The man looked at me for a few seconds. My body was completely paralyzed. I felt my legs trembling, and my hands were freezing because of nervousness. I think this is the first time I have ever felt like this.
Not even dungeons and monsters that I have faced before have made me so much nervous.
I knew I had to get out of here, but my legs didn't respond very well. I took too long. When I finally turned to try to run away, he approached me. I tried to avoid his punch, but he hit me in the middle of my back.
I flew forward and fell into the entrance to the alley.
I had broken a few ribs. With difficulty breathing, I tried to get up. After lifting my body just a little, I was caught by him. He grabbed the back of my neck and lifted me into the air.
He then made me look at him. I could see a large scar on his forehead.
His hair was black and braided. Is that what they called dreads?
"Why are you doing this?" I said as I choked and held his arm, trying to free myself. The man snorted and then laughed before bringing his face closer to mine.
"It was a request from your friend." Then the man hit his forehead on mine. It felt as if he had cracked my skull in half.
He then let go of me. I tried to stand up, but I couldn't because of the dizziness. I could feel the blood dripping down my face.
"My friend?" I asked him as I tried to get up again. I had to find some way to escape.
I was already out of the alley, and now I was in the middle of a dark empty street. There were several houses, but all of them had their lights off.
"Yeah, that little guy, do you know him?"
"Brendon?"
"I think that was his name." The man shrugged and then took a few steps toward me. "I don't hate you or anything, all right? He paid me, and I'm doing my job. Hee." The man gave a strange smile and then threw another punch in my direction.
I managed to avoid it safely, but soon after, I fell to the ground. My head was sore, and my vision was blurred. I was still suffering from the headbutt I had received.
"He had told me that you had an acceleration ability, but you don't run that fast. Isn't that useless? How come you didn't die until now? Huh?" He held my head and made me look at him again.
He's right. I didn't have much attack power. My strength was below average even though I had plenty of speed.
"..."
"I'll finish this quickly, all right?" I felt my head start to be squeezed by his hand. I struggled and kicked him, but he wouldn't let go. I felt my skull crack as I screamed.
I started to think about Brendon and why he had done this. I couldn't think of a reason behind it.
Then I felt my brain being mashed, and I lost consciousness.
####
"!!" Waking up in his bed, completely sweaty and hyperventilating, Lukas held his head as he felt a sharp pain. It was as if his brain was being grabbed and crushed by someone.
He moaned in pain for a while until finally, the pain subsided and then disappeared.
[ New skill learned ]
[ You have learned the skill 'Lower Level Movement Acceleration' ]
[ The skill has been added to your skill list ]
After receiving the system warning, Lukas took a deep breath. "I'm an idiot, aren't I?" Finally realizing all that was happening, Lukas laughed at his cluelessness.
"Gaining skills from dead people is a nasty skill." He lowered his head and put his hands over his face. "What the hell was that? Who was that giant guy?"
He began to analyze every point of that nightmare before it disappeared from his mind. While analyzing, he wrote down every detail in one of his notebooks: the man's appearance, the name of the friend of the man who was killed, and he also wrote down all the signs he saw during the nightmare so that he would know the exact location of that place. After he had written everything down, he looked at the sheet for a while. "I know that place." After thinking some more and analyzing the signs, he changed his clothes.
Without showering or saying goodbye to his family, he walked out the front door and ran to the nearby neighbourhood.
####
Once there, he walked cautiously down the street.
Fortunately, it was not the same as the nightmare, the streets were full of children, and some people were also sitting outside their houses.
"I think this is it." He turned into a street and then found a large abandoned factory ahead. The street led straight to the entrance gate, locked with several padlocks.
The street was less busy, but it also had some movement since it was a place with several residences.
Lukas then approached the alley he had seen in his nightmare. It was identical; it had a bar and the windows. It was a dead end, and the only thing in the background were pipes.
He entered the alley and found the cracks that the giant had made. He put his hand through the cracks and analyzed them. It was incredible that the fist of a human being could do that.
Lukas then turned and walked out of the alley. He looked down the street where it should have been dirty with blood and pieces of brain, but it was all clean. It was as if nothing had happened.
After looking at the ground for a while, he looked at the factory gate.
"Hm?" He noticed that the padlocks were open, all of them. Without a second thought, Lukas removed all the padlocks and chains and opened the sizeable rusty gate that didn't look like anyone had opened it for years.
On the other side of the gate was a large paved courtyard and the front had a large shed where the factory was located.
"If I remember correctly, it was a soda factory, right?" Lukas walked through the large courtyard and then approached the large shed.
It didn't have a door, so he could already see the whole inside of the factory from a distance. There were some mats, some abandoned machines, and some barrels used to store liquids.
But other than that, there was nothing different inside that shed.
Lukas entered and then walked between the machines and approached the large barrels in the corner of the shed. He began to smell a smell similar to the dead monsters inside the dungeon.
"Blood smell?"
Lukas approached the barrels further and noticed that the lid of one of them was partially open. Swallowing his saliva, he opened the barrel lid. A strong smell of blood rose, causing him to back away a little.
Lukas approached again and then looked inside.
"Jesus..."