Shu ran through the fog with roots snapping under his shoes and branches slapping his shoulders every time he forced his way past another tree.
"I take it back," he muttered between breaths, vaulting over a thick root as something huge crashed down behind him. "These monsters are not easy."
The sound chasing him was too heavy to be another Bloodwood Hound. Those things moved fast and low, but this one tore through the forest with the kind of weight that shook the ground first and made noise second.
'I got too cocky after the first wave,' he thought, ducking under a hanging curtain of red vines before another impact blew dirt across his back. 'Of course the easy ones were just the opening act. Why would a mid-rank dungeon ever let me have fun for free?'
He risked one glance over his shoulder and nearly tripped from how hard his body wanted to reject what he saw.
