2 Chapter 2: Death in another world

I fell.

It felt like eternity, falling through darkness without end. All the while, I cursed Kobayashi and the others.

They really were trying to kill me.

I always knew they held a grudge against my very existence because of the way I looked, my hobbies and other contrived excuses, and indulged themselves in bullying me because they felt that it made them feel powerful and superior. Most probably they were insecure, and needed something to assuage their fragile egos and delude themselves into thinking that they were strong. To maintain that inane belief, they resorted to bullying me because they enjoyed inflicting pain and suffering. Like a child pulling the wings off a dragonfly and feed the poor, helpless creature to ants.

Bastards, every one of them.

But I never thought they would go as far as actually murdering me. When I saw Kobayashi's eyes light up at the goddess's warning, I knew for sure that he was always waiting for this opportunity. I didn't understand why he hated me so much. He had everything and I had nothing. I never did anything to offend him.

Oh…maybe I did. I stood up against him, and he resented me for my defiance. That might explain why he sought to tear me down at every possible opportunity.

Unfortunately, all such speculation was pretty much moot now. I was falling to my death while Kobayashi and the rest of my classmates were laughing their way to becoming glorified heroes for Restia and the (shocked) goddess, Evelyn.

I swear, if I somehow survive this, I'll get my revenge. I'll kill every single one of them.

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And then I slammed into the ground.

"Oof!"

Stunned, I lay, sprawled on the cold dirt and not knowing what had just happened. Lifting my head, I glanced up and saw that I was no longer in black space. Adjusting my glasses, which had gone askew, I tried to squint through my cloudy vision.

As I did so, I suddenly saw a blue screen pop up right in front of me.

Name: Tanaka Tomoyuki

Species: Human

Job/Rank: Commoner/Commoner

Special Ability: Adamantium Will

Fortunately, when I tapped on the Adamantium Will tab, a new window popped out, describing it.

Adamantium Will: the ability to resist all sorts of control and mental manipulation

"Cool…I guess?"

Despite murmuring, I couldn't deny that I was disappointed. I wanted a more cheat-like ability like super-magic spells that allowed me to blow armies away in one hit, or word magic, or being a synergist, or leveling up four times faster with one quarter of the experience normally required. You know, those sort of cheats that I always read about in isekai light novels and web novels.

Unfortunately, I wasn't given any time to dwell on my disappointment.

"Run! Run!"

I blinked, my eyes unable to capture the blurry, moving images in front of me for just a moment. As my vision cleared, I saw a bright, blue sky looming above what looked like a row of structures. The temperature remained pretty chilly, a contrast to the heated crowd of people running and screaming.

Running and screaming? What was going on?

I looked around, trying to get my bearings, only to be astonished when I found that I was no longer in school or in the black space that I had been falling through for the last million hours or so. I rose to my feet and calmly assessed my situation. Wherever I was, it didn't seem like I was in Tokyo any longer. The row of urban buildings that was so reminiscent of metropolitan Tokyo were replaced by shabby, wooden houses, all on the verge of falling apart. The black, meticulously paved roads and traffic lights were gone, and in their place were trees growing sparsely in messily cobbled stone paths that could hardly be called roads. No, in fact, there was no road other than the thin stone paths that were used only by horse carriages that were fleeing past me. The humans were running on barren, sandy ground, huge portions of which still had grass.

Where the hell was I?

"What are you doing?!"

One of the running figures shouted at me. Glancing at him, I did another double take. Unlike me, he was dressed in a simple tunic that didn't resemble modern fashion at all. If I had to say, most people were dressed in weird, old-fashioned styled Western clothing that wouldn't look out of place in a period piece of medieval Europe, or a cosplay convention with a similar theme. Furthermore, unlike the black-haired population I was so used to, the villagers had startling displays of varied hair colors, from blond to light brown to a dark, almost black shade. There were also red hair and stuff, and their skin color was a lot paler than mine.

Huh, so I really got transported to another world, huh? Thanks to Kobayashi and the others' stunt, I couldn't tell if this was the world that the goddess was talking about. What did she call it, Restia? For all I knew, I could have landed in a completely different world altogether. Perhaps this could even be medieval Europe!

That speculation was smashed almost immediately when I heard a thunderous roar. Glancing in the direction of the monstrous bellow, I understood why the villager told me to run. A grotesque, nightmarish monster was rampaging through the village, demolishing houses with its swollen, bloated body, crushing the wood into splinters. Spiked appendages flailed about, writhing angrily as they sought for targets. In front of my eyes, a single fleeing villager was impaled by the scythe-like claw that tipped those bulky tentacles, blood spurting from his abdomen as he was helplessly lifted off the ground and ripped apart.

Countless eyes opened on the monster's body, bloodshot orbs that spun around wildly sometimes before stopping to fix those insidious gaze on the running humans. The gruesome visage made me want to puke.

"It's a demon! A monster!"

"Run!"

"Get out of here!"

"Where are the knights?! Where are the crusaders?"

"Oh, gods, please save us…"

The screams and pleas of the villagers mingled with the roars of the monstrosity as it shifted its bulk to smash through more houses and snag more villagers, slicing off arms and cleaving them cleanly. One of the broken bodies landed near me, nonchalantly flung from the raging beast, and a claw-tipped tentacle lashed out in my direction. Panicking, I dove to the ground as the scythe slashed through the air where my head had been. If I had remained standing, I would be missing my head right now. That certainly wasn't a good way to get ahead of the monster.

Instead, the tentacle ended up slashing another villager, who had just run past me. Screaming, the man sagged as his throat was ripped open, the blood spurting from his torn carotid artery and jugular vein like geysers. Blood splattered across my face, the warm fluid shocking me into movement. Scrambling back to my feet, I began weaving my way through the carnage, seeking for a way out of this slaughter. I had no idea what was happening, how I got here, or where this place was. It didn't matter – my first priority was to get through this massacre alive.

One thing was for sure – this wasn't medieval Europe. I had never heard of monstrous black demons rampaging around rural villages in non-fiction history books. I was definitely in another world. Maybe Restia, maybe some other world. I didn't know, and as much as I wanted to find out, I had more important matters to tend to at the moment.

Like running away.

Glancing back, I saw that the blob-like demon had closed in with a speed that belied its size, its swollen black bulk rolling over grass and stone alike. More villagers fell victim to the bellowing beast as its appendages reached out for them with deadly intent, piercing through their bodies hungrily.

I was mired in disbelief, my mind numb as I witnessed the massacre taking place in front of my eyes. I was surprised that I wasn't nauseous, frightened or even angry at the wanton loss of life. No, I was just numb – immersed in cold, mind-numbing disbelief. It was as if whatever was taking place around me wasn't real, like I was just a spectator dropped in the middle of a virtual reality simulation, participating in a horror game.

Speaking of games, why couldn't I have gotten a combat ability?! Why Adamantium Will?! How am I supposed to fight a creature with such an ability!? Why couldn't they give me magic or martial arts or some form of offensive power!?

I clutched my head as I ran. In the past, back in my original world, I had always fantasized fighting monsters such as these, pulling off superhuman feats and blasting creatures to bits with might and magic. Unfortunately, the reality was different. My body was locked in fear, frozen, almost unable to move. There was no way I could fight something as horrifying as that. It took me everything just to force myself to run, never mind mount a resistance.

A horrifying shriek erupted from behind me. Twisting around, I froze when I saw a clawed tentacle lunging straight at me. Snapping out of my stupor, I tried to dive out of the way, but I was too late.

The scythe-shaped claw plunged into my chest before the appendage lifted me up and threw me across the village from the impact. Red-hot agony ignited in my chest, and I began to suffocate as I drowned in my own blood, the red fluid pouring relentlessly into my torn lungs. Scrabbling desperately at my wound with my hands, I panicked when I felt so much blood…so much blood leaking from a massive, gaping hole. Breathing hurts…it hurts to breathe, it hurts it hurts it hurts!

"Ah…ah…ugh!"

I stared at the sky, dimly aware that my glasses – broken from the impact of being thrown – were slipping off my face. My view of the blue sky and white, fluffy clouds turned blurry, the edges of my vision slowly darkening. Around me, the ravenous roar of the demon and the terrified screams of the villagers grew softer, slowly fading away, as if they were all moving into the distance. The excruciating pain in my chest grew, a sharp blade digging into my heart and lungs. I couldn't breathe any longer, it hurt too much, and my lungs were filled with too much blood anyway.

I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die.

Was that it? Was I going to die here, my seventeen years of life ended in some village, killed by an unbelievable monster that should by right appear only in fiction?

Damn it…I couldn't hold on any longer. The pain was way beyond anything I could endure. I felt nothing but regret, pain and fury, anger that my life would end in such a stupid, unfair manner. Even as I raged against the unfairness of it all, I could feel my mind and body shutting down. It was just as well. I wanted the pain to go away. It didn't matter how, I would do anything to make the pain go away.

Ah, there it is. As my breathing stopped and my body grew colder, the pain eased away at last. Feeling relieved, I relaxed and closed my eyes, allowing the darkness to take me into its cold, icy embrace.

My last thought, surprisingly, was a humorous one. As I slipped away into death, I couldn't help but wonder to myself.

Wait, I thought I was supposed to die before I reincarnate in another world, not after I arrive in one?