Achylys didn't know how to quite react to the information he was given, honestly. As a wannabe researcher, he knew that all information was important, even… names that you can taunt your enemy with, but still. He felt somewhat sympathetic for the Forest King, that it had endured such deep scars mentally throughout its lifetime. A true tragedy, honestly.

However, Achylys quickly moved on from the matter. He opened his mouth and was about to tell the System to expand when the translucent blue screen suddenly flickered. Abruptly, he felt the familiar sensation of falling through an unseen void, his thoughts cut short.

For a moment, everything was a blur. Achylys felt as if he were hurtling through space, his body twisting and turning in ways that defied explanation. He could feel his heart racing in his chest, his breath coming in short, ragged gasps. And then, just as suddenly as it had begun, it was over.

With a jolt, Achylys found himself back in the real world, his senses reeling from the sudden transition. For a moment, he stood there, disoriented and unsure of where he was or what had just happened.

As he regained his bearings, his senses slowly coming back to him, Achylys realized that something was off. The forest, which he had known like the back of his hand, was shrouded in an eerie darkness that seemed to seep into every crevice and corner. The trees that had once towered over him like mighty sentinels were now reduced to mere shadows, their branches hanging limply as if in mourning.

The hairs on the back of Achylys' neck stood on end as he lifted his head to look up, his heart freezing for a second. And then, he saw it - a colossal foot, larger than any he had ever seen, had descended from the sky and was now crushing the forest under its weight. The sky itself seemed to shake under the foot’s tyranny, the trees splintering and breaking as it slowly made its way forward.

His survival instinct took over, and his mind went on hyperdrive. He almost immediately realized who the foot belonged to: the forest king. He knew it was coming to get him, but he didn’t know it’d arrive this quickly.

Should I run? Should I try the [Rewrite] feature? I do believe I have a point of providence.

However, before he could ponder too much, fate intervened with a sudden and brutal force. The ground shook beneath his feet, and before he knew it, the massive foot descended upon him, crushing him into the dirt like a bug. The impact was so powerful that it seemed to merge his flesh and bones with the earth itself.

For a moment, everything went black. He wasn't sure if he was dead or alive, but he felt an excruciating itch coursing through his body. Slowly, he became aware of his surroundings, the gritty feel of sand and soil pressed against his skin, the metallic taste of blood in his mouth.

As he struggled to regain his senses, he realized that he was in a rather dire situation. His body was mangled and broken, and he could barely move. With every ounce of strength he had left, he tried to crawl away from the spot where he had been crushed, dragging his battered body through the dirt.

Why?

Well… it was better than lying there idly. Maybe he could get some more information about the Forest King. And either way, it wasn’t like he liked the itch.

But his efforts were in vain.

The foot that had struck him was too massive, too powerful, too relentless. It came down again, and again, and again, each time with greater force and fury than the last. He was like a bug caught under the heel of a giant, unable to escape the inexorable force that was crushing him into a pulp.

And then he died.

*

Welcome back, Host.

You were stamped to death.

0.001% physical force resistance gained.

1/100,000 chance to gain the unique skill, acknowledged.

Your luck was not sufficient. Please try again later.

Achylys witnessed the series of notifications as soon as he woke up once more on the forest floor. He merely sighed, ignoring them. That was dumb of him, to take so long. But no matter.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Mistakes were the stepping stones to perfection. He would perfectly kill this goddamn monster, no matter what it took. For he was Achylys, hunter extraordinaire, and no beast could stand against him.

Except a slime, and now the Forest King, and even merely climbing a tree and then peeking out…

But he digressed.

He did have an idea to kill the king of the forest, too. A very simple one. So far as he understood, the [Rewrite] feature will allow him to rewrite the threads using providence. Now, how much he can rewrite with a single point of providence he did not know, but his idea should be possible as long as he could edit even a few words.

You can only edit a single world with a point of providence, Host.

Achylys nodded. “Well, a single word will make things harder, but it should work nonetheless. Probably.” Then, he continued, “System, please bring me to the Core.”

The all so familiar lurching sensation engulfed his stomach, and before he knew it, he stood before the core, its ever winding threads presented in front of him in all their glory. No matter how many times he saw this sight, he couldn’t get used to the Core’s absolute magnificence.

At a mere thought of his, the system's intricate minimap unfurled before Achylys's eyes like a well-worn scroll. His eyes scanned the map with an expert's precision, his gaze tracing the winding paths and treacherous terrain.

With a single purpose in mind, he deftly maneuvered his finger across the map, zeroing in on his target with the skill of a seasoned hunter. And there it was, right before his very eyes—the boss's icon, moving ever so slowly out of the dark, foreboding cave and into the sprawling canyon beyond.

Achylys's deadened heart quickened with anticipation, well… it didn’t, but the mood had to be set as he watched the icon move with a steady, determined pace. This was it, the moment he had been preparing for, the moment that would make or break his quest.

He had spent countless hours training, honing his skills, dying god knows how many times, and gathering the finest equipment and weapons. He’d made so much effort, all for… this. This moment.

What? He didn’t do all that? Shut up. Do you not know what roleplaying means?

However, Achylys didn't immediately edit the thread in front of him. That was because he wanted to see the results in front of his eyes. Every good researcher would want to actually see his experiments’ results, after all, no matter if it were to fail or succeed.

So, he waited. Waited as the icon moved, slowly but steadily through the forest. Right when it was getting a bit too close for comfort, which was actually a pretty big distance since Achylys was aware of its humongous size, he left the minimap and dove through the piles of information.

Eventually, after scrolling through , , and , he finally came across what he was looking for:

Major weaknesses:

The forest king, despite its formidable powers and abilities, possesses a weakness that seems almost comical in its specificity. The entity in question is deathly afraid of water.

Throughout its long existence, this being has had only two close brushes with mortality. In both instances, water was the culprit. The mere touch of water brings about unimaginable agony for the creature, due to a complex web of curses and weaknesses that have plagued…

[EXPAND?]

Without any hesitation, he immediately muttered to the system, "How do I rewrite this? Atleast, a single word with my providence point?"

Simply mutter Rewrite and then what you want to Rewrite, Host.

Following the system's guidelines, he muttered, "Rewrite water to dirt in ‘The mere touch of water brings about unimaginable agony’." Saying so, he gulped, watching transfixed as the letters began to shift and twist, coalescing into new forms and shapes.

At first, he couldn't make out what they were becoming, their golden hue blinding his eyes, but as the transformation neared completion, he realized with a start that they did exactly what he had wanted. Water had changed to dirt.

Will it work? He couldn't help but wonder. He wasn't actually sure whether it would—after all, the later parts of the information directly contrasted this; water made more sense than dirt. There was no reason for it to suffer unimaginable pain due to dirt, unlike water, since it was cursed by a literal Water Saintess.

Achylys took a deep breath. It would be fine if it failed. He had tried, and as a researcher, failures were but a part of life. Yes, as an amazing researcher, he would not feel bad over minor failures such as these.

Suddenly, Achylys felt the lurching sensation once more. This time, however, there was no darkness around him. Instead, he was lying amidst a broken pile of trees, a rather large piece of wood stabbed into his stomach. He stared at the blood leaking out of his stomach for a few seconds before raising his head, spotting the reason why he was lying like this—the king of the forest.

While his estimate of distance did seem to have worked out, Achylys had forgotten to account for the factor that living beings—well, at least normal living beings, unlike Achylys, flailed and made a ruckus when they were in pain. Not just crouch down and curl up for a bit. Ha, the struggles of being extraordinary. Really messes with your worldview, it does.

The king of the forest was quite literally screaming its gut out, the sheer vibrations from its voice making the ground tremble and trees get uprooted. Anyone who didn’t know better would think an earthquake was happening, and they couldn’t be blamed for assuming so. Its flailing arms were scooping up layers of earth, and it seemed Achylys had been injured by the residual force of its attack.

Sigh, I really should stop assuming everyone is like me.