Achylys groaned as he woke. “Urgh, what happened?”

He lifted his arms to rub his aching temples as he slowly came to his senses. Had he been hit by a truck? His body ached like nothing else he’d ever experienced, each pulse of his heart sending spiking pain through his whole body. He shook his head, but vertigo assaulted him. Barely, he caught himself before falling to his hands and knees.

Moving was hard. Even considering trying to move quickly or with any agility or grace made his head hurt even more than it already did. Each throb of his temples sounded like chiming bells and booming drums that echoed and resounded inside his skull.

He tried to take a stubborn step, and his vision swam into blurred lines and hazy, indistinct shapes. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t focus. Even trying to made his vision swim again. He lay on the ground, grass and ground beneath him, and stilled, taking deep breaths while he tried to piece together what had happened. Once his head stopped revolting against him, he sat up and looked around.

He was in a dense forest. Tall trees and a thick canopy loomed overhead and blocked out most of the sunlight. The ground beneath him was soft and spongy, even softer than he first realized, and he could feel moisture seeping through his clothes. The air, damp and heavy.

But above all else, the silence was deafening.

Achylys tried to stand, but a sharp pain shot through his back, causing him to gasp. He gritted his teeth and forced himself up, leaning against a nearby tree for support.

Something blocked his vision as he tried to ease the pain—a translucent blue screen that buzzed back and forth. He blinked in surprise, unsure of what it was or how it had gotten there. Continued blinking did nothing to remove the strange blue screen either. It displayed a single line of blood-red text that made his heart freeze for a second.

A Goddess’ Task

The goddess, as a feline demihuman, is like other felines. If you do this task, many more will follow. Once fed, a feline will always return for more. She will feast on the entertainment you provide her.

You’ve been warned!

First assigned task:

Kill the Forest King

Achylys was overcome by a flood of memories, starting with his meeting with the goddess, the task assigned to him, and then his sudden death. The memory of Neveah's death hit him like a ton of bricks, and he felt a lump form in his throat.

The text on the translucent screen changed once more.

Extreme Emotions detected.

Emotions numbing…

Mental resistance detected.

Unable to numb completely.

Emotions have been properly regulated.

He began to calm, and the lump in his throat disappeared. A sense of peace washed over him. It was fine. The situation wasn’t hopeless. The goddess said he’d meet Neveah again. In this world, wherever that may be. He was her ‘representative’ according to what she said, so he had to complete her tasks if he wanted to see Neveah again.

So he would complete them, no matter how long it took.

As if sensing Achylys's determination, the translucent screen suddenly shifted, the letters fading and replaced by a small three-dimension map of his surroundings. All that surrounded him were tall trees, their branches intertwining to form a thick canopy overhead and casting a cool shadow over the forest floor.

Achylys looked at the map closely, his eyes scanning every inch of it. As he surveyed the area on the map, a red dot appeared and pulsed like a heartbeat—a marker for the location of the Forest King. His target waited for him straight north and looked to be stationary.

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"Where exactly is it?" he muttered to himself, a bead of sweat forming on his forehead.

The map on the translucent screen shifted and changed to answer his question. It stopped at a tiny canyon in the center of the dense forest. The canyon walls were sheer and jagged, rising up high into the sky, their black rock faces obscured by a thick mist that hung in the air. In the center of the canyon was a deep crevice, and the red dot marked the exact location of the crevice's entrance.

Achylys took a deep breath and nodded to himself. That was his destination then. He could clearly feel that his body was far from its peak. He couldn't even sense his limbs properly, let alone his mana. He wouldn’t be able to beat the Forest King in his current state—maybe.

But that was not his current goal. That was to gather intel. The Five W’s: who, what, where, when, why. After he knew that, he could figure out how he’d go about taking down the target. First step, move to the location. Second step, scouting. He needed to suss out what the creature was, where both it and he were, what resources he had in the surroundings to use to his advantage and survive the time until he made his kill.

Everything he needed to make a plan. His information gathering skills hadn’t left him. No matter if he had mana or not, that wasn’t what used to make him good at his job with the Department.

Achylys began walking towards the red dot, his steps quiet as he lurked at the edges of the trees. The forest was very still, devoid of any sounds or signs of life. The only source of light was a faint glow that filtered through the dense canopy of trees, leaving the forest floor barely visible.

As he walked, Achylys's mind raced with possibilities. Why was the forest so plain? Was it intentionally designed to be this way? Who was the goddess? Why was he here? What did the goddess mean by becoming her representative? Was this world’s pantheon perhaps at war?

These questions echoed in his mind, not a single moment of silence in his mind as he ghosted forward towards his target like a specter. He blended into the shadows cast by the tree and removed any trace of sound as he traveled.

But as he continued moving through the trees, Achylys's thoughts turned to a new idea: why walk when he could climb? He could get a better viewpoint from the top of the trees, and the danger atop there should be manageable, conventionally speaking. He had always been a skilled climber, and he’d yet to see anything moving through the trees—or anywhere, for that matter.

He approached the tree and inspected it, double-checking for any signs of danger before he committed to making his way up. Still nothing he could find to pose him any threat.

Upon further inspection, the tree appeared to be sturdy and healthy with no visible signs of decay or weakness. Hesitant, he rested a hand against the hard bark. Nothing jumped out at him, screaming “surprise”. His hand didn’t fall off, nor did his skin peel off. Good signs that the tree didn’t secrete acid on its outer layer, which he found odd considering the strange smoothness of the bark. He counted his blessings that nothing crippled him or scalded his flesh. A plus.

Final report, there was a high likelihood the trees were safe to climb. At least in the short term. If there were acids or poisons that took a longer time to work or some kind of trap mechanism that baited in targets to kill them when they got higher up, he wouldn’t know. So without further hesitation, he began to climb.

The bark gave him a little trouble, slippery against his palms. He couldn't care less about such things, not with what was at stake. The higher he climbed, the more he was astounded by how tall the trees were. The view was breathtaking. The treetops seemed to stretch out into infinity with no end in sight.

Achylys had been climbing for what felt like hours, his muscles aching and his breath coming in ragged gasps by the time he neared the top. But now, as he crested the top of the canopy, he felt a rush of exhilaration. He had made it.

As he pulled himself up and stood on the final branch, the forest opened up around him in all its mysterious glory. He gazed out in awe at the canopy of trees stretching out as far as the eye could see, the treetops forming a tangled web of branches that seemed to reach up to the very heavens.

But it was the sight that greeted him at the very top that took his breath away. A complex network of branches stretched out in all directions, forming an almost spherical shape. Each branch was thick, sturdy, and covered in a thick layer of vibrant green leaves that rustled softly in the gentle breeze.

He was standing at the heart of the forest, the branches encircling him like a protective cocoon. The leaves rustled and whispered, creating a soothing lullaby that calmed his frazzled nerves.

Achylys couldn't resist the temptation to explore this new vantage point. He reached out, grabbed onto one of the sturdier branches, and began to climb. As he ascended, the leaves grew denser, and he found himself enveloped in a sea of green. The leaves were like emerald gems, shimmering and glistening in the faint light that filtered through the canopy.

With each step, Achylys felt himself sinking deeper into the heart of the forest. The branches twisted and turned, forming a labyrinthine maze that he navigated with ease. The leaves continued to rustle around him, singing their soothing symphony that echoed through the trees.

As Achylys climbed higher and higher, he noticed a shift in the atmosphere. The air grew cooler and more refreshing, and the scent of pine and earth filled his nostrils. The branches seemed to stretch out towards the sky, as if yearning to touch the clouds. As he stumbled out of the dense foliage, his senses were immediately assaulted by a breathtaking sight that left him frozen.

The sky.

A swirling vortex of dark, purple thunderclouds, roiling and twisting in a mesmerizing dance. It was as if the heavens themselves had been torn asunder, revealing the end of the world.

The air was thick with the scent of ozone, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as the crackle of electricity filled the atmosphere. All he felt was solemn awe as he stared at the sight, since even he could not help but acknowledge its beauty.

Achylys began to mutter under his breath, “This—it’s really beautif—”

A thunderbolt ripped apart the sky, interrupted the serene song, and struck Achylys mid-sentence, shortening his statement in half.

He died again and in a way he never would’ve guessed in his wildest dreams. But hey, at least he could cross “get struck by a thunderbolt in a magical fantasy world” off his bucket list.