Reality

The situation they were in right now... "hopeless" didn't even seem enough to describe it. Fear gripped their hearts as they began imagining the horrible death that would soon befall them. Perhaps even crazier than everything up until now, Leo found himself stumbling forward, which was impossible since he was only standing still. It was as if time itself slowed down during this short moment.

He tilted his body to the side and looked behind him, unable to believe what he saw. Maybe his eyes were deceiving him, maybe he was hallucinating, perhaps… perhaps... no. It was clear. Tears were falling from the girl's eyes, and her once beautiful face contorted with a sick and crazed expression.

Leo didn't know what to think, say, or feel. He just blanked out. This situation was just so out of his expectations. Meeting a beautiful girl in a forest, spending time together as they explored -- he even assumed that they were about to open up to each other. Didn't it all seem like it would lead to having this girl as his childhood friend, growing up, meeting again only after they grew because of some problem, and then falling in love? It made him realize that this was real. Everything was real. This wasn't some fantasy novel; this was real life, and he was about to die. Again.

"Unfairness, huh."

Now lying on the cold, hard ground, Leo had tears falling from his eyes, devoid of any emotion. He wasn't looking at the girl anymore as he lay motionless.

"AHHHHHHH!!!!!! HELP ME!!! ANYONE, HELP!!!! STAY AWAY, YOU DISGUSTING MONSTER!!"

These were the girl's screams. Leo didn't see what was happening, but it was clear that her screams would soon die down. Leo couldn't blame her. In fact, it might've been more natural to end up with the decision to sacrifice a stranger to at least increase your chances of survival. Isn't it interesting? Humans are the only kind that can be both diverse and similar at the same time. Although Leo wouldn't have done what she did, he still wanted to survive; he still wanted to live. However, the girl in this case had the same will, but the lengths she would go to just to live a moment longer were extensive, ruthless, and immoral. It was also irrational. Both exits were blocked by two Giant Serpents, yet she chose to struggle pathetically and threw her morals away before meeting death. Wouldn't she have wanted to go off like some cool person, accepting death with grace? I guess not. Thinking all this, Leo may not have noticed, but his face was now scrunched up in disgust. This is what humans truly are and what makes the world, on top of being unfair, selfish. Lying on the cold, hard ground as he thought about all this made him feel déjà vu.

"Seems strangely familiar, haha. I'm lying on the ground again, waiting for my death."

"..."

Leo's cold and hollow eyes erupted with emotion, and resolve filled his body with so much adrenaline, despite the tiredness and grogginess he felt. His eyes flashed with newfound will to live, fueled by anger.

"F*ck this world, f*ck this, f*ck everybody. I will send you all to hell."

Leo spouted curses after curses as he lifted his body up and fearlessly faced the massive serpent before him. Strangely enough, it hadn't moved from its position; it only stared at him.

He quickly assessed the situation and his mind ran in overdrive, formulating any scenario that would bring him out of this predicament alive.

"The girl's about to get eaten by the serpent, the one in front of me seems to be playing with me, and I don't think my current firepower would be enough to deal significant damage to either serpent. Since my maid couldn't face one that was probably stronger than me by leaps and bounds, then how could I? The only variable left now is…"

Leo said as he stared at the countless eggs in the middle of the chamber. Yes, he was going to smash the sh*t out of them. If this didn't work, then that was it. Perhaps the first thing he should've done upon coming to this world was adopt a cat. Maybe he would get lucky and have a chance to reincarnate again.

With his plan set, he wasted no time. Leo burst with speed as he sprinted all the way to the middle. He then made use of his newly acquired Fireball and wreaked havoc. He hadn't been able to experiment with the skill before, but upon using it, Leo found out that he could feel when the Fireball spell would be ready again through intuition. It had a short cooldown, about the size of a watermelon, and consumed his mana at a rate of 5-10 per cast. He shot Fireballs left and right, killing a lot of eggs per shot as the Fireball exploded on impact, taking out adjacent ones as well. Then, something rang in his mind as he carried out his ruthless slaughter.

[System Prompt: Host Leo Ignacius has completed the hidden quest 'Massacre'.]

[System Prompt: Host Leo Ignacius has received 25 Stat Points.]

As soon as he saw this, he quickly summoned his status window.

[Name: Leo Ignacius]

[Race: Human] [?]

[Level: 16] [16,894/24,413 Exp]

[Class: —]

[Job: —]

[Health: 20/20] [Mana: 210] [Aura: —]

[Strength: 5] [Agility: 18] [Stamina: 11]

[Intelligence: 21] [Dexterity: 7]

[Stat Points: 100]

Leo had the craziest idea ever, and what was even more insane was that he really did it. He willed to put 100 points into his intelligence without thinking about the consequences and stat equilibrium.

[System Prompt: Host Leo Ignacius has completed the hidden quest 'Neuroenhancement'.]

[System Prompt: Host Leo Ignacius has received 'Impervious Mind'.]

"..."

Leo felt nothing as he braced himself for the excruciating pain that would surely follow. Before he could further think about what happened, the two Giant Serpents slithered towards him with incredible speed, emitting an enraged cry, much louder than before.

Leo moved back until the two Giant Serpents were both in front of him, now next to each other instead of having one behind him.

"Fireball."

As the fireball, which Leo willed to put almost every ounce of his being into, resulted in about the size of a boulder, collided with the first Giant Serpent, a deafening burst reverberated through the air. Flames erupted in all directions, engulfing both the Giant Serpent and the surrounding terrain with intense heat. The searing waves of fire licked at the massive serpents, melting along the surrounding terrain. The shockwave generated by the impact blasted debris outward, making the cave unstable and causing it to dangerously collapse.

"It seems that magic scales with my Intelligence stat and the amount of mana consumed. It's nice to know I can increase the output by inputting more mana. If that was just Tier 1 magic, I can't even imagine what the next few tiers will be like."

Of course, this had only been possible because Leo was the one who cast it. But who knows, maybe there are beings in this world more than capable of erasing an entire kingdom with a snap of a finger, let alone using Tier 1 magic.

As he was about to leave because the cave was nearing collapse, he noticed the girl was still alive but unconscious. It seemed that she hadn't witnessed any of what happened. Leo coldly stared at the girl, and after some time, the entire cave eventually collapsed.

Leo arrived outside the waterfall and dropped the girl on the ground. The pain from the fall might have woken her up, and she looked around to find out that she was still alive. The girl couldn't contain her sigh of relief, but then the realization of what happened dawned on her when she saw the boy who she had readily pushed for her own sake.

"..."

"..."

Like their first encounter, they locked eyes, but this time it was much less pleasant. The girl wished to just burrow herself onto the ground.