As soon as he entered the woods, Liam picked up the survival bag each of the 28 hostages from Demon Gate had received before being thrown onto the Eternal Doom Island.
In these bags were basic survival items, such as drinking water, dehydrated meat, fruit, and three types of weapons. An axe, a knife, and a bow with 10 arrows.
Without thinking too much, Liam picked up the axe, which had a handle length of 45 centimeters and a mass of 6 kilograms.
Seeing himself inside the closed forest, with lots of trees and undergrowth, no longer seeing the crocodiles of a moment ago, he slowed down, becoming more careful with his steps.
His breathing gradually slowed down from the hectic pace he was at when he reached the island, his thoughts flying as he pondered his situation.
'From what I've heard, this island must be the size of an average city on earth. Although there are many demons here, most of them should be more in the center of the territory.
The shores of the island must also be dangerous. I imagine that not only crocodiles are in the vicinity to threaten us. I'd better move deeper into the island.'
He walked, taking care where he stepped, but also the surroundings, the trees in his path, and signs of beasts.
As much as the island was known for its demons, there were beasts capable of killing people like him. If one wasn't vigilant, it wouldn't take a demon to put them in mortal danger!
Suddenly, the loud noise of a blade being drawn sounded close to Liam.
The hairs on Liam's body stood on end as he turned his eyes back, where without delay he saw a black-haired woman he had been sharing a cell with for about a week.
'Day!'
He moved back, his eyes wide as he felt as if everything was happening in slow motion, feeling her movements slow down, but also seeing her attack him.
The blade of Day's knife passed where Liam's neck had been a second ago, as he watched what he had already feared would develop sooner or later happen.
She really wanted to kill him!
Amid his concern for his life, he moved his axe, trying to defend himself.
Swooish!
Liam missed his move as Day changed direction, showing him the differences between someone who knew how to use a weapon and fight and a layperson like him.
The real Liam Porter had learned the basics of fighting and weapon handling. But the young man from Earth had never experienced these skills or had the chance to train the senses of his current body.
In front of Day, he proved to be full of flaws not only in his poorly timed and slow attack, but he also moved at the wrong moments and hardly knew how to defend himself.
After exchanging three movements with Day, Liam felt a cut two centimeters deep appear on his right chest, cutting through his shirt and leaving a non-deadly but quite painful wound on his body.
"Aaaaagh!"
He shouted while Day grinned mischievously, using the moment to destabilize her enemy and slash towards Liam's already wounded abdomen.
'That ends our journey, foolish boy!' This mature woman, with a strong body and powerful muscles for a woman, thought as she cut Liam to his navel level.
"Aaaaaaagh!"
The boy screamed even more in agony. This time he couldn't stand up any longer, falling backwards onto the ground, where only bushes and dirt lay beneath him.
'Are you kidding? No! I can't die after having just arrived at this place!' He screamed in his mind, unable to utter a word, as he howled like a wounded wolf in agony.
Amid his moment of despair, Liam saw Day standing in front of him, looking him up and down, a look that said how much she despised him.
"You should have died first. Old Ellis was stupid to sacrifice himself for a wimp like you." She said with a smiled, gripping her razor-sharp knife tightly, looking into Liam's eyes, but thinking of his throat, her next target.
Just as she was moving to deliver the final blow and put an end to her dealings with Liam, the sound of breathing from something approaching disturbed Day's plans.
She looked back halfway to Liam's neck and saw a creature running towards them.
'Shit! A demon!'
This being had inverted legs, with its toes turned backwards, while its skin was scaly, a dark shade of red, a little darker than human blood. It had large muscles like those of a gorilla, with a pair of horns on its head and hair as black as night.
Its teeth were as sharp as knives, while its eyes were not normal. Having a set of four eyes and a nasal cavity devoid of the cartilage that shaped the nose, the creature was extremely frightening.
The demon had a long tail on its back, which went all the way down to the middle of its back, where a large pair of bat wings were closed as it ran towards Liam and Day.
She didn't hesitate to flee when she identified the type of creature that had appeared so close to her, leaving Liam behind to attract the demon's attention to himself and save her from death.
'Tsk! If you hadn't been saved by that fool, you would have died with little pain. Now who knows what will happen to you?' she thought as she fled in desperation without looking back.
Her blow to Liam's abdomen was deadly. Being wounded and so close to a demon, the boy's chances were nil!
Liam saw the red-skinned demon stop beside him and lick his lips, but he could no longer move properly, his eyes losing their light.
'Shit! I'm fainting—'
That was all he could think before fainting next to an unknown, monstrous-looking creature.
...
About an hour later...
Liam opened his eyes in a dimly lit cave, not understanding what was going on.
He saw torches here and there, minimally illuminating the room, while various strange symbols, pentagrams and magic circles were inscribed on the floor and even on his body.
He remembered the situation earlier and felt his heart racing, turning his eyes downwards and seeing his stitched wounds, while a pentagram of blood was drawn on his chest.
"What the fuck is this?" he despaired, asking himself in a shaky, agitated tone.
The demon heard its target's voice and looked back, drawing Liam's attention to the creature sitting on the ground not far in front of him, in the center of another pentagram.
Seeing the creature's smile, Liam realized his situation was not good and feared he would be eaten alive.
How malicious did something have to be to want to eat its prey while it was still alive?
But as he tried to move, he felt his hands and legs tied to a cross, from which he couldn't free himself in his current condition.
His heart beat harder and his sweat became colder and colder, until the creature sang in a deep, low and constant tone, quoting words that were incomprehensible to Liam's human ears.
He tried to escape until the pentagrams and magic circles in the surrounding area glowed in different colors, drawing his attention to the ritual he was being forced to take part in.
'Oh, shit!'
His eyes filled with tears as he sensed the enemy didn't just want to devour him. That could be much worse than just being devoured!
As it sat sideways to Liam, an aura in the demon's shape itself appeared behind it and flew towards the young human's body.
At that moment, Liam once again fainted, this time certain he would die as his predecessor's body was invaded by a demon.
The moment he was penetrated by the thing, the ropes holding him undid themselves and his body fell towards the ground, making him feel as if he had passed through several portals as he saw his memories of Earth and Twin Land mixed.
Before his body hit the ground, his eyes opened again, this time completely blood red!