The blood forest has trees not made of wood but out of a fleshy material.
When he fell through the branches and hit the ground, he let out a pained groan.
Thanks to this material being softer than wood, Reiji's fall was slowed down without much injury.
The ground was also made out of a soft, fleshy material with blood vessels running all across its surface.
He slowly got up and cleared off the blood vessels already trying to attach themselves to him.
They were fast and relentless, already running across a few parts of his body but not breaking through the skin.
Reiji started walking, tearing the blood vessels attached to his boots.
He looked behind him, up at the cliff's edge where he jumped from.
He didn't see much through the branches, but he most certainly didn't see the monster there.
It was as if it had disappeared.
Reiji looked back in front of him, trying to find a path out of the blood forest.
He had bad memories with the blood forest, very bad memories.
Reiji knew hiding or sneaking around was pointless.
If you stood still, the blood vessels would attach to you, making you a part of the forest.
On the other hand, going too slow would also be a death sentence because you never know what you might encounter.
Reiji was pulled out of his thoughts as he heard thumping from what seemed to be all around him.
It was getting louder and louder. He kept looking around while walking.
When he finally spotted some movement in the distance, he saw that it was those creatures that had a low, crouched stance, massive forearms and clawed hands.
They had powerful hind legs and a grotesque head with a whip-like tail ending in a spear-head shape.
Before he could do anything, he heard a sound behind him.
He jumped forward, rolling and getting up, facing what was behind him.
He was nearly killed by one of those humanoid monsters.
They were big humanoids without skin, having white hair and this one had two muscular arms that it used to swing the jagged, fleshy, double-edged battle axe.
Swinging its axe at Reiji from behind, it made just enough noise before its attack for him to notice and avoid it.
Seeing that he couldn't possibly win without a sword, he started running once again.
Looking back, he saw that the four-legged creatures started to attack the humanoid, taking it down in a matter of seconds.
Reiji turned his head away and kept running through the blood forest.
After he felt safe again, he slowed down to a walking pace.
He couldn't stop, not even when he was out of breath and feeling like his heart was about to burst.
After walking for a few calm minutes, he looked up.
I need a better vantage point.
He thought to himself, jumping up and taking hold of a few branches.
He started climbing one of the trees, his hands and boots sinking slightly into its fleshy wood.
He climbed the tree until he was at the top.
He stayed there for a few minutes, having a look around.
He constantly had to rip his hands or feet off of the tree and grip it again because the blood vessels were trying to attach to him.
Though he couldn't see much because the tree he climbed was just as high as all the others, he could see mountains with trees that were green instead of red.
The closest normal forest wasn't that far.
But as he went to climb down, he suddenly stopped, seeing the horse human monster that chased him before.
It was silently walking in-between the trees, looking around.
Reiji kept a tight grip on the branches, keeping his mouth shut.
The blood vessels started to run up his arms and legs.
The monster, as if knowing he was there, stopped right under the tree and looked around before slowly looking up at him
It let out another one of those horrible screams.
It pushed the tree over instantly, causing Reiji to go down with it.
In that short moment he tore off the blood vessels.
When the tree fell down, Reiji fell into a small trench which a blood stream flowed through.
He quickly pressed up as close as he could to the wall of the trench.
When the monster approached it looked around, trying to find him.
The human head looked higher while the horse one looked closer to the ground.
Eventually, the horse head moved over the trench, but Reiji was right under it.
It then turned its head and one of its eyes stared down directly at him.
Reiji acted quickly, holding onto its head and shoving his thumb into its eye before pushing its head away.
It screamed and used its thin legs to slam down into the trench with impossible power.
Once it calmed down, it saw Reiji running away.
He didn't know how, but he managed to escape.
What was also a concern was the fact that the blood from the stream caused his skin to be red and tender, like a blood vessel just popped underneath it.
Nonetheless, he kept running and the monster followed, letting out its disturbing scream.
I should reach the forest if I keep going straight but how will that help when I have that thing chasing me?
He thought to himself as he ran.
A quick, thin stream of blood cut through the trees in front of him, slowly moving towards him.
With a panic expression he dropped down and slid underneath it.
He knew where this was coming from.
It was that damn creature that blew off his arm the last time he was in a blood forest.
After the stream passed over his head he got up onto his feet and resumed running.
Looking back, he saw that the horse human monster ran off into the direction where the blood stream came from.
It must have gotten hit.
He thought to himself, never stopping.