One loud crack was swiftly followed along by another, and such a cycle of mayhem continued as the boy sunk deeper towards the cloud of dragon saplings!
William felt sure that he had either crashed or bumped against over twenty bugs so far, yet he was lucky enough to escape with just a few cuts and bruises!
Of course he still had been hurt, a lot, especially since any impact against these hard-shelled insects had its tough results, but he was not inflicted by any critical damage!
That was perhaps where most of his luck had been poured out. Dragon saplings were known to bash their head deep into a target's skin, yet William had not received any wound of that liking!
Neither of these bugs had been ready for the young snakezoid's entrance either, so the lack of efficiency from the enemy's side made enough sense.
After some point, William wasn't entirely sure of what he was doing either. He just spun and ragdolled through the storm of enemies, until he eventually met with the ground!
"I'm... I'm alive?" He mumbled as he was genuinely bathed with mud and confusion.
For that matter, the system was swift to follow along. [You should be aware of the rules which gravity represents, I'm guessing?]
With the aid of a thought, the snakezoid questioned. "Yeah but, why are you asking me about that?"
Swiftly and accurately, the lady in his head recited. [You've landed on enough bugs to slow down your fall, that's how you survived. Thankfully, you haven't suffered any broken bones either]
Afterwards she specified, [However, your body is sprained on seven places, so be careful.]
"Uh... I can't walk those sprains off ha?" William questioned half-jokingly.
The system did not reply, so the boy was given the opportunity to focus on his surroundings a bit more.
He noticed that the number of enemies in front of him were still great, so he had not bought himself out of trouble just yet!
With quite a bit of effort, he detached from the mud and pushed himself up, that rusty old sword was used like a balancing stick as well.
With a single swipe, he wiped a bunch of mud off his face and figured out a key fact! The amount of enemies that roamed the air now, was at least half smaller in comparison to earlier on!
Such a realisation forced him to say, "Where did all of those bastards go?"
Surely he could not have killed so many bugs with that marvelous entrance he made, so this situation baffled the boy more than enough!
The surroundings were much more clear now. Earlier on he could only hear the other men's battle shouts, but now he could both hear and see their struggle!
That was a good sign, but he was more surprised by another fact. And he didn't shy away from its expression either.
"People here are still kicking? I thought everyone was dead already." He swiftly mumbled.
As shocking as it was, above thirty soldiers remained on the battlefield. Their movements were a bit sloppy, likely since they were either injured or tired, but they still put up a fight.
Such a sight was intriguing, especially since this flock of enemies carried a few hundred bugs in the beginning! But now, half of them were gone, and one small platoon was required to achieve such results!
This sight gave the boy genuine hope, there were just too many examples to draw motivation out of.
So he inevitably thought, "Maybe I can really make it out of this!"
And then he decided, "I have to fight, a few more swings won't hurt!"
After that point, he forced the tip of his sword out of the mud and raised it high.
William eyed one of these blood-red bugs, and noticed how it came directly towards his direction.
"Die you freak!" He shouted.
Almost instantly, he took a swing against this critter with all of the strength that remained in his body!
Yet before that strike could have been landed, he figured out which parts of his body were sprained.
William's tiny, right bicep was swiftly inflicted with a spike of pain! That area burned for just a short second, but it was strong enough to make its point clear.
"Shit!" His tone arose to a high pitch.
Two spots on his upper back's right side, shared an equal amount of trouble. They ached immensely, and worked together to halt the boy's attack!
He was frozen in place and had it hard to recover, yet the enemy bug still approached at a tireless speed!
"Oh no," He panicked.
Just now, he figured out how these creatures could dig their head into someone's skin. Their red nose was shaped like a cone, and had a seemingly sharp point as well!
Perhaps fear had helped the boy achieve such a grand level of observation, but regardless of the odds and ends, he simply understood that a mountain of pain awaited him!
William closed his eyes for once, so he couldn't see how the shot came. But after he waited for a couple of seconds, he noticed that something was wrong.
The bug had not pierced through his skin yet. Although he liked that fact very much, this situation still baffled him.
So he opened his eyes instantly, and was swift to notice a large figure! A strong man stood in front of him, just about three feet away.
This same man laughed wholeheartedly, right before he crushed a dragon sapling with his own two hands!
A moment later he turned towards the younger one, and his tone shook in joy as he unapologetically shouted a few words.
"You're still alive, boy! I knew you'd make it!" He expressed.
"Hakoon...?" William mumbled.
He could not entirely recognize who this man was, as this tall figure's face was simply covered with layer after layer of blood!
"Of course it's me, now let's get you out of here!" The larger pitched.
This was none other than the platoon general, the same guy who recruited the younger one back in the city!
Seemingly, he had quite a great time through this massive battle. That aside, he still seemed quite capable and well-oriented.
The general wasn't willing to waste any time either. He grabbed the boy by the collar and then they marched out of the storm of bugs.
While in that process, William could see the general's sword at work. It swung left and right non-stop, and each swing managed to put one of these dragon saplings down for good!
These slaughters seemed almost effortless. This esteemed army-man killed more bugs under this one minute, than what William killed throughout this entire disaster!
"Amazing," The younger mumbled.
Right after, he was tossed behind a pile of mud. There, he found four more soldiers who seemed quite injured as well, they all snuggled together in some hole which only sunk a meter deep.
Before he could focus on these men, the general commanded. "I'll try to save some other soldiers as well. Hide here, this hunt will be over soon!"
Unwilling to explain himself any further, the same man bounced his way towards the storm and punched one of these insects to death!
"He's crazy... that bastard's crazy." William mumbled, but for once that cuss was a compliment.
Afterwards he sat near the hole and tried to keep a lookout for enemies. The red cloud of bugs only got smaller, and the snakezoid soldiers in between it, seemingly fought even harder.
Thanks to those couple of details, the boy felt more comfortable. He was given a pocket of time to let his guard down just a little bit.
Unapologetically, the system barged in with a few notifications. [You managed to kill a total of nine dragon saplings through your fall, so three-hundred and sixty system points have been given to you as a reward]
[Total system points = Eight-hundred and fifty]
"I don't have time to worry about points right now, system." The boy expressed.
And then he eventually questioned himself, "Is this really my life now?"
Through those few seconds, he peeked at his blood-coated hands. Afterwards, he counted the portions of his body which burned in pain.
He was swiftly weighed down by these details, but this weight leaned more towards the psychological side.
"Me, a killer?" He mumbled.
That small sentence alone was enough to push the boy through a few heavy breaths. It messed with his conscience immensely, and the tiredness he felt thanks to this battle, eventually contributed a few negative sides as well.
He had killed two of those blue-spined snakes before, but the emotional impact through that situation wasn't as deep. Perhaps this large-scale battle broke a man easier?
Surely, the most negative aftermath was felt once one was given the opportunity to slow down, this was another one of those cases!
For that same matter, William's world went dark after just half a minute; he had hyper ventilated a little bit, right before that point!