The figure that had materialized from nowhere stood between Ishiki and salvation—a monument to biological wrongness that made the carnivorous trees seem almost mundane by comparison.

It was massive. Easily twice Ishiki's size, perhaps more. The creature moved on four legs that ended in hooves thick as tree stumps, each one cratering the earth with impacts that should have been thunderous but somehow produced no sound at all.

The body resembled a rhinoceros—In basic structure at least. It had the same armored bulk designed for devastating charges. Hide made up of plates that looked like calcified bones, growing in irregular patterns across flanks and shoulders.

But where a rhinoceros would have had a head, where any creature with a claim to sanity would possess eyes and a snout or maybe features recognizable as face...

This thing had nothing.

The neck simply ended in an open maw—a circular orifice lined with concentric rings of teeth that spiraled inward like a tunnel descending into hell's throat.

The teeth were irregular, jagged, arranged in patterns like a meat grinder.

It looked like a worm. A massive, rhinoceros-bodied worm with a mouth.

Saliva—or something that resembled saliva—dripped from between the teeth in viscous strands.

The whole thing was nothing but a joke that crossed into existential horror.

Ishiki stood frozen for a heartbeat, mind struggling to process what he was looking at. But it wasn't that hard. Wasn't he inside the stomach of something that resembled that face, just days ago.

And for that reason, Ishiki's expression changed to that of disgust.

A branch shot toward him from the left—He dove right, rolling across roots and earth, feeling bark scrape fresh wounds into already lacerated skin and then entered a sprint as soon as he stood up.

"I don't wanna look at your ugly face, bastard... just go away!"

But the monster it seemed had come to like Ishiki or something like that.

It charged behind him with mad frenzy.

It ran on its four limbs with that heavy rhinoceros body in motion, hooves pounding earth in a rhythm that should have been deafening—like war drums. But there was no sound.

The creature's approach was utterly silent. There were no impact sounds, whatsoever.

'How is it doing that?!' Ishiki was very much frustrated and wanted to kick the beast on the face, well he couldn't, he still needed his legs to run after all.

The scene was truly bizarre. A horrifying rhino creature with a worm like face, hunting a naked prey while being hunted by the trees.

Ishiki dodged branches left and right, his skill enhanced reflexes the only thing keeping him ahead of wooden teeth and grasping bark.

Behind him, the rhino-worm beast pursued with terrifying efficiency. Its circular maw opened wide and simply consumed any branch that dared obstruct its path. Wooden limbs disappeared into that spiraling throat, chewed and swallowed.

But the trees fought back. Branches stabbed at the creature from all directions, trying to pierce that armored hide.

And they succeeded, partially. The beast's speed decreased as it had to navigate the forest's hostility, had to bite and dodge and occasionally take impacts that left scratches across its flanks.

'At least the trees are slowing it down', Ishiki thought with grim satisfaction, vaulting over a root system that tried to trip him.

"Okay now, don't tell me it can fly... where did this son of a bitch come from anyway?"

As if answering his question—the monster stopped. It halted mid-pursuit, hooves digging into earth.

Then it jumped.

The creature launched itself upward with force that spoke of strength beyond comprehension. It shot through the air like a missile fired from earth, ascending with velocity that made Ishiki's jaw drop.

It passed through the deep canopy of golden leaves, disappearing into the black sky above like it had been recalled to whatever dimension spawned it.

Ishiki stopped running and just froze in place with his neck craned upward, watching the space where the beast had vanished.

His heart filled with dread so pure it felt like ice water replacing blood in his veins.

'Carp!'

THUD!

Another tremor— the same impact as earlier rattled the earth.

Ishiki looked forward with disbelief.

The same monster stood directly in his path. That circular maw seemed to pulse with satisfaction. The spiraling teeth glistened wetly.

And for some unknown reason—perhaps the tilt of its neckless head, perhaps the way its body language suggested. Ishiki was certain, the bastard was laughing at him.

"Damn you!"

He changed direction without hesitation, veering left and sprinting toward a gap between trees that looked marginally less threatening than being devoured by a rhinoceros worm.

But no matter where he ran—left, right, diagonal trajectories that should have been unpredictable—the beast had the tenacity to show up in his path.

'Is it reading my thoughts?'

Time blurred into a desperate nightmare of running and dodging and changing direction. Ishiki's lungs burned. His legs screamed to stop and lay down. Fresh wounds opened across his body with each desperate maneuver.

An hour passed. Or maybe it was ten minutes.

And finally, the clearing he had detected so long ago came into view—just steps away through the last line of trees.

But there, standing between Ishiki and salvation, blocking his path with perfect positioning...

The monster waited.

Its circular maw opened slightly. That tongue, slithered out from between spiraling teeth, tasting air.

Ishiki's body screamed at him to run and find another route. Well... that option had died somewhere on the way.

He had no way but to fight the monster or at least make it busy.

'The trees.'

He noticed it during the chase. The trees focused their attention more on the monster than on him. [Ghost Blade] made him harder to detect, but the beast drew more aggression.

Fighting in the forest meant the trees would attack them both. That would create chaos and give him opportunities that wouldn't exist in open ground.

The clearing represented freedom from the trees, yes.

But it also meant facing this beast alone and that was something he was reluctant to do. For, he knew there was no way he would win against that thing.

"You are so ugly that I don't even wanna spit on you." Ishiki said with a mad grin.

The beast's tongue retracted slightly—perhaps offense, perhaps amusement at prey that still possessed bravado.

Ishiki took a stance, feet planted on earth soaked with his own blood, spear pointed toward the circular maw that represented certain death if he made a single mistake.

"Whatever. Come on, bastard. It doesn't matter if I die. I will take you with me."

The monster accepted his invitation.

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