Hunter Hunted

It was 4 hours past midnight, the darkness still present with the first quarter moon which shined and provided slight brightness in the sites it shined, and the time Aisam had planned to escape had arrived.

Noticing an opportunity from the corner of his eye, Aisam slowly opened his eyes and cautiously stood up from his bed, carefully waking from his feigned sleep.

He quietly knelt on the floor, stretching his hand under the bed. In the darkness, he retrieved his completely dark black clothing, barely visible in the night, and his dagger sheathed in a black leather scabbard hidden beneath.

He carefully wore his clothing and his shoes, fastened the dagger on his waist hidden behind the fabric of his clothing, and went towards the window of his room to jump outside into the forest.

As he reached the window and gazed at the forest shrouded in the darkness of the night, the prospect of countless unknown encounters and accidents sent a ripple of nervousness through him, causing his heart to suddenly race.

As he noticed what he was thinking and feeling after a few seconds, he quickly held his head with both hands and pressed it, "I know I'm not nervous... if you're still somewhere in me Erebus, calm down! We can reach nowhere if we do it your way," Aisam said to himself quietly but seriously, and it caused his heartbeat to become normal again as the ripples of nervousness faded away.

Feeling his emotions stabilize, Aisam cautiously opened the window. He then moved to the other side and firmly clutched the windowsill with his hands.

After looking down for a few seconds to examine his landing ground and not noticing anything dangerous, swaying his body a few times, he jumped on the grass beside the trees not so far and approximately 1 meter from him.

Although he expected to feel an endurable pain, he felt almost nothing like he had not jumped from a two-story house and 20 feet in height.

"So this is also one of the effects of the constitution... Alright, Time to go!" Aisam thought then quickly disappeared into the forest without looking at his back.

...

Strolling through the woods he could see better than he expected despite the present darkness and the tall trees preventing the moon's light from fully reaching down, but it was still not enough as he would occasionally stumble or crash into trees.

"I wish I had more strength to climb up the trees... this is annoying," Aisam said to himself then continued walking straight forward without a clear destination.

After an hour of walking through the dense forest, Aisam couldn't detect any monsters or similar creatures in the eerily quiet forest. Only the occasional rustle of small animals like squirrels and mice scurrying about under the trees broke the silence.

As he glanced up, Aisam noticed the moon sinking low on the horizon, preparing to give way to the sunrise. "Come on, monster, make an appearance already. How much longer do I have to search?" Aisam muttered, more irritated by the lack of action than surprised.

Suddenly, a mild discomfort tingled at his ankle, and he peered down to find a small snake, barely a meter long, clamped onto his skin. Surprisingly, he felt minimal shock—not from the snake's bite, but from his own resilience. "I never imagined my endurance would come in handy like this," Aisam mused, removing the snake's fangs from his flesh with ease.

Gripping the serpent firmly, Aisam extracted his dagger from its sheath and swiftly ended its writhing form. As the snake thrashed in its death throes, Aisam nonchalantly disposed of it to the side.

Exhaling heavily, Aisam contemplated his uncertain future, muttering to himself, "What sort of existence awaits me in this world? I'm clueless..." With a brief pause to collect his thoughts, he was roused by a sudden, piercing scream—a woman's cry echoing through the forest depths.

"Hmm, perhaps someone has encountered the very creature I've been pursuing for hours. Let's see what's afoot," Aisam mused apathetically, then jogged with casual alertness toward the source of the alarming shriek.

He was about 10 meters away from the woman's location, so he tried to detect what's the monster or thing with his 'Sixth Sense' skill, but he couldn't sense any danger.

"It probably means 2 things. It's either not dangerous or so dangerous my skill can't detect it... I have to approach it carefully and judge it for myself first, after all, who knows when I can find another monster," Aisam thought as he cautiously got closer to the impending danger.

Reaching it, he hid behind a tree and looked to the side, and the sight he witnessed disappointed and surprised him simultaneously.

On one side stood a slender young white woman with blonde hair and glowing golden eyes. She wore tattered white clothes that exposed parts of her belly and thighs, blood marks scattered on her body and clothes, and her silver armor was broken, with only fragments remaining on her body. Holding a silver longsword in her hand. She was perspiring, breathing unsteadily, and struggling to maintain her balance.

"JASON! PLEASE! Don't force me to do that to you! Please come back home!" the woman said with a teary tone to the man who was standing in front of her.

The young man in front of her seemed extremely strange yet humanoid. He was floating slightly above the ground with his skin turned noticeably gray as the veins all over his body bulged. He only wore black tattered pants which revealed his truly fit body, and had dark brown and melancholic eyes as he was holding a black longsword emanating dark ominous energy from it.

"I have already decided, and you can not stop me. I have to take revenge on humans, and you will be a victim as well if you try to stop me." The man said nonchalantly still holding the same melancholic expression.

"...Well, they're not monsters as it seems probably just a family issue... I will just take my leave, and find a monster for myself because they don't seem like people I can deal with," Aisam said to himself indifferently and decided to leave them be.

As he was about to leave, he accidentally stepped on a branch which caught the attention of both of them.

"SHIT, TIME TO RUN!" Aisam thought as he noticed his mistake, and ran as fast as he could into the woods to hopefully lose them, but he suddenly felt something coming from behind. He dodged it reflexively, and it bore a hole into the tree instead of his head.

Falling over on his back, he quickly stood up by rolling backward and continued running straight while moving side to side to avoid any potential shots, and it also worked as he managed to avoid a few dangerous shots.

As he was about to think, he had lost them, and the chase was over as he looked behind. Suddenly the man from before dashed and appeared in front of him, holding him by the throat on a tree behind Aisam.

"... This is just a kid. There's no need to waste my time on you. But if you're a human... and it seems that you are one... I am afraid you have to say goodbye to your life." The man said to Aisam while holding him tightly on a tree behind Aisam.

"... Well, that was a short journey..." Aisam thought unconcernedly as he had already almost died twice since arriving in this world, assuming that his luck had probably run out.

He didn't bother taking any action as he had observed the man's strength was beyond him, and he couldn't even move an inch currently because of his incredible force.

Aisam remained composed, his expression unchanged, even as the man menacingly raised his hand, poised to strike. The man was taken aback by Aisam's lack of fear, a hint of melancholy creeping into his eyes.

"Why aren't you afraid?" he demanded in astonishment. "No one faces death so indifferently. Could it be..." Before he could complete his thought, a sudden and unexpected turn of events cut him off. A sword suddenly thrust through his chest from behind, silencing him.

"I-I'm sorry, J-Jason!" The woman from before said with a gloomy tone and teary eyes to the man as she pierced her sword deeper and deeper into his chest. This caused the man to scream in pain as blood flowed out of his mouth, his body became limp and fell to his knees.

Aisam fell to the ground, stunned and unable to act because of this turn of events, as he witnessed the man slowly die as the sword pierced him in the chest and blood overflowed from his mouth and body profusely.

"... Is someone playing with me?! No, I am just too weak and unlucky!" Aisam thought as he clenched his fist, and cursed his fate.