The rain that trickled down my face was bitter and metallic. Maybe because of the blood mixed right into it. I wasn't injured but it wasn't like the marks of the injury were absent.
Needless to say, my body was in pain too, so much so, that my head was constantly on the cusp of exploding from the pain.
But I had to push through! I needed a way to escape this hell.
If I had to die, I would die at any other place than a place that didn't feel this cursed. If I had to die, I would die for any other reason but because that man kicked me down!
But a little more than that, more than any semblance of hope I had left, I needed a way to go back to my family. They already suffered from having lost Dad, I didn't want my absence to be another burden on them.
As my mind was immersed in these thoughts, a bright red light slowly started permeating through my knees where my face was buried.
"Eh?" With every inching second my vision started getting more overwhelmed.
Until I gave in to the curiosity.
And looked up. There they were- two red eyes glaring right at me. They were far away but steadily growing closer.
The smell of dead bodies started to waft around me. Maybe it was because I buried my head as soon as I got here that I didn't grasp my situation in the slightest.
Only after I got exposed to the environment did I realise where I was.
The place where new adventurers started their journey. The place where most new adventurers found their callings. The place where most new adventurers died. I was stuck in the most dangerous place that I could be in, at the most dangerous time-
I was in Rottheim's training ground in the middle of the night.
Fuck.
Grabbing the rocks behind me, I carefully got up. Those eyes didn't leave me. I was getting targeted, judged. The branding on my left arm started to throb ceaselessly.
But I was well aware of that.
If I ever dreamt of meeting my family again, I had to survive this night. This was an ultimatum.
Under the light from its own eyes, the visage of the monster became clear.
Long snout that extended well ahead of the rest of its body and a gait that could only be described as gargantuan- even compared to me.
'A moose?' The animal itself seemed harmless. I had seen a few in the past... of course they weren't monsters, but they were still beasts. In fact, I even hunt some deer a couple of years ago.
For a second I was somewhat relieved but then its antlers came into sight and completely drained me of any breath. The sight was so abhorrent that my heart almost gave up on living.
Large fleshy red antlers. Covered in blood and guts of anyone but its own. Ripped skin everywhere, low grunts. I could practically smell the death coming off it!
I had to go.
I had to go.
It only took a second to realise that if I didn't react appropriately if I didn't reach now, I would die!
There was no second time after that. There was no deity coming to save me. Encountering it would mean certain death.
How do I get out of this? How do-THINK!!!
My ears sharpened and shifted focus between everything it picked up.
THINK!
Moose reacted to fast-moving objects. They had prey syndrome that made them fear anyone and everyone. But at the same time, they reacted violently to any threat. I needed to throw it off my trail.
ACT!
I grabbed my bag and with all my strength threw it in the opposite direction to where I planned to run away. Just for a split second, its attention got diverted. Just for a split second, its head turned to face that one direction.
But that was enough!
I pushed myself away using the rocks behind me and ran so fast that my eyes closed themselves for a few seconds!
Whatever that deity did to me put my body in the best state I could ever hope it to be in. Every muscle felt light and responded at the slightest command. Everything fibre felt strong enough to carry an elephant on its own.
I was running so fast that even with my conscious effort the centre of mass of my body was behind my legs. I felt my calves tense up with every step that I took. I was running right between the trees now. Threading through large boughs, jumping over every root that stuck out.
'The boy who wanted to die a while ago was fighting for his survival.'
But the odds weren't in my favour. I was blind from threats until they were right up in my face. Add to that the fact that the distraction could only last for so long.
Before even half a minute passed, the moose was on my tail. I could feel it, I could hear it. The 9-foot tall monstrosity was coming for me.
FUCK!
I could never outrun it. I never had a chance.
Luckily I don't think I have to outrun it.
I turned left, where the forest was thicker. The size worked against the moose in such an environment.
Of course, a fuller environment was also an issue for someone who could not see in the dark. But I soldiered through focusing all my attention on what came in front of me. My reflexes were inhuman.
In the split second I saw the roots, I decided to jump and already took action.
My body definitely wasn't like this.
'NO MATTER WHAT I WILL SURVIVE THIS!'
I was fully aware that there were other monsters in my vicinity, nonetheless, I continued to march forward.
No one would fight a moose for prey. No beast was that dumb.
The other red eyes that I noticed ahead slowly started to vanish. There was no other predator. All I had to focus on now was keeping up my pace and hoping that this beast lost interest.
BUT NOTHING EVER WENT TO PLAN!
Just as I was starting to get comfortable, I heard a crash behind me. The sound of wood breaking. And grunts with every pulse.
I dared to turn around for a second and what I saw numbed my mind with fear-
The moose ploughed through the trees like they were twigs.
'IT WAS A MONSTER NOT A NORMAL MOOSE!'
My inexperience as an adventurer showed. Every decision I made was a product of my experiences, and my experience said that a damn moose couldn't break through trees like that.
I was wrong.
This moose was not only capable of going through this forest, it was capable of flattening it.
'I'M STILL FASTER!' If there was any saving grace, it was that the moose wasn't as fast as before. Even if it was a monster, it was still a living being.
But the fact that even after hitting so many trees the was still changing me made me realise that I wasn't safe. Even if I was faster now, only one fall would kill me. If I ran out of stamina I would die.
There was no surviving this situation. Not like this.
Not until that moose died.