Zuria Benedict Kalion was once a person full of confidence and pride. Yet, after many disappointments, betrayals, heartbreaks, and failures, he has become what he is today.
Now he is a pathetic, cowardly, and hypocritical human. He has every right to be homeless and deserves to be alone, for he doesn't want to make any progress, work hard, or better himself. That's what he has become and what he once hated...
Everyday all he think about is nothing but a way to kill himself. His depression made him into a parasite that can't move forward.
Calling him an insect is an insult to a real insect!
However, at this moment, this pathetic human is working hard to survive. Betraying his desire to kill himself and die.
A greater emotion called Fear has drowned all his depressions, making him, for the first time since forever take that first step of progress.
Fear of being consumed, fear of pain that will come if he was eaten, fearing that he will still be alive being corroded inside a monster stomach, the slow torturous death...
Imagining all that, made Zuria finally succeeded casting his first spell in this new world.
A simple light-blue coloured Fireball was hovering above his right hand.
From Benedict's memory since he was just an apprentice mage, this Fireball was the only thing he know. The rest was just an explanation on how to absorb Mana and create a Mana Core.
All efforts considered, Zuria's expression was utterly devoid of satisfaction, displaying only despair and resignation.
"So be it. If I'm going to become food, then food i am." He let out a deep and helpless sigh.
What can a Fireball do to that gigantic monster? Tickle it?
He even tried to make other magic such as Hellfire or Fire Blast and all that chuni magic he knew from CGA (Comic Game Anime), but it was useless!
All he could do was cast this stupid Fireball his previous body owner had learned.
But still, progress was progress. At least he could light a bon fire for warmth....
Like hell that's going to be useful for a fight with a monster! He thought angrily..
Small monster maybe. But a Leviathan? A big ass monster that as tall as a skycrapper? No waaayy~
A small chuckle escaped his lips. With all that has been going on, he has found that resigning to his situation brought him a strange calmness.
Just like that time he was racing to complete a project for his company. He even lost sleeps for several days yet in the end, the one who benefited from it was his friend... His best friend.
Dark thoughts filled his mind again as depression took over his positive thinking.
In the end only results matter. As for morality, kindness, and justice? It's all dog shit illusion the weak beg to the strong.
And he, Zuria, is a weak person who keep enduring... He endured the injustice, he endured being trampled, he endured, endured and keep enduring to the point where he lost his mind!
He once considered murder. Then he remembered his sick and weak mother, so he threw away those thoughts... Until his mother died because he lost his job and couldn't pay the medical fees for his sick mother.
There was a time when he REALLY tried murdering his once best friend and he almost killed him. But, wealth and power made him realise how utterly insignificant he is...
The poor will always be poor, and the wealthy will always be wealthy.
He heard that saying from a homeless man who took pity on him and gave him food.
Then Zuria shake his head as if to make those distance memories to stop invading his mind. Then he said with a dark chuckle. "I know that every human fears death, even i fear it, i won't deny this truth."
He pondered for a moment then continued. "My live back then was full of stupidity. Am i still going to be stupid even in this life? Am i still going to cling to my memories? Memories that i know times will erase? Even though i got this second chance at life?"
"I know this new chance is a difficult one. But aren't i still 15 in this world? Young and still full of potential. Even there's Magic in this world, isn't there? Full of possibilities as long as i keep learning and work hard."
Zuria keep talking to himself in a monotone voice. His eyes vacant, and his expression blank.
Then at this time, a sudden violent tremor brought him to reality!
Learning was for tomorrow. Working hard was for next week. And fucking survival was for now! That is if he didn't want to become a monster food.
So he slowly crept away to the entrance of his hiding spot. Carefully leaned his head to look just what kind of nightmare he's going to face.
And sure enough what he saw was another giant Demonic Beast. It was different from that centipede like creature from before.
This one looks just like an ogre, but the size was several times bigger and taller than 13 floors building. It's skin dark purple with oil like substance dripping from it. He could smell a nauseating stench even from far away, it almost made him retch and made a sound, but he fortunately could stop himself and held it in.
He pull his head in and waited, not daring to make a sound. If it can't see me, then it can't eat me. Don't move. Don't breathe.
But the tremor didn't stop. It became a sickening, low thumping that rattled the dust from the ceiling of his tiny alcove. The rhythm was slow, heavy, and horrifyingly deliberate. Thump. . . Thump. . . Thump.
He could feel it getting closer.
The nauseating stench of the giant, dark-purple ogre intensified, now thick enough to taste, a metallic, rotten sweetness that burned his sinuses. He didn't need to look to know the beast was near the entrance of his hiding spot, perhaps even right outside. The creature's movements were so massive that they displaced the air itself, creating a subtle pressure wave that pushed against the fabric of his clothes. As impossible as it was he felt like he could feel the mountain of muscle and oily skin through the vibrations in the stone.
Zuria's heart started to beat violently, tension filled his mind and body.
What he didn't know was that, the beast know his whereabouts. All Demonic Beast could feel the vibration of Mana, and because he was constantly absorbing and consuming Mana, he was a perfect target for curious Demonic Beast.
Normally, this kind of gigantic Demonic Beast only appears in the very core of the Abyssal Forest, as luck would have it, they came to the outer layer just to see what kind of being could disturb the Mana in the atmosphere.
Had Zuria moved away from this forest a few days ago, his live could be more easier and fairly relaxed. Maybe a little tension from being pursued by assassin, at least he could've faced a Human trouble, not this nightmare horror.
Misfortune truly always strikes when someone was having problems, only to make their lives more miserable and hard.
He could blame no one but himself for what was happening right now. But alas, Zuria remained clueless and thought that what was happening was something usual in the Abyssal Forest.
°°°°°°°
As Zuria was crouching while trying to think how to get away without being noticed. The stone like ceiling above him was ripped apart!
Dirt and stones flew everywhere as he pushed himself out just to avoid being crushed and buried.
Booomm!
The Ogre's fist smashed his hiding place apart, causing a small earthquake. A cyclone then blasted Zuria's battered body into the Ogre's left foot.
In the eyes of that gigantic creature, a human was surely no different than an an, small and pitifully weak. A single press of its finger would be enough to squash a human to death.
However fortunately, the Ogre was just standing there as if amused at what he was seeing. He moved his leg from Zuria's body as if shaking a dirty bug from it.
And all Zuria could do was gasping and groaning in pain. His back bones fractured and some were broken, blood came out like a geyser from his mouth.
"Cough! Cough!"
Hatred and anger clouded his eyes as he tried to get his body to stand up.
Adrenaline burned as he conjured a light-blue Fireball on both of his hands, the size of a basketball before hurling it at the Ogre's legs.
As the twin Fireballs hit, two impotent blue sparks against a purple mountain of muscle. The Ogre paused, a low, guttural chuckle vibrating the very air, its oil-slicked body shimmering with an impervious quality. Zuria collapsed, his lungs burning, watching his only weapon fail. This was it... Either being food or just an insignificant squashed bug.
But before the beast could lower its head or lift a foot for the killing blow, from the spot where the Fireball hit, a strange corrosive wound began to appear on the Ogre's legs.
It appeared so fast, as if fueled by the Ogre's oily skin, before spreading upward to cover his whole body.
The guttural scream of the Ogre then followed as he fell down, screaming and thrashing around in pain.
Zuria's injured body was once again blown away by the impact caused by the Ogre's fall. He was pushed and thrashed around for several meters before finally stopping.
He let out a pained cough before he tried to get up. His body trembling and wobbling as he forced himself to look at the Ogre.
The thrashing and wailing Ogre's body was filled with corrosive wound, it was as if he was being digested, slowly and painfully. Bit by bit of his skin, muscle, and meat started to slough off in smoking, dark purple chunks. A smell like spoiled milk and burning rubber filled the air, a horrible testament to the horrible scenes Infront of him. The Ogre's roar of pain quickly turned into a gurgling, wet shriek as his neck slowly turned into mush, collapsing his windpipe. The massive body shuddered one last, violent time, then fell silent, dissolving into a pool of bubbling, toxic sludge.
As for Zuria? He was looking with a dumbfounded expression. His mouth opened wide and his eyes looked speechless, with his eyebrows raised high.