Of course, that ant had to drain the life out of me; I had no choice but to run, "RUN AXEL, RUN! DON'T TURN, JUST RUN!"
Without hesitation, Axel took off as fast as possible. I followed closely behind, the Error chasing after us—shooting sprays of acid, which burnt the bark of the crowd of swamp trees away into sizzling sounds.
I threw Ignis towards the massive catastrophe of a "monster". Not even cutting the skin, "Oh great, another puzzle to solve! Gah! Can't it just be easy for once?!"
'Nope, it can never be easy…'
'Wow, thank you, Horacio. Big help.'
Axel paused to look behind. I grabbed him by the collar. His weight made it far too hard for me to drag him fast. So I yelled—as any sensible person would—, "AXEL YOU IDIOT. DON'T STOP, KEEP RUNNING AND DON'T LOOK BACK."
As we ran, I passed by a cave. I pulled Axel around and threw him forward, ducking down as the Error jumped over me, "GO RUN INTO THAT CAVE, FAST!"
Without hesitation, Axel obeyed the command, running into it. I got up, running behind him as the Error almost bit my t-shirt.
We entered the cave just in time, walking backwards now, our lungs exhausted. The Error tried chomping at us, but fortunately, it couldn't reach our appetising flesh. Axel sat down, crying even harder now.
I sighed, wondering what my life had come to. "Axel, could you please relax?! It may have eaten your friends, but—"
Axel didn't care about a single thing I said; instead, he cried even harder. The beast still roamed outside, breathing out a stench far worse than any fart.
'Eugh, I'm gonna vomit sooner or later…' I told myself as I accidentally breathed in the stench while my ears bled from hearing Axel cry.
I brought myself close to Axel, lying in his lap. I yawned as my eyes closed up. Before letting myself be consumed by the magnet of sleep.
____________________________
I woke up almost an hour later because the Error suddenly began walking away, breaking thick pieces of wood beneath its weight (thank God I wasn't born a log). Quite the shocker to be honest. I had expected it to at least be there for a few hours.
I turned my head up, facing the sleeping boy. His face was quite beautiful. 'It's almost like I have my own son now, ha…'
"Wake up, Axel," I said as I tapped his cheeks before getting up. Axel blinked open his eyes, "What… I want to sleep a little more…"
"Nope, no can do."
"Whyyy."
"Because we have to complete this exam quickly! And if you haven't noticed, the Error is gone!"
"OH YEAH! HOW COULD I HAVE FORGOTTEN THAT?!"
"I don't know… Well, anyway, time to get moving." I pulled up the child. We walked out of our shelter, the amount of time we spent here so far still unknown to us.
We tread across swamps filled with Hollow-ranked Errors, slaying all beasts in during our 14-hour death quest. "Axel, to your right!" I commanded him as he sniped down the venomous beings.
I severed unexplainably large parasitic worms in half with the use of Ignis. Blue blood covered my blade from top to bottom. My wrists groaned, still adapting to swinging a sword.
Axel fell backwards, panting, with his sniper rifle right beside him. We then agreed on taking a short break from the fighting, relaxing near a campfire. "Gahh, I'm so tired! Just how long till the exam ends?!"
"I'm not sure myself. Though I was told I have to survive 2 weeks here…" I winced as my rib cage suddenly sent a spike of pain across my body, 'Ugh, that God damned ant actually broke my rib!'
Axel then suddenly got the idea to finally tell me, "I forgot to tell you. 1 hour here is a day in reality—"
"WHAAAT?!"
"I'll repeat it slowly this time, 'There's a difference of time here. 1 hour in here is a day in the real world…'"
"I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME, BUT LIKE. WHAT?! WHY IS THERE SUCH A BIG TIME DIFFERENCE?!"
"Not sure myself."
"That's… insane…"
"I know, right?"
"Also, mind telling me where we are exactly? Cause the environment changed really quickly from rainforest to swamp forest."
"Based on our surroundings, this should be the Venomia-Region. 1 of the 4 different regions in the Doom Pit. The region I found you in was the Insecto-Region's border."
"Ah, okay," I responded.
"Tell me, Axel, ever read a book?" The sparks from the campfire floated in the air for a few seconds before plunging onto the ground. The glowing orange was erased from existence.
"Yeah, I have, not a lot of books though…"
"Wanna name them?"
"Sure! Though most of them are web-novels if that counts…"
"Anything counts to be honest—"
"You should've said that first! Alright, I've read Shadow Slave, Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint, and Harry Potter. I can't remember anymore…"
"Those are solid reads. Great reads in fact!"
Our short-lived break was soon interrupted by a series of crunching noises on the swamp forest floor. Most likely twigs being snapped. 'I guess this is what it feels like, being the grandchild of Fate itself and all…' I let out a heavy sigh.
Axel hid behind a tree, sniper ready. I tried climbing a tree but miserably failed, falling onto my ass. My ass totally hated me after that.
"Ow!"
Then came around the monster, tail whipping back and forth. Bearing its fangs, which were covered in a mixture of blue and red. 'Bastard.'
Lowering my tone, I whispered to Axel, "It's the same one which was chasing us before."
Using Distortion Sense was either the best idea ever or the worst idea ever. Because I spared no more time there, 'NOPE, NUH UH. I WILL NOT FIGHT ANOTHER STRONG ERROR TODAY. ENOUGH WITH TRYING TO MURDER ME, GOD DAMNED EXAM.'
I pulled Axel's hand as we fled from our campsite. Axel was shocked as well, since he's sniping Errors, Distortion Sense always had to be turned on for him. He stared blankly, eyes empty. Like that creature carried something which he could never handle.
"AXEL, WAKE UP!" I yelled at him with a light slap, bringing the poor child back to reality.
"AH! I'M AWAKE NOW!"
"STAY AWAKE. WE CAN'T DIE YET!"
"OH, YES OF COURSE, SIR!" Axel looked back to see us once again being chased by an Error. 'Seriously, what's up with Errors chasing me?! Find someone else to chew on!'
The Error roared, as it spat acid from the depths of its mouth, burning away the thick bark of the tree just beside us.
I grasped Ignis in my hands, coating it in metal before I threw Axel face-first into a swamp. And then I drove Ignis into the Wraith rank's front-left leg. Cutting it off.
It prepared its next spray of deathly acid, but Axel reacted faster, not killing it, but distracting it. Giving me the perfect opportunity to… 'Escape!'