There was barely enough time for Johnny to avoid the sudden attack, as the blade was aimed directly at his head. After a split second of hesitation, he threw himself out of the way of the tiger's strike, however, it wasn't enough to escape injury. While the edge of the blade had missed its intended target, it instead met with another: his forearm.
"AGHHHH, DAMNIT! FUCK FUCK, OH JESUS, THAT HURTS!"
Johnny writhed on the ground in agony. It was as though hot pokers were teasing his nerve endings around the area of the wound. Though the strike had missed his head, it had still marked Johnny for death; it had struck a vulnerable artery. Pulsing jets of blood poured out of the open wound. In several minutes' time, he would bleed out.
The tiger landed in a crumpled heap on the ground, immobilized once more by the collar's effect. She was paralyzed the moment she leaped from the branch, as her intention to kill the collar's master triggered had triggered it. However, her job was finished.
-
The tigerkin bared her teeth in a wide grin. She was victorious. Once again, the imperceptible shackles sealed her movement, but it didn't matter. She had landed a fatal blow on the human. He would assuredly die this time.
"How does it feel, to be on the other side of the pain, human? How does it feel to no longer be the hunter, but the hunted? Are you frightened? Has your preconception of superiority been shattered into tiny, little, pieces? Tell me human, are you prepared to die? HAHAHA!"
Her howls of laughter drowned out Johnny's agonized screams. She reveled in her vengeance. The humans she killed at the castle weren't anything like this one. His tortured voice filled her entire being. One could say that it was... orgasmically stimulating, for the tigerkin.
"This is for you, mother! And for you, Garos, my first, and last love! This is for our village these demons took from us!"
-
"Warning: massive hemorrhaging. Seek immediate medical attention."
A red message box appeared in Johnny's blurred vision. His vision flashed with red, as the Divine Menu alerted him of his dire strait.
"Hhgnrr, no shit! I know I'm in deep right now!"
He tried to awkwardly clamp down on the massive wound with his other hand, but it was no use. The immense amount of blood that coursed through the opened artery was too much for him to hold back. Without a doubt, he would soon die from the loss of blood.
Johnny's vision blurred, and his thoughts slowed to a crawl. The loss of blood was already taking its toll. Through the haze of his blurred vision, he could see a crowd of shadowy figures had gathered around him.
"Ah, I see," Johnny mumbled, believing them to be the Denizens of the Expanse, "I'm back, goddess, did you miss me? By the way, fuuuuuuuuuck you, you bitch."
-
Igrud couldn't believe her eyes. After all of her efforts to kill the human, they had to show up! The Eyes of the Forest!
They were everywhere throughout the forest. In the past, on the days Igrud hunted she could see them flit about in the treetops as they silently watched her. She never paid them any mind, as they didn't interfere in her daily life. At some point in the past, she had come to refer to them as "The Many Eyes of the Forest", after their sheer numbers, and the ever-present awareness that she was being watched. They were nimble, shadowy creatures, covered from head to toe in dark robes, on which was a hood that obscured their faces. Their incredible speed never allowed Igrud a chance to glimpse much more than their outlines, which were somewhat diminutive compared to the high branches on which they traversed.
Now they were here, and tending to the human no less!
Roughly a dozen of the robed figures crowded about the fallen human. For a moment, they conferred, and after a few moments of deliberation, several of them kneeled next to him, their hands placed upon his forearm. A yellow glow emanated between their joined hands, which were pressed down on the wound.
"Damn you, Eyes. Don't you dare steal my prey from me!"
Igrud yelled at the figures, furious at their unexpected pity for the downed monster. Did they not know what they were helping? She strained to free herself from the immobilizing effects of the collar to no avail. All she could do was helplessly watch them pick up her quarry, and carry him as they leaped high into the branches above. As quickly as they had come, they were gone.
After their departure, her bonds were loosed. She pounded the ground with her furred fist.
"DAMNIT!"
Igrud was left with no other choice. She had to follow them.
Shakily, she picked herself back up. The long night of standing and her lack of sleep still hung heavy on her massive frame. She didn't know how long she could keep up with them, but she was certainly going to try; her anger could not be dispelled by mere exhaustion. After all...
They had taken what was hers, just like those humans from long ago. For that offense, she would make the Many Eyes of the Forest her enemy.
-
"Welcome back, Mr. Rivers."
"Thanks to you. What the hell were you thinking, sending me down without any stats, or even the least bit of preparation?"
Johnny sat cross-legged, once more atop the clouds before the Gates of Heaven. The faceless goddess sat on the throne, her chin cradled her hands as she gazed at the fuming man in front of her.
"And whatever do you mean, Mr. Rivers?"
"You know what I mean, you stupid bitch! You left me unconscious in a damn wasteland!"
"I believe I put you in a field."
"It might as well have been! There wasn't any water, no food, and no shelter! The least you could've done was give me an inventory with some food in it, but nooo, I suppose you were too busy watching and laughing at my misery!"
"You are correct in the assumption that I was watching you, however, whether I was deriding your seeming lack of resourcefulness is neither here nor there."
Johnny glared at the deity in front of him.
"So I'm dead again, right?"
The goddess paused. That peculiarity awakened another level of annoyance within him. Why, did she always do that?
"You are not."
"Then why the hell am I back here again?"
"You will always return here, when at the boundary between life and death. It is in the very nature of the fragment of the Great Tree your body consumed."
"You mean the Divine Shard, right?"
"Correct."
Now that she mentioned it, he was wondering how his body got so buff compared to his previous life. Perhaps it was the shard's doing... not that it did anything for him, his strength stat was still zero. It must've done even more than that, in order to bring him here, even when he's not dead. It also explained why he could speak in this dimension now, as he couldn't on his previous visit to the afterlife.
"But wait, if that's the case, then why didn't I come back before now? I was half-dead in the cave, wasn't I?"
"It wasn't yet time for us to meet."
The goddess readjusted herself on the throne. Her head now rested on her left hand.
"Am I correct in assuming that you are interested in the fate of the girl you had attempted to save in your previous life?"
"It doesn't matter much now, does it?"
"Perhaps not."
There was a moment of awkward silence. Johnny shifted his weight from one side of his rear to the other. At last, he could hold himself back no more. He had to know.
"Go ahead, what happened?"
"She expired, not too long after your arrival in the world you find yourself in."
Shit. There went Johnny's last redeeming act in his previous life. Now he was back to being a useless NEET.
"So, is she in heaven right now?"
"It is uncertain."
"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Her soul has not passed through the Gates into Heaven. The Denizens of the Expanse are currently working to locate her soul, however, their efforts have been unsuccessful as of ye..."
She stopped her sentence abruptly.
"It seems we have run out of time, Johnathan Rivers. We will meet again, however, until then, remember your tasks. The Chaos lies not too far from you..."
"Wha..? Could you be any less vague?" Johnny retorted, as the scene before him gradually faded from view, and into darkness.
"Such a useless goddess. No wonder I was an atheist in my previous life." He thought aloud.
Though that was a blatant lie. It was his father who was against the notion that anything could possibly be above his intellect. His father certainly was full himself, and ever since Johnny witnessed the walking contradiction to that egotistical outlook during his time in the afterlife, all of those moments started to seem so comical to him.
For the first time in the many years of Johnny's dull and dismal life, he smiled.
Compared to this world, his past life was fun.