Leo was terrified as he looked at the pangolin. 'It couldn't be that all creatures on this planet were giants, right?' he thought to himself. He wanted to summon back the orb to ask, but on second thought, he didn't. If these beasts were this big, killing twelve of them alone was a tough task. If he continued adding more to the count, the task would pile up into an impossible mission.
So he waited. After a few minutes, when the pangolin had passed and the vibrations from the ground were hardly felt, he quickly left the grass. Right now, he didn't know which direction to go, but instead of asking the orb, he deduced that since the quest included bandits and generals, there must be humans on this planet. He just had to wait until nighttime, then he would follow the North Star, known as the universal compass. According to scientists, it was visible at any point in existence. He would use it to navigate out of the forest.
The trees in the forest were so big that any visible crack in their bark was large enough to contain a human, so Leo quickly inhabited one of the cracks and waited for nightfall. Hours passed, and finally, it was dusk. The moment the sun started setting, Leo began hearing clicking sounds ringing in the atmosphere. Sweat drenched his back as he observed the gruesome sight before him: a whole army of tank-sized ants barreling their way down from the tree.
Leo didn't hesitate. He bolted out of the crack. His plan to wait for nightfall had to be scrapped as he ran through the dense foliage of the towering grass. He looked back just to see the ant army hot on his heels.
No matter how advanced or evolved humans become, they still hold the most primal emotions. Right now, Leo was experiencing the most primal of fears. These emotions could help humans break their physical limits, and this was evident as Leo bolted so fast that even his legs seemed to blur. He ran at a speed that turned everything around him into a blur.
Even at that speed, he could still hear the stampede of ants closing in on him. 'What the heck!' Leo was aghast. He never knew ants could be this fast. Well, he never needed to. One could say Leo was practically at death's door now, using every bit of strength his enhanced muscles could provide to fuel his speed. But still, he could feel them closing the distance on him.
Just when he thought all hope was lost, Leo heard the sound of rushing water. A river was nearby. Leo quickly moved in that direction. After a few seconds, he could see it. The river was just a few miles away. Fueled by hope, Leo felt a new surge of strength as he rapidly closed in on the river. As he got close, he quickly picked a leaf as wide as a boat, used his momentum to throw the leaf, and immediately squatted to gather momentum himself. He took a massive leap, following the direction of the leaf. The leaf landed on the rushing water, followed immediately by Leo, who lay on the leaf, allowing the current to carry him.
Finally, the ant army could only stop at the riverbanks as they rapidly receded. Leo felt a wave of fatigue wash over him, followed by a sense of relief. He was alive.
Hours passed with Leo just laying on the leaf, following the currents. He was thinking of how to get out of his present predicament. He was on a leaf of one of the giant trees, moving on a very wide surface of water at a speed that could be approaching mach speed. He had to lay on his back so the wind wouldn't blow him off the leaf.
As Leo was busy thinking, he was distracted by a loud noise. He noticed the flow of water had increased. He raised his head to assess his situation. When he looked ahead, he froze. Right now, Leo had given up. He had accepted the fact that he had lousy luck. Based on his experience so far, he believed his luck was non-existent.
He was approaching a waterfall, and with how big this river was, if he fell, he would die immediately from the pressure.
Quickly, Leo came up with a solution. He removed his shirt. Since entering this world, apart from his clothing, all his other items had vanished. He tore the shirt into two and tied both ends of the leaf to his arms, then waited.
Very quickly, he arrived at the fall. Just before he fell into the water currents, he leaped with the leaf attached to his arms. He used the leaf as a parachute. The wind from the river, along with his momentum, assisted him as he flew into the air. In the air, he quickly adjusted his position and started moving towards land. Well, looking beneath him, he was still thousands of feet in the air. It would take quite some time before he could land.
But the good side of this was that he could control his landing. He used this opportunity to scout the best and safest place to land.
After a few hours, he landed in a clearing quite far from the river. Finally, Leo could catch his breath. After landing, he just lay on his back, looking at the sky. He was exhausted both physically and mentally. Looking at the sky now filled with stars, as it was already nighttime, he quickly saw the direction of the North Star.
Even though he was exhausted, he still needed to move. He also needed another thing right now, and that was food. But with how colossal the creatures of this world were, Leo didn't even know how to begin hunting. He looked around earlier but didn't see any fruits in sight. It seemed that he would have to resort to hunting sooner or later. For now, Leo just lay on the ground as he gradually recovered his strength.