The growl deepened and rose in volume. It vibrated Johnny's face, which was currently buried deep inside the chest fur of the beast in front of him. His hands clenched tight. Johnny regretted putting his trust into RNG. It never helped him in his previous life, and that cursed luck seemed to have followed him here.
Pretending to not notice the hulking, anthropomorphic tiger he just walked into, Johnny calmly turned around and walked away. Yep, he was just dreaming. He didn't see it. Didn't feel it either... despite the realistic growl, and the soft sensation the fur had left on his face.
A metallic clang reverberated behind him as he slowly retreated. The growl had turned into a hiss. Heavy footsteps followed him every step he took. Apparently, it wasn't his imagination, and the big cat wasn't going to let things go quite as easily as he hoped.
His first inclination was to run. But to where? He wasn't familiar with the cave system, and no doubt this cat knew every centimeter of the place by heart. Not only that, its physique was that of a tiger's. He would be dead before he could manage to cross the centerline of the rotunda! Johnny's avenues of escape were exhausted. But if he didn't think of something soon, there was no doubt in his mind that he would be eaten alive!
There was only one option he could think of...
-
This human... it was dangerous. It already recovered, and it hadn't even been an hour since Igrud placed him underneath the stalactites. The liquid never worked that quickly on her, despite her race's impressive regeneration capabilities. He may have only been dehydrated and weak, but she expected it to take at least two days before he had recovered fully, as he was of the weaker human race. And here he was, walking about as though nothing had happened, a mere hour after treatment.
Igrud was about to strike the human down. She swung her sword, its edge aimed for his neck.
The blade hissed through the air...
She missed? The human's head completely vanished.
She scanned around her. How did he manage to escape?
Her eyes came to rest on the ground in front of her. The human was spreadeagled unnaturally on the rocky floor at her feet. This was... unexpected. Igrud wasn't sure what to think of it.
-
Play dead, play dead, play dead, play dead... PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!
Johnny's panicked train of thought repeated this same chant over and over again. This was his plan. He had read online that the bears from his world aren't scavengers, and thus would only eat live prey they killed themselves. He hoped that it would be the same for tigers, which led him to the play-dead act he was currently starring in. His confidence in that assumption was shaky, to say the least, but all he could do was shut his eyes tight, hold his breath, and pray that the tiger would leave him alone.
Suddenly, he felt his body lift into the air. He kept his eyes tightly shut. His lungs felt as though they were about to explode from the breath he struggled to hold onto. Cautiously, he peeked through a slitted eyelid.
The tiger was holding him up with one hand at its eye level. It was looking him over very closely. It must have been skeptical of his act. This is bad, it's going to find out I'm faking before too long. I can't hold my breath any longer... think, think!
The point of a sword pricked his cheek slightly. It was all he could do to maintain his limp, expressionless face as he tried to ignore the pain.
Suddenly, a blue message box appeared in the darkness behind his closed eyes.
"Add 'Soldier's Long Sword' to inventory?"
...What? Didn't he have to hold items to add them to his inventory? Not that he was complaining about it, but this completely changes everything! Faceless Goddess, no... Goddess of RNG, you have blessed Johnny Rivers this day with a dastardly exploit! How could he ever doubt such a fickle mistress!
"Yes."
-
What was that the human said? Just moments ago, he was expressionlessly limp as she held him up to her face in the grip of her hand, and now he was grinning maniacally with his eyes closed. This human is really dangerous. She was right in her judgment to slay him immediately. In fact, she should have done so as soon as she encountered him in the plains earlier that day.
She began to raise the sword she inquisitively poked him with into the air for the killing blow.
Poof!
She lifted nothing but the curling wisps of smoke that rose in place of the sword.
...What?
Igrud was utterly bamboozled. Just... what happened to her sword?
-
An icon for the Soldier's Long Sword appeared in Johnny's inventory. Elated, he immediately selected the sword. It materialized in his hand, just as he expected it would. Finally, he could turn things around!
The one thing he did not expect, however, was the sheer weight of the long sword he held in his right hand. His arm dangled, swaying back and forth under the weight of the blade. There was no way he could swing this thing! The only way he could swing the sword would be if he used both of his hands and swung it from over his head. While the tiger held him in the air, there was no chance of that happening.
He cursed himself for not keeping the torch close to him. In his act, he had let go of it, where it rested on the floor, well out of his reach. If only he had it, he could try burning its arm. But sadly, that option was woefully misaligned with his current circumstances.
His closed eyes scanned through his inventory. Other than his clothes, the shard, and the sword that he currently held, nearly every single slot was filled with the grass he had collected earlier. Maybe, there was a chance.
He selected one of the tufts of grass from his inventory. It materialized in his left hand this time. The placement wasn't optimal, as he was a right-handed thrower. Nevertheless, he prepared himself for the wind-up.
"Nghaaa."
He grunted from the strain. His awkward position didn't lend itself to throwing, but luckily one of the green projectiles hit its mark. One of the long grass blades Johnny threw embedded itself into the tiger's right eye.
It howled in pain and dropped Johnny while it frantically rubbed at its eyes to dislodge the offending green sword that had lodged itself underneath her eyelid. That was its mistake, and that moment of weakness afforded Johnny all the time he needed to straighten himself after falling to the floor.
He raised the sword high above his head, both hands clenched tightly around the leatherbound hilt. It was almost too heavy for him to control, and it wobbled precariously in his hands. Johnny closed his eyes as he swung with all his might at the center of the big cat's forehead.
"AGGHHH!!"
The sword came crashing down on the tiger. It was nearly a perfect strike... excluding the fact that it was the flat of the blade that impacted its head. The cat fell with a dull thud on the rocky floor at Johnny's feet. He froze, his hands numb from the shock that vibrated through the sword from the heavy strike.
Did he kill it? That was the first time he had ever killed anything before.
For a moment, he stood in disbelief due to the suddenness of his victory. Did he actually defeat this massive tiger, who only moments ago had his life in its very maw?
He examined the still body of the big cat. It wasn't dead, which surprised him. He didn't notice in the heat of the moment that it was, in fact, the flat of the blade that hit the tiger, and not the edge. He was amazed at the durability of the creature in light of that.
"I can't very well leave you to come after me again, can I?"
He thought aloud. There must be some way to restrain this monster before it could come to harm him again. He didn't want to kill it, but it looked as if there wasn't much of a choice...
His gaze came to rest on the collar about the cat's neck. What was that, he wondered. He reached out and touched it. The usual confirmation box appeared in his vision.
"Add 'Enchanted Enslavement Collar' to inventory?"
"Yes"
The collar vaporized into a wisp of smoke. It was added to his inventory. Yet another message box appeared.
"Do you wish to change the settings for this item? Yes/No?"
That was the first time this had ever happened. This item came with some added features, Johnny mused.
"Yes."
A screen displaying the various settings for the item came into view. Of note was the field for the slave owner's name, as well as the enforcement settings for disobedient behavior. The owner field was already set to something. A default setting, maybe? No, if this tiger was a slave, it was owned by someone else previously. That made sense since the name had the same foreign letters that scrolled in the text feed on the right side of the main menu. It must have been the previous owner.
"I'm sure they won't mind if I just change this, will they? Surely they wouldn't...haha..."
He laughed awkwardly. The last thing he wanted to do was get involved in a property dispute in this world before he even got settled in. It would probably be especially nasty when it came to slaves too. Now that he thought about it, this world must have a slave trade market going on. He felt bad for the tiger. It must've been rough for it.
"J-O-H-N-N-Y-R-I-V-E-R-S."
"Name accepted."
"Now, what was this enforcement level set to... oh, it's set to kill? That's harsh." Johnny whistled. Maybe he could tone that down a little... there, movement restriction, that ought to do.
He selected the modified collar from his inventory. It materialized in his hands, which he promptly snapped around the tiger's neck again.
Maybe it won't be able to kill me now that the collar is in my name? He fervently hoped that to be the case. With the immediate danger now passed, Johnny relaxed for the first time since he had arrived in this world.
His stomach gurgled, protesting his prolonged negligence. Maybe he should find something to eat first, before he fainted again, from hunger this time...