Clinging to the last tree, he hurled himself straight into a field of bloody flowers.
There was no turning back now.
"Ghk...!" There were no more footholds for the grappling hook, so the landing was very painful. It was like jumping off the roof of a speeding train.
He rolled. Barely.
The wound on his back tore open even more, and now it is flirting with death.
And yet, right now, he was concerned about something else entirely.
"B-but how...?" he whispered in disbelief.
He couldn't believe the trees he had trusted as allies had led him straight to the place of harvest.
"RRWAAH!!!" Ryskar roared right behind him, forcing him to endure all kinds of pain and start running straight through the bloody flowers.
Only now did he notice that dawn was breaking in this world, and the red-orange sky further emphasized the unprecedented beauty of the field of poppies. However, the smell here...
The smell was like a mixture of hundreds... no, thousands of chopped-up corpses that had been twisted three times in a meat grinder, then ground again and spewed back out.
"N-no, no, no, it's just..."
"RRRWAAA!!!" The monster's roar left no room for regret and mercilessly drove him forward.
But where could he go? Besides, his strength had long since been exhausted.
'S-shit…' he thought painfully, feeling a terrible mix of bitterness and despair.
Right now, his run bore little resemblance to that of a human. Pain forced him down, and he almost had to lean on all four limbs.
Just like prey in its last breath.
However... the worst was yet to come.
His eye began to twitch.
"..." His eye began to twitch. He could only stare, unable to say or think anything.
If he were asked to choose a suitable melody right now, he would undoubtedly choose a requiem.
He was kneeling right in front of the very heart of this place.
The heart was a circular space on the ground filled with a mixture of gears with extremely sharp ends. It was a huge meat grinder.
There were traces of dried blood, ground bones, and flesh pulp everywhere. It was impossible to look at that without vomiting.
"Rrrrr…" Ryskar switched from screaming to a long, vibrating growl.
"...?!" He turned to face the predator and realized that it was only a few meters away from him.
He collapsed helplessly onto the ground on his backside and watched his own end approaching.
Right behind him was a huge meat grinder, and in front of him was the mouth of his hunter.
"F-f-fuc…"
"RRRRAAW!!!" The beast, with a blade stuck in its eye, let out a piercing growl, and the smell of blood and flesh intensified to the limit.
Tears streamed down his face.
He began to cry, even though he had promised himself he wouldn't be afraid. That would have been the case, but he really believed...
He believed he could save himself.
"Rrrrrr..."
"..."
Ryskar and his lamb were finally face-to-face. He had lost, and the predator had caught up with him...
However, the beast was in no hurry to kill him.
Its mechanical limbs slowly approached, forcing his own to crawl back.
Only when his hand was one step away from the meat grinder did he finally understand the reasons for Ryskar's behavior.
'It wants… It wants me to crawl in there… by myself.'
His heart nearly leapt out of his chest in horror.
It was cruel. Monstrously cruel.
...
Ryskar, deprived of one eye, stood a meter away from its lamb. The prey stared straight into mechanical eyes.
Ryskar saw familiar emotions in his eyes. It was fear and a premonition of his own death.
Despite the fear, he didn't move. The man wouldn't pass the sentence himself.
Was it pride? Ryskar did not know.
Ryskar did not know that even at that moment, a tiny hope remained in the man's heart.
It was not a hope for a miracle. Nor was it a belief in his own invulnerability...
It was something far worse — naive to the point of absurdity.
Even before the red face of death itself, the man retained his naive faith.
He hoped that his terribly cruel guess would turn out to be true.
He hoped that those he trusted would not let him down.
He believed they really wanted to help him...
And this time, his faith did not fail him.
"...?!"
"...!"
Both froze in shock.
The ground thundered, many times greater than the shaking caused by the Ryskar's footsteps. A real earthquake.
The predator, having finally cornered its prey, turned its head, and then...
*CRAASHH!!!* A crash like speeding cars slamming together.
"...?!" He sat in a field of poppies and just watched with wide eyes.
A monstrous collision erupted a step away — sparks, screeching metal, shattered parts — all in an instant.
The twisted Ryskar was hurled several meters into the air, and then gravity pulled him back to the ground.
The most monstrous predator he had ever known was now fluttering on the ground from a single blow.
After the flight finally ended, Ryskar did not get up.
"What the hell..." he whispered.
"..." Right in front of him stood another mechanical monster. It did not emit angry cries, only breathing irritably.
It resembled a mixture of a bison, a bull, and an elk the size of an elephant. Sharp mechanical horns adorned its head, from which hung torn pieces of Ryskar's body.
"No matter how terrifying you are — someone scarier always exists…"
The new predator ignored him completely — its focus was on the intruder.
"...!" It snorted contemptuously.
This simple movement caused the surroundings to vibrate again.
The monstrous limbs began to move, miraculously not crushing the poor man's legs.
The one who called himself Mr. Nobody couldn't come to his senses. What was happening was so impressive that it seemed like a dream.
However, reality soon made itself known, because...
"RRRWAAAH!!!" Ryskar got up even after such a blow.
At that moment, the man realized one thing.
'It's time to get out of here!'
The impending battle between the predators promised to be so dangerous that no one in the vicinity would escape its consequences.
While the monsters behind him began to approach each other, he dug his fingers into the ground and hurled himself forward with everything he had.
'Almost... there!'
The mysterious and long-awaited Entrance, in his opinion, should already be somewhere nearby. And, hearing the terrifying roar and screech of monsters tearing each other apart behind him, he ran straight towards the exit from this Pit.
…
In his opinion, Ryskar — one-eyed and horribly wounded — had no chance.
And yet, he felt no satisfaction at all.
He didn't care about the fate of the cruel monster.
"Haah..." He made his way through the not-too-dense forest, which seemed quite ordinary.
He had no physical strength left, but he still forced his body to run. Perhaps it was what they called strength of spirit or, more simply…
Fortitude
A strange energy flowed through his body, and with each painful step, his eyes began to glow with light.
"Ha... Ha... Ha..." He breathed heavily, feeling his heart beating in an almost unfamiliar rhythm.
It was a mixture of joy, happiness, and ecstasy from his sudden survival. And also anticipation of what awaited him ahead.
Finally, his nose caught the scent of change.
'A sea breeze…?'
This realization almost made his already trembling heart leap out of his chest.
Despite the pain, fear, resentment, despair, and everything bad that had happened to him this day... He ran forward. He ran with the reckless joy of a child.
"...?!"
The forest disappeared from view, replaced by a beautiful view of the endless azure sea. The rising sun played on its surface with bright golden glints.
Of course, there was one problem: he was now standing on a cliff, and the sea was a hundred meters below him...
But now all that seemed unimportant.
"Hahahaha!" He burst into stupid, helpless laughter, and tears appeared in his eyes.
For the first time since arriving in this world, a smile and laughter appeared on his face.
A silly smile.
A foolish smile…
But genuinely happy.
"I survived! Hahaha!" He couldn't believe his own words.
It must be a miracle.
After a short period of laughter, he had to catch his breath.
A few dozen seconds later, he came to his senses again and, looking at the beautiful sea, couldn't help but make a happy comment.
"Ah... How wonderful it is to be aliv..."
*Crackk!!!* The first blow to his face broke his nose and pushed the bones into his skull.
*Crunch!!!* The second blow to the back of his head shook his brain and clouded his consciousness.
"You almost got away... But almost doesn't count, my little pig."
Lesson 4: It might be better to give up sooner.