Reality or hallucination?

Aiden was a little flustered when the mana didn't work. But it was for a few moments. As the dog jumped at him, he dodged it by instinct.

'What are you scared of? It's just a D-grade beast.' As his initial shock faded, Aiden jumped into action. With two small steps, he moved out of the path of the pouncing dog and kicked its belly.

Yet the expected resistance wasn't there. Aiden's leg passed through the dog, and Aiden fell on his ass because of his strength.

Aiden wasn't sure he saw it correctly, but just as his leg was about to hit the dog's stomach, the emerald eye on its forehead shimmered for a moment.

And the next thing he knew the beast's stomach had turned into a grey cloud, and his leg had passed through it. When Aiden looked at the corroded end of his pants, he understood that it was the same deadly mana.

'It had the elemental affinity, but they didn't use it inside the cave?' Aiden was confused, but there was no way that the beast could quench Aiden's curiosity, nor did it have any intention.

As soon as Aiden fell to the ground, it pounced towards Aiden's throat. Aiden rolled across the ground to escape from its range as a notification appeared.

[Name: Three-eyed Dog

Grade: D**

Element: Death(??).

Feature: Three eyes, Smoke transformation.

Weakness: Unknown

Comment: Depending on the surrounding, it could be a formidable foe.

]

"What the hell?" Aiden cursed out loud, "the last time you showed me, it wasn't a two-star elemental beast."

As Aiden slashed at the dog, he understood that it wasn't just his elementary ability that had changed. The dog jumped to his right with nimble movements, and Aiden hit it with his left hand.

The result has not changed. His hand passed through its head, but the dog was not willing to let go of such an excellent opportunity. Just as Aiden's hand passed through the grey smoke, the dog twisted its head and bit Aiden's left hand.

Since there was no [Wind Skin] to protect him, Aiden cried in pain. Aiden slashed the blade at the dog, but this time the beast did not dare to take the hit head-on. It jumped back to create some distance.

[Three-eyed dog was unable to show the proper extent of its power due to the lack of mana in the cave.]

As soon as he heard those words, a shiver went down his spine. 'Can this mana turn a non-elementary beast into a 2-star beast? Then if we were to fight with the 2-star Cerberus here…'

He never dared to think about it, nor did he have time. The jaw marks on his left hand was clear and he could see the grey mana coming out of his wound. However, he was more concerned about the thing that was going through his mana channel.

[The host is contaminated with foreign mana.]

'You don't have to state the obvious.' Aiden cursed, as it was the only thing he could do. The beast he could not touch was in front of him, and the mana he could not control was inside him. He was powerless as the mana reached his heart inside his body. He braced himself for the pain that had not yet come.

It was like someone had squeezed his heart, as mana made contact with his heart. The pain almost forced Aiden to kneel, but then it vanished, as if it weren't there to begin with.

'What happened?' ESS provided an answer even before Aiden could show his surprise.

[The mana core, inside the host's body, has absorbed the foreign mana.]

'Why? How can a wind mana core absorb this mana?' ESS didn't know the answer, nor did he. But looking at the growling dog in front of him, a smile appeared on his face.

He ran towards the beast, and it pounced towards him. The attack it was expecting didn't come. And the foolish human, in front of him, tried to punch again, and its teeth sank into the same place.

Instead of crying in pain, Aiden smiled and slashed his blade. The beast wanted to open its mouth and turn back into a grey cloud. Alas! It was too late, and the blade cut off its lower jaw.

"You can't turn into grey smoke while you bite, can you?" Aiden shook his left hand. Even if the mana poison did not affect him, it was still painful to get bitten twice at the same spot.

But looking at the dog who had more pain than him, Aiden was satisfied. But he had no intention of letting him retreat or retaliate. Aiden went berserk on it.

The first few hits produced similar results, and his blade passed through the grey cloud. Either it was because of the wound, or the beast ran out of mana, Aiden's seventh slash passed through his body, splattering blood everywhere.

Soon, its futile struggle ended, yet Aiden didn't dare to relax. As soon as it took its last breath, Aiden ran towards the cave without hesitation.

Aiden groaned because of the immense pressure inside the cave. However, all Aiden could do was to grit his teeth and run inside the eternal darkness.

Little did he notice that one of his slashes had sprayed blood on a stone-winged wooden statue. The blood of the dog remained on the body of the statue just a moment before it was absorbed.

And as soon as Aiden walked into the cave, the wing of the beast shook again. The stone crust cracked over its wing, revealing a grey feathery wing.

At the next moment, its eye opened, exposing the hollow eyeholes lit with the azure flames. And it stood up.

Nobody knew whether it had remained in that position for a long time, or whether it had moved for the first time. It took a while before it could walk on its feet.

It moved towards the dog's body, and as soon as it touched the dog's body, the body turned it into a dried mummy. Unsatisfied with the small amount of energy, it moved toward the cave.

The monster just stood there in front of the entrance, while staring at the endless darkness. Who knows what its reason for fear was, but it never dared to enter.

*Caaawwwwww*

Sudden bestial cry destroyed the calm of the moonlit night before the wings spread again, and the wind blew with the giant wing. Its feet left the ground with the flap, but the flight path was unstable. As if it had forgotten how to fly. However, it didn't take long before it stabilized and flew to the moon.

Aiden, oblivious to all these events, was running his heart out. His legs were screaming, his lungs were working double time, and his body was screaming for rest, but Aiden did not dare to slow down, nor did he dare to look back.

[The mana concentration is increased by 98%]

[Mana circulation rate 21% higher than normal.]

[Mana recovery rate: 2 mana/minute]

The only good thing was that the more he ran, the less mana pressure became. He could feel the mana flowing back inside the body. At first, it was like a drop, then it turned into a stream, and now that the flow had returned to normal, he could sigh in relief.

[The host has activated innate skill [Light Foot]]

[Skill [Reduce Drag] activated. Mana used:1/ 20 min. Remaining Mana: 12]

Instead of relaxing, Aiden led the mana through his body again and pushed his speed to the limit. He had no idea how long he had been running, but when he could see the light at the end of the tunnel, a smile appeared on his face.

After a few moments, he was finally able to escape the bondage of darkness and bath in the light of the giant mana stone that was hanging from the roof.

"Kaiser?" Aiden called, as Kaiser was walking away for the entrance. Kaiser, hearing his voice, looked at him.

Kaiser had an expression that said he couldn't believe what he saw, but it soon turned into a smile as he walked towards Aiden.

"What? Were you scared?" he said before Aiden could say anything, "it's not even a minute, and you've already run away?"

"A minute? What minute?" Aiden frowned, not understanding Kaiser's joke.

"Look, I didn't even move from the entrance, and you have returned." Kaiser gestured towards the slaves and said, "Ask them."

With a frown on his face, Aiden turned towards the slaves. Although he did not remember where the slaves were before he left, the number of crystals they had harvested did not change at all.

'Could I be hallucinating? Or something like that elephant sloth was there too?' Before he was able to find answers to those questions, Kaiser spoke again.

"Did you run away from the beast? Is it chasing you?" The surrounding air changed, as Kaiser's voice became serious.

Aiden looked at the part Kaiser was pointing at. It was a patch of blood on his pants.

'Then the bite?' Though the blood hadn't clotted yet, the deep jaw marks were still there. 'It can't be a dream.'

"Aiden, tell me what happened." Kaiser looked into his eyes and said in a serious tone.