Outside everything seemed to be the same, the flowing river, the towering trees by its side, the peace, and calm also.
Well, almost everything because the searing heat, and the bad premonition he felt at the moment certainly broke the similarity.
He had expected to be attacked as soon as he appeared outside but it seemed like that wasn't the case.
Still, his heart was beating fast like some kind of racehorse. He could feel it palpitating inside his chest, like wanting to jump through his throat and get outside.
He had heard of people living only to feel this kind of heartbeat, this kind of adrenaline but while he didn't hate it, he didn't understand why would someone want to live for it.
Right now, his life was in danger, just what kind of person would want to live with their lives constantly in danger!?
Certainly not him, he was the kind of guy who wanted to have everything under his control, he wanted to be the player playing chess, and not the king being targeted.
This feeling right now, his heartbeat right now, just strengthened his resolve of being the one in charge and not the one in danger.
He also understood that he would have to pass through many dangers in order to reach the peak of the food chain, but this didn't mean that he would have to throw his life away.
He would select his challenges, and fights himself, and wouldn't be the kind of guy thrown into every problem.
His goals for the future were most certainly clear, but the problem was that first he had to pass the current danger.
If he wasn't able to win over this challenge and his fear, then he would most probably lose his life, and all those goals and dreams would lose their meaning.
His decision had been sudden when he was inside Gaia, and one could say that it was done in haste, but he felt that if he didn't do it at the time, then he would never be able to do it again.
It was a now or never situation for him. But certainly, from the thought to the action, there was an Everest mountain of difference.
He could still feel his body shaking and trembling at the moment due to the emotions and fear, this was the first time in his life he was in such a situation.
It wasn't like he had never encountered a tiger, or a bear in his previous world, but he was trained, and his body was much different from the one he had right now.
Even though in this one month he had done his best to train, as his muscles had grown a bit stronger, and fuller, but it was still not enough.
He felt like only now he had managed to reach the normal body for his age, and that he was still far behind what he should be.
Especially considering just what kind of world this was, and what kind of animals, beasts, and monsters lived in this world.
For that reason, even though he had made up his mind, and there was no turning point anymore, he still was afraid.
In fact, he was so afraid that he was becoming paranoiac. He was doing his best, and beyond his beast to try and feel the surroundings.
His senses had become so sharp, that he could sense the soil under his foot, and every blade of hair over his body.
His instincts were ringing like some kind of alarm clock, warning him that he was in imminent danger and that he should leave this place as soon as possible.
Truthfully, he wanted to leave this place as quickly as possible, but he knew that if he did that right now then he would never surmount the courage needed to reach the top.
So even though every cell of his body was raring to leave this place, he still decided to stay and fight against his unknown opponent.
He didn't know what kind of animal or beast it was, he could only feel its murderous and cautious gaze on his back.
The hair on his back was standing straight as if they were antennas to feel the danger he was facing, or to better sense his enemy.
His nerves were taut as bowstrings as he was waiting for the animal to attack. He didn't want to turn back and look at it, because he felt that once he did so then he would lose his courage to fight it.
It already took him a lot of effort to be here like that and face it, so he felt like it would be even more difficult if he turned around and had a look at it.
As he was thinking like that, another thought was born in his mind, if he didn't have the courage to face his opponent, then wasn't he just playing like he was facing his enemy?
Since he had already decided to face this animal, then the least he could do was turn around and have a look at it.
No matter what he should have died at least twice until now, and yet he was still there. Only those who were able to face life head-on were able to move forwards with their lives.
He didn't understand from where did this sudden sprout of courage, and determination came from, but he slowly started turning around to look at his foe.
He turned ever so slightly in order to not scare it off, or startle it into attacking. It was still unknown to him how the hell the animal hadn't attacked him yet, but still, he decided to not care about it.
It took him a while but he finally was able to turn around and have a look at the damn thing in front of him.
It was big!
About 2 meters in height, and more than 2 or 3 meters long. It had black and white striped fur and some really big and gross yellow teeth reeking of blood.
Its mustache was like some spiked tin filaments, as its eyes were exciding a sense of danger, murderous aura, and playfulness.
Roy could swear that he felt like this damn animal was mocking him. It was like a big cat that was playing with its food before finally eating it whole in one bite.
Eric had never felt this angry and humiliated in his life. His human pride was hurt seeing this damn animal treat him like a toy.
Slowly the fear he was feeling until now started turning into raging hate and anger, as he wanted to teach this guy a good lesson.
He had to!
There was no fu*cking freaking way that he would allow this motherfu*cking big cat in front of him to toy with him like that.
His foe, his enemy, the danger he was about to face was nothing more than a big damn cat. It wasn't even a tiger, it was a damn cat.
These things were called Titanic Cats, just like their names suggested they were a titanic version of a normal cat.
Differently from the normal cats though, these things would eat whatever they found on their way.
Their physique and their physical abilities certainly gave them the edge over many animals, and beasts out there, even though they were just a rank 2 beast themselves.
The most common trait with the house cats was most probably their playfulness with their food.
This information was all coming from the old Roy's memories, but this didn't make him feel better in the least.
How the fu*ck could he after all. A fu*cking cat was playing with him, just like it was playing with some ordinary rat.
'RAWWR~!"
The cat seemed to have understood that Roy was losing his fear towards it, and instead was getting angry, opened his mouth fully, and roared at him.
Even if Roy was enraged at this moment, seeing that big mouth opened enough to eat him whole in one bite, seeing those damn saw-like teeth, and that stinking blood breath he was once again scared to death.
In fact, he felt that if he didn't have his anger, and rage at that moment he would have turned around and run away pissing his pants.
It was truly fearsome, his palpitating heart that seemed to have relaxed for a moment started beating hard once again.
He had to do this as quickly as possible, he had to find a way to deal with this thing before he was shamed to death, or eaten whole.
In the meantime, the cat in front of him seemed to be truly enjoying his performance and his palpitating heart.
Its big and round eyes were clearly showing it was having a lot of fun, and that it would continue for a while.
Roy on the other hand didn't know if he should be happy or enraged by this situation in front of him.
It was his good luck that the enemy hadn't attacked him directly and killed him in one hit, as it was something easily doable for the titanic cat.
But at the same time, it was his great shame, and embarrassment for becoming the toy of a fu*cking big stray cat, that would still eat him in the end.
Still, he had to say that he was really proud of himself for not losing conscience in front of this damn thing, especially after that breath attack.
It was just that disgusting and horrible, as it reeked of bad blood, and corpses. It was truly terrifying not only to him but to whoever got in front of it.
But now wasn't the time to think about that, as he used his fear as an excuse to try and punch the big damn cat, who didn't move in the least and it took the hit head-on.
It was clearly saying that a weakling's punch was nothing to its mighty self. Something that it surely regretted the next moment…
(Facing the enemy, Titanic Cat!)