There's surprisingly little that goes on in your mind when running from giant demons who want to eat you. One of them is ‘Oh god why’ and another is ‘why didn’t I do more cardio.’

“Can we talk this out?!” I turned my head briefly to look behind me while still making a beeline through the forest I had found myself in. Massive trees towered overhead, casting shade over the once tranquil forest. Rays of sun peeked through the holes in the green curtain above just enough that I could see my chaser in perfect clarity.

Honestly, I wish I wasn’t able to.

A ear shattering roar that came from a mouth that only its mother could love was my answer, and even then that was a toss-up. I cringed at the noise, nearly stumbling over a root as the roar seemed to wash over me with a physical force.

The demon, as I had lovingly dubbed him in my head, easily stood a good 12 feet in height. Absurd muscles stretched against pale white skin with every movement, highlighting the fact that it only wore the hides of what I assumed were deer as a sort of skirt. Something that was uncomfortably short for my liking. I mean, if you’re going to chase me with murder in your eyes you need the decency to keep your unmentionables… unmentioned.

In any case, despite the demon’s size, the largest thing that gave them their name in my mind were the large, red, ram-like horns that grew from its forehead. If those were not the sign of a demon, then I would like to speak to a different fantasy author.

Of course, it’s not like anyone could hear me. I was monologuing what were perhaps my last moments in this world. This was just a coping mechanism for all I knew. Still, it helped distract me from the state my body was in. Every breath in my chest felt heavy and strained; like a weight was slowly collapsing my ribs. My legs pumped as hard as they could while I made sure to not trip over any roots.

Hah, I would hate to die by tripping over some dumb root. That’s a dumb cliche that only dumb protagonists do to create tension. I mean, I already had enough tension as is.

It was disheartening, but I knew that soon something had to give. That would most likely be me as I was sure I had run a damn marathon for how tired I was feeling right now. The demon certainly hadn’t given up from the tremors I could feel from the guy simply running.

My only saving grace was the fact that the trees that surrounded us were large enough that the massive demon couldn’t just charge straight through them to get to me. It had to twist and turn to run through them, and because of that, it hadn’t caught up to me despite it definitely being faster than me. Of course, no matter how many times I tried to drag it through the most complicated route, I still didn’t have enough speed or stamina to keep this chase going.

Now it was time for me to figure out a way to escape. My knowledge on forested terrain was sadly nil, and I had long given up looking for a vine I could hopefully use to either trip it up or climb on. The trees around us were too high, so any vines were so far up that I’d probably set a high jumping world record before reaching them. That is if the demon behind me wasn’t competing in the same competition… Wow, I actually had that thought. Is the adrenaline and fear getting to me?

“How are you *huff* holding up, big guy?!” I yelled without turning around, hoping that maybe the demon would give up. Another jarring roar confirms that he’s still fine and perfectly capable of ripping me to shreds. Shame.

However, as I was debating whether or not to lead my very angry companion on another twisting forest cardio exercise, I heard something unmistakable.

Water.

Sure, hearing it from here meant that those were probably rapids, and I was in no shape to be braving those with just my body, but it’s chances of survival sure as hell beat the chance that maybe the demon was chasing me about my car’s extended warranty. In a situation like now, I really had no choice but to take any chance I could think of.

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My legs were filled with renewed energy as I made a mad dash through the forest, drawing ever closer to the sounds of rushing water. Then, my hopes came to a crashing halt as I was forced to stop my sprint, tripping over an uneven part of land and rolling head over ass before skidding to a stop near a ledge.

A precipice jutted out unevenly and seemed to stretch onwards to my left and right until I couldn’t make out anything in the distance. Finally, to my left, I saw the source of the rushing water. A waterfall descended over the side of the precipice, falling down into what looked like a lake that transitioned into another river below. To me it didn’t look like that far of a drop.

It was something that should have spurned me to move, but my attention was momentarily caught by the sight before my eyes. Scattered across the horizon were islands that seemed to just float above the land. Some had waterfalls that crashed into the land below while others just hung in the air with vegetation growing on them as if there were no problems.

“I kinda could guess from the welcoming committee, but this sure isn’t Kansas, huh. Then, is this also…” I mused briefly before another roar startled me from my moment. Seriously can’t have good emotional scenes with this bastard behind me.

It took me less than a second to think over my options. From this height, I had no idea if hitting the water below would be like concrete, but I certainly wasn’t going to test my odds with my demon friend. With only a slight hesitation, I charged straight for the waterfall.

Just briefly before my feet landed in the water of the river going over the edge I felt a sharp breeze pass right by my back. My shirt ripped instantly and I felt a searing pain spread across my back. Something wet trailed down my lower back, and I only figured out what happened when the water around me turned a shade of scarlet when I finally entered it.

The damn demon had seemingly scrapped me with some last attack. My head popped out of the water, gasping for breath as the water stung against the open wound on my back. I had no idea how bad it was since I was probably hopped up on so much adrenaline that I probably could have broken both my arms and still went on. Though, this did mean that the drop was going to be that much more painful.

I saw the demon before he saw me, and I locked eyes with theirs. They were a startling shade of gold, but its pupil was a milky white. It’s mouth was forever pulled into a snarl as large fangs curved outwards from its lips that drooled constantly. My gaze shifted to its right arm and saw long, blackened fingernails with red splatter staining them.

It roared when it saw me, but refused to go into the water, opting to glare at me like I had somehow killed its family.

I felt my body tilting over the edge of the waterfall, and I glared back at the demon. “You’re shit at greetings, you damn demon!”

For good measure, I held my middle fingers up at it, too. I fell over the edge the next second with only the continuous sounds of what I assumed were angry roars to fill up the joy in my heart. Then, I slammed into the water below, feeling the last bits of my strength and conscious being taken by the impact.

When I finally came to, I was on my side, coughing up what felt like a gallon of water. My whole body felt like a bruise, my vision was between nonexistent and blurry, and my limbs refused to even budge. I didn’t even know you could get this tired. Or maybe I was that injured? A bit of terror filled my head at the thought of being crippled for life. That damn demon. When I get my hands on it I’ll… politely ask it not to do this again. There’s no way I can fight that beast.

Still, as my blurry vision finally cleared, I found a dripping wet, older man scowling at me. His short black hair was slicked with water, and the thin clothes he wore were thoroughly soaked through. Well, that answered my question on why I was out of the water.

Coughing another fit of water out of my lungs, I gave the man the best smile I could manage. “W-well, *cough* how’s my [status], doc?”

I blinked as something expanded in front of my eyes.

[True Name: N/A]

Name: David Wyatt

Life Rank: G-

[Stats]

Body: G

Mind: G

Soul: G+

[Class: N/A]

[Techniques: N/A]

[Skills: N/A ]

“Wha…” I was honestly speechless. However, my attention was robbed when the man clicked his tongue as he stared at me before spitting off to the side.

“Gaijin.” He said, and the way it sounded made it seem more like a curse.

I blinked, recognizing that word as the Japanese equivalent for foreigner or outsider. That certainly made things… different.