“5”
The air crackled with tension, thick with the smell of gunpowder. Protect the energy core. Eliminate the intruders. The entire city seemed ready for war.
“4”
Eric dropped from the rooftop like a falling star, his figure vanishing into a vortex of swirling air.
“3”
A slender hand, covered in a black fingerless glove, gripped a blade tightly. The glint of cold steel promised to strike like lightning at any moment.
“2”
Curses mixed with the roars of unknown beasts in the distance. The space around Eric twisted and warped, streaks of blue and violet slicing across his vision like threads of light.
“1”
Clang!
A flash of blinding light pierced the darkness, followed by the clear ring of blades clashing—
The battle was about to begin.
And then—THUD.
Eric finally tumbled out of that suffocatingly weird portal, landing hard on the uneven ground. The pain shot up from his backside and made him wince.
“Ugh—hurts a hundred times more than falling off the bars in gym class…”
He groaned and scrambled to his feet, only to find himself staring at what looked like a scene straight out of a prehistoric jungle.
“…How the hell did falling through a portal drop me into the middle of a damn forest? I didn’t even bring my tent. Or my phone…”
“Moo…Mmh!”
A strange, unfamiliar animal call cut off his thoughts, followed by the heavy thud-thud-thud of urgent footsteps.
Eric was too stunned to scream, but instinct kicked in, and he dove behind the nearest… whatever-this-thing-is—some weird structure that looked half like a machine. (It was the portal.)
The footsteps got louder. And faster.
He could even hear an oddly impatient tone in them, which made zero sense, because since when did footsteps have emotions?
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Eric peered out through a gap in the strange contraption.
A giant gray creature lumbered into view, golden eyes gleaming, and on its head—clearly visible—was a long, sharp silver horn.
“…Is that a wild rhino?”
His mind raced.
“I’ve never seen one of these in real life, not even at the zoo. Why now? And why me? Do rhinos eat people? Do they?!”
He shivered.
Then, as luck would have it, his foot knocked a protruding stone nearby.
The sound it made scraping across the ground… sounded way too much like a whetstone.
Only, in this metaphor, he was the stone.
And the rhino? That was the blade.
A massive, terrifying, horned blade.
The mental image of the beast polishing its horn on his face flashed across Eric’s mind.
Desperate not to draw attention, he reached out with one foot, trying to nudge the stone back.
But the rock, clearly in its rebellious teen phase, refused to move.
Eric, now irrationally invested, got more aggressive, like he was wrestling with fate itself. He was so focused he didn’t even realize—
“Having fun?”
A raspy, unfamiliar voice shattered his concentration.
He looked up—
And locked eyes with the creature’s massive golden gaze.
Eric nearly screamed. But before he could run or say anything, the beast muttered to itself,
“Damn it. Did the portal malfunction again? If something happens before I get him out of here… I’ll never be able to face Crystaria.”
Portal?
Crystaria??
Why is the rhino speaking English?!
Eric’s brain overloaded.
“I’ve seen a couple anime… but I never signed up to live in one…”
He started backing up slowly, trying to act casual—
Only to bump straight into the portal again. Nowhere to run.
The beast sighed.
With one swipe of its massive paw—WHACK—Eric was out cold.
Blackout.
A stark, blinding white.
Like the ceiling had been replaced by white-hot floodlights.
Then suddenly, darkness again—like someone flicked the switch.
Maybe… maybe I’m still at home? Still in bed…?
“Drip.”
The sound of liquid hitting the ground.
In the chaos of pitch black, a splash of red burst forth like blood.
Crimson droplets scattered midair like shattered glass, glinting faintly like tiny shards of metal.
Then—a blade sliced the air, its arc barely skimming the ground, leaving behind a glimmering trail—
“Thud.”
Someone collapsed.
Then another.
And another.
The rhythm of falling bodies pulsed like a heartbeat, accompanied by the clatter of weapons and machine parts hitting the floor.
“AAAAHHHH—”
“Hold the line!”
“That killer’s here again!”
“Why are we even here—?! He’s not supposed to show up!”
“There’s no mention of an Alpha-class in our intel!!”
Voices screamed, panicked, furious.
Some full of regret, some pure disbelief—
But before their fear could even finish forming,
A red light exploded from the chest of some grotesque creature.
It looked like someone had ignited a nuclear core inside it.
A beam of searing energy tore through the darkness, illuminating the battlefield—
Twisted lab equipment. Shattered control panels.
Unconscious bodies littering the ground.
Then—
A silver blade sliced through the blinding red, cleaving it cleanly in two.
White met crimson, a brief flash of brilliance—
Then all went silent.
Back to black.
Edge of the forest.
Eric slowly opened his eyes, his expression that of someone waking up for school way too early.
But the grayish thing in front of his face wasn’t a bedsheet.
It was… rhino skin.
He jolted awake.
“It’s real?! The rhino is real?!”
And worse yet—
“I’m being carried like a sack of potatoes.”
He sighed.
“…Okay. At least I’m not being turned into stew. Yet.”
His head throbbed, but his brain was already running through escape plans.
He moved a finger. Then another. Slowly putting on his best “I’m unconscious” act.
“Play dead, Eric,” he muttered in his head. “Your best skill since kindergarten.”
Just wait till this beast takes a break. Then—
Run.
