He lay there, stretched out in the middle of the forest.
The ground beneath him was cold and damp. Leaves stuck to his clothes, to his skin, to the dried ichor smeared across his arms. His chest rose and fell slowly now, each breath heavy but no longer panicked.
[The Mask of the Unknown is self-repairing.]
A faint sensation brushed against his face. The mask cracked earlier, but now it sealed itself back together, smooth and intact, as if nothing had happened.
"…Huh," Jay murmured weakly.
[Congratulations. Luck smiles upon you.]
[For reaching Level 2, you have received 10 potions.]
"What… potions?" Jay blinked, his brain lagging behind the words.
The forest remained silent. No enemies. No movement. Just him and the aftermath.
[Warning: Item acquisition is rare.]
Jay let out a short breath that was half a laugh.
"So I really got lucky this time."
[Do you want to use a potion?]
"Yes."
The response came without hesitation.
A strange warmth slid down his throat, like thick liquid heat. It settled in his stomach, then spread outward in waves. His muscles twitched violently. Pain flared for an instant, sharp and bright—
Then vanished.
Bones stopped screaming. Torn flesh knit itself together. Bruises faded. The exhaustion in his limbs eased, replaced by a dull, manageable ache.
Jay gasped and sat up slightly.
"Whoa… my body's healed."
He flexed his fingers. No shaking. No resistance. Everything responded the way it should.
A slow smile crept onto his face. It wasn't triumphant. Just relieved.
He glanced down at himself.
'The clothes, though… still filthy and ripped to hell.'
Dried blood. Mud. Dark stains that definitely didn't belong to him. He sniffed and immediately regretted it.
"Damn… I stink."
Jay leaned back again, lying flat. His body felt fine now, but his mind lagged far behind, heavy and foggy. The adrenaline was gone, leaving only emptiness.
'I want to sleep.'
He stared up at the blue sky peeking through the trees. It felt unreal that it was still so bright after everything that had happened.
"Hell," he muttered softly, "I really want to take a bath."
His eyelids grew heavy.
For once, there was no fear chasing him, no voices in his head calling him useless. Just exhaustion. Earned. Honest.
His eyes slowly closed.
The forest had not gone quiet.
Jay realized that too late.
He was still on the ground, half-sitting against a tree, breathing like he'd just run miles. The potion had sealed his wounds, but it hadn't erased the fight. His muscles felt thick and sluggish. His head throbbed. Every breath scraped his chest raw.
Then the sound came back.
A wet, snapping crack.
Like soaked ropes whipped through the air.
Jay's spine went cold.
'No. Not again.'
He pushed himself upright, boots sliding in mud slick with black ichor. The corpse of the first demon lay twisted a few meters away, unrecognizable. The smell was worse now. Rot layered over rot. Sweet and foul.
From between the trees, something moved.
The second demon emerged slowly, low to the ground. Same quadrupede shape. Same mass of tentacles writhing along its back. But this one was bigger. Broader. Its front limbs dug deeper into the soil as it walked, dragging itself forward with ugly intent.
Its head lowered. It sniffed.
The tentacles snapped faster.
It was scavenging.
Jay swallowed hard.
'It smelled the blood. My blood. Its blood.'
His hands fumbled for the rusted iron bar. His fingers were still slick. He nearly dropped it.
"Shit… shit…" he muttered under his breath.
The demon charged.
Jay barely threw himself sideways. Mud exploded under his shoulder. A tentacle smashed down where his head had been, burying itself in the ground with a heavy thud. The impact sent a shockwave through the soil.
His lungs screamed as he scrambled up.
'Move, you idiot!'
He ran, boots slipping, legs screaming. The demon followed, faster than he expected. One tentacle whipped past his ear, the air snapping loud enough to make him flinch.
Jay slammed into a tree trunk and wrapped his arms around it as another tentacle struck, splintering bark inches from his face. Wood chips blasted into his eyes.
"Fuck!"
He swung blindly. The iron bar smashed into one of the demon's front limbs. There was a crunch, dull and wet. The creature hissed, but it didn't slow.
Something slammed into Jay's side.
His ribs creaked.
Pain shot through him like electricity. He collapsed into the mud, coughing, breath coming out in broken gasps. Black slime soaked into his clothes, his hair, his mouth.
'My lungs are still on fire. Not again. Not like this.'
The demon loomed over him, tentacles rising.
Jay grabbed a handful of mud and ichor and hurled it upward.
It splattered across the creature's face, thick and sticky, clogging its bloodshot eyes. The demon recoiled, shrieking, head jerking side to side.
Jay didn't wait.
He rolled toward the corpse of the first demon and shoved it with his foot, sending the bloated mass sliding downhill. The scavenger lunged instinctively toward it.
'Got you.'
A tentacle lashed out and wrapped around a tree trunk instead of flesh. The demon yanked, trying to pull free.
Jay rushed in.
He jammed the iron bar between the tentacle and the trunk and leaned his full weight into it.
Bone cracked.
The tentacle spasmed violently, spraying black fluid. Jay screamed with effort, teeth clenched, shoulders burning.
The demon slammed into him, knocking him flat again. His vision burst white. He tasted blood.
'If I die here, the potion was a waste.'
He crawled, nails scraping against roots and stones. Grit packed under his fingernails. Something sharp tore his palm open.
The demon pounced.
Jay rolled at the last second. The creature's weight crushed into the mud beside him, sending a wave of filth over his face. He came up coughing, blind, swinging wildly.
The bar connected with its skull.
Once.
Twice.
The third hit bent the metal slightly. The impact numbed his arms.
The demon's head snapped back. It shrieked and thrashed, tentacles whipping without control.
Jay lunged forward and tackled it.
They went down hard.
Mud sucked at his knees as he climbed onto its back, fingers digging into slick flesh. A tentacle wrapped around his throat. Pressure built instantly. His vision dimmed.
'That's not enough.'
Jay leaned forward and bit down.
His teeth tore into soft tissue at the base of the tentacle. The taste was unbearable. He gagged and bit harder.
The grip loosened.
He shoved his forearm across the creature's throat and pressed his full weight down, knees digging into its sides. The demon bucked and rolled, smashing him into the ground again and again.
Jay didn't let go.
His ribs screamed. His arms shook violently. His breath came in thin, desperate wheezes.
He grabbed a stone from the mud and smashed it into the demon's skull. Over and over. Crunch. Squelch. Crunch.
The creature's movements slowed.
Then weakened.
Jay kept going long after it stopped resisting.
Only when his arms finally gave out did he collapse forward, face-first into the mud.
He lay there heaving, chest burning, body trembling uncontrollably. Black slime coated him from head to toe. His hands shook so badly he couldn't even unclench them.
The forest was silent again.
Jay rolled onto his back, staring up through the trees, breathing like a dying animal.
'I'm still alive.'