He could hear it drawing closer.
Looking down at his ankle, he saw it had been tightly wrapped with a red vine that traced back multiple meters into underbrush.
He didn't take any chances and unsheathed his blade and swung at the vine with no hesitation.
His blade was met with unexpected resistance. Rather than straining he let the blade siphon a portion of his aura and it cut cleanly.
Leaves in the distance wailed and he felt a slight rumble.
He hadn't forgot about the looming danger right behind him.
He slammed his katana into the mud and used it as leverage to flip himself over and up onto a tree a distance away from the approaching snake.
He noticed that it seemed blind,
'A Neuro Viper.'
He could feel his hair and clothes stuck to his body with mud—or what he thought was mud. It sure didn't smell like it.
'This might've been a mistake. There is no way Tazreal actually trained here.' He thought to himself as he analyzed the snake.
A Neuro Viper usually only hunted underground or at night occasionally. It must've sensed his altitude.
The Altitude beast species excreted a neurological toxin that immobilized anything it touched. The high altitude in this creature caused a mutation in its eyes resulting in blindness.
Most altitude experts assumed it was some form of pact with the beast god to another higher being.
Kayui knew he couldn't take it one on one while holding back to remain unnoticed, but had already lost track of the badger bear and was out of options.
A few more seconds sitting in this tree and something else would come out and gobble him up.
The Viper had been circling his katana for a few seconds — attracted to the residual altitude within.
He knew he had to get it back. His intelligence and his blade were his only advantages in this forest.
He snapped a stick from the tree in a quick but silent flash and tried to do something he hadn't attempted before.
The wood wasn't forged with any altitude so it couldn't absorb it, but it could be soaked in it.
With that he released his altitude and the beast's attention snapped up.
He sent a large amount from his core in his chest down his shoulder through his arm and out his hand in the form of his altitude ability, aura, onto the stick forcing it to stick to it.
'Success'
The viper shot up the tree, its dark underbelly clearly visible.
Kayui swiftly shut off his altitude output and tossed the stick up while falling down back to the dirt.
"Gulp"
The stick, almost the same length as him, was swallowed whole.
He landed to the ground frantically, rustling some leaves redirecting the Vipers attention back to him.
It flew back down at him but he grabbed his katana and parried its giant tooth with all the aura he could muster.
He stumbled back a few steps but the viper was already closing back in.
He slashed once again off balance. He felt the blade hit scales and slip off before a snout hit his chest.
He flew back and slammed through underbrush and bushes before crashing into a tree bending it at an unusual angle.
He gasped trying to bring in air but it never came.
He felt his body going numb, even his senses were vague.
"I gotta get out of here." he mumbled
He pried himself from the tree and gripped his katana, his back and neck riddled with splinters and open wounds.
He stopped enhancing his senses and put all his focus into his legs. He was taking another gamble.
Knowing he came from the south and had a vivid image of the cliff before the drop into the forest.
Could one jump put him back on top? That was the risk he was about to take.
He trusted himself and his memory, and if he failed, nothing would change anyway. He'd die regardless; this was his best shot.
"Nobody is coming to save you"
He hit the ground and the Viper shot its toxin right at him, a coagulated ball of yellow sludge was flying at him threatening to swallow him whole.
He didn't flinch or react — it was too slow, not that he saw it coming anyway.
The condensed altitude in his legs shot out into the earth, sending cracks throughout the ground propelling him up above the treeline.
His vision still blurred; he could barely make out the cliff. He could tell it was too far away.
His katana was still in hand, tugging on his reserves of aura.
He let it run loose, the blade opposite of the cliff. He felt his entire body lose strength.
His blade took on a sharp purple sheen and the blade razor sharp. At the tip a small ball began to form.
As his reserves hit zero, it popped sending a small shockwave out giving Kayui the push he needed.
With a thud he slammed into the cliff.
His senses were tingling, he was so disoriented he didn't hear the familiar whistle of the wind right behind him.