V1C3 – God’s 2nd Trial (The Body)
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I opened the door and walked out to find myself in a lush green forest. It's like a jungle, well, it actually is. Looking behind me, the interview room is gone.

"So, what is the test?" I ask.

"Take this survival knife."

He threw it to me, luckily I caught the handle without problems. One edge is serrated, the other isn't.

"You're goal is to kill that. Time limit, none."

He pointed to a black mass in the forest, its crimson eyes stared through me.

"What is..."

Suddenly, it broke into a sprint. As I got a clearer and clearer picture of its approach, the more I grew into a panic. That is...!

"It's a monster from the world I plan to send you to. It may look like a bear, but it's different than the ones you know. Primarily, it's stronger, faster, more resilient, and more aggressive."

Why would such a monster exist! As it revealed itself from the forest's shadows, I began gritting my teeth and plotting my escape. I must move backward slowly...

"GRRRAAHHHH!!!"

It roared and dashed to me; I struggled to push off in the opposite direction with no time to think. After a delay, I began at a full sprint; My knife flailed around along with me. I know that it's physically impossible to outrun a bear, but I just need time to escape! Think, Kei Kadoya, think!

This knife will be useful in the fight ahead, I can't abandon it here. Keeping my mind focused on not tripping, I also try to find something else that can slow the bear. I need to find something, anything! I started with a bit of distance, but it's being closed quickly. My lungs grow wearier and wearier. I loosened my tie and swiftly checked my pockets which turned out to be empty.

"This is way harder than that room!"

I kept sprinting until stumbling upon a beach. Is this an island? Quickly grabbing the heaviest stone I could carry along with the knife, I push off into the ocean. After rushing into the sea, I walked along the seafloor for a bit, staying underneath regardless of depth due to the stone I carried. If the bear didn't see me enter the ocean, that would be ideal. If it did, it might try to go after me. In that case, I'd just need to go deeper until it couldn't reach me; For that, I'd need to hold my breath out to the limit. Bears are typically good swimmers, I need to take this cautiously. As I waited a bit, I dropped the stone and let my natural buoyancy pull me to the surface. My head peaked out as I gasped for air. I looked to the beach.

"Not there, huh."

It seems the bear left and didn't chase me into the ocean. That was close, I don't know how else I might've shaken him off my tail. I begin to swim back to the beach with professional-like movements. Now, let's take my time and concoct a strategy to take that thing down, shall we?


It's been a week, and since this isn't of the survival genre, I'll summarize the events. After escaping the bear, I walked to find a good place to set up my base. Then, I found the perfect spot; It's on the base of a large cliff near a river, though everything is still covered with trees that block out the sun. Then, I set up a small tent with wood and leaves. I also made a stone circle with centered wood for fires (warmth, cooking food, boiling water) and a cooking stand. My makeshift stone pot, bow drill, and given knife are off to the side while my created stone spears, ax, and sharpened stone knives lay on the other.

In terms of food, I've been making it through my days by eating berries and whatnot: careful not to eat anything poisonous. Over this time, I've learned something important.

"I'm the only other animal in this forest."

In the first place, this forest is unnatural. There are no insects or other animals, only plants and greenery. This ecosystem is sure to fail at some time, but this was for a single test made by God and there's no way they care about that. So, even if there is no time limit, there is a time limit based on how long you can tolerate eating only berries. No animals mean less food, but that goes for the bear as well. Unless it can survive off of mostly nothing, which I doubt, then it must starve out and die if I wait long enough. Though that could take months, and I'm not willing to be here in this condition that long. So, I devised my plan to kill it as soon as possible.

"Here it comes."

Those red eyes approached me again. As the only other animal in the forest, the bear's enhanced sense of smell must've noticed the unique scents going on at my camp. Maybe it was attracted by me burning something, or me simply being different than my bland surroundings. This is all part of the plan; Looking for the bear is a nightmare, so let it come to me. It broke into a mad dash for my camp. Good, follow me! I grab my spears and knives and begin running uphill. I look back slightly, it's already reached my little tent and smashed it over. It looks to me angrily,

"RAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!!!"

But, as it sprints on all fours to me, it suddenly dips in its depth to the right. That's right, did you think that you'd be able to follow me so easily? I've laid numerous traps over my time here: all to ensnare you. It fell into my covered hole. Now that it's temporarily immobile, I throw my stone knife to its right eye and land a clean hit. It screams in pain as I turn and put more distance in between us. 

"Running uphill is tough..."

I look back again and see that its regained balance, I watched intensely as it climbed. Soon, it fell again: this time to the left from my trap. Waiting for this while winding up my position, I threw my spear as hard as I could into its shoulder. With a clean sound, it connected; It didn't stick but definitely left some sort of cut. It grunted in annoyance and frustration.

As it exited my trap, its paws glowed a bit red. Did it fall into my protruding ground spears as planned? Even more pissed, its eyes lit up with rage as it tore through the air towards me at breakneck speed. I turned back and tried to continue even further upwards.

I also kicked some rounder stones down to the killer bear that I set up beforehand. They might impede it slightly, but I doubt that they would go too far. Anyways, I continued throwing my stone weapons at the bear as soon as it fell into my traps; I soon ran out. But, that's okay; I'm nearly at the edge of the cliff.

"UUUURRRAAAAHHHHH!!!"

Covered in small cuts and bruises, the bear stumbles and presses towards me. When God said, "...more aggressive," I don't think he was right. This monster is completely berserk.

I finally reached the spot; The spot I marked with a huge [X] on the ground. The bear also reached me too, it was just a small distance away. We were face to face, but it seemed tired and less angry than before. Is the poison I laced my weapons with working? By crushing or rubbing poisonous plants I identified against my weapons, I allowed them to become many times deadlier. Well, if the poison killed it, that would be great. But, I still have the last card that I've yet to play.

It leaps towards me with great force despite its condition and I dodge to the side. In that one moment, I readied my survival knife and threw it at a hidden rope midair. The only weapon that could definitely tear the rope with the highest probability. 

*snap*

With the weight no longer suspended, it freely dropped in a circular swing. The log I spent so long acquiring with single-minded ax-chops, what I spent days trying to lift up high with pulleys. It fell in one swoop after the rope was cut, and slammed into the bear's back; The bear being on the [X] I was previously.

"I've won."

The bear is pushed off the ledge of the cliff and fell. It fell a great distance, though I don't know the exact numbers. What I do know though, is that it definitely died.

"Phew. Alright, God! Take me out of here! I cleared your trial!"

But, he didn't appear. Did he get bored of waiting? No, is the bear not dead yet? I look down the cliff. It seems the bear isn't moving, but I should check its status before confirming its death. I rush down the cliff, careful to avoid the traps the bear didn't set off, and collected some of my knives. Then, I arrive at its location and get a better look at the terrorizing beast.

The fur is darkish brown with sharp nails and teeth, unfitting for this forest environment. Its size was multiple times greater than my own; I'm lucky the log was able to push it off. It's definitely still alive after that fall, the monster. Though, it probably has broken bones and internal troubles. I grab my remaining knives and aim for the weak spots. With perfect accuracy, I begin to inflict fatal wounds. If it doesn't die from this, it should die of blood loss soon. Then, as I tore into its neck with my survival knife, a known voice echoed to me from nearby.  

"It seems you've cleared this trial."

"At last."

"You know, you didn't have to go through all this trouble."

"What do you mean?"

"Couldn't you just have fought it upfront with the knife I gave you?"

"Are you sane?"

"Rude."

"If I were to fight that thing with just a knife, I'd 100% lose. You might be thinking that I have some experience with judo and kendo--but those are misplaced hopes. I couldn't dream of fighting that bear head-on."

"Is that so? Well then, onto the last trial. Your soul/spirit."

That was a long week, but it's finally over.

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