Paige Summers was jolted awake by a series of earth-shaking tremors. Alert, she shifted her already curled-up body further into the small cave where she was hiding before cautiously peeking her head out.
Through the rocks she had piled up to conceal herself, she saw a tumbling, rolling mass charging in her direction.
Anxiety crept into her heart.
She tightened her grip on a stone rod, about half an arm's length, its tip sharpened to a deadly point.
The mass drew closer and closer, constantly kicking up dust as it rolled.
At first, Paige Summers couldn't see it clearly—just a swirl of dust and smoke—but now its form was becoming distinct.
Her eyes widened in shock!
'Is that… a lion and a giant python?!'
'It really is a "giant" python!'
From the looks of it, it was at least twenty meters long, its body much thicker than her own thigh. It was coiled tightly around the lion's body, its massive jaws constantly seeking an opportunity to strike!
And the lion was no ordinary beast either!
Not only had it not been crushed into a pile of skin and shattered bone by the python's constriction, but it was still full of vigor!
To Paige Summers, it was not only a match for the python in size, but its body seemed as solid as an iron wall. Just watching it being squeezed made her skin crawl, yet the lion seemed largely unaffected and still had the strength to retaliate.
She watched as it swiped one paw after another, each blow landing squarely on the python's head. The strikes were clearly dazing the serpent; other than maintaining its grip, its attempts to land a bite were knocked completely astray.
The White Lion's pure white fur was stained a little yellow by the dust, but this did nothing to diminish its majestic bearing.
Its long mane bristled, its physique powerful, its gaze piercing, its movements swift…
It was different from the world Paige Summers had once lived in. There, most lions were caged in zoos, retaining the form of a lion but with dull eyes, their bestial nature gone. This White Lion, however, was completely different. In its eyes burned a primal hunger, excitement, a pure lust for battle! It was the confidence of a creature determined to defeat its opponent and establish its dominance!
'This is the true king of beasts!' Paige Summers marveled silently.
However, just as she was mesmerized by the White Lion's incredible combat prowess, the brawling lion and python had slowly, inch by inch, neared the cave where she was hiding…
'This is bad!'
'If this keeps up, they'll crash into this spot sooner or later!'
'I'm not made of steel, and this cave is too shallow. If they hit it, I'll be killed instantly!'
Realizing her peril, she gritted her teeth, swiftly cleared away the rocks blocking her path, and began to crawl out as quietly as possible.
'I really hope those two, locked in their fierce battle, don't notice me!'
But that, of course, was impossible.
With an almost human-like reaction to her appearance, both the giant python and the White Lion stopped moving. Though it was only for a few moments, it was enough to make Paige Summers freeze, her body going stiff with tension.
Pressing herself tightly against the valley wall, she faced off against the two of them for a moment, then, as if wound up like a spring, she suddenly dashed toward her destination!
This was a somewhat lopsided U-shaped valley, wide on one side and narrow on the other.
And they were currently on the wider side.
Most sides of the valley were sheer cliffs, except for the bottom of the 'U', which was slightly more sloped. But if the other valley walls were at a ninety-degree angle to the ground, this one was merely at eighty degrees.
Seven days prior, after Paige Summers had woken from a coma, she had realized that escaping the valley was next to impossible.
But now, things were different!
A quick glance confirmed it—the giant python and the White Lion had fallen from the very slope at the bottom of the 'U'. They had tumbled down because part of the cliff face had collapsed! The eighty-degree angle was now, at most, a forty-five-degree slope!
Though the reason was unclear, Paige Summers instantly realized this was a golden opportunity!
'Rather than wait for these two colossal animals to flatten me into a pancake, or for the winner to treat me as a post-victory dessert, escaping now is the answer! I can save my life and finally get out of this valley!'
Paige Summers's movements were anything but slow.
As a newcomer to transmigration, she had spent the past seven days doing two things: absorbing the original body's memories, and obsessively practicing the Speed Superpower its previous owner had excelled at.
This was a peculiar world.
It had all the elements of an apocalypse she had only ever read about in books: Zombies, Mutant Animals, fortified bases, Hunting Squads… And on top of that, some humans also possessed a superpower.
And the original owner of her body happened to be a Superpower User.