The instant Izo reemerged from the rift, he felt a massive power that was blaring at him to get out of this place. If the rejection from the worlds before were from that once childhood friend’s mother that’s respectfully asking you to leave so she can clean up, this was being discovered by that one abusive parent. The one that smelled of alcohol and threatening to punch you if you don’t vacate immediately. No worse, this one played bingo and hasn’t missed church in years.

Among the suffering beasts and the final stand of the escapee souls, Izo floated. Of course, he accidentally stared at the monsters as he adjusted his sight. He prepared for the pain but it didn’t come.

‘What is this? A tingling?’

The feeling was muted as if filtered by a screen or maybe it was his incredible pain threshold minimizing it.

‘They might get angry.’

Another surprising thing however, the monsters noticed him but somehow wasn’t interested anymore.

He too wasn’t interested in being punished by them and the same with wasting time that the rejecting power might just change into an obliterating one.

Izo tried to crane his head and look for another rift but he couldn’t move it at all.

‘What?’

He tried his hands and feet to no avail. Thinking of how he used to move here, he ordered his soul to burn its energy. Only then did he began moving.

There were a hundred rifts still open with the a strong one being most conspicuous. Simply it was being surrounded by the suffering beasts and some souls were streaming towards there. Izo has to wade among the school of horrors however.

Trusting that they will continue to be nice, Izo headed to that strong rift. He had to weave every once in a while, and some of them bumped into him. Otherwise, they were very harmless.

The instant he entered the rift, Izo already felt something different. In the prior ones, he would instantly arrive somewhere. In the air, on the ground, somewhere with matter but he was in a black tunnel right now.

He felt trembling and clashes of energy. Farther down was another rift that had places flashing through it fast.

Izo saw a towering city in the sky, devoid of all life with moss all over. He saw shrieking undead battling with other undead. The inside of a volcano itself.

‘The place I could land to is continuously changing?’

It took a few seconds but it showed countless scenes. Izo didn’t want to linger in this place any longer so after passing through a few dangerous options, he chose one of the safe looking ones.

Izo appeared in a square plaza enough to host 50,000. The ground was patterned in 10-meter squares with grassy soil dividing them. Each square had a beautiful but faded crest of a sideways book with a knife in its pages. Blood dripped from the knife bookmark.

On the corners and the at intervals between were 20-meter obelisks making it seem like there was a large hand that was grasping the plaza.

In the distance was a cliff and towering spires with gargoyles guarding its height. This area seemed to be in the beginning of a valley as a higher city area dotting a slope led to higher ground. The place looked something from the Late Medieval era only most of the building were colored gray or black.

Dropping a meter in height, Izo landed fine enough. More importantly, he felt no rejection from this world.

"Ah just my luck!"

He had just confirmed that a rift wasn't following him anymore then the issue was suddenly, completely invalidated.

Izo stood in front of a 10-meter-tall skeleton knight who was raising its 15-meter club to the height of the cliffs. Around him were undead with tattered armor, hiding inside dark ruins. The moon was up high and there was barely any light to clear the darkness.

Preempting the attack by running away was what Izo did. He was no match for the huge force the giant can slam down and the audience wouldn’t care about this cowardly act.

Izo almost stumbled however since he didn’t expect the fast speed that this heavily armored looking G.R.E.D. suit afforded him.

From 163 cm/5’4, Izo was now 180cm or nearly 6 foot. What some would say the perfect size, he could only roll his eyes.

This Ural Battle Armor from the Mendeleyev Marines made him look twice as muscular with its square shoulders. This trait matched the armor’s stocky aesthetic that made it feel like he could burst through concrete bunkers. And it could, among other physical enhancements.

The helmet could read one’s mind or respond to voice commands with its onboard computer. For now, Izo turned on the night vision so he could see better.

The stone ground of the plaza exploded as the large club fell on it. His fast speed enabled Izo to escape its first strike but the giant had large legs with large strides. It sounded like mortar round were falling behind Izo, creeping up in speed.

When he felt that the giant was within range, Izo activated the suits short range thrusters. He had no training with using it however. Thus after rising in the air, Izo face planted in seconds.

The pain was nothing however as the mortar upgraded to a howitzer round that actually did explode.

The cloud of dust sent Izo far away into a three-story building. It’s weakened walls made sure that the building collapsed once broken through.

By all means, he should’ve been knocked out after but the suit had force dampening capabilities.

‘Must get away from here.’

Izo just smashed through the dilapidated walls and found himself in an alley. It large enough for two people to pass through which was enough for this armor.

On the next corner, he turned to break line of sight. He continued doing this for a while before realizing it wasn’t following.

‘Oh, it’s much more simple minded than I thought.’

Perhaps, it didn’t see him escaping out of the building.

The club just kept smashing and smashing until the bricks were grounded into dust. It still wasn’t satisfied however as black flame erupted from its body travelling to its sword.

‘This is what caused the explosion?’

It caused another one as debris flew meters into the air. Now the building’s interior was an exterior.

Izo distanced himself at this point, the faint sound of continuous thumping leaving his ear. He made sure to make little sound and stayed in the alleys.

Now relatively safe further away from the plaza, he thought about what to do next.

Since he had received little training with his little time in camp, he knew only the basics of being an explorer. They won’t always fit the situation and maybe even be the exact opposite of what to do. Izo will just have to go through trial and error

If he could survive mutilating himself daily, the pain of this sudden on the job training in this obviously hostile world would be bearable right? Well, he hopes so.

‘First, preliminary scouting.’

He saw a five-story temple looking building earlier. Normally on Earth, those places tended to be more sturdy. Its relative height would afford a better look on his surroundings.

*

The HUD of the Ural was on its infrared vision mode. He was watching a group of skeletons seemingly patrolling the streets. Their limbs were colored blue and the middle of their skull was red meaning it was radiating heat. He shelved that finding in his mind.

This was the third one he encountered while going to the to the temple.

As long as he wasn’t spotted or heard, there seemed to be little danger. This meant he could divert his attention on some other important things he should do.

‘Air is safe. No harmful radiations neither demonic attack suffusing the atmosphere. That’s uplifting.’

The Ural had sensors and testers to check most things that could cause harm. This place was very compatible to human biology it seems. Completely understandable since the skeletons were human. Even the giant skeleton was human just not Earth human.

Anyway, Izo could remove the suit if he has to. Though it’s energy reserves was still at 95%. It could last three days with light use. He could use the nuclear fission reactor to charge it then.

Izo continued onwards after the skeletons were far enough. The five-story spired building would sometimes be blocked by other buildings but he only needed to follow the compass in the helmets HUD.

He continued west until he arrived on a smaller street and found the large stone doors of the cathedral.

‘No demonic or electric or psychic pulse. Night vision and infrared isn’t showing anything special. Should be safe.’

Izo didn’t let down his guard as approached the ornately carved silver lined doors.

‘The houses. The streets.’

Again, he was reminded on how distinctly human was the architecture. If what lay beyond this was something inhuman however, he didn’t know.

He was surprisingly calm as the metal shoulders of the Ural were used to push back the heavy door. There was some resistance as a metallic ping sounded before it fell away. The loud stone on stone sound rumbled through the streets.

Izo entered and saw the two rows of pews stretching into the altar. They looked like they would break with little force. Tucked to the left and right near the doors were stairs leading into a higher floor.

This design however made sure one's eyes focuses on the large emblem further back. It was the bloody book with the knife tucked in its pages.