Surviving in this world was easy....
A sharp sound cut through the air. A bouncing ball rolled across the street. A small boy, no older than six, broke free from his mother's distracted grip and dashed after it.
The kid moved with single-minded determination, chasing bright rubber happiness into the open road.
Dimi glanced up.
...Ignore every trouble.
Just like he ignored the flashing headlights speeding toward the boy. Just like he ignored the truck barreling down the lane, engine roaring and horn blaring.
If he sprinted now, he could reach the kid.
Maybe.
If he shoved the child forward and dove aside, perhaps they both would survive.
Perhaps.
Or perhaps the truck would not brake in time. Perhaps it would hit him first. Perhaps the child would panic and freeze. Perhaps he would die.
The heroic side of him screamed for action. Then, like a cold shower, the logical side of him asked a question.
'Is that your child?'
True. This was not his child. The heroic impulse faded as quickly as it came.
In that moment between life and death, Dimi learned a truth about himself. He did not fear the death of others. He feared his own.
Shaking his head, he stepped behind an iron pole, not wanting to witness the aftermath. That was when their eyes met. His and the truck driver's.
For a brief second, Dimi saw surprise. Then desperation. The truck swerved. At the last moment, it missed the boy standing frozen in the middle of the road.
It did not miss Dimi.
There was no pain at first. Only force. His body lifted from the asphalt as if gravity had been switched off. The world spun. Sky replaced street. Street replaced sky.
He hit the ground hard. Sound faded into a distant ringing. People rushed. Shadows hovered. Someone shouted for an ambulance.
The boy was crying, but alive.
Dimi lay on his back, staring at the evening sky bleeding into purple.
It was not fair. He had not run into the middle of the road like an idiot. Yet he was the one lying in his own blood.
Dimitri used the last of his strength to look at the boy now clinging to his mother.
"You fucking-…" he muttered bitterly.
The words never finished. His heart stopped. The last thing he heard was the frantic sobbing of a mother hugging her son.
Then everything went black.
*
* *
Dimi woke up gasping for air.
He was trapped inside a dark, confined space. There was barely enough room for one person. He slammed his fists against the surface above him. From the sound of the impact, he could tell it was wood.
"What is this, a casket? Did they bury me alive?"
Panic surged as he pounded harder against the lid. With a loud creak, the wood cracked and gave way.
Relief flooded him. It lasted less than a second. The moment the casket broke open, sand began pouring in.
"Aah, fuck…"
A heavy wave of sand rushed down, forcing its way into his mouth, nose, and ears. It filled every inch of space around him.
He thrashed wildly, trying to claw upward, but the sand swallowed him whole. His movements weakened as his lungs burned.
After several desperate minutes, his consciousness faded once again.
*
* *
Somewhere in the darkness, Dimi thought he heard a mechanical voice.
When he opened his eyes, there was no sound. His ears were clogged with sand. He quickly shut them again, but grains had already scraped against his pupils, drawing pained grunts from his throat.
Strangely, the sand no longer felt suffocating.
It pressed against him in the same quantity as before, yet he could move. Slowly, he began digging upward.
He had no idea how much time passed. It felt like an eternity.
"Don't tell me I'm digging downward," he muttered internally.
He would have believed that if not for the displaced sand falling beneath him. Gravity still pulled downward.
What confused him more was that he was not gasping for air. He should have suffocated by now.
The question faded beneath survival instinct. Suddenly, fresh air rushed into his lungs.
His hands broke through the surface. Dimitri dragged himself out and collapsed onto the ground, gulping air like a starved beast.
He blinked.
Sunlight filtered through towering trees. Leaves shimmered in a gentle breeze. The scent of earth and moss replaced exhaust fumes.
Dimi pushed himself upright.
"Where am I?"
From the freshness of the air alone, he knew this was not Earth.
He looked down. The clothes were unfamiliar. Rough fabric. His hands were calloused, hardened like a warrior's.
He touched his face. The bone structure was different.
"I transmigrated…" His eyes widened.
"I actually transmigrated!" he shouted.
Birds scattered at his shout. He quickly covered his mouth.
He had no memories of this body. The surroundings looked like a forest. Forests meant predators.
The last thing he wanted was to die again. He scanned the area.
Dense trees stretched in every direction. No roads. No buildings. No distant traffic.
Only birds.
Then the birds stopped. The air shifted as a low tremor vibrated beneath his feet.
Dimi frowned.
"That is not normal."
The trembling intensified. Leaves shook loose from branches. Small animals burst from bushes and fled in panic.
The ground quaked violently.
"That is definitely not normal."
A shadow rolled across the forest floor. It swallowed the sunlight. Dimi stepped back instinctively and pressed himself behind a thick tree trunk.
The tremors grew violent. Each vibration struck like a distant explosion.
"What kind of welcome party is this?"
The shadow expanded. It covered everything. Dimi slowly tilted his head upward. At first, he did not understand what he was seeing.
The sky was dark. No. It was blocked. Something enormous moved above the treetops.
Clouds parted around a shape too massive to comprehend. A silhouette vast enough to blot out the horizon.
His breath caught.
"What the hell is this?"
The shape shifted. A colossal leg descended from the sky.
Its surface resembled ancient stone, etched with glowing veins of molten light. Each toe alone was larger than a house. The air screamed as it crushed the atmosphere beneath its weight.
Dimi's mind stalled.
Run. The thought came too late. He tried to move, but his legs refused. The tree behind him shattered as the descending foot consumed the sky.
For a fraction of a second, he felt awe. Then terror. Then nothing. Darkness swallowed everything.
And this time, the mechanical voice rang clearly in his ears.
[Congratulations! You have been Stomped to death by an Ancient Titan.]
[You have obtained the skill: Titan Stomp (SSS+)]