His massive arm came down, and its shadow covered my face, the line of its long nails clear, aimed straight at my skull. The movement was simple, down from above. But its weight was enough to obliterate the entire contents of my head in one blow.
My body reacted quickly before my mind could consider anything. My movement wasn't fast, but it was enough to make the claw slide past the side of my face.
SHRASSHH!
The claw raked the ground behind me. The earth exploded, roots and damp soil were upheaved, creating a long trench.
I rolled sideways, not from my own strength, but because gravity pulled my body that could barely support its own weight anymore.
With my palms pressing into the earth, I tried to rise. The pain from my waist to my shoulder felt like molten metal being poured into my body, spreading to every bone and forcing my breath to hitch for a moment.
Before my body could rise fully, the troll had already pivoted and swung its other arm, sweeping horizontally toward me.
"Shit—"
SHRASH!
I immediately lowered my body, ducking as deep as I could, feeling the wind pass a hair-width from my temples. Meanwhile, my waist, which was still bleeding, was pierced by a sharp pain as it was twisted by its movements. My stomach muscles tightened hard, like a knot being forced loose, and my upper back nearly hit the ground.
"Uggh…."
I hadn't even taken a full breath or straightened up when the troll moved again. Without giving the slightest pause, his huge arm swung forward, punching straight toward my body, which was still low and not fully upright.
SHRASSSHH!
I threw myself sideways without time to think. The move wasn't neat and was almost uncontrolled, more like dropping myself than truly dodging. The blow hit the ground right where my head had been a moment before.
My already bleeding left shoulder slammed hard into the earth, making the pain explode.
At the same time, the movement twisted my body at a wrong angle. Again, my waist, already bleeding from the earlier slash, was wrenched forcefully, and the cracked bone inside screamed as if being broken anew.
My breath was forced from my lungs.
"Hff—!"
I kept rolling until I finally stopped on my back, my spine hitting the damp earth, and the air left my lungs as the already damaged bones pressed from within. The pain from my bleeding waist and shoulder shot sharply through my entire body.
Every breath felt shallow and ragged, making my chest rise and fall irregularly.
"Haah…haah…hah"
"Hahaha… Damn it"
The laugh came out short and broken, more like air being forced from lungs nearly empty. My chest felt tight. Every inhale felt like dragging a blunt knife into my chest.
I turned my head slightly, enough to catch the huge figure in my peripheral view. The troll stood sideways from me, a few steps away, close enough to kill, and far enough to make me realize I was still alive only by chance.
his body was tense, muscles bulged clearly under the rough skin, and its chest rising and falling rapidly. his jaw clenched, then opened again, releasing heavy breaths that sounded like suppressed growls.
It was angry because the attacks missed repeatedly, And that made it lose the last of its patience.
"Gssssrrhhh"
The troll growled low, then turned its body fully to face me. One foot stepped back half a step, pressing deep into the ground, creating a clear indentation in the wet surface.
Then it charged.
"GRAAAAHHH"
The massive body shot from the side with raw, uncontrolled speed, as if its own weight was almost too much for the ground beneath it. Each step hammered the earth, the vibrations clear even to my spine.
The distance vanished too quickly.
Without thinking, I forced my body to move.
My palms hit the ground, my arms trembling as they supported my weight. My waist screamed in pain, and my left shoulder felt numb, but I didn't stop. I pulled my knees under me, rising to a half-standing position with a motion far from stable.
My first step dragged.
The second step almost made me fall.
But i kept running.
Breath came in and out with a coarse sound, my lungs felt tight, as if every gulp of air had to be wrestled out. Each footfall sent pain from my bleeding waist up my spine.
Behind me, the vibrations in the ground grew stronger
DUK! DUK! DUK!
The troll was chasing.
I could barely feel my own feet touching the ground, only knew I was still moving because the world in front of me kept shifting. Tree trunks passed in my side vision, thin mist was split by my staggering body, and the wet ground underfoot felt slippery, unwelcoming.
My lungs felt constricted, as if the space inside my chest was shrinking every second. Every breath stabbed, not in one spot, but spread out, from my chest to my ribs, to my back, to my waist which still bled.
I was running, but my body disagreed.
My waist throbbed violently, every step sending a wave of pain that made my vision flicker. My left shoulder hung oddly, every small swing felt like pulling something that shouldn't be moved anymore. I almost fell when my foot caught on a tree root, and only a desperate reflex kept my balance.
Behind me, the ground still trembled.
The steps were irregular, but heavy. Too heavy to ignore. Each thud was felt in my bones, traveling through the earth, through my legs, up my spine.
It was still chasing.
I wanted to look back. I wanted to check the distance. But I didn't dare. If I looked back and saw it, I knew my steps would slow.
I gritted my teeth, my jaw felt stiff. Air came in with a rough sound, as if I was inhaling through a nearly closed crack.
"Damn it… damn it…"
The words came out without strength, swallowed by my own breath.
I ran without a clear direction. No plan. No safe path. Just the simple urge to get away from something too big, too strong, and too wrong for me to face in this state.
My steps weakened but I kept forcing them. If I stopped running, I wouldn't survive.
I stumbled again, this time worse. My knee hit the ground, a sharp pain shot up before I could curse. My palms caught my weight, the skin immediately feeling hot and raw against the rough, root-strewn soil.
"Hh—!"
I pushed myself up by force. My waist screamed. My vision shook violently, nearly going completely dark at the edges.
I must not fall…
The vibration behind me grew closer.
I could feel it without needing to see. My body knew. Something inside me knew, with terrifying certainty.
The distance was thinning.
I staggered past two fallen tree trunks, almost getting caught between large roots. My feet felt heavy, not like a part of my own body, but a dead weight I had to keep dragging.
The fear began to change shape.
No longer a panicked fear that made my mind noisy, but a heavy pressure that pressed on my chest, forcing every thought to be short, sharp, and clipped.
I have to keep running…
I didn't think about who I was, didn't think about this world, didn't think about the future. I just wanted to flee and escape that troll…
I turned sharply without realizing it, my body moving before my mind could protest. My foot stepped into a narrow gap between a bush and a tree trunk, avoiding a large root with a movement too precise for my condition.
I didn't remember deciding to do that.
I just… did it.
The world felt slightly different. Not brighter. Not calmer. But more focused. My breath was still ragged, my body clearly injured, but the pain seemed to fade. I was aware of wounds everywhere, it's just that the pain felt distant, as if not my own.
I almost crashed into another tree trunk, but my body twisted at just the right angle, my left shoulder avoiding impact by a few fingers. I didn't even feel surprised.
It felt… natural.
DUK! DUK! DUK!
The troll's steps behind me sounded heavier now. No longer neat. The creature was forcing its huge body through a path not designed for it. I could hear branches snapping, bushes being crushed, soil being flung.
I swallowed. My throat was dry, but my mind began to work in a different way—faster, sharper, with less noise.
I turned again, narrower this time. My foot almost slipped, but I adjusted my footing with a reflex that felt foreign. The tips of my claws grazed a tree's bark as I passed through a tight gap, and for a moment I felt a faint vibration in my fingers. Warm. Almost soothing. But I didn't stop.
I wanted to escape, not to fight, and not to turn the situation around. Just to get away. To survive.
My gaze swept rapidly ahead. Tree trunks, dense bushes, protruding roots, all passed by.
There, I saw a gap.
Between two large roots lifted from the soil, covered by low bushes and wet mud, was a small hole. It wasn't big, not neat, but more like a natural cavity in the collapsed earth, perhaps from an old root or a burrow long abandoned by another creature.
The hole was narrow and low, too small for the troll. My mind grasped it instantly.
My heart pounded hard, not from hope, but from a gamble. Hiding meant stopping and letting the creature get closer. Betting that it wouldn't find me right away.
But my legs were almost dead. I couldn't keep running like this.
I tried to glance back.
The troll's steps behind me were impeded by dense, large trees. The ground tremor came in bursts, heavy, and its rough breath sounded choked by the narrow space forcing it to slow down.
I turned sharply and threw myself toward the bush and into the hole. My foot dragged as I dropped toward the opening.
Damp earth and mud hit my side as I crawled in, my stomach and chest touching the cold surface.
I held my breath, trying not to draw the troll's attention, forcing the air to stay trapped in my throat even though my chest felt like it would explode.
The hole was narrower than it looked. My shoulder almost got stuck, and I had to twist my body slightly, a small movement immediately repaid with sharp pain. My vision swam, but I kept going in, kept moving forward, until my body was sufficiently hidden in the shadow of earth and roots.
I stopped. Not because I wanted to. Because I couldn't move anymore.
My chest rose and fell rapidly. Too fast. I pressed my mouth with the back of my hand, holding my breath as much as I could, trying to muffle any sound that escaped.
Outside—
The footsteps stopped.
The tremor in the ground faded, then returned, closer. I could feel the weight of the troll's body through the soil directly touching my chest. The smell grew stronger now—flesh, damp earth, warm breath mixed with something rotten.
A huge shadow moved past the narrow gap in front of the hole.
I held myself from making a sound.
Every muscle in my body tensed, not to attack, but to stay still. Even the pain felt like something I had to forcibly suppress, as if the pain itself could betray me if I let it feel too real.
The troll's breath sounded close. Too close.
"GRRRSSSSHH"
I could hear its inhale and exhale, heavy and coarse, like air being forced through a narrow cavity. The soil outside shifted slightly, maybe from its foot changing position. I imagined its eyes scanning the area, searching, sniffing for my blood.
My heart pounded so hard I feared it could hear it. I pressed my body deeper into the earth, trying to merge with the cold mud, with the damp smell that wasn't my own.
Don't… look here…
My mind whispered chaotically, not a prayer, not a plea, just a small voice wanting to survive.
Time felt stretched.
One second.
Two seconds.
Who knows how many.
The steps shifted again, moving slightly away. The heavy breath could still be heard, but not as close as before. The ground vibrated slowly, as if the creature was circling the area.
I remained still.
I didn't dare move. Didn't dare breathe fully. My whole body trembled faintly, not from cold, but from tension forced for too long.
"Hah… hah… hah…"
I'm alive…
"Uggghh…."
Once that realization surfaced, my body seemed to collapse from within. All the pain I had held back suddenly surged together, without mercy. My waist throbbed violently, my shoulder felt like it was being pulled apart from its socket, and every inhale sent a dull ache throughout my chest.
Only now did everything come at once, as if the pain I had suppressed while running was finally demanding payback.
Earlier, when I was running, it felt like it wasn't me moving this body… as if I was just carried by the wind.
Now that wind had stopped.
My body felt heavy. Too heavy to move, too heavy even to stay conscious. The blood flowing from the wounds on my body made my fingertips grow cold, while my vision slowly narrowed, dark at the edges.
My breath came in broken gasps, growing shorter, weaker.
"Hah… hff…."
I tried to move a finger, but there was no response. Even panic felt distant, smothered by the exhaustion pressing from all sides.
The sounds of the forest outside the hole sounded faint, muffled, as if from another world. The vibration of those huge steps, whether they had moved away or not, I could no longer be sure.
I only knew one thing.
This body had passed its limit.
"Haah….haah… am I going to die…"
My eyelids felt heavy, too heavy to keep open. Darkness descended slowly, not as a sudden attack, but like a cold blanket closing in from the edges of my vision to the center of my consciousness.
And before I could take my next breath—
My awareness was cut off.