I woke slowly.
At first, everything was blurry and muffled—like waking underwater.
I didn't notice much at first.
Just the faint taste of dust in my mouth and the dull ache in my limbs.
Then my eyes adjusted.
And I saw it.
The world around me wasn't just dark—it was crimson.
Everything bathed in a deep, burning red light.
Huh?
A chill ran down my spine, even though the air felt heavy and thick.
I blinked. Twice. Thrice. Still red.
I sat up a little too fast and almost face-planted.
My heart kicked in, and my brain started firing alarms.
What the hell is this?
I looked down at my hands. Still mine. No horns or claws. That's a plus.
Then I noticed the cracked, black ground beneath me.
My breath caught.
Did I just wake up in hell?
I glanced around nervously, like I might spot the devil checking his watch.
And then the worst thought hit me.
Did I kill the wrong people?
Were they even bad guys?
I swallowed hard, trying to ignore the pounding in my chest.
Because honestly, this was not how I wanted to go.
I took a shaky breath and forced myself to sit still.
Okay. Calm down, Ark.
Think.
What happened?
I remember running. The gorilla. That green crystal. Ritual . DIY raid. Being yeeted into the portal . Being almost crushed to death by something.
And... this place.
Not exactly a vacation spot.
My head ached like I'd been hit with a hammer, but I tried to piece it all together.
No way was this normal.
Something had gone seriously wrong.
But maybe... just maybe, I was still alive.
And that meant there was a chance.
A chance to figure this out.
To fix whatever mess I'd walked into.
I wiped the dust from my hoodie and looked up.
The red sky didn't seem any less scary.
But I was still here.
And for now, that had to be enough.
I exhaled slowly, rubbing my finger where the crystal had burned against my skin.
That thing saved me again, didn't it?
Twice now.
I looked around, still seated on the blackened ground.
And that's when I noticed it.
Scattered around me... were the same things from the basement.
The broken shelves. Pieces of burnt wood. A half-melted chair. Even the walls—the walls—had somehow come through, chunks of brick and plaster embedded in the cracked earth like they'd fallen from the sky.
And people.
What was left of them, anyway.
I quickly looked away.
But the most items missing were the ritual items.
I swallowed, suddenly aware of how exposed I was. How empty my hands felt.
That's when I saw the knife.
The same one I'd used to finish off one of cultists.
It lay a few feet away, half-buried in red dust.
I reached for it without thinking, fingers closing around the handle.
It wasn't much. But right now, it was something.
And in a place like this, I needed something.
The world around me stretched endlessly—red skies, black earth, and the soft whine of wind blowing over nothing.
No buildings. No signs. Just... hellish emptiness.
I looked down at my shoes, still coated in dust and a little blood.
Then back up at the landscape.
I wasn't in my city anymore. That much was obvious.
"...Another world?" I muttered under my breath.
My brain didn't want to say it out loud, but the pieces were adding up fast.
The ritual. The portal. The red sky. The gravity that nearly crushed my lungs.
I've read enough light novels to know where this was going.
So, naturally, I did the first thing any loser who's seen too much anime would do.
I cleared my throat.
Then whispered, "Status window."
...Nothing.
"System?"
Nope.
"Guide? Mysterious voice? Floating blue screen?"
The sky groaned a little in the distance, but otherwise—radio silence.
I waited a beat longer just in case I was being pranked by the gods.
I stood there in silence.
"…Analysis."
Nothing.
"…Appraisal!"
Still nothing.
A breeze passed.
I lowered my hand slowly.
Did I really just say that out loud?
I rubbed my face. Trying to slap the shame back into my face
I needed help. Not from a system. From a therapist.
I picked up the pouch, brushing off the dust.
Inside were eight green crystals.
Two had already saved my life. The rest sat nestled together, faintly glowing, like little pieces of bottled lightning.
I don't know what these are…
But if one kept me alive in this nightmare, I'm not wasting the rest.
I tightened my grip on the pouch and stood up. I didn't have a plan—but at least I wasn't empty handed anymore.
Just as I tucked the pouch into my hoodie, I heard it.
A sound.
Low. Rough.
Something being dragged across stone.
My whole body tensed.
I dropped flat onto the ground—no cover, no buildings, nothing but scattered rubble around me.
I lifted my head just enough to see.
Far off, the red landscape shifted. Black rocks jutted upward in jagged spikes, like a field of broken spears.
And from between them… something moved.
Slow. Crawling. Heavy.
I didn't wait to get a better look.
I grabbed whatever I could—splintered wood, a chunk of plaster, bent metal—and started piling it over myself to hide.
Not perfect. Not even good.
But it was better than sitting here like an idiot in a spotlight.
Under the debris, I held my breath and tried not to move.
Whatever that thing is,please don't see me. Please don't see me.
The dragging got louder.
Closer.
Through the cracks in the debris, I caught glimpses between the rubble.
And I wished I hadn't.
It was crawling—or maybe sliding—through the red dust, moving like it didn't care how the ground screamed beneath it. Its whole body was pale, stretched, twitching like it didn't quite belong in its own skin.
It didn't walk.
It crawled on its back—its chest facing the sky, head twisted completely around.
And its legs—if you could call them that—were tentacles. Thick, slick, writhing. At the end of each was a jagged, metal-like blade that scraped against the earth, carving long trails into the stone.
Its arms flailed occasionally, twitching like it was trying to swat at something that wasn't there.
And its face…
No.
I closed my eyes.
I didn't want to remember that face.
It wasn't just wrong—it was empty. Like someone had tried to draw a human expression but ran out of space and gave up halfway.
It stopped.
Right near where I was hiding.
The tentacles twitched. Blades scraped against rubble.
And I stayed perfectly still.
Not breathing.
Not blinking.
Just one sound… and I was dead.
It stopped just ahead, twitching.
Then—slowly—it turned.
Its back now faced me.
Right where I was hiding.
I didn't move.
Didn't even blink.
Maybe it's not hostile, I thought, lying to myself.
Who knows? Maybe it's misunderstood. Maybe it's shy. Kind at heart. People say not to judge by appearances, right?
Then it reached down with one of its twitching arms and grabbed a corpse from the rubble.
One of the cultists.
It didn't hesitate.
It tore into the body with its teeth like it was biting into overcooked meat. Strings of flesh dangled from its jaw, and a wet sound filled the air as it chewed.
I felt my stomach twist.
Tears welled in my eyes.
I take it back.
I judge. I judge hard.
I buried my face into my arm.
And prayed it didn't notice the sound of me slowly losing the will to live.
It kept chewing.
Slow. Wet. Horrible.
Then—
It stopped.
Everything went still.
I held my breath, heart hammering.
Maybe it's full, I thought. Maybe it's—
Snap.
Its neck twisted with a sharp crack, spinning a full 360° like its spine didn't matter.
And its empty face was looking right at me.
"Oh helll nooo."
The tentacles twitched.
Then it screamed—no sound, just an open mouth splitting far too wide—
And it charged.
Blades scraped. Stones shattered.
I threw off the debris and ran on all four.
It was fast.Too fast.
A blur of blades and bone and twitching limbs.
One of its tentacle-blades came down toward my head.
I ducked—barely. I felt the wind as it sliced the air where my skull had been.
I gripped the knife and lunged for its neck, jabbing upward with all I had left.
The knife shattered on contact.
Like stabbing a slab of metal.
Then all of a sudden,my stomach flared with pain.
When I looked down ,another blade raked across me—deep, hot, tearing skin and muscle. I hit the ground hard, gasping, blood soaking through my hoodie.
I reached into my pocket with trembling fingers, groping for a crystal.
I found one.
Then dropped it.
Shi—
I scrambled for it, but something slammed into my arm.
"Arghhhhhhhhhhhh"
I couldn't feel my hand anymore.
Couldn't even see it.
Gone. cut off clean.
The world blurred.
The monster screeched, mouth wide.
I rolled, body half-dead, until my face landed next to the fallen crystal. So I picked it up with my mouth and prepare to bite it down.
But the thing was already lunging.
But when I look at it one last time, it's mouth is wide open,and the insides looks softer and vulnerable.
My only shot.
I grabbed a sharp rock with my good hand and charged.
Its mouth opened wide, that same horrible expression, stretching unnaturally.
I didn't stop.
I jammed my hand down its throat.
And it bit.
Its teeth clamped down.
My nerves exploded with pain. My body wanted to collapse.
I couldn't scream.
I could barely think.
The crystal.
I leaned my head down and bit into it, shards cutting my tongue and gums.
The energy surged through me—warm, violent, alive.
My right arm healed inside its mouth.
Bones snapped back.
Flesh reformed.
Fingers moved again.
And then I stabbed.
I slashed wildly with the rock, tearing into the soft, weak tissue deep inside its throat. No blood leaked at all, thick and choking.
It thrashed, convulsed.
But I held on.
And kept stabbing.
I didn't stop until it stopped moving.
It spasmed once.
Twice.
Then collapsed.
The thing hit the ground like a pile of meat and stone, twitching limbs finally still. Its gaping mouth hung open, steaming slightly in the red air.
I pulled my arm out, hand slick with... not blood. Just a weird, cold slime. Like whatever it was made of had no business existing in a living body.
I stumbled back, feet unsteady. My lungs burned. My stomach still throbbed, every breath a dull knife digging deeper.
My knees gave out.
I fell hard, barely catching myself with my good hand.
It was over.
I'd killed it. Somehow. I should've felt something—relief, triumph, anything.
Instead?
Just pain.
Blinding, all-consuming pain.
My vision blurred. My head pounded. The ground tilted sideways beneath me.
The crystals were working—healing me, fixing what should've killed me ten times over—but that didn't stop the pain. It just dragged it out.
Everything hurt.
Everything ached.
My body wasn't made for this. I wasn't made for this.
And finally—
I collapsed beside the thing I'd just killed.
My mouth opened to gasp again, but no sound came.
The red sky spun above me.
Eh ... again?
Darkness took over.