Rustle… Rustle… Rustle…
In a lush forest deep in the mountain, A series of unnatural noises echoed.
Dogs barking from a distance.
And the sound of dry leaves and brittle branches snapping under frantic feet.
"Huff! Huff!"
"Dammit! Stop chasing me!"
A boy with dark hair, looking around ten years old or younger could be seen emerging from a bush.
"I'm not delicious! Can't you guys see that I've got no meat!!"
The boy darted to the left, barely dodging an incoming bite.
"System! Property! Boot up!! Aghh!! Where's that golden finger when you need it!" The boy shouted as he glanced at the never stopping demonic dogs behind him.
"Stop chasing, you dumb dogs!"
He cursed at them but soon realized he shouldn't have done that since, all he got in return was even louder, and more aggressive barking.
The boy felt like crying but no tears fell off.
System where are you?
If there's a right time to appear, it is now!
The boy thought as ran away from those dogs, or if those things can still be called dogs.
Thick, dark fur covered their bodies. Their eyes glowed purple—completely devoid of irises or pupils. Razor-sharp teeth filled their mouths, and their large paws ended in protruding claws that tore through the forest floor as they ran.
These creatures had been chasing him ever since one of them spotted him.
At first, it was just a single dog.
But before he knew it, more began appearing from the forest until they formed a hunting pack.
Until a few hours ago, he had been nothing more than a typical college student attending a public university.
His name is Asher Fernandez, a college sophomore.
But everything changed in an instant when he got into an car accident.
A speeding car suddenly lost control, rushing straight toward a mother and her child standing near the roadside.
At that time, Asher was on his way to his apartment, but seeing the danger, his body suddenly moves on instinct. he sprinted toward them and shoved the mother and child away just in time.
However, by doing so, he couldn't escape himself.
The vehicle slammed into him with full force.
And just as he thought he had died—
Asher woke up in this forest, and realized his body regressed had into that of a ten-year-old him.
"Huff, Huff...Shit, This is bad..at this rate, they're going to catch up on me!"
He gotta give it to those dogs, they were persistent in not letting him get away.
But, as much as he respects that, he was not amused by it. he's starting to get tired, and if this continues he'd be dead meat.
It's already impressive that he managed to run this far without getting caught.
But everything had its limits.
And he was starting to feel his.
He glanced behind his back.
The pact of crazy dogs kept getting closer and closer towards him.
Their glowing purple eyes locked onto him like predators that had already decided on their prey.
Asher gritted his teeth.
He didn't want to die yet.
Well… technically he already had once.
But he definitely didn't want to experience it again this soon.
Much less be eaten alive by a pack of demon dogs.
"Ah-"
Suddenly— At the worst timing ever, Asher tripped.
The world seemed to slow for a brief moment as the ground rushed toward him.
Shit…
Asher slammed onto the forest floor with a painful thud.
"Ugh—!"
Wincing, he rolled onto his side and looked back.
"Grrrrrrrr"
The dogs were already closing in.
Asher kicked forward, and propelled himself back.
"Don't come closer!" He shouted, trying to intimidate them but to no avail.
This is bad, like REALY, REALY BAD!
Looking at the growling dogs slowly closing in, Asher began to panic.
His hand grabbed anything he could find and started throwing them at the demonic dogs.
Not that it did any damage. Small pebbles, branches, and leaves were too light.
At most, it only irritated them more.
One demonic dog got closer than the rest of the pack and suddenly lunged.
"I said don't come closer!!!"
Asher reacted instinctively and grabbed the nearest thing he could reach—a thick tree branch.
He swung the branch into the dog's head with all his strength.
The impact broke the branch, sending wooden fragments flying.
The demonic dog yelped as it collapsed onto the ground. It began convulsing, letting out a series of agonized noises.
Then it went quiet, it's movement stopped and it's limbs slowly went limp.
There was silence for a moment.
Then a slow chilling growl came out from all of those crazy dogs.
Asher stared at the dogs, then at the possibly dead dog and at the handle of what remained of the large branch.
"Ah," He instinctively dropped it then looked at the dogs with a wry smile. "Ehehe, well it was just an accident?"
BARK!
A dog lunged forward.
Asher instinctively placed his arms forward and reeled back while closing his eyes, bracing for impact.
Yelp!
Thud!
Yet, the impact never came, instead he only heard a dog's yelp and a thud.
Asher slowly opened his eyes, in front of him was the same dog who lunged towards him, only this time, it was on the ground, dead, with an arrow stuck on it's neck.
What the hell?
Then, a silent whistle came and the next moment another dog dropped dead.
Then, came another.
And another,
And another,
The dogs panicked, seeing their companions dropping dead.
Then came a howl, a sign of retreat.
Then the rest of the pack that remained still alive immediately follows.
They rushed back, escaping the volley of arrows.
Asher sat there, dumbfounded.
Everything happened in an instant.
Then he heard a branch breaking of top of the trees.
He became alerted, then looked up, searching for something or anything.
"Are you lost, kid?"
Then a deep gruff voice echoed behind him.
Asher let out a shiek and stumbled forward, then looked at the person who spoke behind him.
It was a man, he couldn't really make up his face since he was wearing a mask that covers his face and he was also hooded. Hunter's gear hung across his body—knives, small tools, and other equipment. In his hands were a long bow and around his waist was a quiver full of arrows.
"Who..are you?" Asher cautiously asked.
The man jumped down from that tall tree like it was just normal.
"Me? I'm ust a local hunter." The man said and pulled down his hood and mask.
He was a middle-aged man with brown hair, and green eyes.
But what took Asher's attention the most was the hideous scar ran across his face, stretching from the corner of his eyebrow down to his cheek.
The man studied Asher for a moment.
Then his thick eyebrows slowly furrowed.
"…So?"
His eyes glanced around the clearing—then his gaze locked on to Asher.
"What are you doing out here alone?"
"Uh…How should I explain this.."
Asher was conflicted, it's not like he could say like. "Hey, I'm from another world and I woke up in this forest, and found myself regressed into the 10 years old me and was chased by wild dogs after."
The man crossed his arms.
"This forest isn't a place children wander into by accident,"
"And Marg Dogs usually hunt deeper in the mountains." He said, narrowing his eyes at the forest ahead.
Ah, those things were called Marg Dog's, noted. Asher thought inside his head.
The man gaze returned to Asher.
"So I'll ask again."
"What exactly were you doing out here… getting chased by a pack of them?"
Asher scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"…I got lost and somehow found myself getting chased by those Do- Marg Dog's?"
Yeah, I don't understand. The man had that look on his face as he stared at him, then he sighed.
"....I see,"
He glanced once more at the direction the dogs had fled.
"You're lucky I happened to be nearby."
He walked closer and crouched slightly, inspecting Asher's for any injuries.
"Fortunately, You're not injured."
Then he looked back up at the boy.
"Do you know where you live?"
And just as Asher was about to nod, he quickly shook his head.
The man sighed, like he just heard another troublesome thing.
"…I see."
Asher internally sighed in relief, that was close, for a moment he would have said yes, it's fortunate that I realized it right away.
The man stood up and slung the bow over his shoulder.
"Well, kid," he said, gesturing toward the forest path.
"There's a small town a few kilometers from here, Not exactly a big place, but it's better than dying in the woods."
He looked back at Asher then offered his hands.
"You can walk, right?"
Asher blinked, slightly taken back.
"…You're taking me there?"
The man shrugged.
"Unless you'd rather stay here and wait for the rest of the pack to come back."
Asher changed his perception about the man, at first he thought he was just a suspicious Individual, mind you, he still respected him because he saved him from those beasts, but he's in a forest, anything can happen, and he had read once that never trust anyone inside a forest.
Asher took his hands and shook his head then smiled.
"Town sounds great."
The man snorted and pulled Asher up.
"Thought so."
He turned and into the Marg Dog's corps and began removing the arrows from their necks.
He then walked over to the Marg Dog corpses and began pulling his arrows out.
After that, he took a rope and started tying the dogs together by their legs.
There were at least a dozen of them.
"What are you going to do with those?" Asher asked curiously.
"These things have valuable hides and fur," the man replied while tying the last one. "They're worth a good amount in the market. Leaving them here would be a waste."
Then he lifted the entire bundle over his shoulder.
Asher's eyes widened and his jaw dropped.
"You're… strong…"
"Hm? Impressed?" the man said proudly.
"Despite looking like this, I used to be an imperial soldier, you know?"
Asher stared at the pile of dogs.
Each one of those must've atleast weighted around 10kg, and yet this guy just casually carried them a dozen of them.
Does magic exist in this world or this is just a pure muscle strength?
"Well then," The man said over his shoulder.
"Come on, kid, These woods get a lot worse once the sun goes down."
Asher nodded and followed behind him.
---
Hi everyone!
Please comment your thoughts and recommendations for the story.
I'm not fluent with english so, I used AI to improve my writing, but don't worry this is not an AI generated story, all of this is my own idea.