Zuria Benedict Kalion was once a person full of confidence and pride. Yet, after many disappointments, betrayals, heartbreaks, and failures, he had become what he was today.
Now he was a pathetic, cowardly, and hypocritical human. He had every right to be homeless and deserved to be alone, for he didn't want to make any progress, work hard, or better himself. That was what he had become, and it was exactly what he had once hated...
Every day, all he thought about was nothing but a way to kill himself. His depression had turned him into a parasite that couldn't move forward.
Calling him an insect was an insult to real insects!
However, at this moment, this pathetic human was working hard to survive, betraying his own desire to kill himself and die.
A greater emotion called Fear had drowned all his depression, making him take that first step of progress for the first time in forever.
Fear of being consumed. Fear of the pain that would come if he were eaten. Fear of still being alive while being corroded inside a monster's stomach, the slow, torturous death...
Imagining all that finally let Zuria cast his first spell in this new world.
A simple light-blue Fireball hovered above his right hand.
From Benedict's memories, since he was just an apprentice mage, this Fireball was the only thing he knew. The rest was just explanations of how to absorb Mana and create a Mana Core.
All efforts considered, Zuria's expression was utterly devoid of satisfaction, showing only despair and resignation.
"So be it. If I'm going to become food, then food I am." He let out a deep, helpless sigh.
What could a Fireball do to that gigantic monster? Tickle it?
He even tried other magic, like Hellfire or Fire Blast and all that chuni stuff he knew from CGA (Comic Game Anime), but it was useless!
All he could cast was this stupid Fireball his previous body's owner had learned.
But still, progress was progress. At least he could light a bonfire for warmth...
Like hell that's going to be useful in a fight with a monster! he thought angrily.
A small monster, maybe. But a Leviathan? A big-ass monster as tall as a skyscraper? No waaayy~
A small chuckle escaped his lips. With all that had been going on, he found that resigning himself to the situation brought a strange sense of calmness.
Just like that time he had raced to complete a project for his company. He had even lost sleep for several days, yet in the end, the one who benefited from it was his friend... His best friend.
Dark thoughts filled his mind again as depression took over his positive thinking.
In the end, only results matter. As for morality, kindness, and justice? It's all a dog-shit illusion the weak beg the strong for.
And he, Zuria, was a weak person who kept enduring... He endured the injustice, he endured being trampled, he endured, endured, and kept enduring until he lost his mind!
He once considered murder. Then he remembered his sick and weak mother, so he threw those thoughts away... Until his mother died because he lost his job and couldn't pay her medical fees.
There was a time when he REALLY tried to murder his once-best friend, and he almost killed him. But wealth and power made him realize how utterly insignificant he was...
The poor will always be poor, and the wealthy will always be wealthy.
He had heard that saying from a homeless man who took pity on him and gave him food.
Zuria shook his head as if to stop those distant memories from invading his mind. Then he said with a dark chuckle, "I know that every human fears death. Even I fear it. I won't deny that truth."
He pondered for a moment, then continued. "My life back then was full of stupidity. Am I going to be stupid in this life too? Am I still going to cling to my memories? Memories that I know time will erase? Even though I got this second chance at life?"
"I know this new chance is a difficult one. But aren't I still 15 in this world? Young and still full of potential. And there's Magic in this world, isn't there? Full of possibilities, as long as I keep learning and working hard."
Zuria kept talking to himself in a monotone voice, his eyes vacant and his expression blank.
Then a sudden, violent tremor brought him back to reality!
Learning was for tomorrow. Working hard was for next week. And fucking survival was for now! That is, if he didn't want to become monster food.
So he slowly crept to the entrance of his hiding spot and carefully leaned his head out to see just what kind of nightmare he was about to face.
And sure enough, what he saw was another giant Demonic Beast. It was different from the centipede-like creature before.
It had come from the direction he had been heading, out of the deepest part of the forest.
This one looked just like an ogre, but several times bigger, taller than a thirteen-story building. Its skin was dark purple, with an oil-like substance dripping from it. He could smell the nauseating stench even from far away. It almost made him retch, but he managed to hold it in without making a sound.
He pulled his head back in and waited, not daring to make a noise. If it can't see me, then it can't eat me. Don't move. Don't breathe.
But the tremor didn't stop. It became a sickening, low thumping that rattled the dust from the ceiling of his tiny alcove. The rhythm was slow, heavy, and horrifyingly deliberate. Thump... Thump... Thump.
He could feel it getting closer.
The nauseating stench of the giant, dark-purple ogre intensified, now thick enough to taste, a metallic, rotten sweetness that burned his sinuses. He didn't need to look to know the beast was near the entrance of his hiding spot, perhaps even right outside. The creature's movements were so massive that they displaced the air itself, creating a subtle pressure wave that pushed against the fabric of his clothes. Impossible as it was, he felt like he could sense the mountain of muscle and oily skin through the vibrations in the stone.
Zuria's heart started to beat violently as tension filled his mind and body.
What he didn't know was that the beast already knew his whereabouts. All Demonic Beasts could sense the vibration of Mana, and because he was constantly absorbing and consuming Mana, he was a perfect target for curious Demonic Beasts.
Normally, a gigantic Demonic Beast like this never left the very core of the Abyssal Forest, the deepest place, where not a single knight or mage had ever returned from. But as luck would have it, the disturbance in the Mana had spread all the way down into the depths and reached it. Curious, it had crawled out of its lair to see what kind of being could stir the Mana in the atmosphere.
Ironically, it had come from the very direction Zuria had been walking toward, seeking his death.
Had Zuria left this forest a few days ago, his life could have been easier and fairly relaxed. Maybe a little tension from being pursued by assassins, but at least he would have faced human trouble, not this nightmare horror.
Misfortune truly always strikes when someone already has problems, making their life even more miserable and hard.
He could blame no one but himself for what was happening right now. But alas, Zuria remained clueless and thought this was just business as usual in the Abyssal Forest.
°°°°°°°
As Zuria crouched there, trying to think of a way to escape without being noticed, the stone-like ceiling above him was ripped apart!
Dirt and stones flew everywhere as he threw himself out just to avoid being crushed and buried.
Booomm!
The Ogre's fist smashed his hiding place apart, causing a small earthquake. A cyclone then blasted Zuria's battered body into the Ogre's left foot.
In the eyes of that gigantic creature, a human was surely no different from an ant, small and pitifully weak. A single press of its finger would be enough to squash a human to death.
Fortunately, however, the Ogre just stood there as if amused by what it saw. It moved its leg away from Zuria's body as if shaking off a dirty bug.
And all Zuria could do was gasp and groan in pain. His back bones were fractured and some were broken, and blood spurted from his mouth like a geyser.
"Cough! Cough!"
Hatred and anger clouded his eyes as he tried to force his body upright.
Adrenaline burned as he conjured a light-blue Fireball in each hand, each the size of a basketball, and hurled them at the Ogre's legs.
The twin Fireballs hit like two impotent blue sparks against a purple mountain of muscle. The Ogre paused, a low, guttural chuckle vibrating the very air, its oil-slicked body shimmering with an impervious quality. Zuria collapsed, his lungs burning, watching his only weapon fail. This was it... Either he'd be food or just an insignificant squashed bug.
But before the beast could lower its head or lift a foot for the killing blow, a strange corrosive wound began to appear on the Ogre's legs, right where the Fireballs had hit.
It spread so fast, as if fueled by the Ogre's oily skin, climbing upward until it covered its whole body.
The Ogre let out a guttural scream and fell, thrashing around in pain.
Zuria's injured body was once again blown away by the impact of the fall. He was tossed and tumbled for several meters before finally stopping.
He let out a pained cough and tried to get up, his body trembling and wobbling as he forced himself to look at the Ogre.
The thrashing, wailing body was covered in corrosive wounds, as if it were being digested slowly and painfully. Bit by bit, its skin, muscle, and meat sloughed off in smoking, dark purple chunks. A smell like spoiled milk and burning rubber filled the air, a foul testament to the horror in front of him. The Ogre's roar of pain quickly turned into a gurgling, wet shriek as its neck slowly turned to mush, collapsing its windpipe. The massive body shuddered one last, violent time, then fell silent, dissolving into a pool of bubbling, toxic sludge.
As for Zuria? He just stared, dumbfounded, his mouth wide open and his eyebrows raised high.