The monster looked very much like a mantis. Blade-like arms, each as long as his entire arm, four legs that kept it balanced, and eyes that were disturbingly huge—two of them, sickening red and bulging from its head.
"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
It screeched and in an instant sped toward him. He rolled out of the way just in the nick of time as one of its bladed arms sliced clean through the rock where he'd been standing, splitting it in half like paper.
"Argh—" He groaned and reached for the blade at his waist with what was left of his functioning arm, then drove it straight into one of the creature's eyes.
"SCREEE!" It thrashed wildly and slammed into him with its full body weight, sending him flying backward until he collided hard with another black rock.
The terrain here was a far cry from the forest he'd just escaped from. The red sun hung in full view overhead, black rocks scattered across every visible area both near and far, and in the distance, impossibly long spirals of rock jutted up into the sky, each one strangely shaped and twisting upward like the fingers of some buried giant.
"Argh—" He coughed out blood, but his instincts kicked in the next instant and he found himself rolling hard to the right.
BOOM!
Something exploded behind him and the shockwave threw him off even further. He rolled forcefully across the ground until he collided with yet another huge rock.
"Urgh—" He grunted and looked up only to find something massive descending straight toward him.
"Oh shit—" His eyes darted to the side and spotted his sword lying just out of reach. He dove for it desperately, but then—
BAM!
"DAMN IT!" The creature's blade pierced straight through his abdomen and pinned him to the ground. It screeched triumphantly, standing over him with its damaged eye oozing dark fluid. He gritted his teeth and stared back at the monstrosity that had him pinned down and screeching in his face.
It raised one of its bladed arms high and struck down. He tilted his head to the right at the last second and the blade pierced straight through the rock beside his head instead.
"SCREEEEEEEEEEE!" It screeched even louder this time, and nasty slimy substance dripped onto his face and infuriated him even more.
He tilted his head once again toward his sword, stretching to his absolute limit, but his fingers kept falling just an inch away no matter how much he strained.
"This is going nowhere—fuck—" He looked back only to find the monster attacking again, this time slicing a chunk of flesh clean off him from his shoulder down.
"Shit—" He cursed and grabbed a rock his hand could actually reach, then smashed it into the creature's remaining eye with all the strength he had left.
"SCREEEEEE!" It thrashed in agony, giving him just enough of an opening to wiggle out of its hold. He grabbed his sword in one swift motion and drove it forward with everything he had. "Die, you nasty son of a bitch!" The blade went straight into the injured eye of the creature, all the way through to its brain.
"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" It let out a death cry and staggered backward inconsistently until it collapsed onto its back with a heavy thud.
"Haah... haah... haah..." He panted, completely exhausted.
He dragged his body painfully across the ground until he was able to lean against a rock, then rested there for a moment before stabbing his sword into the ground. He took a deep breath, used it as support to pull himself up to his feet, and muttered, "I miscalculated. I didn't think these monsters would be this strong." His eyes scanned the mantis creature sprawled out before him.
"Ugh—" He groaned from the discomfort that came from his injuries.
Growls.
"Huh?" He frowned, but just as he started to turn around, something massive slammed into him and knocked all the breath out of his lungs in an instant.
His vision went blurry and monochrome as he was flung so far into the sky that it felt like gravity had reversed itself. "What... the hell... was that?" was all he could manage to say as gravity regained its senses and he found himself headed straight for the peak of one of those spiraling rocks—sharp at its tip like a spear waiting to impale him.
"Oh crap—"
SSSHHHHAAAAK!