Asumi and Gooper, in the middle of the night at the edge of the river, were now in a state of confusion, torn between two choices. Asumi muttered, snapping his mandibles, "Crap, let's turn back before it's too late." Asumi moved back, opening up the bush, then spotted the ant army drawing near with every step.
Locking eyes with the ant general, Asumi turned back to the river, musing, "Or maybe not. Shit, this is bad. I don't like this."
Gooper, a beetle larvae a bit bigger than Asumi, looked at him and said, snapping his mandibles, "Little mouth, jump in." He then used his head to push Asumi a bit closer to the river.
Asumi looked at him, replying, "Little mouth, my name is Asumi, and no! We aren't going in there; that's suicide."
Gooper looked at Asumi, confused, tilting his head, trying to process the information. "Asu...mi," it said slowly, trying to pronounce his name. Asumi replied, "Yes." Gooper then said, "Sui...cide." Asumi replied, "Yes, that's right; we are not going in there."
Then the ants emerged from the dense foliage, about to attack Asumi, when Gooper immediately acted and pushed him and Asumi into the river.
Falling into the river, Asumi struggled to float as he sunk down, but Gooper managed to get him back out, the two of them now flowing downstream.
The ants, seeing their enemies escaping, were confused. One came up and asked their general next to the river, saying, "General, those criminals are escaping. What do we do?" She replied, looking back and addressing her troops, "We go back and regroup for now, and then send scout teams who will come back and search for their remains. We will not stop until we catch them."
The ant troops snapped their mandibles in response, hailing their commanding general.
Asumi and Gooper, flowing down the river, were shaken from the cold water. Asumi muttered, "Jeez, it's so cold. Gooper, you good?"
Gooper, right in front of him, replied with a slow nod, his mandibles shaking.
As they went down, their vision blurry from the constant splashing of water, they continued hitting the sides of the river and taking damage from the impact.
Asumi coughed out blood as he hit the wall for the third time. He mused, "Crap, is it me or is this river actually trying to kill us?"
Each time they collide into the edges of the river, the distance between the two of them would grow, causing Asumi to lag behind.
Asumi and Gooper, traveling down the river, slowly felt the water flowing speed gradually increase. They came across a rock, a black rock pointing out from under the river.
Gooper, flowing with high speed, slid through the rock like a ramp, but Asumi slammed his back onto it, his back filled with pain as he coughed out white blood.
The System prompted, "[System: Host has sustained critical damage. HP remaining 30%.]"
Asumi, pinned to the rock due to the intense current, while Gooper kept on flowing down, turned his head to look, snapping his mandibles and shouting, "Gooper!"
Gooper, holding on to a stick, flowed down. When Asumi saw the fin on the back of a fish following him, Asumi mused, "No! He is in danger. I've got to save him."
Asumi struggled, trying to move to the side of the rock when the pressure intensified, crushing his exoskeleton, causing him to scream in agony, "Ahh!"
The system prompted:
[System: Host has sustained critical damage. HP remaining 15%.]
His body spewing out blood from all sides, Asumi mused, "Fine, since I'm through the sides, I'll climb above."
Asumi managed to flip onto his back and started climbing. Reaching the top, he looked down at the water, then fear gripped him.
Asumi shaking, his mind not wanting to go back to the thing that roughed him up like this, mused, "Get your shit together, Asumi. Gooper is in danger; he needs us." Then he leaned forward, but a strong wind blew making him even more cold as he jumped back into the water.
Flowing down back inside the river, Asumi looked up ahead and saw Gooper floating on top of a tree branch. He yelled, "Gooper!" Gooper replied, "Asumi!"
Asumi then tried to swim forward when he heard Gooper's voice again, "Stay back, little mouth!" Then Asumi saw the two fishes that were trying to have Gooper as their lunch.
Each fish diving to the side aiming for Gooper, only to miss him when they get very close but instead biting into the stick.
Asumi started swimming closer, musing, "He's in danger. I need to think of something fast." He turned his head, searching around, trying to see if he could find anything that could hint at a bigger meaning.
Looking ahead, he saw the fish diving around, slowly chipping into Gooper's stick. The more he saw, the more pressure he felt in his mind to come up with something, musing, "Come on, Asumi, think, think, think!"
Then he saw as the fish from the right dived at Gooper, opening his mouth, making contact, then submerging back into the water. Gooper's stick snapped in half.
A feeling of disgusting weakness washed over Asumi as he felt he couldn't even help a friend in need. He mused, "Why, why did this have to happen again?"
But before he could even weep, the fishes started moving upwards towards Asumi. Asumi, feeling fear, mused, "No, now they are coming for me? If they are, I'm too weak to fight back. Crap, what do I do? It's all over."
Then the two fishes passed him, swimming away even faster. Asumi, confused, mused, "Wait, why didn't they eat me? What are they running from?"
He turned his head, looking forward, and saw a waterfall. He mused, "Crap, a waterfall. A fall from here would kill me instantly." He turned back, moving his body in a zigzag motion, trying to swim back to safety, but the currents were just too strong.
Upon reaching the edge, he fell down with a huge body of water, droplets and moisture in the air.
Asumi, still conscious, looked up to the moon, musing, "Wow, even in the darkest of nights, you still are beautiful." Then his life started flashing before his eyes.
He saw glimpses of all the things he ever cared about. He mused, "Even when given a second chance, I still couldn't make a change... Ugh, I guess trash is trash no matter where you put it."
Then the system window appeared before him. [System: Host Daily quest rewards are now available. Would you like to claim them now?] [Yes] [No]
Asumi looked at the system, his eyes dead from all the crises he's been through, and replied, "Sure, why not?" He stretched out his hand, immediately pressing the Yes button, as he crashed into the water.