Memory Reaper's Ascension

The rhinoceros-worm charged with the inevitability of an avalanche.

And still, its approach was silent as it could get. The only sound was Ishiki's own ragged breathing and the rustling of golden leaves in a lullaby for the dying.

That massive bulk should have announced its approach with seismic tremors. Instead, the beast moved like a shadow—terrifying precisely because it, shouldn't be possible.

Ishiki dove sideways and was just barely saved, his movements were becoming clumsy with exhaustion. His naked body hit the ground hard, rolling across roots and rocks.

He almost made it.

Almost.

A branch shot from his blind spot and caught his ankle mid-roll. The wooden appendage wrapped around his leg with python strength, jerking him to a halt with force.

Ishiki tumbled across the forest floor in an ungraceful sprawl and came to rest on his back, staring up at the canopy of golden leaves that didn't let him see past.

'Wait... its night and there is no light? how can i see as if its not day?'

There was no time for questions. He was just grateful that he could see just fine.

Behind him—or was it ahead? the directions were lost. The Rhino-worm was already turning.

The creature's circular maw opened and closed, teeth spiraling inward with wet sounds. Several branches assaulted it from multiple directions. The trees were fighting for their own meal.

The beast bit down on the nearest branch and consumed wood in great tearing chunks. But at the end, it only had a single mouth and it struggled against the forest's collective hunger. For every branch it devoured, three more took its place, stabbing at flanks and legs.

'Good. Stay busy, you ugly bastard.'

Ishiki couldn't ask anything more of the trees, just if they would stop attacking him and focus more on the larger prey. Which in fact they already were.

But to them any food was worth it, because maybe they were hungry from centuries, until a naked fool and ghastly looking Rhino provided themselves.

Ishiki was in no better shape than the beast, he had no time to rest. The moment his body stopped rolling, more branches converged on him mid-stride.

He deflected two with the obsidian spear moving in frantic arcs. But a third got through his guard, whipping across his shoulder and opening a gash that wept blood immediately. A fourth caught his thigh, splinters digging into muscle and sucking blood.

'Why are these things after my blood?'

New wounds joined the tapestry of old ones just in mere seconds.

As exhaustion mounted, Ishiki found maintaining [Ghost Blade] increasingly difficult. The skill took a mental toll that compounded with physical fatigue, like trying to solve complex mathematics while running a marathon.

His perception flickered. The supernatural sense that let him detect threats wavered like a candle in wind, guttering on the edge of extinguishing entirely.

'Curse It.'

He forgot about everything else and just tried to focus on not dying for the next ten seconds, then the ten after that.

The Rhino-worm charged again when Ishiki was too busy.

This time it hit him, dead center in the chest.

The impact felt like being struck by a freight train. His ribs compressed and something cracked inside and a very... agonizing pain spread through his chest.

He flew backward several meters before gravity reasserted its claim.

CRASH!

Ishiki slammed into a tree trunk on the verge of just loosing consciousness.

Branches immediately wrapped around him. This tree he struck, had been waiting with its insatiable hunger and now it seized its opportunity, why wouldn't it?

Wooden appendages coiled around his arms, legs, torso—binding him to the trunk like a sacrifice tied to an altar. More branches descended, reaching for his face, his throat, ready to consume him entirely.

Ishiki thrashed with desperate strength against the timber constraints. He pulled one leg free, then an arm, fighting against wood that felt more like living muscle than plant matter.

'Screw you, leave me alone.'

But by then, the Rhino-worm had already closed the distance.

The beast charged toward the tree circular maw opening wide enough to swallow him before the tree would.

"AAGHHH!"

Ishiki pulled out like this was his last time doing something like this.

'Of course, its my last. I swear... I won't ever come back here!'

At the last moment, he rolled sideways with every ounce of remaining strength, tearing free from the last restraining branches.

He hit the ground just as the Rhino-worm slammed into the tree.

"CRIEKKK!"

The tree screamed and let out a wail of genuine agony.

And then, every single branch went berserk.

The tree's limbs thrashed in all directions without discrimination, attacking everything—Ishiki, the beast, neighboring trees, the ground itself.

The rhinoceros-worm struggled. For the first time since he had descended, the creature actually struggled.

Branches caught its legs, wrapping around those thick limbs with vise-like pressure. More branches targeted the torso, trying to tear away those calcified hide plates through sheer overwhelming numbers.

The beast's circular maw snapped and bit, consuming wood frantically, but there were simply too many.

Ishiki's first instinct was to run.

Get away, put distance between himself and this chaos. Find that clearing and never look back.

But something in his mind—perhaps rationality reasserting itself, made him pause.

'There won't be any more chances like this. Would there?.'

This was it. The beast was distracted, constrained and vulnerable for the first time since this chase began. If he ran now, the game would continue—endless pursuit through a forest of horrors until exhaustion claimed him and made the outcome academic.

Ishiki dodged several branches aimed at him, rolling under a particularly vicious swipe and then activated [Ghost Blade] once more with a mental command that made his head throb.

The skill activated and around him, the forest's attention shifted. Branches that had been reaching for him suddenly changed trajectory, turning toward the Rhino-worm with renewed vigor.

Several neighboring trees joined the assault, their limbs converging on the beast like executioner's rope.

'Good. Keep focusing on that ugly maggot.'

Ishiki jabbed at the branches still targeting him, deflecting and dodging desperately.

Then he closed the distance between himself and the beast.

The beast struggled amidst a tangle of wooden restraints, its circular maw snapping and tearing at branches faster than they could regenerate. But more kept coming, an endless tide of botanical fury.

Ishiki circled around, looking for an opening, the spear gripped tightly in his trembling hands.

There—the neck. Where that worm-like muscles met the Rhinoceros body, that was where flesh looked softer than the armored hide covering the flanks.

"Go to hell, bastard!" Ishiki shouted. 'Or no wait... this is hell, isn't it? So go anywhere else—I don't care!'

A smirk pulled at his bloodied lips despite everything. Despite the pain and exhaustion and the absurdity of his situation.

He thrust forward with Black Tether, driving the obsidian tip toward that vulnerable spot.

The worm-neck tried to move and dodge, that circular maw turned towards Ishiki and let out a screech.

But a thick branch caught the beast's neck at precisely the wrong moment—or right moment, depending on perspective. The wooden limb coiled around that vulnerable flesh and squeezed, immobilizing the maw.

A smile appeared on Ishiki's face— feral and insane.

The spear drew closer and then it pierced.

Black Tether's obsidian tip punched through soft flesh, sinking deep into whatever anatomy existed beneath that exterior. Hot golden blood, fountained from the wound, spraying across Ishiki's face and chest.

"Take that, dumbass!"

The Rhino-worm shrieked.

The sound wasn't silent anymore. His wail was so loud and piercing it transcended audio and became physical force.

Ishiki's eardrums ruptured. Blood leaked from his ears immediately, hot rivulets running down his neck. He couldn't hear anything, but ringing that felt like ice picks driven into his brain.

His mind went blank.

He didn't even realize when a thick root erupted from beneath the earth and coiled around his leg like a serpent.

Suddenly, Ishiki was jerked backward with catastrophic force.

His leg snapped and the bone broke with a sound like a gunshot. Ishiki's scream joined the beast's shriek, creating a duet of suffering that echoed through the cursed forest.

He was dragged across the ground, leaving a trail of blood. His grip on the spear failed, the spear remained embedded in the Rhino-worm's neck.

Ishiki clawed at the earth, trying desperately to stop his backward momentum. But the root was relentless, pulling with strength that made resistance futile.

Ishiki managed to twist his neck.

Behind him, an ancient tree waited.

Its trunk was gnarled with age, bark deeply scored with patterns that might have been coincidence or might have been writing in some language.

And it was smiling.

The smile was unmistakable, the old tree was happy, satisfied that it had found food after years of hunger.

And the worst... the damn, beast wasn't dead yet.