Reiji fell through darkness.
The wind howled like a dying beast as the world spun violently around him. There was no sky, no light—only an endless descent into something unknown.
Then—
Impact.
The ground exploded beneath him as his body crashed into the earth.
Dust and shattered stone erupted outward in a violent shockwave.
Silence followed.
For a moment… nothing moved.
Then Reiji gasped.
Pain surged through his entire body. His vision blurred as he forced himself upright, shaking.
The air here was different.
Heavy. Cold. Wrong.
He looked around.
A vast wasteland stretched endlessly in every direction. Cracked earth. Broken cliffs. Dead trees twisted like claws reaching toward the sky.
No signs of civilization.
No life.
Only Death Valley.
Reiji slowly rose to his feet, breathing unevenly.
"This place…" he muttered.
A faint memory echoed in his mind.
S-rank monsters… Death Valley… no one survives there.
He clenched his fists.
"…So they really threw me away."
A bitter laugh escaped his lips.
Not because it was funny.
But because it was absurd.
A sudden chill ran down his spine.
Reiji froze.
Something was behind him.
Slowly, he turned—
Nothing.
Only fog drifting between the broken rocks.
But his instincts screamed.
Danger.
Before he could react—
A shadow moved.
Fast.
Too fast.
Pain exploded through his left side.
Reiji was thrown violently across the ground, crashing into a rock formation.
"Gah—!"
His vision blurred as he coughed, struggling to breathe.
Something massive stood where he had been moments ago.
A beast.
Its presence alone crushed the air around him.
Reiji's eyes widened.
"…No way."
The creature stepped forward.
Its body was enormous, covered in dark fur and bone-like armor. Its eyes glowed faintly through the fog.
A Triple S-Rank monster.
Or so he thought.
Reiji's body trembled.
"I… can't even move properly…"
The beast tilted its head.
Not rage.
Not hunger.
Curiosity.
Like he was something small.
A toy.
A mistake.
Then Reiji realized something terrifying.
It hadn't even used its magic.
It hadn't needed to.
His heart pounded violently.
"…So I was wrong," he whispered.
The creature lost interest almost immediately.
Another motion.
A casual strike.
Reiji's body was launched into the air.
He slammed into the ground again, rolling painfully.
Blood stained the dirt beneath him.
But something inside him refused to stop.
"I'm not… dying here…"
He forced himself up.
His fingers dug into the ground.
Nearby, half-buried in rubble, lay a broken dagger.
Reiji grabbed it.
The beast moved again.
This time, faster.
Reiji barely reacted in time, leaping away as the ground shattered where he stood.
He was launched upward again.
Mid-air.
No ground.
No escape.
The monster leapt after him.
Its shadow swallowed the sky.
Reiji's eyes narrowed.
Think.
Move.
Live.
He grabbed loose stones mid-air and threw them directly into its eyes.
The beast roared in pain for the first time.
That single opening was everything.
Reiji twisted his body.
Falling.
Descending.
Dagger raised.
One motion.
Everything he had left.
SLASH.
A vertical strike cut through the monster's body from neck to stomach.
Time stopped.
Then—
The beast collapsed mid-air and crashed into the ground.
Dead.
Silence returned.
Reiji landed on one knee, breathing heavily.
His hands shook.
Not from fear.
From realization.
"…That wasn't Triple S-rank."
He looked at the corpse.
"…It was B-rank."
The truth hit harder than the fight.
He wasn't in the deep zones of Death Valley.
Not yet.
And if this was only the beginning…
Reiji slowly stood up.
His eyes sharpened.
"…Then I'll survive all of it."
The fog around him shifted.
Somewhere deeper in the valley…
Something watched.