The Broken System Chose the Antagonist
Chapter 7: Horror

Chapter 7: Horror

"H-help...! HELP!"

Under the shocked gaze of the two to his right, the man was lifted out of the water and held legs first in front of the Predicament’s open mouth.

He watched as half of his legs were lowered into the monster’s mouth. His eyes then quickly flashed with terror. He began to thrash about, kicking at the sides and insides of the Predicament’s mouth as he continued to shout for help:

"PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP ME! PLEASE!"

The man looked back at the two with whom he came and found them frozen in fear; the look in their eyes suggested that he was now alone.

As he was about to shout slurs at them, he felt his legs—the areas below his knees—get crushed under the sharp jaws of the Predicament that was eating him alive.

Tears swelled in his eyes as his cries grew even more desperate for help.

"OH my god, my legs...! Please ugh... someone, please..."

Next, it was his arms. After that, he was eaten whole.

Now, whenever the Predicament opened its mouth, you could faintly hear the cry of the man inside its stomach.

The two men, who just watched as one of them was eaten whole, eventually broke out of their daze and immediately began to swim away from the Predicament.

"SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!"

"GET AWAY FROM IT, HURRY!"

5 meters... 10 metres... 20 metres.

As the two continued to swim as fast as they could, putting distance between them and the Predicament, they suddenly discovered a large shadow falling over them.

SPLASH!

The Predicament had leapt into the water, crossing over 20 metres. With its fall, it dragged the two men under the water with it.

And a moment later, a large pool of blood rose up to the surface.

One of the two was now dead.

Luckily, though, the other was able to swim to the top of the water—albeit now with a cripped, bleeding left arm.

Discombobulated by what just happened, he began to swim in a random direction, using his right arm that now held the combat knife found in the satchel.

"I-... I need to escape... I NEED TO ESCAPE!"

Fortunately, despite having only one working arm, he managed to reach the edge of the lake and pull himself back out.

"Haa... Haa..." He breathed haphazardly, his heart throbbing at an intense speed, which made him feel like he could go into cardiac arrest at any moment.

When he finally got his breathing steady, he pushed himself back onto his feet. But before he could run away...

"No, PLEASE NO!"

The Predicament had already caught up to him.

Having risen out of the water and grabbed him from behind, the Predicament slowly began to lower the man’s legs-first into its gaping maw.

With eyes filled with dread, and his body overrun with desperate fear, he began to stab his combat knife into the back of the Predicament—in hopes that it would let go.

STAB! STAB! STAB!

"Let go! Let GO! LET GO! LET GO OF ME!" The man screamed repeatedly, continuing to stab over and over again.

But when he paused for a split second to check his progress, he had discovered the stab wounds he had made were rapidly healing. In a matter of seconds, all the damage he had inflicted healed with no scars.

The man’s dreadful expression cracked with a crazed smile.

"Haha..."

CRUNCH!

Seraphine was frozen behind the tree she hid behind, unable to bear watching after the first man died.

Now in a seated position, with her knees pressed against her chest, she had her hands clasped over her mouth, trying to steady her breathing as she could hear the last man’s dying laughter as he was torn apart.

A few moments ago, the scent of earth was all she could smell. But now, the strong smell of iron permeated through the air, along with an occasional crunching of bones and wet tearing of muscle.

Seraphine shook fiercely in horror as her mind was overrun with panic.

’I should’ve stayed on the plane, I should’ve stayed on the plane...!’ She repeated constantly inside her head.

She should’ve just ignored Hilda. She shouldn’t have been swayed by the demoness’ words!

’I swear... I swear if I make it out of here alive—’

Thud!

Seraphine’s body immediately froze up as she heard something fall to the ground.

’What was that?’ She thought fearfully.

With gritted teeth, she peeked her head around slightly.

The Predicament, whose mouth was now completely dyed in blood, had relocated to the tree that Seraphine crashed in, having torn down the parachute she used to land.

It stared at the bag the parachute came in curiously before sniffing it. And when it did, it picked up a similar scent coming from behind a tree—the same tree Seraphine was hiding behind.

While the girl had been lucky enough to pull her head back behind the tree, she wanted to cry. And her heart felt like it wanted to burst out of her chest. At this very moment, she felt fear unlike any other, even in both lives.

’Please, please, please don’t come over here!’

The Predicament slowly crept towards the tree on all fours, its wet body moving through the tall grass. When it eventually reached the tree, it placed one of its hands on the bark before looking around it.

But.

Right before Seraphine was about to be discovered—

"Look over there!"

—A voice shouted from afar.

"IT’S A PREDICAMENT, LET’S KILL IT!"

The Predicament, now distracted by the presence of new people, immediately backed away from the tree before rushing towards the direction of the voice.

And after it was far enough away...

Seraphine made a run for it.