Maybe I’ll try to fight it… fucking shit that’s the stupidest thought any human had ever thought! I hastily stood up from the ground, looking back at Harry’s unconscious body stuck inside a tree. The monster stared at me like time had frozen. My body stood still, my eyes couldn’t blink, my mouth wouldn’t open, and I felt as if I had already died without me realizing it.

It was an uncomfortable feeling of immobilization. Like I was inside a coffin perfectly in the shape of my body. Shaking my soul inside, forcing myself to move at this ground-nailed statue.

A few seconds later, I finally came back to my senses and immediately turned around. “Come chase me, you bastard!” I began to run, making the monster chase me as much as possible.

I was stupid, I knew I was stupid. Run by some stupid drive of 8th-grade syndrome, no, it was the drive of self-validation. Forcing a purpose on living through death. A cry for help that no one would ever hear.

Starting a new life doesn’t mean I’ll immediately change. I’m 37 yet still an idiot. Still immature. Still, a piece of shit who can’t do anything but create trouble for everyone around him. Not knowing what’s better, not knowing how life should really be, I should’ve just lo-.

I slapped myself, stopping my thoughts from continuing. My body was sturdier than I was in my past life. Though it was obvious to have a strong body being the crown prince in a fantasy world. Because of me, Harry could have died, or maybe he already was dead, but on the off chance he was alive, all I could do was run away. Make a cat-and-mouse chase to lead the monster far from Harry, far from the village.

The forest may not be dense, but the roots of each tree blossom from the ground. It wasn’t noticeable when I was walking, but running as my heart beat faster than I could perceive, with a smile that conflicted with my entire belief. My body was in confusion and panic, and so was my mind.

Each jump made my momentum slower, and each trunk hanging made my balance askew. Each one of these caused the monster to get closer and closer. I can’t think about my life choices right now, the most important thing is to survive. Even if dying right now is the easy choice and what the owner of this body deserves. However, this is still my second life, and I wasn’t going to let it go that easily.

Whenever a stem was ahead, I prepared to jump. When a trunk blocked my face, I was ready to evade. The ground beneath my feet began to shake. I knew exactly what this meant. However, based on past events, the ground shaking didn’t result in just one thing. It resulted in 3.

The first one was a wave of dirt, ready to lunch me to the air or grab my feet crippling me. The second one was a wall, stopping my tracks and enough for the monster to catch up to me immediately. Lastly, making a hole beneath my feet.

I don’t know how smart the monster is, but by risking everything to it not being smart enough to understand some strategy, I’ll remove the last one from the possibilities.

Two seconds had already passed and a wall still hadn’t popped up in front of me. That only leaves the first one, the ground was chasing after me. I didn’t want to look behind me, in case I tripped, but I had no choice.

I observed every obstacle in front of me as fast as possible, identifying the safest route. It didn’t take long, or like, I didn’t have long. Once I turned my head around to look behind me, the wave of ground had already uprooted all the grass and bent all the trees, it was just a meter away from me.

There were no trees to my side, and so by forcing all my strength to my legs, I jumped to the side, rolled my entire body, and stood up as fast as I could. The sound of falling trees and the silent steps of the monster made its presence much scarier.

Despite its size, it was extremely quiet. Sound was the thing chasing me.

After its first attack failed, just a few minutes later the ground shook again. I was sure walls would block me this time. Keeping my eyes closed to the ground and clearing my mind for utmost focus, I waited.

In a split second, a half-cylindrical shape erupted from the ground by an inch. As soon as I noticed it, I jumped forward, it didn’t matter if I was caught up in it or not, what mattered was that I made it through.

There were two solutions to the wall, it was very simple, either just go around it as soon as you notice it, or jump over it. Of course, both ways would result in the same thing, but successfully going over the wall saves a few seconds which is more important than anything.

My hands fisted like they were going to break. My face squished till my jaw cramped. In that jump, I placed all the strength I could muster. “Ahhhhhhh!!!”

The ground immediately shut up, catching my feet and flipping me forward. I groveled on the ground for a second, lifting my body as soon as I got control. With the amount of damage I had taken the entire day, I haven’t gotten a single fatal injury other than scratches that sting like hell.

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It felt like my entire body was being smashed by a wooden bat impaled by multiple nails. The more I ran, the more it didn’t feel like a chase but a beatdown of my body. Even if this body had more capabilities than I have ever experienced, my mentality cannot handle such a thing any longer.

The monster broke through the giant dirt wall, bumping his ground, wasting him a good few seconds. At that moment, I realized I could just hide behind a tree. It was already too far for it to clearly see me, even if the trees were clearly open to the sky, that monster was too big to notice someone like me. But, I didn’t. Because I didn’t want to.

Run, run, run. I ran. My legs kept moving despite the fears, the exhaustion, and the pain, despite everything, I went on. Ever since I was a kid, I was never able to run even more than a minute. I wanted power and physical abilities beyond normal beings. But that was just it, I just wanted it, I didn’t have the effort for it.

I was ambitious but lazy, that was the best explanation for me. Like every other human.

At the end of my left eye, I spotted a hill behind trees. It reached the dark sky, observing the vast forest. Then by looking at the mountain for a split second, there was a hole beneath it, a small entrance to a cave.

Behind me was a monster bigger than a tree at a height of 10 meters. There was no conceivable chance of ever defeating such a monster or at least, I don’t. My only option from the very beginning was to run and escape this chase.

I took a quick glance at the distance between me and the monster. It was around 20 meters. That’s enough for me to run into the cave, hide, and wait till the monster wanders away.

I changed my direction instantly and hugged the trees, hiding my presence. Without looking back or listening to the noise, I focused on my obstacles, running as fast as I possibly could. I ran not realizing just how fast this body was. In just a few minutes I arrived.

The monster was nowhere to be seen in my tracks. Only its purple fur was barely visible above the trees. The entrance to the cave was just small enough to perfectly fit a human being. It was immediately dark, hiding from the outside world as the became narrower and narrower.

My body was squished inside, sliding every part of my body sideways, inching deeper. I could have just stayed in the uncomfortable position for an hour till the monster disappeared, but with my body already in pain, I didn’t want to risk pressuring it any longer.

Without being able to see, or move effectively, I continued deeper. Every move of my body got me an inch closer. The thickness of my clothes had probably screwed me over. Each second I heard the sound of tearing fabric.

But I kept going, either way, they were just clothes. Sooner than later I was tired, so tired that I stopped and I didn’t like that.

When I was a kid, because of my family's numerous problems, my mom told me something that I never realized the significance of until I became like that as well. “I don’t like thinking when I’m not busy, because it makes me remember all of my problems.”

At the time, I always wondered why she just couldn’t ignore it. She functions normally when doing things, so why couldn’t she do the same when she doesn’t do anything? It was hard to understand before, but when I entered adulthood, I realized that… our problems are so heavy we can’t just simply ignore them.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Idiot! Couldn’t you just live a comfortable life in another world? You’re a prince. A fucking crown prince. Why did you have to go and fall in love with death and do this to yourself? Why?! Why?! Fuck! You are not young anymore…

…

Why do I keep doing this to myself?

…

Validation? A goal?

…

I pride myself in being able to read others… but why can I never understand myself?

…

I released an agonizing sigh along with tears from my eyes.

I can’t even remove it. My eyes way too fucking itchy now and I can’t even. I. I.

I blinked my eyes multiple times to scratch. Forcing my eyes closed and my mind blank, I continued on. Never in my life did I like facing my problems, nor did I ever solve any.

I’m a coward.

After a few more minutes of inching sideways, my hand left hand felt free. I waved it in enjoyment, hurrying the rest of my body outside the dark spacious room. Once I arrived in this cave I just realized it was stupid to even squeeze myself in the first place. There was no guarantee an area was actually located on the other side.

Believing blindly helped me. I was lucky.

“So… what do I do now?” My face was eventually faced with a moderate gust of wind. Splashing my face with a cozy breeze that neither stretched my skin nor only hit a specific part of my body.

The cave was showering me with cold wind that made me want to sleep. It moved like it was coming from every direction. I relaxed myself, enveloping the wind as it weirdly relieved my muscles.

But soon, it stopped. Then a barrage of multiple short bursts of wind entered my ear. My eyelids became brighter and brighter.

“What? Is this actually a…” I opened my eyes, laying before a straight path. The end had a small raised patch of dirt with a corpse sitting on a lotus position on top of it. On his lap was a ragged brown book.

“This is what they call plot armor huh? No, this is what they call cheating.”

I’ve seen such scenes many times. It was obvious.