[You have assisted in killing a Dragonfly]
[You have gained +1 EXP]
[You have assisted in killing a Dragonfly]
[You have gained +1 EXP]
[You have assisted in killing a Dragonf...]
I heard the distinct 'dings' that came from the system as it informed me of my kills, yet due to my wails of agony and my tear-filled eyes, I could not see or hear the screen before me, as if my mind was trying to ignore its existence as a whole.
Sorrow filled my voice for a short second, yet when I finally realized what I had been doing, I quickly rose up from my position and finally wiped my eyes of the moisture that had accumulated around them.
Even though I was crying, it was not because of my family's death, the death of my closest friend, nor was it due to the death of my girlfriend in the hands of those disgusting, deplorable aliens.
Instead, I was simply crying out of agony.
I felt in pain.
The pressure of wanting to survive.
The adrenaline streamed through me for so long that I had become numb to its effects.
The fear of death hitting me at every corner and turn. It might have seemed selfish, but at the moment, I could only care about myself and nothing else.
I needed to survive and therefore, I simply did not have time to grieve. If I didn't survive, then who would carry the memories of my family? The memories of my sister, my closest friend, and the person I held most dear to me?
And no matter how cowardly it might have seemed, running was the only thing I could do...
And therefore, I was going to dedicate every part of my being, every organ, tissue, and cell, to make sure that I would survive... To make sure I run as fast as possible while surviving for the next 7 days.
Getting up, an unworldly amount of determination flickered in my eyes as wiped off the tears and snot that had trickled down while I had been sobbing silently.
'I am weak... I don't have anything that would make me stronger than the beasts in this forest... The oxygen levels on earth in this moment of time are way too high, meaning everything in this forest would be enlarged making them extremely strong in the process.' I touched my chin and began thinking of ways that I would somehow be capable of surviving for more than a week.
It was only then that an idea hit me like a lightning bolt crashing down on my very being as if the thing was right in front of me the whole time yet I happened to be too blind to see it.
'Of course!' A wry yet excited smile stretched at the corners of my lips as I looked towards the location where I had come from, unable to understand how I had been lucky enough to survive the encounter with the dragonflies.
***
5 hours quickly passed as my encounters had dramatically dropped ever since I had been chased by dozens if not hundreds of beasts. I couldn't understand why I was the only one getting chased since many of the beasts I saw were instinctually enemies, yet I could only guess that the reason was due to the red energy I unleashed before collapsing into a slumber, yet even after 5 hours of thinking, I could understand how and why it occurred.
Besides that, even though one would think that the encounter with the hundred beasts would have been all that happened that day, they would be severely mistaken.
Currently, I was jumping from tree root to root, making sure that I didn't fall off one of the roots since that would automatically mean death for me.
The expression on my face was one of a man who was scared beyond comprehension, yet the slight glint of determination within my eyes never extinguished... Not for a single second
After jumping a few more times, I finally glanced back at the lone dragonfly as I saw that I had gotten close to the area I wanted to get to.. finally allowing me to execute the plan I had been hatching for the last 5 hours that would allow me to obtain food.
When I finally saw where I was, I dropped down to the floor and began running in a straight line between two large trees with a narrow gap that would barely allow a single human into it, yet it was more than enough space for the dragonfly to fly right through it without any obstruction.
Since the dragonfly was moving in one direction now, it was much faster than it was before, making this a race of who can reach the narrow pathway before the other.
I did not dare look back for even a single second as the buzzing of its wings got louder and louder. Eventually, however, I was finally able to run through the narrow pathway between the two trees before turning around and finally looking at the dragonfly head-on.
Even though it was quite determined to kill me, the moment I had turned around and made direct eye contact with it was the same moment when it was forced to halt its movement forwards, yet since the momentum was already carrying it toward me, the halting of its velocity failed and it shot towards me without control of its movements at all.
Without thinking twice, I immediately took a step forward and lunged toward the dragonfly while taking something out of the belt of my trousers and thrusting forwards with all my might, yet in the same moment, I could not help but close my eyes and wait for the outcome.
*Spluch*
Opening my eyes slowly, I found that my arm was still intact as well as the rest of my body seemed virtually unharmed. On the contrary, the dragonfly that had been trailing me for so long had been impaled by a long yet slightly blunt wooden stake.
When I had gotten an idea 5 hours ago, the first thing I thought of in the spur of the moment was the question, 'how did humans survive for so long?'
While yes, they might not have needed to survive through a Triassic period with dinosaurs and enlarged insects, they were still capable of living through the extremes of the world's climate as well as becoming capable of hunting animals much bigger than them until they eventually became the beings at the top of the food chain.
The key to all of this was their intelligence which was superior to every other species on the planet as well as the sweat glands that allowed them to run for much longer periods compared to the cat species or the dog species who could not recuperate their stamina while running away or towards something, causing them to take breaks and halting their attacks due to being exhausted.
I knew that, while I might not be the most intelligent person in the world, I was more intelligent than these beasts that worked purely on instincts therefore easily being able to outsmart them in situations like these where-...
*ROAR*
Before I could even process what had happened, the smell of the blood and organs that had splattered everywhere had already wafted into the noses of other beasts nearby, causing them all to simultaneously roar whenever the smell would reach them.
Without thinking twice, I dropped the stick and instantly bolted in a random direction that the roars had not come from.
For the next half an hour, I ran with extreme caution, making sure that I did not make too much noise as I avoided every living organism within the forest, but after a while, I finally looked at the screen that had been urging me to look at it for the last half an hour, yet when my eyes landed on it, I could not help but widen my eyes in surprise.
[You have killed a Dragonfly]
[You have gained +10 EXP]
----------------------------------------
To interact with the author, report mistakes, and see what the characters look like, join the discord Server: https://discord.gg/PtzXQBvAj5
----------------------------------------