Sean was sure that even if the monster ate him, it would not be spared from its fate to die soon.
It made him slightly conflicted that his death wouldn't even contribute to its life. He knew this scenario all too well — clinging to something even if it's impossible to get.
"Humans—monsters, in the end, they are all the same."
Sean mumbled as his hands were still raised. The limping monster was just a meter away, and as if it heard what he said, using the last bit of energy left, it raised a claw and — at an inhumane speed — the claw advanced toward his neck.
"Hope this is fast…"
Moments away from dying, Sean hoped for a painless death.
But, as if to oppose every scenario he could have imagined, the wolf's other claw gave out and it fell. The attacking claw missed, grazing to the side of his shoulder. Even without direct contact, it still left a cut behind. The wolf collapsed with a thud, and the ground cracked.
Sean was in a daze. His thoughts rushed from the cut on his shoulder to the crack in the ground.
"Wh-whatt!?"
He felt something below his feet, and without warning, the ground began to shake — looking as if it would collapse at any moment.
Sean quickly turned toward the wolf and jumped over its head. With the impact he made, the entire ground around him gave way. Sean gritted his teeth and held tightly to the wolf-monster's head by pure human instinct.
"I did not sign up for this shit!!!"
Sean was falling. He stole a glance at the sky and the area around him, but before he could discern the surroundings, he felt an impact below — leaving him unconscious.
Sean's eyes twitched, but he didn't open them. He was finally conscious, but kept his eyes shut. His whole body ached. He felt the pain in his shoulder's cut but no blood flowing — it had already dried. That gave him a rough idea: he'd been unconscious for a few hours.
Sean still didn't want to open his eyes. He could feel the wolf monster below him, probably dead.
'Now what? Was it this hard to die? This can't be serious…'
Sean wasn't fully in his right mind. He wanted to sleep again, but slowly opened his eyes, facing upwards. He saw the sky through the hole above — he was in a huge underground space. The sky looked dim. Night was about to fall.
He crawled to the wolf's stomach and lay down again, still tired. Facing the sky, drowsy, he closed his eyes.
"I'll deal with this later, right now I fee—..."
He mumbled as he fell asleep before he could finish his thought.
"What time is it?"
Sean rubbed his eyes as he woke up, feeling a little better.
"Right, I fell. I failed... Is this funny or something? Should I laugh?"
He said this aloud, anger all over his face.
"Oof."
He stood up, and his eyes finally adjusted as he was able to see where he was.
"What the--!??"
Sean was in a massive underground space. His mouth hung open in shock. The moon of this world shone directly above him, illuminating the entire place — with him in the center, on top of a dead monster. The area was full of vines and roots.
The roots were as thick as tree trunks, stretching even deeper into the earth. Strangely, he saw no monsters nearby, but the hole above was truly gigantic.
There were crumbled walls at the far end that looked man-made. Sean knew there had been ancient civilizations on Aliha, but he'd never known of a place like this. He turned around to see the source of the largest root — but what he saw made him gasp.
It wasn't a root — it was a statue. A human statue, made of some dark stone. The figure looked like a woman. She had long hair and her body was clad in heavy armor. Her eyes, ears, nose, and jawline were sharp. Her arms rested on a sword placed vertically in front of her.
Sean stepped closer and touched the statue's hands, which were resting on the sword's hilt.
"This woman is truly beautiful."
Sean had to lift his gaze to look at her — she stood about seven feet tall.
'Humans. Right, humans did live in this world thousands of years ago…'
It was one thing to read about ancient, magical civilizations. It was another to witness their remnants in person. Sean, being a knowledge-seeker, was without a doubt fascinated. He carefully studied the statue, walking around it, taking in every detail.
When he returned to his original spot, his mind drifted back to his main concern — dying.
He looked up at the ceiling. Roots hung down like vines, and the moonlight beamed through the massive hole, directly aligned with where he stood. It felt like he was a star on a stage, with the statue as his silent audience.
'A tall woman is all a man needs in life…'
He chuckled internally, recalling the line from some book.
Sighing deeply, Sean felt a wave of disappointment toward himself.
The woman was just an inch away from the moonlight completely consuming her.
The statue stood on a platform in the center. Strangely, the moonlight seemed like it would align with it in just a few minutes.
Sean started to wander. Despite the size of the place, he found no signs of life — just the statue and the roots. Eventually, he returned to the dead monster and the statue.
A few more minutes passed. This time, the entire platform was lit by moonlight.
"This is the part where the statue moves, am I right?"
Sean said, half-joking, looking up at the moon, remembering a scene from a book.
"No, I can't really move."
"!!!"
Sean trembled. He felt his back sweat and his hair stand on end. He'd lost his voice — just staring at the statue with wide eyes.
'T-That was definitely my inner thoughts. Ye-yes, I have attempted suicide 2 times now, s-surely I'm out of it today…'
Sean gulped, keeping his eyes locked on the statue, not moving an inch. He wasn't sure where the voice came from — or if he was just delusional.
"No, I can speak. Or maybe you'd call this telepathy. It's an interesting language people of the future use — so few words."
The voice sounded amused, curious. It didn't echo — instead, it was inside Sean's head, like wearing high-quality headphones.
'IT SPEAKS???!!!! Is this for real!? Why is it always ME with these weird situations!?'
Sean was overwhelmed with surprise, but just as he was about to respond, another thought interrupted him.
'Wait—what did she say? "No, I can speak"? Wait… does that mean my thoughts are being read??'
"Took you long enough to realize, genius."
The statue replied in a plain tone.
Sean gulped again.
"Umm... Who am I speaking with?"