Because the path had changed, I and the injured girl, Lyz, were forced to fight the monster.

I could not see a future—a vision—where we won. But I could just barely see a future—a vision—where we managed to run.

It was not quite absolute despair, but while we were being shoved into one hell of a crappy game, our battle against the ogre began.

“Can you run?”

“Not yet. Cough… walking is my limit.”

“Then I’ll draw the ogre’s attention. Use that chance to get over there somehow.”

“…What about you, Gray-chan?”

“I’ll figure something out. Toys and scissors are all about how you use them, you know.”

While we had been running, I had already thought of several toys that might be useful. Now all I had to do was use them properly.

The ogre emerged from the far end of the cave, and the moment it spotted me, it charged straight over like it wanted to kill me first.

Apparently, the harassment from the metal bat had pissed it off beyond tolerance.

That was honestly helpful. If its eyes were on me from the start, then Lyz should have an easier time moving.

“Come on, then────────whoa, close!!”

“Gwoooooo!!”

The ogre launched a kick.

For one instant, I thought its leg had blurred. The next moment, the ogre’s foot was already right beside me.

I reacted by a hair’s breadth and managed to duck under it, but the wind pressure I felt as it passed over my head threw me off balance.

That thing was way too much of a monster. It felt like getting blasted by typhoon winds.

Just how fast did it kick, anyway?

If that attack had landed, my upper body would probably have been turned into minced meat by now.

The wind pressure sent me rolling across the ground. I hurried to fix my posture, but the ogre did not even give me that much time.

“Gray-chan!!”

After I rolled around like a filthy rag, the ogre tried to stomp me flat like it was crushing an ant.

If I got crushed like this, I would definitely die. First it wanted to mince my upper body, and now it was going for a head press? Damn, that killing intent was high!!

“Toy Box!!”

I activated my ability immediately, materialized three iron pipes, and placed them between the ogre’s descending foot and the ground.

A sharp clang rang through the cave, a sound that did not feel like the sole of a foot and iron pipes colliding at all.

The iron pipes looked like they were about to bend and snap at any moment, but they bought me enough time to escape from that spot.

I really wished it would stop breaking iron pipes like that was the most natural thing in the world, but the enemy was an ogre. Human common sense did not apply here.

I mean, of course it did not care about stepping on iron pipes. Its skin could even repel bullets.

“The stat gap is so huge it’s pissing me off. This feels like a tier-one character versus the absolute lowest-tier trash character.”

But somehow, this was starting to feel fun.

I actually liked beating tier-one characters with nothing but cheap tricks and reads.

Of course, the one I used was always the weakest character.

The ogre could not hide its irritation at how it still had not managed to kill me, despite me being such a tiny, pathetic existence. Its movements grew rougher than before as it swung its powerful arms.

When we had been running through the straight path, it had been too narrow, so the ogre had not swung its arms sideways. But this place was wide enough for the ogre to move freely.

Ever since then, it had been attacking not with points, but with broad, sweeping areas.

And I dodged them like my life depended on it, because it did.

I kept running while choosing toys that would not make my footing worse: iron pipes, wooden swords, metal bats, and things like that.

Whenever things got dangerous, I sacrificed toys that were as hard as possible, like iron pipes and metal bats. Whenever the attacks loosened even slightly, I smacked it with wooden swords and paper knives to draw its attention, though they had absolutely no effect.

After stalling for two minutes like that, a turning point finally came for me, who had just experienced the longest two minutes of my life.

“Gray-chan!!”

My name was called.

I did not have enough room to look toward the voice, but judging by the direction, she had probably reached the cave exit—the path we had come from earlier.

Good job, Lyz. Honestly, it was getting hard to keep this bastard’s attention any longer.

My brand-new beginner leather armor was already covered in mud, and my body hurt all over, probably because I had spent the whole time rolling around.

I had not managed to beat the tier-one enemy—to pull off an upset—but forcing a draw was still one hell of a performance. Actually, since I was about to run now, did that make it basically a win? There was even a proverb about running away being a victory, after all.

Because Lyz had managed to escape, I recovered a little mental stability and put the escape plan I had been thinking about into action.

“Sorry, but we’ll have to put this match on hold. I’ll come back someday and get my revenge.”

After saying that, I immediately played the card I had been saving for our escape.

The reason I had not used it while dodging attacks was so I could use the toys effectively. If I showed it even once, and the ogre realized the toys had no killing power, it would charge straight through without being scared of me.

What I materialized with my ability was fireworks.

There were the standard ones: susuki fireworks, spark fireworks, and sparklers. Then there were color-changing fireworks, fountain fireworks that you placed on the ground and lit, spinning nezumi fireworks, rocket fireworks with actual attack power, smoke fireworks that created smokescreens, and firecrackers that I was not even sure should count as fireworks.

I desperately recalled all the fireworks I had played with during summer and materialized as many as I could. I focused especially on smoke fireworks that could block vision, choosing several different colors and materializing plenty of them.

Maybe because I had suddenly materialized a large number of objects after barely creating many things until now, the ogre’s movement slowed slightly, and it began watching the scattered fireworks around it with caution.

Lucky me. Thanks to its half-baked intelligence, it actually became wary of unknown objects.

“First time seeing fireworks in your life? Enjoy the show.”

I ignited all the materialized fireworks at once. One good thing about this ability was that I could control it remotely to some extent.

Being able to light all these fireworks at once was especially useful.

If my proficiency with this ability improved, I might even be able to use wires like whips someday.

The fireworks lit all at once, brightening the dark cave in an instant.

I had originally tied a flashlight to my waist to secure visibility, but right now, it was bright enough that I could have turned the flashlight off without any issue.

The sound of hundreds of fireworks bursting at once was insanely loud inside a cave that reflected sound. Even I, the guy who lit them, flinched a little.

“Gwo? Gwooo!!”

For the ogre, who had never seen fireworks before, the huge noise seemed frightening enough to confuse it. It had no idea what to do.

It was probably puzzled that no attack was coming.

Yeah, because they were just fireworks!!

I had tried using them as heat attacks, just in case, but for an ogre with skin strong enough to repel bullets, they apparently were not even lukewarm water.

I was pretty damn hot because of all the sparks flying around, though.

While the difference in our rank as living creatures showed itself in a place like that, I fled from the ogre now that its eyes had moved away from me.

The next setup was already done, so even if it noticed me and chased after me, it was too late.

While canceling the materialization of the fireworks that had finished burning, I headed toward the exit where Lyz was waiting.

However, the ogre noticed and took its first step, about to start running toward me.

The fireworks I had used to buy time had already burned out completely.

“Gray-chan!! Hurry!!”

Even while staggering, Lyz reached her hand out toward me.

I appreciated the feeling, but I could not take that hand yet.

What I was aiming for was a complete victory—a perfect game.

If we ran here, the chase would not end.

“Hey, ogre. Did you check under your feet?”

“Gwooooo?!”

The instant the ogre took its first step, the toy trap I had set behind the fireworks lighting the cave activated.

The ogre stepped on a fist-sized super ball, lost its balance, and slipped hard.

Ha ha ha!! You fell for it perfectly!!

I had used the fireworks to divert the ogre’s eyes and placed a large number of super balls around its feet.

By using plenty of smoke fireworks, I had also made the area around its feet harder to see. No wonder it had not noticed, right?

With the ogre’s strength, it could easily crush something like that if it tried. But there was a difference between stomping down to crush something and simply lowering your foot to walk.

The super ball was already strong against impact, and it seemed to have endured the ogre’s weight just fine.

After confirming that the ogre had slipped and fallen, I immediately materialized a large amount of salad oil.

At this point, it was not exactly something you could call a toy anymore. But under this ability, if I had played with it in the past, it apparently counted as a toy.

Good thing I had checked what toys I could materialize last night.

The large amount of salad oil soaked the ogre and the ground, completing one sticky, greasy ogre.

If I set it on fire here, it would probably become a decent attack, but it would not be a finishing blow. It would only make the ogre angrier.

Our victory condition was escaping. I could not mistake the objective here.

“There!! Have another one!!”

Because the salad oil reduced the friction between the ogre and the ground, the ogre was struggling to stand up. The super balls scattered all over the place seemed to be doing a good job too, because it could not grip the ground properly.

During that opening, I stole its sight.

This time, I materialized a huge amount of flour and made it pour down from the ceiling of the cave.

The rising flour hid the ogre inside the white cloud, until it disappeared completely from view.

“Cough, cough, cough… I thought I kept myself out of it, but damn, this stuff scatters way more than I expected.”

While brushing away the flour that had fallen on me too, I ran toward the exit where Lyz was waiting.

Inside that white, fog-like curtain where I could not see what lay ahead, I grabbed Lyz’s hand and escaped through the exit.

“Cough. You okay, Lyz?”

“Hehe, Gray-chan, you’re all white.”

“Flour is amazing… Anyway, that’s enough chatting. Let’s head for the exit. I’m counting on you to navigate.”

“Yeah!!”

Seeing Lyz looking more energetic than when we had first met, I felt a little relieved and looked back toward the white-covered cave ahead.

To think I had been saved thanks to the “flour clay” I had made with my mom back in first grade… If that had not counted as a toy, I might have been dead by now.

While feeling grateful to my mom, who was probably still back on Earth, I materialized a handcart and escaped the cave with Lyz.

By the way, I blocked the path with “stones,” an ancient toy from prehistoric times, to buy as much time as possible.

Piling up a large number of stones to block the path drained a serious amount of magic power and felt awful, but this should somehow buy us a little time.

On my second day in another world, I had already crossed the line between life and death.

***

After crossing the line between life and death and somehow escaping the cave, then the dungeon itself, the sun had already set, and the moon and stars were lighting the sky.

The night in Marseille, a city, was bright just like Tokyo, so it was a little disappointing that I could not see many stars. Still, right now, that sky gave me a sense of relief.

Just as Rubelt had told me, I decided not to rush into a treatment room for the time being and headed home first.

I knew where the hospitals around here were, but since Lyz did not seem like she was going to die immediately, I figured I should follow Rubelt’s instructions.

I had already gotten Lyz’s approval too. I had offered to take her home, but apparently, she had nowhere to go.

I did not really understand the details, but right now, I wanted a place where we could calm down.

After we continued walking in silence for a while, my home came into view.

Lyz seemed extremely exhausted too, and on the way back, she stayed silent unless I spoke to her.

I kept looking back again and again because I was worried she might have died somewhere along the way.

To think I would feel relieved at the sight of this house on only my second day in this world.

“Gray!! You’re alive!!”

When we got near the apartment, Rubelt came over.

He had probably been wandering around nearby because he was worried that I was late coming back. Sweat was beading on his forehead, and his breathing was a little rough.

While feeling bad for making Rubelt worry, I forced the biggest smile I could and said this.

“I’m back. It’s been one hell of a day.”

“Yeah, I bet. That smile looks shadier than a priest preaching the teachings of God, so I can tell whether I like it or not… And who’s the blood-covered woman riding behind you?”

“I’ll explain now. Let’s go inside first.”

Man, I wanted to smoke...

Chapter 8: Toys and Scissors Are All About How You Use Them