Leo could only hear his heart pounding at a frantic pace. He couldn't see anything—everything was dark—but he could feel his body grow cold from the fear of dying.
But in the end, it turned out that he really had died... 'Is this for real? No, no, no. God, my family, my mom, my dad, my siblings. God...' He felt a pressure slam into his heart as he felt terrible for never being able to see his family again. There were still so many things he wanted to share with them.
He wanted to cry, scream, even hit something, but he couldn't. He couldn't move—it was as if he were floating in space, but without the ability to move as he wished.
'Is this the afterlife?'
He was never a believer, but like anyone else, he had always been curious about what came after death.
Still, this was far better than being in hell and being tortured for eternity.
Just thinking about that sent a chill down his spine. In the end, he didn't know how much time passed. Hours, days, weeks? Or perhaps only seconds had gone by since he arrived.
But before he could completely lose himself in that infinite darkness, a strange light began to emerge a few meters away from him.
Leo stared at it in amazement. One thought crossed his mind—that maybe he was going to be born again as a baby, hence the light at the end of the tunnel.
'I hope I'm born into a rich family,' he joked. The truth was that if he were given the choice, he would choose his own family.
After a few seconds, the mysterious light began to fade until a kind of blue screen remained in front of him.
[Power System]
[Notice: Host located... Loading...]
When Leo read that, only one thing came to mind: a system. Like the ones that appeared in the web novels he barely read.
Imagining himself with a system in a fantasy world filled him with excitement. Who wouldn't want that?
[Notice: Synchronization Complete.]
[The system has self-configured into a state suitable for the host]
[Loading...]
[Hello, Leo. I can see you're excited to see me.]
For some reason, that amused him, and it seemed his wishes were about to come true.
"Am I going to reincarnate in another world?" he asked, trying to contain his excitement.
[Of course! But not in that way—you will be transmigrated into a new body.]
[You will keep your current name and all your memories. When you arrive in the new world, we will begin synchronizing the new body's memories with yours.]
Leo swallowed, nervous with excitement, and nodded repeatedly. He wasn't going to waste this opportunity.
"Does that mean what appears in web novels is real?"
[I do not know what you mean by web novels... The system chose not to invade your privacy, but let's say yes. Are you ready to go to: Ziora?]
[Yes / No]
'So Ziora, huh?' Before accepting, he paused to think about everything that had just happened. If the truck hadn't hit him, he would be at home right now, living with his family—but no. Now he was here, about to be sent to another world.
It made him feel... strange. Though he couldn't quite explain how.
But it didn't seem like he had any other way to return to life. That chapter of his life had ended, and a new one was beginning now. Without wasting any more time, he said goodbye one last time to the people he loved and accepted.
✦✦✦
After that, he didn't know what happened. It was as if he lost consciousness for a moment, because now he found himself in a... forest?
At least it was daytime, and he could clearly see his surroundings, confirming that yes, he was indeed in the middle of a forest.
'And where exactly am I?' Well, this was where the system had brought him—he assumed it would know.
And as if attentive to his thoughts, the system appeared once more.
[Power System]
[Notice: Transmigration Successfully Completed.]
[Report: An unexpected error caused the appearance to occur in an undesired location.]
[Danger Level: High.]
[The host is in extreme danger!]
'Excuse me?' Leo felt his blood pressure drop at that. He wished it were just a bad joke, but apparently it wasn't.
The system began displaying messages about searching for a way out and other things he didn't even want to read.
He focused his attention on his surroundings, hoping to see nothing, but then he felt an overwhelming presence deep within the forest and instinctively turned around, lifting his gaze in shock.
An enormous mountain that he hadn't seen before—or hadn't paid attention to—rose before him. It was imposing, so massive that he couldn't even see its peak. A kind of cloud or mist covered the upper part of the mountain.
The environment began to change from sunny to dark, accompanied by that same thick mist that made it hard to see.
"Um... System?" he murmured nervously.
When he looked at the screen, a bitterness slid down his throat.
[Notice: You must leave this place now! Run south without looking back and without stopping.]
[Notice: Attempting to teleport the user to the previously predetermined location… loading...]
Leo panicked instantly, because he felt as if something were watching him from behind the trees.
"And where is south?" He looked around—it was ridiculously hard to orient himself. Then he heard a disturbing sound behind him and didn't even dare to look, instead starting to run in the opposite direction.
'To hell with whether this is south or not, I'm getting out of here!' he thought, running as fast as he could while watching the ground ahead to avoid tripping.
[Report: Teleportation is being interfered with by something unknown...]
[Notice: Remaining time to complete teleportation: 05:00]
[Objective: Survive for that duration.]
As he ran with everything he had, he felt his stomach knot up. 'What the hell am I supposed to survive?' He wasn't going to stop to find out—he just kept running.
He didn't know how long he had been running. He didn't want to look at the system screen and trip—that would be fatal.
To his right, he began to hear sounds clearly belonging to some kind of wild animal.
To his misfortune, it burst from its hiding place toward him. Leo was terrified the moment he saw it. It was some kind of enormous wolf with red eyes and fangs and claws that would tear him apart if they touched him.
He tried to stop, but ended up tripping and falling to the ground, rolling several meters. Lying there, Leo could see the massive wolf just centimeters away from him.
He squeezed his eyes shut and covered his head with his arms, waiting for the impact—but it never came.
Slowly, he began to open his eyes and saw that the wolf was gone. Confused, he looked to the side and saw it running away without looking back. It had ignored him.
That made him feel relieved in a way he had never imagined. 'T-that was close,' he thought, breathing heavily as he stood up and brushed off his clothes.
But he spoke too soon when something enormous passed over the treetops, creating a massive gust of wind that knocked him back to the ground.
"What the hell?" he shouted, looking at the sky and only seeing a massive tail disappear into the clouds.
He swallowed hard and looked at the screen one last time before starting to run again.
[Notice: Remaining time to complete teleportation: 02:48]
Barely two minutes had passed, and he had nearly died. Without thinking too much about it, he started running again, feeling the scrape on his legs from the fall, but it didn't matter. He just wanted to get out of that forest.
✦✦✦
When he reached what seemed to be the end of the path, he almost fell. It turned out he was on top of a mountain and nearly plunged into a massive lake, where from that height he could see several very unfriendly stone spikes.
"T-that was close..." he murmured.
But once again, speaking too soon, a powerful gust of wind nearly made him fall. He clung as best he could to a nearby tree.
He tried to look at what caused it, but he could only see the dust being kicked up and... a bird? It was extremely enormous, descending from the sky, and when it came just a few meters closer, the gust tore several trees out of the ground. Leo held on even tighter to the tree, but it was useless—he was sent flying backward, falling into the void along with the tree he had clung to.
[Notice: Remaining time to complete teleportation: 00:05]
The screen appeared in front of him, but five seconds felt like far too much. He looked down, noticing the stone spikes closer than ever.
He closed his eyes, unwilling to see his death again.
[Notice: Remaining time to complete teleportation: 00:03]
[00:02]
[00:01]
[Notice: Teleportation Completed.]