Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

Reon panted heavily. She was standing behind a withered tree when suddenly she felt all of the air leaving her body.

Blood came out of her mouth, she did not feel much pain but she felt the pain of being punctured by a cuboidal hammer that had spikes on the other end.

The tree she had taken cover behind, snapped and broke into two. They both fell to the ground.

Crack, crack, snap.

The Duergar swung its hammer all around and smashed a few trees. They were easily taken down.

Her opponent, Razon the Duergar, came into her view. It had pale grey skin, its muscles popped out like a gym enthusiast– but she was not taken away by Razon's muscles.

It is not even above my breasts, she thought. Razon was no more than four and a half feet tall. And the hammer it wielded was below its chest.

Reon pushed against the dry land. She ignored her scraped knees but could not ignore her punctured stomach.

Reon's foot slipped on the dry grassland. She blanched her weight and dashed forward towards the dense withered forest.

Razon the Duergar turned around, its chest plate clanged with each other. Razon then tightened its grip on the hammer, its biceps and triceps popped out eagerly.

Reon searched for her gun. When she got her gun she looked for the magazine in her inventory. Two. Two and one in her gun magazines were left with her.

Reon glanced behind. Her leg slipped once again as she ran. The ground started rumbling. Dust and dry grass flew entered her nose, mouth, and eyes.

Reon shook her head and fired at Razon.

Clang, clank!

The bullets fell down after hitting Razon's hammer. Reon wasted one whole magazine trying to inflict some damage on Razon.

Reon glanced behind again. Her leg slipped once again and this time, she fell on her face to the ground.

Reon threw her hands and legs like a fish out of water to push up from the ground and run behind Razon could catch up.

The ground had dry grass and dust all around which did not help her to grab a firm grip at all.

"Ah!!" she screamed, "no, no, no, please, no!" Reon struggled harder.

Dust left her shoes as she got up and rushed towards the forest that was only a few feet away from her.

Razon frowned and took a big step forward. It raised the hammer and gave it a golf swing.

Reon was not aware Razon had come close to her till the hammer cracked a few of her backbones.

She did not even get any time to scream. Her body flew across the floor and entered the withered forest.

Reon frowned and clenched her gun hard. She saw how the world around her spun before she crashed and landed in the forest.

A dry tree was greeted with a hundred and twenty-one pounds body. Reon's coat stuck was caught on one of the long branches.

Her body suddenly came to a stop, she felt a tight pain around her armpits and breast area due to the sudden stop.

But her coat did not hang on the branch for long. The tree's branch snapped and she landed right down on a pile of sticks and leaves.

Her health bar glowed in front of her telling her to consume a healing potion or a berry or a healing gem.

She pulled open the flask's cork and gulped down the potion in one go. She threw the flask and went for another one.

Barely yellow. Her health had barely reached the yellow slot even after taking a good healing spell.

She led out a potion she looked at the dark blue liquid. An epic-grade healing potion.

Uncommon, common, rare, epic. That was how the grading system went.

Reon thought a second but when she heard the trees falling down and leaves rustling under high pressure, she forgot about saving it for later.

With a sudden boost, Reon's health passed the yellow slot and just touched, barely touched, the green slot of her health bar.

It was the first time since she started playing the game that she had found herself in such a difficult situation yet she was able to do the right thing at the right time despite being panicked. Guess nothing panics her more than heights.

It is not easy for your mind to work right in difficult situations, especially if it is the first time or the first few times.

Reon's presence of mind helped her to recover and enter back into the fight instead of giving up and dying.

"These bullets are useless." Reon clicked her tongue as she held the gun in her trembling hands.

Razon came into view. Actually, its silver hammer came into view first. It shone brightly in the dark.

"How are they able to see so clearly in the dark?" Reon squinted her eyes and released her fire.

Seven more bullets were wasted. She managed to inflict the damage on Razon of only five health points.

Reon took cover behind a bunch of thick trees. She was sure Razon would have no problem finding her but she wanted to buy herself some time and contact Hitori or at least Kamiya.

When Reon opened the voice chat she found that she was not able to chat on the voice chat while raiding a dungeon, she needs to use a mic of a voice amplifying device to contact Hitori who was hundreds of feet away.

So her only option was to text Hitori and Kamiya. She might receive a reply from either of them.

Crack.

She had opened the chat and turned on her mic but she stopped when soft cracking sounds came from behind.

Reon hesitated to turn around. She took a peek behind and saw the Duergar…. That was increasing in size.

Its muscles popped out, and the silver hammer's head grew bigger. Its helmet and armor set started to enlarge along with its stomach, chest, and head.

Reon stepped away from the tree. A few trees around Razon snapped into two or more pieces. Reon continued to move away from the trees.

A branch cracked under her shoes. Reon glanced back and turned to Razon quickly. Her heart almost came into her mouth at the sight.

Razon had turned into the twelve-foot-tall Duergar. Its hammer had enlarged with its body.

And now Reon stared at its fat belly before looking up at its bare skin from a slight gap created between two of its chest plates. Yes, two different plates.

Reon gulped, "oh, now nothing will work." she shook her head in disbelief.

Razon lifted its silver hammer.

Reon took a few steps back hesitantly, jerked her body, and took off into the forest.