Despite his feeble frame Uri jumped left and right leaping from one treetop to another, nimbly avoiding any obstructions be they wild beasts or the deadly plants that blocked his path.
His two black and white canine ears moved independently of one another, keeping track of the surroundings. Every other jump he would look behind him, scanning for the silhouette of that massive creature that had crawled out of the depths of the Endless Forest.
The island itself was a world of its own in more ways than just one. Its total combined landmass was more than 1.5 billion square kilometers, three times as much as that of the earth. And the Endless forest covered ninety percent of this total area.
Speaking of the forest, it was mostly divided into three sections. The outer, the middle, and the inner zones.
The inner zone was the closest to the enormous volcano near the center and was not only the most dangerous of the three zones but also the one with the most treasures to offer.
After that was the middle zone where most of the powerful individuals frequented.
Where they were was a location on the southeast side of the outer edge of the Endless Forest. Although it was still part of it, it was only so in name.
It was safe for the most part, mostly populated by some 'relatively' ordinary flora and fauna that could only be harmful to regular individuals.
Many settlements were located along the outer zone, sometimes serving as resting spots for the adventurers venturing deeper within the territory and other times just forgotten or abandoned towns and villages that held no real value.
The only problem was that the vegetation here had such strong vitality that no matter how many times it was destroyed it would easily recover and come back even stronger within the blink of an eye, making life a chore.
It was only the remaining ten percent of the area that was far away from the volcanic center near the shoreline that was habitable. It was divided between the three most common races found living on the island, namely the demihumans, the Barbarians, and the regular humans.
As it was in most other places, the power struggles of the influential clans within these races often left the regular humans devastated and in ruins but they were nothing compared to the dangers that sometimes came from the inner depths of the Endless Forest.
Uri belonged to one of the demihuman tribes, along with the other teenagers. They had come here from one of the capital cities along with the state convoy.
The day that had been all but normal for these youngsters took a wrong turn with Hao Xuan's arrival. They had captured the attention of something much more sinister than any of them were capable of handling.
Currently, Uri was running with all his might, using his superior demihuman physique to the very extreme.
"No no no, I must tell them about the monster!" he mumbled through labored breaths.
When all the other teenagers had run towards the temporary campsite that was reserved solely for the convoy, Uri had thought ahead and realized that at this time, the campsite would mostly be empty. Only the porters and the caretakers would still be there and none of them were capable enough to handle such a monster.
As someone with the bloodline of the Hallvard clan running through his veins, as diluted as it might be, he was given enough education from a young age to help him make such decisions in the heat of the moment. Not to mention his 'foresight' was much stronger than he led others to believe.
That's why he ran the other way, towards the nearby village that was the main gathering spot for this year's gathering of the great clans.
Uri had been running for so long that he lost count of how many times he had fallen over, but this one left him quite battered. Thunder rumbled in the bright sky, startling Uri and making him miss the next branch.
He fell straight down from a height of more than five meters. He was too high up to grab hold of something else so all he could do was cover his head and brace for impact.
But the pain he was waiting for did not come his way. Just before he hit the ground the bushes nearby moved and a silhouette shot towards him, swiftly catching him in its arms.
"What's the rush cousin? Where are you off too?" a female voice asked.