storm.

Yellow became red.

The brutalised jaguar corpse dropped to the ground, leaving a smear of red against the tree as it fell.

Fuck me.

How'd it run so fa-

Another crack yanked Jay's attention from the mangled jaguar.

He whipped his head to the left.

And saw a giant fucking dinosaur charging through the trees.