Why couldn't it be like in the light novels? Arrive in the new world, become unreasonably powerful, obtain mythical items, find loyal companions…
But no—Kai had to arrive in a new world and end up in the pantry of the first monster he crossed paths with.
"If only…"
He had saved a bird from the jaws of death for what? To get beaten up and left half-dead, stored away like a meal for later.
If only he'd gotten a loyal companion or some overpowered item as a token of gratitude from the bird… But he hadn't even managed to get its meat.
Kai wanted to complain. Complain a lot. His first good deed in the new world and it ended like this?
Though that 'good deed' had been driven by the greed of a reward…
But was that really so bad?
Kai stretched out his hand to pull at the web while trying to tear it. But he wasn't making progress.
His breathing was heavy and the inside of the cocoon was filling with moisture. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his free hand and pressed it back against the web.
"Right, at this rate it'll only take me… about four hours to get out."
He sighed in frustration, not stopping his cutting.
"What am I even doing this for?"
His whole escape attempt would go to waste if the spider came back before he managed to get away from the cave.
He wiped the sweat again, growling, fighting against a cobweb…
"I just woke up… why am I still this tired?"
He didn't know how long he'd been unconscious, but he definitely didn't feel any better.
His fever was still burning, the fatigue hadn't let up, and now he had more holes in his body than a normal person should have.
When he went to wipe his forehead again, something stuck to it. He recoiled in disgust, nearly driving his own blade into himself.
"What… ugh, what is…?"
He shifted around inside the sack, bending his arms until he could reach his pocket. He pulled out his phone and switched on the flashlight.
A white thread connected the cobweb to his forehead.
"What…?"
The thread seemed to be partially dissolving, right where he'd pressed his hand.
"Is it the sweat?"
He couldn't say whether it made sense, but it raised a lot of questions. If sweat dissolved the cobweb, why didn't prey escape? Maybe it wasn't the sweat itself… maybe the water.
But that would make these webs a joke against a bottle of water, or rain, or saliva.
It could be the salt, or the urea, or any of the other things sweat contains. But the percentages were too insignificant to react like that…
He shook his head. He wasn't focused. What mattered was escaping.
He wiped more sweat—this time not just from his forehead—and smeared his hand against the cobweb, soaking it. Then he focused on that spot with the knife.
"This… isn't very…"
The only thing saving it from being completely disgusting was that it was his own sweat. Though honestly, that didn't make him feel particularly proud either.
Then he noticed: the cobweb wasn't fully dissolving. It was just… changing.
It was becoming softer, more malleable… and far stickier. Even so, cutting through it was still hell.
In the darkness of the cave, a hand broke the silence.
It forced its way out of one of the cocoons hanging on the wall, tearing through the threads with a wet sound.
After a brief struggle, Kai emerged from the gap, staggering, falling headfirst to the floor and cracking every bone in his body.
He tried to get up… and fell again. A stabbing pain shot through his leg, leaving it completely useless.
"Almost forgot about that…"
This time he got up more carefully, leaning against the wall. His breathing was still uneven, but he was alive.
The cocoons around him were shifting weakly. Whatever was inside… wouldn't last much longer.
Kai looked away.
He could barely save himself. And his last rescued had been pretty ungrateful.
"Better luck in the next life, I suppose."
With all the bird nonsense, he'd forgotten about the other sacks—but he had no intention of freeing them. They were practically dead already, and he had no intention of repeating another pointless fight.
That said, there was one thing he did remember.
He turned around and patiently cut through the cobweb at a point close to where it met the wall. It took him a good while, but it wasn't wasted time. He had gotten his hands on an incredible material.
"How can they not come unstuck or break even when hanging from a single point…?"
That only proved how resistant it was.
He coiled it around his arm.
His eyes had gotten almost completely used to the dim light by now—even so, moving without his flashlight would have meant fumbling around blind, so he switched it on under his shirt to dim the intensity. He didn't want to alert the spider in case it was nearby. But it didn't seem to be, so he took it out fully.
"Where's that bastard hiding…?"
He had no idea. And he had no intention of finding out.
He limped over to the wall and sighed heavily as he looked up at it.
Kai began to climb carefully, avoiding using his bad leg and holding his phone in his mouth as best he could. Luckily the wall wasn't too high.
He rose slowly—too slowly for his liking. His left leg hung like a dead weight. He used his arms to hold himself up while searching with his right leg for a firm foothold to push off from.
He didn't have enough strength in his arms to climb any other way, but it was putting all the strain on his good leg.
He rested for a few seconds, pressing his torso against the wall just as he reached the gap.
Then a sharp thud hammered his eardrums.
'Son of a—'
He momentarily lost his balance and almost fell back into the room.
'Looks like someone else just woke up from their nap.'
That didn't change his plans—it just put a time limit on them.
He began to make his way down the wall in fits and starts, not putting any weight on his left leg, trying not to make a sound. He prayed the spider didn't know yet that he was escaping.
Another crash made him slip. The sound echoed through the cave as if coming from deep within.
Kai frowned. Was the spider moving away? He could have sworn that sound had been much further off.
As if in answer to his thought, the tapping of the legs began to grow gradually louder.
He dropped to the floor with a small jump, taking the full impact on his right leg and hands.
He tucked his phone into his pocket so it wouldn't get in the way.
He searched the floor and found the stick he'd left there earlier.
"Almost forgot this. After all the time it took me to carve it…"
Kai grabbed the stick and used it as a support.
As he limped toward the exit, he tried to focus on the sounds. The echo of footsteps behind him didn't line up at all with the fleeting shadow that crossed in front of him.
He jumped back on instinct, letting out a grunt of pain as his leg protested.
'That was close…'
Kai pointed his stick at the shadow as if it were a deadly weapon.
But something didn't add up—the sounds, the size of the shadow…
Then he saw it. A familiar silhouette appeared in front of him, outlined against the dimness.
Kai raised an eyebrow.
"What are you doing back here? What did you forget?"
The bird gave him a small peck on the foot. Kai frowned. It hurt, sure—but he didn't show it. At least it was better than a full charge like before.
He sighed.
"Whatever it is, make it quick—your arrival woke our friend up. You know the way out."
Kai tried to leave but the bird didn't move.
"What's wrong with you now?"
A stupid mocking smile spread across his face for a moment.
"Don't tell me… No, it can't be. Did you come back for me? Have you gotten that attached?" he asked in a playful tone.
The bird shot him a murderous look and tried to peck his leg much harder than before.
Kai didn't try to stand his ground and take it—he hopped sideways on one foot and lost his balance. He tried to recover with a series of ridiculous movements, and miraculously stayed upright.
He leaned almost all his weight on the staff as he spoke.
"Right, I get it—you and I had something going, didn't we? A special kind of two-person relationship." He paused briefly. "But I'm not particularly interested in ending it right now. Could you wait…?" Kai glanced at the hole in his leg. "A couple of weeks?"
He was joking, but he didn't know if the truce still held. The only thing he did know was that in his current state, he didn't stand the slightest chance against the bird.
It was true the bird was in bad shape—but Kai's body was burning, every breath took constant effort, his legs were shaking and the emptiness in his stomach almost hurt more than some of his wounds.
His body was, at that point, a bonfire consuming itself with every moment that passed.
The footsteps in the distance were growing sharper, accompanied by a rough scraping against the stone that announced the spider's approach. Kai's eyes drifted involuntarily toward the darkness several times.
"Could you… decide a little faster? I don't think we'll be as lucky this time."
The bird watched him for a few seconds before turning around and making a brief sound.
Kai limped up alongside it.
"So the truce holds? Wonderful."
At the exit, the bird took flight and disappeared from view in an instant. Kai stood there for a couple of seconds staring at the empty spot.
He clicked his tongue and muttered through his teeth.
"Tch. Not even a goodbye after everything we've been through together? Asshole…"
The rocks inside the cave shuddered with a deep crash. A chill ran down his spine and, without thinking, he slipped into the undergrowth.
The forest was dense—so dense he could barely make out the sky through the branches. It had been practically a miracle that he'd spotted that fruit from a distance… well, after everything that had happened, miracle probably wasn't the most fitting word.
The afternoon was already surrendering to night, and every step was more uncertain than the last. The damp ground soaked through his sneakers, and the bushes crunched as he pushed through them.
Luckily, Kai managed to reach the rocks by the river thanks to the marks he'd left on the trees.
"I don't think I'll ever get along with that bird." He murmured with a crooked smile. "And the spider… the spider will have to wait, but I'll collect what it owes me with interest."
He clenched his fist at the memory of the pain in his leg. He wanted to end that creature's existence—but if he hadn't been able to wound it when he only had a fever, attempting it now would be suicide.
You didn't have to be very smart to see that. And Kai, even in his state, was still smart enough not to throw himself straight back into the lion's den.
Even this impulsive being had his limits.
Kai growled as he stacked pieces of dead wood and moved a few rocks from the river. He wanted to make a small step to get up to where he'd left his things a bit more comfortably.
His staff came up first, and when he climbed up after it, he stood still for a few seconds taking in the mess.
"Who the hell…?"
He moved his head from side to side looking for the culprit. All his things were scattered outside the backpack, and alongside them, the remains of what looked like a half-devoured fish.
The question was rhetorical, of course. He already had a pretty good idea of who was responsible.
"Caught you, you little shit."
In the distance, perched on the treetops, the damned bird was watching him.
"You think it's funny to throw all my stuff around?! Wasn't this enough for you?!" he yelled, pointing at himself with the second question.
His voice disappeared into the trees, bouncing off the undergrowth.
"Yeah, it'll stay like this… " he muttered in the end.
He didn't have the strength to tidy anything. He kicked what was left of the fish, gritted his teeth at the pain from the movement, and plugged his phone into the external battery, leaving it charging alongside his exhaustion.
He gave the first aid kit a wary look. He needed to treat his wounds, but there was something inside he didn't want to use unless it was his last resort. He had a feeling he wouldn't have that luxury for long.
He looked away and turned his gaze to the sky. A gentle breeze ruffled his hair.
The sky had already faded to cool tones, the sunset all but forgotten. The murmur of the water kept on, steady, like the soft breeze.
All around him, nothing else could be heard. It seemed the whole forest had fallen asleep.
But of course, there were creatures that only woke when the world pulled on its veil.
Kai pulled his knife from his pocket, as if that would be any defense.
And, as if in answer to his fears, the bushes at the base of the trees began to stir.