Even in broad daylight, the enormous, imposing trees blot out the sky. Every tree in this region is colossal, far larger than anything I have ever seen.

  Deafening roars echo through the air. Heavy footsteps make the ground tremble. Successive thunderous crashes erupt in explosions of fire, knocking down trees and setting the forest ablaze. Beams of ice freeze vast areas of the forest, while jets of flame incinerate everything ahead.

  Moving so fast I become nothing more than a blur, I run and leap from tree to tree, unable to stop for even a single second.

  Both of my arms are gone. My face and body are covered in wounds, and my Source is almost dry. A severed, white-scaled hand is embedded in my forehead, blood streaming constantly from the wound.

  My steps along the treetops grow increasingly desperate.

  "Damn it!"

  I look back and see not one, nor hundreds, but myriads of white-scaled monsters surging after me. Drakes nearly my height have been pursuing me since last night, but here the situation is far worse.

  There are so many of them leaping between the trees that my vision nearly blurs.

  They unleash fire-based Skills. Seeing the waves of flames approaching, I slam my feet hard against a tree trunk and jump, surging several meters forward. As my right foot touches another trunk, I propel myself toward the tree on the left, barely dodging the flaming attacks.

  I glance back for a brief instant and witness the devastation they leave behind. They even manage to open up an entire clearing in the forest.

  I step on one branch, leap to another, and run without losing my rhythm. My eyes widen as I sense new attacks, and I dodge a true cannon of flames. I lose my balance, but with quick movements I perform a midair roll and, upon landing on a lower branch, I immediately jump again and return to running along the treetops.

  When I look down, thousands of wyrms advance across the ground, spewing jets of fire.

  A powerful roar draws my attention. In the sky, hundreds of gigantic shadows blanket the forest.

  "!!!"

  I am stunned, my heart nearly stops. So many wyverns fill the sky that they resemble an airborne war fleet.

  They open their mouths and fire several freezing jets in my direction.

  Each burst of ice blankets entire regions of the land.

  "Come on, Nagaro!"

  "Faster!"

  "Faster!!!"

  The veins bulge in my legs. I stomp hard on the branch beneath my feet, enough to warp it, and with a single leap, I soar across kilometers of treetops. My steps grow so heavy that the trees give way the instant I land on them.

  Jets of ice skim past me, freezing parts of my face. A fire cannon grazes my back. Explosions detonate among the surrounding trees. Roars echo from the sky to intimidate me. Shouts from the drake monsters try to pinpoint my location, while the wyrms fire flames to incinerate me.

  "What a damn mess!"

  "Why in the hell are so many creatures after me?!"

  "At this rate!"

  "At this rate I’ll!…"

  I am struck by crossing blows of fire and ice. The forest behind me is swept away, and I crash to the ground, half my body locked in ice. I roll across the soil, dizzy and disoriented, until my back slams into the base of a tree. But I know I cannot stop.

  I stand up with ragged breathing and blurred vision. When my sight adjusts, it is already too late. All of them are upon me, only a few centimeters away.

  The claws of a drake are about to reach me. My eyes reflect its hand, mere centimeters from my face.

  The fingers almost pierce my eyes… but it stops.

  I see it freeze in place and then retreat. Other monsters do the same. The drakes and the wyrms pull back, not daring to advance.

  Their expressions reveal something I did not expect.

  "Are they afraid?"

  "..."

  I breathe more calmly. I look up at the sky and realize that no wyvern attacks, no Skill is unleashed.

  What?

  Why?

  I look around, searching for the reason they retreated.

  There is definitely something here that frightens them.

  Then I see it. Behind me stands an enormous tree, completely white. Even the leaves are white. Looking more closely, I realize the trunk is not ordinary wood, it is covered in white scales.

  "This tree is wrong."

  I look back at the monsters. Even though they have pulled away, they do not flee.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  In the distance, I spot another tree just like that one.

  I decide to walk toward it. The monsters follow me from afar, keeping the same pace.

  As I approach the scaled tree, I see another ahead, then another, and many more, forming a kind of corridor or natural barrier.

  Do these trees form some kind of protection?

  I glance back at the monsters.

  Or do they mark how far they can advance?

  Many questions come to mind, but no answers can be found.

  Realizing that they neither advance nor attack from a distance, I take steps backward and cross the line of the white tree, never taking my eyes off the monsters.

  Once within the vegetation, I observe the monsters one last time, still standing there.

  "See you never."

  I turn my face away and continue on my path, disappearing among the trees.

  ***

  My eyes are dazzled by the surroundings. Among ordinary trees, I see many others covered in white scales. There are even grasses and smaller shrubs with leaves of the same white color.

  "Among all the biomes I have passed through."

  "This is the first time I have seen scaled trees."

  I walk calmly through the vegetation. I neither sense nor see any monsters nearby. In fact, I do not perceive the presence of any living creature at all.

  Indeed, these white trees seem to have some power to drive monsters away.

  I tear the severed hand embedded in my forehead free and throw it to the ground. My Source refills, my body restoring itself as my arms regenerate.

  But my cloak, unfortunately, does not share in this recovery.

  My clothes already bear tears that expose my back, along with a rip that covers my left shoulder. There is a hole in the fabric at chest level, and my left sleeve has been torn off.

  And now, thanks to this chase, those monsters have damaged my only outfit even further. I no longer have the long sleeve on my right side either, leaving both of my arms exposed up to the shoulders. My legs are exposed up to the knees, and my hood has been torn away.

  Now I can’t even cover my head when I get caught in acid rain.

  I look at all of this with a tightness in my chest.

  At this rate, my clothes won’t survive.

  If I face another powerful monster, they’ll turn into a rag.

  Worried, I pray that I won’t encounter any more monsters along the way.

  ***

  I push aside the brush, drag rocks out of the way to open a path, and tear vines from the trees.

  "Is it just me, or is the forest getting denser and denser?"

  I part a wall of leaves and see them. The five silver mountains in the distance.

  "Finally!"

  "I, Nagaro, have made it to them!"

  I admire the sight of those mountains, joy unmistakable on my face. After so many adversities, I will finally be able to leave this infernal place.

  But my happiness vanishes when I realize there is even more forest surrounding the mountains.

  The trees are larger, and even more tightly packed. This is not the exit, if anything, I am deeper in the forest than ever.

  "I’m farther from the exit than ever."

  "I can’t believe it… all of this for nothing."

  I let out a discouraged sigh. I already suspected it, but I wanted to believe. I held onto hope that reaching them would lead me out of here.

  Even so, I manage to see the bright side. I cannot help but admire the beauty of those silver mountains.

  I sit down on the ground.

  Since I’m here, at least I can enjoy the view.

  I narrow my eyes.

  What is that?

  I see several black dots flying around the mountains. Focusing my vision even more, I realize those beings are quite enormous.

  "Wow!"

  I can see them even from this far away?

  But it is impossible to identify what they are. As I stand up, I decide to advance a little more, climbing a tree.

  From the way they’re flying, they seem to be quadrupedal creatures with long wings on their backs?

  "..."

  My eyes widen.

  "Oh, no!"

  "No, no, no!"

  "I have to get out of here!"

  Recognizing those silhouettes, and if they are what I think they are, I need to flee as fast as possible. I climb down from the tree and run back into the forest, praying that none of them saw me.

  ***

  Already far away, I stop running, relieved that nothing is chasing me or flying overhead. I wipe the nervous sweat from my forehead.

  "Phew!"

  "That was close."

  But…

  A chill runs down my spine.

  I feel my body trembling and stiff. Cold sweat pours down my skin. Horrible feelings assault me a mixture of fear, despair, inferiority, and submission. These emotions are so overwhelming that I cannot speak.

  My knees threaten to give way, as if my body itself demands I bow before something supreme.

  What… what is happening to me?

  My body yields. Trembling and submissive, I fall to my knees.

  "No!"

  "I refuse!"

  In an instant, I spring up in a single leap and slam my right foot hard into the ground, refusing to submit.

  My breathing becomes uneven. My body is still rigid, but my spirit does not yield.

  I feel an intense heat behind me.

  Stiffly, I turn to look…

  I jump backward, retreating, and slam my back against a tree.

  Hidden within the shadows, two enormous, vertical red eyes stare straight at me.

  Gradually, those eyes begin to rise. I tilt my head, following them.

  Two meters…

  Three…

  Five…

  Eight meters…

  Trees topple as it advances. Everything around ignites. Each step turns the ground into glowing magma.

  The shock on my face is unmistakable.

  "It really is…"

  "It really is a Dragon."

  A colossal dragon rises before me.