[ Master! ]

Sylphy suddenly called out the moment Rain jumped.

Crack! Crack! Rain heard something cracking under his feet the moment he landed. When he looked down, his eyes widened in shock!

Bones…

That’s right, under his feet, was countless bones and skulls were gathered…

It wasn’t clear due to the lack of light but now he can see them… countless bones scattered all over the place.

Gulp. Rain swallowed as another Crack! Sound echoed when he steps.

What is this place…?

Rain felt as if he smelled the smell of danger as he slowly walked around. Trying to observe the entire place.

[ Master, there’s something I forgot to tell you… I have one good and bad news for you… ]

“The bad news…” Rain frowned as he listened to Sylphy’s words.

Grrrr...

Rain’s heart almost jumped out of his chest the moment he heard something growling, like a wild beast.

Now, he finally knows what fear means…

Rain started stepping back, slowly, as he can.

In his field of vision, two, no, three dog-like monsters with a height that had almost reached an adult’s chest and with gleaming red eyes came out from the darkness. They looked like the Labrador Retriever from Earth but these dogs had two long canines in front of their jaws, almost like saber tigers in the prehistoric era.

[ I can sense mana activities around you so it means there are monsters in the vicinity. ]

WHY DID YOU NOT SAY THAT A LITTLE EARLIER!!!?? Rain wanted to scream but his throat seemed to have clogged up as no sounds came out. Even his throat seems to have been dried up.

This place… could it be… a breeding GROUND!??

[ The good news is that it seems like they are just weak Bone-Eaters… Master can beat one of them… ]

“AND YOU CALL THAT A GOOD NEWS!!!? What am I a f*cking Superman?!!” Rain finally couldn’t hold it in and cursed at the top of his lungs.

He then turned around and dashed away, towards the levitated pedestal.

He was running away as fast as he can.

“Damn it! What’s with that name!? Do you mean that they will eat even my bones, leaving nothing left?!”

Rain continued running. Not looking back and not even thinking anything. Just following his instinct to run away further from the monsters.

Obviously, the Bone Eaters immediately give chase. Of course, they are much faster than him so in just a few seconds, they have already reached him.

Groaww!

One of the Bone Eaters leaped at Rain while raising its sharp claws. Rain’s face immediately lost its colors. His face colored with despair.

It felt like his blood was being drained and he can feel his body stiffen in fear.

He was going to die.

That was the only thing in his mind.

The ferocious eyes of the Bone Eaters and sharp canines, Rain can imagine his miserable death. Eaten, ripped apart, scattered his intestines and… his bones. They would play catch with it and…

As Rain’s mind came to a standstill, [ Master!! ] Sylphy’s voice echoed inside his mind, waking him up from his daze.

From who knows where his courage comes from when Rain saw the inches away claws of the beast, Rain immediately curled his body in a hurry causing him to drop on the ground and rolled out.

The beast claws brushed past his cheeks, causing a cut wound on it. However, Rain successfully delayed his death.

He immediately rolled away and then stood up, once again dashing forward. When one of the beasts was already near him, he jumped as hard as he can and reached out to the levitated pedestal. He clung to it as if his life was only in the line – which, it really was. Raising his leg up, he climbs the pedestal.

But before he could successfully climb up, one of the Bone Eaters reached out and managed to claw his leg.

“Aaaahhh!!” Rain let out a painful cry as he tried to endure it.

Fortunately, or was it a miracle, the moment Rain managed to climb the Pedestal, the Bone Eaters didn’t chase and instead stayed under it, growling hatefully at him. it seems like, the pedestal was a safe zone… is there some kind of importance is this pedestal?

Seeing that he managed to walk away with his life, Rain finally heaves a sigh of relief.

He sprawled with his back facing the ground, feeling and tasting the salty tears that had reached his mouth, Rain felt like crying loudly… but he was scared that it might attract something far worse.

He can even still hear the growling of the beasts around him…

Who knows if this pedestal was really a safe zone or not…

He is scared… for the first time in his life, he was really scared.

He didn’t feel anything when he died because it was sudden. But now, he can’t help but feel fear… what should he do?

His body was still trembling and he felt something warm on his crotch… damn. I’m already old and yet… so pathetic…

[ Master ]

He heard Sylphy’s mechanic voice yet for some reason, he suddenly it was softer than usual…

However, he wasn’t in the mood to care or respond. He closed his eyes with his right arm. He can feel the pain in his leg and left cheek… he can feel the fear surging inside of him…

He was extremely scared… he didn’t want to die… he didn’t want to be eaten…

He was weak, he knows that. He knows a little fistfight but it doesn’t mean he can fight monsters with it.

Just how can protagonist from novels managed to fight monsters in their first encounter…?

Rain stayed in that position for a few hours.

When he finally managed to calm down, from either crying or feeling fear, he rose up in a sitting position. He wiped his tears and pain coming from his leg appeared.

There were three parallel cuts on his leg as if Wolverine just cut him but fortunately it was slightly shallow and after tying his leg with a towel the bleeding had somewhat stopped. However, it was still extremely painful.

[ Master… I’m sorry… ]

Sylphy muttered.

Rain shook his head. “It’s not your fault… it’s mine. I’ve gotten hasty and didn’t think about monsters existing since I couldn’t feel nor hear anything…”

Yeah, this was his fault. He wasn’t thinking…

Rain took a deep breath and tried thinking some ideas. But he couldn’t think anything that might be able to help him leave this place safely.

Damn it! Should I have chosen [ Pyrokinesis ]?!

Rain never thought that he would be engaged in a fight immediately that is why he worries about food first. But it seems like, it was a miss…

Rain sighs. “Sylphy, can I still change my unique skill?”

[ Apologies Master, but it isn’t possible… ]

“I thought so…” Rain sighs again. Well, the only saving grace in this situation is that, even if he stays inside this area for a long time, he wouldn’t starve to death since he can eat those stones and bones lying around the pedestal …

Though, I don’t want to do it… but I don’t have a choice.

Rain reached to one of the stones lying and tried eating it. Crunch. A crispy sound rang out but sadly, it didn’t taste anything…

Still, he can feel something filling him up.

Rain felt a headache. He was still safe but for how long…?

“For now, I need a weapon… anything.” Rain looked around, picking some sturdy looking stones.

Then he found something. It was like an obsidian rock, though he doesn’t know what kind of rock it was since he was no expert in geology, still, it was a black colored mineral, located behind the pedestal. There were several pieces of them.

Rain immediately took the largest and started scraping it on the ground, trying to sharpen it.

He wanted to reproduce the weapon of his ancestors in the era of Stone, Stone Age. Although he wasn’t sure if he can kill a monster with it, still that’s better than being barehanded, at least.

It took Rain, for who knows how many hours of scraping until he produced a sharp edge and he was exhausted and tired.

Crawling, he hides behind the pedestal and curled himself, trying to sleep while holding the sharpened black stone.

That exhausting day… finally ended.

--- ---

[ …ter! … as… ter! ]

Rain groaned. He can hear someone calling him and there was only one person who he knows who would call him master and that is none other Sylphy.

“Not yet, Sylphy… let me sleep more…” Rain lazily muttered.

[ Mas… ter! …ake up! ]

Rain was too exhausted and tired as wanted to sleep more. However, he suddenly felt as if his body was getting difficult to move. It’s as if something was restricting his movements.

Rain couldn’t help but groaned while trying to move his limbs but for some reason, they felt as if they were bound.

Bound…?!

Rain’s sleepy eyes instantly opened in shock!

Something was coiling around his body, restricting his movements. “Wa, wa, what?! What is going on?”

[ Master! You’re finally awake! ]

“What is happening here?” Rain wiggled, however, the more he struggled the tighter it gets. When he looked down on something that was binding him, scales…?!

No, this texture, this appearance, Snake?!

“Was I captured!!??”

Rain’s eyes widened as they can. A foreboding feeling surging through him.

[ Affirmative master! ] Sylphy’s bitter voice answered.

“Oh, you’re awake?” As Rain was trying to digest the situation, a voice rang out behind him, startling him.

He tried turning his head, but because of the tight binding, he couldn’t turn his head properly and looked at the perpetrator.

Slither, then he heard about some movements and in a blink of an eye, Rain finally saw the monster that had captured him.

He saw a beautiful girl coming from behind him.

When she finally stop and looked at him, Rain saw her full appearance.

She was a beauty over 2 meters tall. Her complexion can cause the downfall of a city. With creamy skin, red slit eyes, unblinkingly staring at him, full of surprise and curiosity with a hint of vigilance.

“What a surprise, a human in the lair…”

Her expression was cold and appeared indifferent.

Rain couldn’t help but stare at her.

The beautiful girl had a long mane of bluish-green hair, demurely cascading down her shoulders.

Indeed, supernaturally finely crafted statues of beauties in the world could not show the perfection of this natural delicate body.

"Beautiful..." Rain unconsciously muttered while looking at her, making the girl in his line of sight became somewhat bashful.

--- ---