Chapter 3 Fleeing to Safety (1)
***
"Huh…?"
I woke up again in the same place as I was in before…
Did time reversed itself?
I couldn't answer why…
But what I do know, is that I hated that feeling. The excruciating death I suffered.
"I don't want it again…"
"But can I do it?"
Honestly, I don't know.
I contemplated there for a minute like an idiot before coming to a decision.
«—System—»
[Side Quest: Escape this place.]
"I know…"
I need to rack my brain up if I wanted to get out of this hell hole.
"Hero's Fate."
That's right, I remembered that this place was the starting point of the game "Hero's Fate."
The player at the beginning would have to escape this place via the exit. The path where the beast often rested.
"Can I do this?"
There's no choice but to try.
ROAR!
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
The beast began moving, I guess it's hungry right now.
"I've decided… It's better to try and fail than never try at all."
Yeah, I decided to come to a moment.
After that, I pulled my body together to stand back to its two feet.
I surveyed the surroundings with my eyes. The coast was clear.
"Ugh… It still smells so bad."
The smell of rotting carcasses, it's still as ever disgusting.
As the cold air brushed past me.
I felt shivers all over my body.
"I still can't get used to this sight."
Human bodies stacked up like mountains.
Clump together like small hills.
The sight of this would never ever leave my memory.
I began walking down cautiously with my limped legs.
The beast that I once faced, were called Devourers.
They were created from the byproducts of failed experiments from the demons.
Devourers are are officially classified as demonoids in the game.
But demons don't often think of them as that, but instead an erratic unpredictable beast who eats anything.
That's why they were put in charge of this starting point.
To clean out human garbage.
Honestly, I find it disgusting.
Grrr!
ROAR!
The beast briefly passed by from the distance before disappearing out of my vision.
Unlike the game where it would follow a coded repetitive behavior.
This was reality.
I needed to be more careful.
That's why I decided to smear myself with the rotting blood.
My body was already covered in one.
But I'd decided to take more precautions.
With the power of my two hands, I strucked downwards clawing away the fleshy surface.
I scooped a handful amount of blood from the ground.
And began coating myself around my body.
"Bleughh…"
As expected, I couldn't bear with its unpleasant smell.
But nevertheless, I moved on forward…
"This should be enough."
"Now what?"
I honestly don't know what else to do next.
Maybe I could just hide it out and wait for the sun to rise up.
Because the beast would sleep at daytime and wake up at the night.
Or I could just keep moving on forward.
I decided to choose the second latter.
As they say, no pain, no gain.
And began taking a few steps ahead.
———
——
—
-
After a few minutes of walking, I came to a stop.
A huge black wall surrounded my field of vision.
Traces of rust and blood covered the wall.
Its texture at a glance was rough and uneven.
It spanned endlessly from left to right.
The wall was firm to the touch and cold when I placed my hand on it.
It feels different from seeing it up front than in the game.
Feels like the wall was alive.
Blurry pixelated graphics, that was how it was shown in the game. It was a border to keep players out of boundary.
An entirely hazy pitched black environment was the only thing I could see in the game.
I don't know what lies on the other side. And I'd never want to find out.
Thinking about it just send chills all over my spine.
Who knows what's in there? Maybe horrors beyond you can comprehend.
But this meant that I was getting closer to the exit. Just following it onwards would lead me to the exit.
I placed my left hand into the wall and began strolling ahead.
-
—
——
———
"How long has it been?"
It feels like time just stopped moving.
Everything was still.
The frigid breeze of wind. The nasty rotting stench. The damp and sticky humid air.
Dead decaying bodies lay strew vastly anywhere on the field.
The echoes of misery and fear.
All of them.
I felt them throughout all my body as I continued my pace.
It's as if the souls were there. That they were gathering around me.
"I must be hallucinating thinking ghost are real."
But maybe it's true. On my previous world, they never existed.
Religions, beliefs, traditions. They were all but concepts made by mankind.
To soothe sadness, anxiety, stress and fear.
I never onced believe those things. It was only natural because I've never seen them once.
They were only concepts to me.
ROAR!
The beast shriek could be heard at the distance.
"I must be close."
Even in this dark misty environment, I could still see.
Thanks to the two moons lighting up the surface briefly.
They were officially called as "Eyes Of A God" in the game.
As they resembled an eye that watched the world. Thus they got that name.
They take turns on who becomes the full moon and the new moon.
Like yin and yang, they strive together in perfect harmony.
But sometimes, there's a rare event.
When they both become a full moon, something strange occurs.
All the demonoids and beast go berserk and begins killing anyone they find.
Creak—
My pace came to a stop.
A dim illumination of light loomed at the distance.
"It's the exit."
I finally found it after walking countless hours.
My body was ragged and my breath felt heavy.
A mix of joy, excitement and tension coursed through me, making my heart race.
It's like finding an oasis in the middle of a desert.
A reward for the hardwork you've done.
Hope for once filled my mind. To think I would finally get out of this shithole.
I glanced forward, placing my right hand above my forehead.
Seven meters away… No I think just five meters away.
The walls came to a stop, forming an empty space at the middle.
That was the distance of the exit.
I just needed to walk that amount of steps to get there.
Screech!
The sound of the beast claws rubbing at the surface.
It was unbearable to hear, like a chalk was intentionally scraped in the board.
Making such high pitch sounds.
"I just need to be careful."
I crouched, slowly taking a few steps.
My hands strode along the wall.
Just like this, carefully.
My feet slowly regained momentum.
I kept marching on, not looking back.
-
—
——
———
"Hahh…"
After a few minutes of cautiously advancing forward. I made it out.
The walls that once spanned constantly came to a stop.
A huge exit, forming an empty gate.
ROAR!!!
GRR!!
OOOOWHOO!
A howling sound echoed. Like a wolf that howled during the full moon.
I didn't need to look back. My business was already done.
«—System—»
[Quest Complete!]
"I… I made it out!"
I shouted in disbelief. I would never look up to this place again.
"Finally."
My shoulders relaxed. I rubbed my forehead in relief and let out a long sigh.
«—System—»
[Distributing Quest Rewards…]
[You have obtained 20 EXP.]
[You have obtained Metamorphosis. Please check its details.]
"Metamorphosis."
«—[Metamorphosis]—»
[Able to maintain a demonic form for a period of time.]
[Cost 5 Mana per minute.]
[You have leveled up!]
[Distributing status points randomly.]
"Wait… Wait!"
Unbelievable… I thought the system would give me points.
"Oh well…"
Can't do anything about it, that was how it was done in the game anyways.
"Status."
[??? (★) Lv. 2 (EXP 0/30)]
[Class: Hero]
[STR: 13/20]
[AGI: 12/20]
[END: 10/20]
[INT: 8/20]
[Mana: 110/110]
[Skills: Metamorphosis Lv.1]
[Fragments: ???]
Fragments? I've never seen that once before.
Aside from the fact that I had no name.
It was intentional as the developers of "Hero's Fate" said it was gonna be revealed in the end.
The problem is, I've never seen anyone reach the end.
Just before the Hero fights the Demon King, the game would suddenly bugged out.
It would crash itself and anytime you opened the app again.
You'd start out from the beginning.
This was the cause of the game's decline.
Users often complained about this bug. But the developers didn't care about it.
It caused such a huge issue that fans personally protested at the company's building.
When that happened, everyone at the company suddenly disappeared without a trace.
The reason why I still played the game despite the impossible ending.
Was because I enjoyed the journey of playing it, its open world and realistic npc's made the game felt alive.
Maybe it's just me, but at the very least that's how I saw it.
And there was another thing that was weird.
I respawned… Normally, it would spell the end of your hardwork.
That's how my three years of life went away stagnating at the game.
Just one failure meant going back from the beginning.
"Fragments…"
This might have a connection why I respawned or it'd be more accurate to say why I went back in time.
"I need to get stronger…"
Another matter that was relevant to me and the world.
I held the burden of being a hero.
That meant I'd fight my way up against enemies beyond my comprehension.
To save humanity.
"How tiring."
I squinted my eyes.
Why do I have to do this? It's not like I care for the people. But maybe I would find the answer behind it.
I have no choice but to move forward.
***
A few minutes passed by.
After organizing my thoughts, I went out for a walk.