The moon rose again for the seventh time since Renir woke up there.
These nights were faster than a whole day back then but still, Renir missed his home.
Yet, there was not a single minute for him to be homesickness as he continuously ran for his life.
There was not a moment Renir rested. He just pluck as many as chylefruits he can and eat them on the go.
Both he and the giant behind him never stop on this play of tag with a one-sided wager of Renir's precious life.
Through the dark woods, he ran as if he was a child of the forest, coursing through it as if there were no obstacles, while on his back, the giant was just pulverizing everything on its path.
From time to time, blood was dropping from Renir's nose which will be his reminder to breathe deeply and calm himself while being chased by a monster that could kill him with one hit.
Renir was glad that he improved so much over the span of several nights because if he didn't, his corpse might've long been used to fertilize this land.
However, if this continued, other forms of challenges might appear before Renir even noticing it.
And with that in thought, it caught Renir surprised when an earthquake shook the land of Gantlet!
"Huh?!", the time has come for a new fear be brought to Renir.
The earth cracked here and there while trees fell one after another.
Renir didn't let his fleeting be disrupted by the immense earthquake as he coursed through it, finding a way for him to run smoothly.
His right foot and hand were already healed at that moment from how many chylefruits he already consumed.
Fortunately for him, the earthquake delayed the movement of the giant black slime and gave Renir the distance he wanted between him and that monster.
He didn't know if he should be happy or not because even if there was a wide distance, it was just temporary and the new challenge will surely appear after this earthquake.
A pattern was forming by Renir's intuition.
The fear and terror he had last night was lightly fading when he had met no problems in fleeing from the attacks of that giant.
However, there was still this great anxiety and nervousness that was keeping his heart beating fast... or not because he was running all the time, it would weird for his heart not to beat fast.
The ground-breaking earthquake still continued and it worried Renir a lot as trees fell and sunk into the fierce tremor of the earth and got completely swallowed by it.
If this continued, will there be trees still remain with the life-saving chylefruits hanging on them?
Those fruits were his only weapon against this hellish world, and if that were to be gone, he didn't know how to survive the next nights...
With how strong the earthquake is, even mountains from afar was being demolished!
Renir found it very hard to run in this immense earthquake that sometimes, his foot or two kept falling on some recent crevices and fissures.
If he did not run, it would be much safer but if he didn't, the giant black slime might catch up to him.
So he ran until the earthquake stopped. That was when he glanced back to see that the land was not the same as before.
Trees were nowhere to be seen. Renir huffed and stopped.
He looked around and around, 'The mountains?', he saw and it was still there, new ones were formed along the way as some were demolished;
'The river?', he saw from not afar and there, it shone as it reflected the bright moonlight. He was startled to realize there were more than before?
Or was it still the same, he just didn't notice because of the trees the covered every land?
Whatever it is, because of the tremendous earthquake, new bodies of water were formed.
It was strange, Renir knew almost nothing about geology but at least by common sense, he knew it was strange.
When he looked around more, he noticed from the direction he was running from, the giant covered in molten rocks bursting in a blazing fire.
Even from far away, it was terrifying for the sight.
As if that giant met Renir's eyes, it glowed and flattened again.
'Oh, shit!', Renir turned to run again. With that distance, he was confident not to jump sideways but to continue running straight.
When he heard that boom from afar, in the next moment, there was a crash near behind him.
Renir was petrified to see that he and the giant was now only had a distance of a few meters.
And once again, he witnessed the size of that being.
'Is it because I have not seen it up close that my confidence rose up?', Renir thought. He clenched his teeth that what he had was just false bravery.
It was still hopeless.... 'why am I running?'
While escaping death, he was thinking of ways to stop it. But his mind always went blank.
"How can I stop this monster?!", Renir shouted as he jumped sideways.
His only clothing hanging on his waist almost burnt when the monster passed by him.
The ground was not flat as it used to be, but without the trees to weaken the giant's attack, it was unexpectedly unfortunate for Renir!
If this continued and without chylefruits at hand, Renir will surely lose stamina, while on the other hand, the black slime will continuously replenishing itself from the wind and the rocks it lands on.
He needed to think of a way to escape again!
But it struck him, "Then what? After I escape again, I will just use it to think about how to defeat this big bastard!"
Then he will still lose his stamina without the chylefruits, and eventually, the black slime will find him.
It was unnatural how slimes were coming to him from all directions all the time even without eyes or ears.
But Renir didn't fully understand these slimes so maybe they have the darn unknown senses to locate him.
So if that could be applied to any normal slimes then what about their big boss?!
Renir looked around, trying to find a way, but from far away, he did saw one...
'The mountains...', as if new hope struck him!
If he climbed up there to the peak, could that big bastard climb too?
Probably not, so Renir smiled even in the face of death as if, slowly, he was Adapting to it.
The blob of molten rocks glowed again and flattened.
Renir frowned as he ran but soon, he laughed and mocked, "Catch me if you can, mother of bastards!", he then jumped sideways.
He looked around and found the perfect spot!
The mountain he came from was truly immutable like his first impression was. It was left unscathed even under than tremendous tremors of the earth.
A thought appeared on Renir's head as he jolted to its direction on a straight path, uncaring for the giant black slime.
"Maybe the reason this big bastard was laying in front of the cave was that it failed to chase after the people it spawned in front of?", Renir's smile widened, he glanced back and shouted, "You deserved it!"
So if he was right, the people he was searching for was still there!
That made Renir faster than before, but still, that mountain was far away.
With this thought, a doubt appeared right after, Renir doubted if those people left this bastard because they failed to defeat it or is it because they don't care about it?
Seeing his improvements for the past several nights, if there are people that arrived here earlier than him, then their strength must be also terrifying!
Seeking allies, Renir didn't feel tired as he truly played the game of tag between he and the monster chasing after him.
Dauntless, stupid, or ignorant, Renir may fall between these three.
While the moon rose up to shine his way with its bright moonlight, Renir ran and ran...
Only when the moon streak on the peak of the starless night sky, Renir jumped one last time to entere the cave!
The giant black slime covered in fire was unable to get in.
Renir leaped in joy!
But soon after, he noticed the cave was brighter than before, but it was due to the fire blazing from the giant.
The heat inside the cave bothered him the least.
The stone tablet still stood there with the unknown symbols carved onto it when it caught his sight.
Renir remembered to do something so he touched the stone tablet and tried to touch the giant covered in fire.
But hesitated, since even if he had stronger resistance to fire now, it still hurts considering that the fire enveloping the giant was hotter than the normal fire slimes.
So Renir decided to wait for a bit and let the fire on the giant disappear like when he first saw it.
His body relaxed and saw something the cave wall beside the stone tablet.
Renir was surprised for he understood what was newly carved there, it says:
[Do not trust everything the Rune says - Sceke, The Great Leadvkskave of the Pentafive]
Renir was stunned, "Leadvkskave?" and felt ominous about it, but saw it as a help from whoever was here...
But before he could process those words in his thoughts, he heard something.
Something like metal or bits of metal hitting each other.
Renir looked from where it came from and he now only noticed a new path inside the cave, it was beside the stairs leading to the cliff.
'Are they still here?', Renir thought and immediately, he walked to it to see a bigger cave with torches placed on the wall.
'Did they made this?', Renir was about to shout when he heard that again and saw a man approaching him.
"Ah, yo-"
Without warning, the next second, Renir saw the whole cave swirling around him, and strangely, he couldn't feel his body any longer.
That was when his head hit the ground and blood came spurting out of his neck.
Renir couldn't speak but his eyes showed terror when he saw a man holding a scythe covered with blood. Chains were locked around his neck and he stood, in front of a headless body.
Renir saw the eyes of the man lighted red and looked at the right wrist of Renir's body.
Renir's sight faded and life left him.
That was when one of the pearls revolving his wrist cracked.