I blankly stared at the scene, then belatedly regained my senses and began to run at full speed in the exact opposite direction of the wind.
Straight towards the summit of the mountain. I hunched my upper body as much as possible, pressed myself flat against the ground to lower my center of gravity, and began to crawl up the steep mountainside like a creeping lizard.
Thanks to the particularly rugged terrain, there were many rocks and tree roots within easy reach even with just a slight bend at the waist.
As I desperately scrambled towards the summit, it seemed the Mutans had finally pinpointed my exact location.
Like massive shells fired from exploding gunpowder, they shook their heavy bodies and began to chase me relentlessly with unbelievable speed.
'Why are they so fast!'
"Uwaaaaaaaagh!!"
I roared at the top of my lungs, but I didn't even consider giving up hope. Only the thought of survival raged in my mind.
'If I conquer the treacherous Devil's Fangs at this pace without stopping even once? Could those clumsy, heavy bodies really chase me for long? If I can exhaust them before they catch up, I will definitely win!'
Excluding the Devil's Fangs, I had been able to traverse all the large and small mountains around the village without a single stop.
Outrunning those four-legged beasts might seem like an absurd story to others. But this belief was a conviction born from the stamina I had silently honed over a long period.
'I've been doing this since I was a kid; if I lose, my very existence will be denied!'
Barely entrusting my body's balance to a precarious tree branch that seemed about to snap, I reached out my other arm and grabbed the next indentation. Like a skilled acrobat gracefully soaring up the mountainside, I once again shouted in a booming voice.
"Try and follow me!"
The cold wind carried my howling cry down the mountain. Glancing down at the white shadows fiercely pursuing me, I stepped even more forcefully.
Had even twenty minutes passed since I had made that bold claim?
"Huh... huh... huh... Don't follow me anymore..."
I looked like a rag doll that had been squeezed of all its strength, on the verge of melting. I muttered, forcing out the breath that had risen to my chin.
Clearly, in terms of endurance alone, I was ahead. If I could just push myself up this mountain at this deadly speed for a few more minutes, those clumsy, bulky beasts would surely tire out and fall behind.
But, unfortunately, their speed climbing the mountain was slightly faster. Moreover, around the places I had passed, new Mutans, awakened from their hibernation by the scent of my scattered blood, were persistently approaching me.
'A substitution? That's too much.'
The suffocatingly steep mountain path, climbed at a pace far faster than usual, made any attempt at pacing impossible.
'If I slow down to conserve stamina, I'll be caught immediately!'
Not long after that breathless chase began, the distance gradually started to close, and before I knew it, more than five Mutans were right on my heels.
The dry, rasping breaths and the eerie aura of sharp claws were felt directly behind me. A desperate premonition that something terrible was about to happen weighed down on my entire body.
I turned around and met the sharp gazes of the beasts, their eyes gleaming with ominous bloodlust, head-on. A dry gulp of saliva went down my throat involuntarily.
"I've been caught..."
Under normal circumstances, I would have been caught long ago, but thanks to the desperate chase with them, I had climbed to a considerable height. It felt like I had almost reached the halfway point of the mountain.
I gave up trying to climb any further and stopped in my tracks.
"You guys are faster at climbing uphill. But..."
My speed climbing mountains. The secret to it wasn't just slightly stronger stamina than others and the mental fortitude to forcibly endure suffocating pain,
Actually, the biggest factor was something else entirely. I desperately converted the terrifying fear spreading through my body into courage and shouted with all my might.
"Are you fast going downhill too!!!"
Startled by my sudden shout, the Mutans hesitated, and as if they thought I had threatened them, they simultaneously unleashed magnificent roars as soon as I finished speaking.
"Kuwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!"
The ground shook, the surrounding air vibrated violently, and the deafening roar was almost unbearable. The white snow piled up beneath my feet trembled from the intense vibrations, and the surrounding area scattered with light snow powder like fog.
'Crazy.'
No sooner had the roar ended than the white Mutans charged at me with ferocious momentum. Growing closer and closer, the leading one instantly came within reach with a single leap.
Running towards the Mutans, just before its massive claws could reach me, I lowered my upper body, bent my legs as wide as possible, and then pushed off with all my strength.
Instantly, my body, propelled by a powerful force, shot into the air like an arrow, narrowly avoiding the sharp claws of the lunging Mutans. I then plummeted headfirst down the mountainside, across the Mutans' furry torso.
The reason I could leap over a creature much larger than myself was thanks to the difference in altitude between us due to the rugged terrain.
Immediately, I saw the hard ground rapidly approaching right below my head. If I fell like this, I would surely meet a gruesome end with a shattered skull and broken neck.
But I extended both arms straight above my head, letting my palms hit the ground first. Then, I slowly bent my elbows, delicately dispersing the impact of the fall to minimize injury.
Having jumped forward, I was already carrying tremendous momentum. I pushed off again with my bent arms with all my might, like a spring uncoiling.
Once more, I briefly soared into the air, then plummeted downwards like a stone, repeating the motion, propelling my body down the mountain.
While my upper and lower body flipped wildly and rotated violently, a gruesome claw flashed menacingly towards my side as my head faced downwards.
Focusing all my strength from my shoulder to my waist, I quickly twisted my body, barely evading its attack.
And again, just before touching the ground, I landed palm first, then propelled my body high into the air by springing off my bent arms.
It had reached its peak.
There was no other way to describe it. Precise timing, delicately controlled perfect distribution of power, and a stable posture for the next landing. All of it had to come together perfectly in a fleeting moment.
Now, my skill and concentration, honed to their highest point throughout my entire life, were finally bearing dazzling fruit.
If the question, 'How on earth am I doing this right now?' were to arise in my mind, everything would shatter into pieces. Therefore, trusting myself, I silently descended.
The faster I descended the mountain, the quicker the cycle of my body bouncing became. If anyone had witnessed this spectacle, they might have simply seen a person uncontrollably tumbling down the mountain.
The Mutans' descent speed was also surprisingly fast, but thankfully, the distance between us began to widen, little by little. Strangely though, the number of creatures persistently chasing me from behind didn't seem to decrease at all.
This was because, as I moved lower, new Mutans were constantly appearing from somewhere below the mountain and charging towards me.
Not much time had passed since I had properly started my descent, but the anxiety that I might be endlessly pursued by them if things continued this way began to creep in. I had to settle things quickly.
I was descending the mountain at a much faster pace than I had climbed it, so if the situation didn't change, I might have to start all over again from the bottom of the mountain.
'Where could there be a safe place where no more Mutans will appear? I need to hide somewhere quickly and get rid of this blood smell!'
While fleeing down the mountain frantically, pursued by the creatures, I encountered a peculiar terrain. It was a deep ravine, as if a giant knife had sliced the ground in two.
The inside looked terrifyingly deep, but the width seemed narrower than I had expected. It looked to be only about three meters wide. Without a moment's hesitation, I leaped towards the ravine without slowing down.
"Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-"
My body hung in the air for a considerable amount of time. The sky and the ground instantly reversed, and as I approached the far end of my flight and barely saw land, I desperately reached out my hands while hanging upside down.
Just like before, I slowly bent my arms diagonally to disperse the impact. But this time, instead of fully extending my bent arms, I pulled my elbows as close to my sides as possible and yanked down as if grabbing the ground.
Like a nimble cat, I instantly crouched my body and pressed the entire soles of my feet against the ground, dispersing and mitigating the remaining impact as much as possible.
*Kwaaaaack!*
"Kuh-uh-uh-uh-uck!"
Despite minimizing the impact as much as possible, a violent pain that felt like every bone in my body was creaking resonated deep within my lower back. It was as if a powerful electric current was coursing through my entire body.
Barely regaining my senses and looking back, I saw the Mutans hesitating at the edge of the ravine I had jumped across. But only for a moment; like a blizzard scattered by a fierce wind, they immediately began to follow, leaping down into the ravine.
'I have to get completely out of their sight!'
I pressed both my palms and the soles of my feet against the ground, aiming my head towards the lower corner of the ravine.
Then, I spread my arms and hind legs as wide as possible and pushed off the ground forcefully. Once again, my body floated up, cutting through the air towards the opposite side.
Immediately, the hard cliff face on the other side rapidly approached, and I softly bent my elbows, using the strength of my waist to curl my entire body as much as possible.
Minimizing the impact, I twisted my body and threw myself towards the lower corner on the opposite side again.
The moment my body floated into the air, the strong wind pressure violently fluttered the collar of my clothes as I traversed the narrow and deep ravine.
Down, down, down. Like a skilled acrobat, I zigzagged across the narrow gap of the ravine, rapidly descending by repeating the exact same movements as before.
*Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!*
My body gradually gained momentum. And finally, just before reaching the flat snowfield at the end of the ravine, I spread my entire body wide and took a breakfall posture as if throwing myself onto a soft bed.
*Thwump!*
I sank deep into the white snow, conforming to the contours of my body.
"That hurts..."