Having absolutely no idea about the hands that were slowly coming to play, Laden ran through the forest trying to create some distance between him and Caleb’s current location.

"I will make a stand here and wait for them," Laden said confidently.

He was currently waiting for the four small beasts that had left the group in search of a little scrap.

While he waited, Laden contemplated if he should deactivate the merged state or remain like that.

"How much time do we have left Prime?" Laden asked.

"Why are you suddenly asking me now? I thought you had grown all arrogant and know-it-all," Prime said angrily.

"We are about to battle now, Prime. now’s really not the time," Laden said frustratedly.

"Uhmmm, we have about 10 minutes more; we have made quite a bit of progress with our acclimatization," Prime responded reluctantly.

"Ten minutes, uh, that shouldn’t be too bad," Laden muttered.

He stood in his position, waiting patiently for the beasts to arrive so he could begin, but instead of waiting on the ground, Laden had climbed up a tree, hoping to get a sneak attack in at the start.

He didn’t have to wait for too long, as the four beasts arrived at the same time, giving Laden a bit of time to take in the details of the beasts.

The first beast looked to be some sort of Armored beast, its back covered by a roll of scaly-like shields; the second one was a more normal-looking beast; it appears to be a snake with two small horns growing off its head.

The third and fourth beasts were also small dogs and small cats looking beasts that just have some changes in their form and appearance.

"The armored one should be my first target," Laden decided.

Without any form of hesitation or planning, he jumped off the tree, falling straight at the Armored beast below the tree.

Boom!

A large impact noise resounded all across the surroundings, sending the other three flying off a bit.

After the initial impact, Laden didn’t stop; instead, he picked up his staff and sent it crashing back down at the beast extremely heavily.

"I might not be able to break your armor but I can surely turn the inside to a mush," Laden thought.

He wanted to continue and smash his staff down one more time, but the other beasts had gone into a frenzy. They were all charging at Laden with craziness in their eyes.

The snake slithered from left to right, its movement leaving a blur on the forest floor.

The Dog-beast stood a distance away while charging up a fireball aimed directly at Laden, and finally the Cat-beast was completely covered in Lightning as it leaped from tree to tree, hoping to find a gap in Laden’s defenses.

At exactly the same time, the Dog-beast released its fireball towards Laden’s head while the horned snake leaped straight at Laden with its fangs bared.

"Contact with any of these would be crazy dangerous," Laden said While looking at the two approaching danger.

Instead of carefully dodging the attack, Laden decided to be brazen and dodge one and counter the attack.

He ducked as low as he could to dodge the fireball while also stretching his staff forward to hit the flying snake.

A stupid decision by Laden, though, as the fireball made contact with the tree beside him and exploded, the shockwave produced quickly destabilizing Laden.

That was costly for Laden, who was fighting multiple opponents, as despite successfully swatting away the snake, it left him completely open to the lightning cat.

As a beast that had survived in the wilderness for a bit, it knew when to take advantage of opportunities, and it did just that.

Before Laden could regain his bearing, the cat beast had already arrived in front of him, sending a large claw swipe at the hand holding the staff.

"Haaaaaa," Laden shouted out in pain as he felt the claws cut through a tendon, resulting in him losing all grip in his right arm.

"Damn Damn Damn," he thought anxiously.

Feeling confident, the lightning cat turned around again, ready to attack Laden with everything it has.

"Not this time," Laden said angrily while picking up his staff with the left hand and sweeping the cat’s location.

"Haaaaaaa," he suddenly shouted again as searing heat collided with his back.

He had forgotten about the Fireball shooting Dog-beast. That attack gave the Cat beast enough time to escape the staff sweep path.

"I think four beasts might be too much," Laden thought while gritting his teeth. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Laden was about to focus his attention on the Dog-beast when he caught sight of something slithering on his staff extremely quickly.

"Back again," he said.

Without hesitation, he repositioned his hand around the staff and sent it flying straight at the Dog-beast. Indirectly taking care of two opponents at the same time.

Laden’s staff throw was completely dead on, as it hit the Dog-beast exactly in the center of the forehead, almost directly crushing the skull.

The horned snake wasn’t left unscathed either, as the force behind the throw had almost completely shattered its spine, rendering it completely unable to move.

"Exhumed,"

"Exhumed," Prime said from the Nascent Space.

But Laden didn’t have time to concentrate on that now as his eyes were locked on the lightning cat that was still currently darting from tree to tree with insane speed.

"Get down here," Laden shouted aggressively.

He looked around himself, trying to track the beast’s path when he thought he had gotten it. Laden rushed towards that tree and gave it a full-powered punch with his left hand.

The tree shook violently, causing the cat to lose its balance and fall off the tree.

A smile formed on Laden’s face as he looked at the falling cat, his fist clenched ready to smash it up.

The moment it got to the perfect height, Laden sent a punch flying straight at it.

The punch connected cleanly, and the Cat was slammed towards the tree closest to Laden.

"Exhumed," Prime said again.

Before Laden could say anything, he felt his vision blur as he felt Straight for the ground.

"I have lost too much blood," he said before everything went dark.