Chapter 3: Lost

"Ugh, what happened to me? Did I die or something?" Nero said as he woke up feeling dazed.

"That world was destroyed I'm certain of it so where is this place?"

Nero was a bit perplexed as he looked at the large trees around him with a confused look on his face.

"The vortex! That vortex must have brought me here." Nero said with shock.

The vortex was created from the unstable spatial energy released by the space cracks formed as a result of the intense battle he just had.

"I can't remember the last time I felt the thrill of battle run through my veins, how nostalgic" Nero sighed. Thoughts of his previous battle resurfaced in his mind.

Nero's brows suddenly slammed together, "My injuries are getting worse. The cracks on my core are rapidly increasing and my meridians seem to broken, I can't circulate my Qi properly!"

Nero was panic-struck by the sudden changes in his body. Sensing his core, he could see the deep cracks on it expanding by the second. Even circulating his Qi was difficult due to his broken meridians.

"I have no other choice. Dealing with artifacts of that level can be such a pain" Nero sighed helplessly. He had to seal his powers to prevent his body from sustaining any more damages. He was currently in a world he knew nothing about.

"It will take a while to recover, so I better get used to staying here." Nero said looking around with a dejected look on his face. The forest was densely packed with thick trees with its canopy spreading widely. The light from the sun could barely hit the ground, so it was mostly cold and misty most of the time. Arriving in a world he knew nothing about, Nero found it troublesome to find his bearings.

He wandered aimlessly for hours until the evening came. He found refuge under a big tree.

"My powers are still decreasing and at a fast rate at that. I already know my strength has decreased, but I wonder what my current strength is?"

Nero could clearly feel his strength drop drastically. The injuries he sustained weren't little to begin with, and it might take a long time to recover to his full strength.

The more he thought about this, the more hopeless he became.

"I didn't become strong by drooping around. All I need to do is heal my injuries and get stronger in the process. And to do that I'll have to delve into alchemy"

Nero's face was slightly distorted. He could feel a headache coming. Alchemy wasn't something that anyone could just delve into. It had a lot of requirements of which not anyone could just stumble upon.

"luckily for me, I mastered it a long time ago"

Nero smirked

" I just need to know if I can find the ingredients I need to concoct that potion here. And to do that, I need to know the type of world this is. But first I need to get out of this damned forest!"

Nero quickly snapped out of his depression

Nero's expression had improved. Near-death experiences like this weren't something new for someone known as the "god killer!". But it wasn't something he was looking forward to.

Suddenly a loud shriek resounded throughout the forest. The ground was slightly trembling and some branches of trees had already broken off. Nero quickly jumped on a thick branch on the tree he was under and looked towards the direction the shriek came from. In the far distance, a cloud of dust suddenly appeared. Followed by a trail of fire and smoke with the debris of trees and stones. A group of wild boars with flames on their hooves and neck were rampaging through the forest at a frightening speed. There were about fifty wild boars making their way through the forest. Their bodies fiercely collided with the trees and the trees were instantly set ablaze.

Nero was sitting on a tree branch far away from the rampaging boars. He wasn't the least bit scared. Instead, he seemed to be a bit more interested in something else.

"There's another one!"

Nero stared closely at the trail of dust and smoke.

He saw a black figure move agilely amidst the trail. With a loud roar, a black saber-toothed Jaguar suddenly leaped into the air. Lightning coiled round its body like snakes. Flashes of lightning appeared in its eyes and its saber tooth gave off the aura of something very sharp. The Jaguar's speed compared to the wild boars was much faster but it seemed to have suddenly slowed down.

Nero could clearly see a pair of blue eyes filled with flashes of lightning staring deeply at him.

"It's found me!"

Nero was slightly surprised.

The Jaguar did sense that someone was close by and quickly change its direction towards Nero. The Jaguar's speed wasn't in any way slow as it appeared right above Nero in an instant and shot out a lightning bolt from its mouth. Nero quickly reacted and leaped out of the tree avoiding the lightning blast.

"What terrifying power!"

The tree Nero leaped out from was instantly blown apart when the lightning blast struck down. Seeing that Nero had dodged its previous attack, the Jaguar charged towards him with a more terrifying power than before. Before the Jaguar could reach him, Nero leaped into the air and heavily struck down at the head of the Jaguar with his fist. The Jaguar had sensed Nero's attack and released a lightning blast instantly enveloping Nero. In an instant, blood splattered everywhere mixing with dirt. The Jaguar was lying lifeless on the ground. It couldn't withstand the power in Nero's punch. Blood dripped down its mouth, nose and eyes. Lightning coiled around Nero's body, but it didn't seem to have any effect on him.

"I guess this level of attack isn't a problem for me. And to think I was worried" Nero lightly laughed. The lightning Jaguar had used a great deal of power in his attack against Nero, but it was still neutralized and countered by him. Nero quickly left the scene of his little brawl with the lightning Jaguar and went deeper into the forest.

On a dark cold night under the brilliant light of the moon and stars, a shadowy figure shuttled through the trees at an inconceivable speed. This figure was Nero! He had been on the move for a week, running non-stop as he tried to find his way out of the forest. The forest was made up of towering trees with canopies that blotted out the sun, making the forest floor damp and dark all year round. Nero swiftly leaped from tree to tree, his movements nimble, gentle, and fast. Nero pushed through a thicket of bushes and arrived at a rocky landscape. There was no trace of any vegetation for as far as the eye could see in contrast to the forest.

"Finally! I made it out of that damned forest." Nero said and heaved a sigh of relief. He had been on the move for a week, and only ghost knows what he might have encountered. In a forest like this, it wasn't impossible to find a large number of ferocious beasts that can be compared to a powerful martial artist. The one who stands atop the hierarchy is known as the Beast King. Nero had encountered a lot of ferocious beasts in his short journey through the forest, and just like the lightning Jaguar, they all met a miserable fate. Nero only observed for a few minutes before setting out in a particular direction.

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