The Villain's Story

It was hot, incredibly hot. Alan was having a hard time seeing what was in front of him due to the fluctuations in the air. Everything would appear warped, and even the sand below was having strange changes.

Should I turn back? He thought many times, and sometimes he had, but there was a feeling in his gut that he should go a little bit further, and so he did.

Although he did lower his speed, the hot air clashing against him felt irritating, the sun was already enough.

He just hoped this expedition wasn't fruitless...and how ironic that statement would appear to be a few minutes later.

"Hmm?"

Finally, after only seeing golden sand for a while, he saw something else. A singular tree growing inside this endless expanse of sand and dryness.

Although the appearance of a tree was strange, Alan didn't have much knowledge about plants in the desert. The most he knew was of tumbleweed and cacti, which appeared on Earth's deserts. Here? He had no clue.

Of course, variables did always exist, and this was another fucking planet after all, there had to be things he didn't know of. But what bugged him out was that the tree had lush leaves, but there was no water in sight, perhaps it was underground.

Curious, he activated his Dragon Eyes to study the tree more. His eyes showed him that it was just a normal mango tree, and it derived water from an underground reserve. The roots of this tree were truly spectacular, they were thick and reached down quite a bit, almost a few hundred meters deep.

That made him wonder how deep the core of the planet was, but he didn't search further before his eyes started to hurt.

"It's a normal tree, and no monsters around it as well."

He went down, and landed on the sand. He looked at the tree and the seven mangoes it had managed to produce.

These dark-purple fruits were the size of an adult human head. His eyes had told him that they were edible. The tree had large, bark-like leaves at the top, as if to protect the rest of the tree from the harsh sun, they seemed to filter the light somewhat, but Alan didn't pay any attention to that feature of the tree.

The bark of the tree felt like wood, wet wood. It was different from the bark of the other tree he had carried at the base, which felt like complete stone.

"Edible, huh."

He jumped up and grabbed the fruits, storing them in his inventory, he had no plans to eat them right now.

"I wonder... No, that's too much."

As absurd as the idea was, he was thinking of pulling this tree out of the ground, knowing the length and width of its roots.

"I should just cut it."

He took out his spear and cut the tree in half, storing the wood in his inventory. Perhaps the wood could be useful. Maybe as a medicine or something else.

After he had bagged the tree, he flew up once again and continued. He encountered a lot of plants, mostly strange, metallic tumbleweed and cacti which were abyssal black. He bagged a few of them as well, thinking the others back at home would enjoy researching them.

Not only that, but he also came across rock formations, some large enough to reach the sky, he broke a few parts of them, ones that wouldn't cause it to collapse and collected the rocks as well. His inventory was almost full, and he would be going back soon, the night was coming.

However, from the corner of his eye, he saw something. It looked like sandstone at a glance. Alan, intrigued by it, went closer, and his eyes opened wide when he looked at it once more.

Hidden very well among these high towers of rocks, was a...fort?

It appeared to be a fort, with high walls made of the same stone that made the formations, the gates seemed to made of petrified wood, and upon closer inspection there were engravings of a cow on the walls.

Alan got closer, and realized that the carvings were of a bull instead, standing on two legs and possessing a humanoid body.

"Minotaur..."

Alan mumbled, identifying the creature engraved on the walls. He soared higher than the walls and found out that the entire thing was covered from head to toe, and was as big a city itself.

"Definitely Minotaur inside there...definitely."

He said, knowing what was inside. He could feel mana signatures from inside the fort, some moving and some in the same place. And one look at the engravings was enough to know what creature those life forces belonged to.

"Yeah, I am not going in."

Thankfully, Alan was not stupid enough to rush in the fortress, and when he noticed that it was getting dark, he should ought to return.

The temperature did a complete 180 degrees.

It was pitch black, and Alan could hardly see the ground lit by the dim moonlight. The only source of light here was constantly being blocked by clouds. He would have been lost long ago if he couldn't feel the energy of the portal back at the camp.

He increased his speed, and was nonchalantly flying back when he caught something move from the corner of his eye.

A part of the air...had shifted. Or it seemed like something had phased through it. Cautious, he sped up, intending to lose whatever was chasing him in the darkness. He could sense mana, but it was always rapidly changing, and it seemed to be concealed.

Around him, he would notice a being blitzed forth, almost perfectly blending in with the night sky. The only reason Alan could see it was because of his enhanced eyes. And even then, it was hard.

The creature, was hunting him. And Alan would like to avoid a direct fight in the air. He wasn't too keen on going on the ground at this time as well.