She whispered calmly "Summoner. Your heartbeat is elevated."
"what? It's not…"
All three MUNCHES exhaled.
A low, hungry chorus sound.
"Niight… Run… Time…"
Their bats hit the snow at once—
THUD. THUD. THUD.
And the forest echoed their laughter.
Si Hon then swallowed, "gulp…" sweat mixing with the freezing air.
The MUNCHES shadows stretched, their grins widening, their bodies crouching like they were about to pounce. AYO!
He glanced at the little girl.
"…Make them gone." Si Hon command.
She blinked once.
Then nodded.
And then— She disappeared.
Not poof, not blur, not blink.
Just, gone.
The air snapped like someone tore a page out of reality.
And suddenly—
"PLOP"
The MUNCHES who were inches away from him… were now standing several meters behind him, confused, wobbling on their huge legs like someone moved them in their sleep.
Si Hon's eyes widened, then the girl appeared back in her position without any sounds.
"No… wait no I mean kill like kill kill! Like erased!!!"
The MUNCHES froze.
Slowly turning their giant heads toward him.
Their blue-ringed eyes widened in shock. Then fury then hunger.
"HUUUUMAAAAN…" they screamed, their voices vibrated the snow. "MAGIC… YOU CHEAT."
One slammed its enormous fist into the ground, snow exploding upward.
"NO RUN ANYMORE… CATCH HIM!!!"
"SHIT"
Si Hon ran full speed.
The MUNCHES roared behind him, their massive limbs smashing through trees and shaking the ground every step.
Si Hon's breath came out in white clouds as he sprinted.
"why… why the fuck are they so FUCKING fast?!? They're gorillas with bat too!—"
Then he glanced back.
THE GIRL. She wasn't running and she wasn't even panicking.
She was… Walking. Slowly.
Like she was taking a peaceful stroll even though there's a bunch of murder gorillas.
"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!"
Si Hon skidaddled, turned around, ran BACK toward her.
"I— shit! Come here!"
He scooped her up without thinking.
One hand under her legs, one behind her back. It's a princess carry.
Her expression didn't change at all and the MUNCHES behind roared louder.
The ground trembled.
And Si Hon, absolutely done with life, shouted.
"OKAY SHIT we're doing this now— hold on okay? Or I… I don't know, just don't fall, don't even think of touching the snow."
She blinked.
"I will not fall."
"good, because I might."
He bolted.
Branches whipping past his face. Snow exploding under his boots each step. The cold air stabbing into his lungs like needles. The girl looking perfectly calm in his arms like she was being carried across a living room and not a death forest.
Behind them.
The MUNCHES howled.
"RUN HUMAN RUN HUMAN RUN HUMAN. WE LIKE WHEN YOU RUN."
"Yea, well I don't BITCHASS!!!"
And Si Hon ran through the Snowfall Mountain, ribs screaming, breath burning, mind spiraling and most of all. Carrying an emotionless walking nuke disguised as a little girl.
The forest roared.
The night awoke.
Everything wants his bones.
And Si Hon, running with a summoned consequence child in his arms, screamed internally. "WHY IS MY LIFE AND LUCK LIKE THIS!!!"
***
He didn't know how long he'd been running.
His lungs were on fire and his ribs are screaming.
And most o all his legs felt like soggy noodles.
But he still ran. Straight into the deeper forest. Deeper than he said he's supposed to go. Deeper than anything sane would go.
The trees thickened, snow grew heavier, and the air turned into needles stabbing his face.
"fuck fuck fuck. MOVE LEGS DON'T DIE YET!!!"
He stumbled through a wall of branches, slipped on ice, caught himself, but he kept running.
The girl remained weightless in his arms. She's completely calm, unbothered, NOT HELPING.
Eventually, the trees opened up and a steep snow covered slope rose in front of him like a white wall.
It was a mountain. Si Hon stared up at it.
"shit…"
This time… yea he actually doesn't have any choice.
Behind him, the forest trembled.
Something BIG hit a tree and ripped it straight out of the ground, snow, dirt, everything.
"RAHHHHHJAJSJJAHEEHJDHDBSVWFHSKSNSB!!!"
Si Hon's flinched for a second then.
"SHIT… okay I get it I get it I'll run I'll do this, just stop screaming that's Creepy as shit."
He bolted toward the mountain, grabbed the girl, and adjusted her in his arms. Then he froze.
"No. No, this is stupid… hold on"
He set her down for half a second, breath shaking.
"Listen, hug me. Like wrap your arms. And legs. Tightly. Okay? Like a human koala. Please."
She blinked once.
Then obeyed.
Her small legs locked around his waist. Her arms wrapped around his neck. Her head rested against his shoulder, calm.
Si Hon laughed.
"yea… okay this works this is fine."
THUD.
Another tree fell.
"nah… okay all right. GO TIME!"
He threw himself at the mountain. Hands digging into snow. Boots slipping. Legs trembling. Cold stabbing thru his bones.
He climbed Not gracefully or heroically.
「He's just a man who dont wanna die. Or like a man carrying a living apocalypse koala while death gorillas screamed behind him.」
"Shut up…"
「But please don't die Si Hon. Your the chosen so please survive, I just need to to something real quick.」
"What!?"
Well he still climbed.
His breath wheezed out in little clouds.
"come on… come on… please… don't die now… not like this… My feet~"
He dragged himself upward, slipping every few steps, until finally.
His hand grabbed the top, he pulled himself over the edge, and collapsed.
Face-first.
Into snow, pure exhausted misery.
He wheezed into the ice, arms trembling, body half-dead…
And then he realized.
The girl was still clinging to him, hugging him. And still perfectly calm and still wrapped around him like a backpack infront.
Si Hon lifted his head just enough to glare at her.
"…You're not even saying anything. I'm literally lying on you right now. You're beneath me. This is weird. Say something…"
She blinked once, expression unchanged.
"Then command me to let go, Summoner."
Si Hon's sigh.
"Oh my god. don't say it like that."
"Down."
She nodded once then let go.
He laid there, snow freezing his cheeks, chest rising and falling like he had three hearts.
"AAAAHHHH— I CAN'T— I CAN'T— I'M RETIRING— FUCK THIS—"
The little girl was now sitting beside him.
Si Hon slowly pushed himself upright, groaning like a man twice his age. The mountain answered with silence. He squinted through the falling snow.
And there it was.
Far, far in the distance.
The tower.
Barely visible through the sheet of the falling snow, the Tower stood like the spine of a dead god piercing the sky. Even from this impossible height on the mountain, its DARK~ MASIVE~ GIRTHY SILHOUETTE dominated the horizon it was so tall, dark, and impossibly ancient, carved from a stone no world should naturally produce.
It didn't just stand there, it radiated presence. The air around it shimmered faintly, bending light like heat over desert sand despite the freezing cold, as if reality itself strained to support the thing's existence.
Every floor inside that black monolith held its own ecosystem. its own laws, its own nightmares. It was the center of the First Floor, of Snowfall Mountain, of everything that hunted and breathed here.
And now, from this far away, the Tower looked tiny so small enough to pinch between two fingers and yet Si Hon could feel its weight, like a pressure behind his ribs reminding him that everything circling these mountains existed because it wanted them to. The tower wasn't a building. It was the anchor of this entire hell.
Si Hon let out a weak laugh and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"haha… damn…"
"…we're so far."
He exhaled and finally looked down at the girl.
And notice a small, thin cut on her arm then a bead of blood trickled down her pale skin.
Si Hon blinked.
"…so you do get injured."
She looked at the cut with mild curiosity, like someone noticing dirt on a window.
"It appears so," she said.
He sighed.
"Of course. Of course you can get hurt. Great. Amazing. Let me add that to my list of problems."
He gently patted her and Sigh once again.
Then… THUD!
A tree fell in the distance.
Si Hon froze.
He turned his head slowly, and he let out a small laugh. "Fuck…"
「The MUNCHES.」
"I know… welcome back."
「Oh wait I need to go again.」
He sigh. "Your so useless right now."
Then he spotted them Not three it was not even close… there was TEN… or maybe more.
They stepped out of the forest one by one.
Huge shadows against the snow.
Their breath steaming. Their bats dragging long furrows in the ground. They approached slowly.
Not rushing. Not attacking. They were just enjoying this.
One tilted its head, grinning wide enough to show every cracked stone-looking tooth.
"Heheheee… Human climbed high…"
Another leaned forward.
"Play on mountain now…"
A third tapped its bat on the snow.
thud
thud
thud
Like counting down.
Then all of them. LIKE ALL OF THEM.
Spoke in a low, vibrating chorus.
"RUN… LITTLE HUMAN…"
Si Hon's whole body trembled.
"Yes… haha shiver me timbers…"
And the girl in his arms whispered softly.
"Your heartbeat is elevated again, Summoner."
Si Hon's eyes twitched.
"…yeah. No shit."