I gasped in pure terror, my eyes widened, and I dropped down on my knees: one second, a sweet embrace of death. The next, I found myself standing in front of a massive forest near the river bank.
I did a double-take on my body, no scratch, no insect bite wound, no gaping hole on my stomach. I am as healthy as I can ever be.
"You bastard..." I muttered with as much venom as I can muster. The creator stripped away my power, crushed my plot armor, and left me with one of the cruelest powers out there—the ability to rewind time after my death, forcing me to relieve it over and over again.
For a few minutes, I did nothing. I just sat there, thinking about my fate. Just a moment ago, I was eaten alive. It wasn't pleasant. Just remembering it makes me wanna curl up and forget everything.
"Okay, note to self, don't get bit or you're dead..." I muttered to myself before standing up from my position. Behind those floras is a giant nope ready to devour me alive. Above the sky is a category five hell-bird looking for tasty humans.
I want nothing to do with either one of them. But it's better to face a familiar danger than going after the unknown. So I unsheathed my trusty machete and start walking towards the forest. "Kill me once, shame on you. Kill me twice, shame on me..."
The forest was oddly silent. The howling winds were reduced into nothing more but a breeze. The local monsters' voices are hushed, leaving me alone standing in the middle of a small clearing.
"OI! CREEPY INSECT! MONSTER BUG! COME AND GET ME!!!" I yelled out with all my might while waving my machete like mad. I had no intention of going subtle. The opening around me is more than enough to give me the upper hand.
Rapid footsteps appeared above, and I looked up. There it is, in all its glory, the Nope Bug of the Fuck This Shit Forest. The insect landed in front of me before rapidly charging towards me.
That time, I was scared and panicked. Now, I don't give a damn. I was an A-Ranked Jedi Ninja, this bug is dead as soon as it tried to mess with me. "All right, let's dance buttercup!"
I rolled over to the right and slashed one of its front legs right at the joint. The leg was swiftly detached, and the insect starts howling in pain. "Oh don't be like that, you still have plenty of legs!" I exclaimed before jumping back to dodge a big chomp.
Then I quickly rush in towards the insect. I slid down mere moments before the bug could bite my face off and start wildly hacking away on the gigantic insect feet around me. I have no intention of dirtying my trench coat or giving this bad boy a swift death.
Now, with only two pairs of its legs remaining, the insect starts screeching and cowering away. It tried to keep itself balanced, but the way I cut the legs left it too unbalanced to support itself.
Now, this insect has been reduced into a pathetic struggling mass of legless beast. It can't even look me in the eyes. It kept looking away and whimpering away like a sorry excuse of a monster it is.
"All right, listen here pal..." I walked right in front of its horrifying face and twirled around my machete. "I dunno much about this world, but can you make sure everything in this forest hears your last wail of pain before I end your life?"
With that, I stabbed the insect straight in the head. It lets out a blood-curling screech that echoes throughout the forest, making me stagger a few feet back. "Geez, you're loud..." I muttered to myself before pulling out the machete lodged deep inside its carcass. "Now, for the chicken..."
I continued my trek through the forest. Again, the forest was silent. Perhaps it heard Mr. Bug's warning. I dunno, but if the creepy crawlies here decided to leave me alone, then it's all good for me.
Soon enough, I made it in front of the second layer of the abyss—the part where none of the trees make sense and who knows what is lurking around this place.
Now, all I have to do is climb down this vast cliff. Usually, I would pour some water to break my fall, but I don't think it's going to be that simple.
Instead, I tied some rope on a sturdy rock and throw it down the cliff. Then I grabbed my pickaxe and jumped off the cliff.
Using the pickaxe to control my speed and the rope to keep me on track, I landed smoothly at the bottom faster than a person using a fire pole.
With that, I start walking through the second layer of the abyss. All around me are large gigantic trees that put the square-cube law out of the equation.
For one, these trees are only composed of a single trunk (if I can call it that) and a single gigantic leaf right on top of it. There are also these tiny little leaves that grow out of the trunk.
Each leaf seems to be pointing in a single direction. A quick check with a compass shows that these leaves are pointing straight north.
This will be extremely useful because of the second-best navigation system, aka the sun is not available. Why? Because there's no sun around here!
Seriously, looking up at the sky, all I can see is the bright sky with some clouds here and there. Heck, I don't even know where this light is coming from.
Though walking through this forest proves to be pretty dull. The giant leaves concealed me from the flying monster up above while the thin and sparse trees(?) makes it hard for predators to sneak up on me.
After walking for a while, I finally made it to the end of the forest, a gigantic cliff with giant trees growing out of its edge. All around me are hundreds of flying beast protecting a huge nest resting at the cliff's edge.
If I had my powers, they'll all be more than dead now. But I don't, so I have to improvise before I can kill at least one of them. "Oi! Birdy! Over here!" I exclaimed, not too loud as to attract the whole flock, but just loud enough to...
"Whoa!" I instinctively rolled to the side, barely missing a bird soaring from right behind me. "Okay, now you're being a dick..." I observed the bird that's now twirling in the air before diving straight towards me. "All right birdy, show me what you got..."
When the bird was a mere inches away from me, I jumped to the right and sliced one of its wings. The bird howled in a horrifying human-like voice. I could care less because the bird is now sprawled on the ground struggling to fly.
The bird tried running away, but I was faster. "Not a chance buckaroo!" I jumped right on top of its back and stabbed its wing joint, severing it. "I am getting hungry from all these killing and guess what's on the menu?!"
The bird tried to struggle away with one wing missing. "That's right, chicken!" I swiftly stabbed its eye on its forehead and twisted the machete, killing it.
Using the creepy bird's wing as a cushion, I lay down right beside a fire. The remains of a giant bird lay down beside me, I might be able to kill it, but there's no bloody way I can eat it all. Though I gotta admit, for a man-eating bird, they are pretty darn delicious.
So, here I am, drifting in and out of consciousness. Not knowing whether I should sleep or stay awake. It's times like this that makes me miss having a companion by my side.
That said, I haven't seen a human being since I arrived here. Maybe this hole is forbidden ground, and no human can enter it. I wouldn't be surprised if it is; this place is nothing more but a death trap.
Though, I'm still gonna need a good lie if I ever meet someone. Maybe memory loss would suffice, cliché, but always work. I might even have some help that way.