"Please… help me…." A charming voice can be heard.
You know, I have never thought of myself as a good person. But at the same time, I also never considered myself as part of the evil person group. I was pretty much just a normal human. Sometimes I would help others, and other times I would find it a hassle and just let others be.
"Please… water…. Give me some water…." The voice begged weakly.
But you see. If you were walking in a forest- not to mention a forest with black soil as the ground and everlasting dark grey sky -and suddenly saw a clearing with sharp stones that acted as a fence. Then in the middle of it, you could see a beautiful woman shackled with dark chains and encased in a transparent coffin made of crystal asking for help with an extremely enchanting voice,
"Please, it's been so long since I last drink water."
Would you help her? I think that, even if you were the world's most foolish person. Unless you were mad, you won't help the woman right? After all, look at this place. This forest looked just like a cursed forest straight from a fairy tale. Not only ferocious beasts but there were also some terrifying plants around.
"Hey, you! The one with dark gray hair! I know you can hear me!" the voice suddenly turned angry.
Uwahhh…. She didn't even try to act anymore…. Now, to tell how I suddenly stumbled into this- uhhh, prison, I think? We have to go back a few days.
*
*
A few days before Dave stumbled onto this woman's prison, he finished testing some of his gifts' abilities. He made a makeshift cloth with the skin of the dreadclaw then he started to walk deeper into the dark forest. As he walked, he started to feel bored so he took out a chicken skewer from his soul ring. This chicken skewer was the food that he got from using his wish.
As expected of food from one of the most supreme being in this world, it tastes so good. Humming with a carefree tone, Dave walked with no sense of crisis. Well, considering how he just killed the king of this area, he would be safe for a few more hundred meters or so.
What Dave didn't expect was the fact that this territory was in fact, shared by two kinds of king-titled beasts. One was the feline monster named dreadclaw and the other was a kind of treant. And so, as he walked he arrived in front of a strange giant tree. The tree was so tall that it may be reached more than a hundred meters above the ground.
What was strange about the tree was not its height though, it was the variety of monsters standing around it in silence. The monsters varied in size, some were as small as a few centimeters while others were the size of a truck. Some looked just like a horse but instead of fur, black shiny scales covered their bodies. There was also a giant monkey with three pairs of arms standing on two legs. And many other kinds of monsters.
What they have in common though, their eyes were empty. They looked just like corpses that died standing. But the rise and fall of their chest proved that they were all in fact, still alive.
As Dave continued to watch the weird scene in front of him, he suddenly had the urge to open his status window. The moment he opened his status window though, he started to frown. What he saw was an endless notification, and it says
[Notification:
- Human (Awakened) innate ability, 'Adaptation' failed to change the owner's body to adapt to soul attack. Body Level is too low. Mana reserve is not enough to cover the expense.
-Restarting the Human (Awakened) innate ability, 'Adaptation'
-….
-….-se]
The moment he understood what the notification was about, Dave instantly turned horrified. He remembered that when Adam explained to him about his immortality, one of the things that it cannot recover was damage to the soul. He then started to run as fast as his legs can carry him.
It was too late though. By the time Dave took his first step, the giant tree, already detected the fear inside his eyes and instantly slam three roots at him. Dave reacted by taking out his black sword and jumping to his right to dodge it. He jumped as he swung his sword trying to cut the other approaching roots.
Thinking that his sword would be strong enough to cut through mere roots, Dave swung his sword with all his might. After all, this sword was even capable of cutting through the skin of that giant dreadclaw. But, a moment later he understand how wrong his decision was.
The moment Dave's black sword clashed with the tree root, the sword shattered. Pieces of dark iron flew everywhere, some of it even pierced through Dave's eyes. With nothing blocking the tree root, it instantly hit his torso. Dave was blown for more than ten meters and crashed into another root that was ready to hit him again.
Just like pinball, Dave was thrown here and there for a dozen or so minutes. Now, with how much damage was done to him he should be already dead. But his tough body made him still barely alive.
For others, not getting killed instantly after the first hit would be a blessing and miracle. Not for Dave though, if he got killed at least he would be able to revive himself to his blood that flew a bit far from where he was being thrown around.
If this was a relief comic, the sight of an almost naked human wearing only the skin of an animal getting thrown here and there would be a funny scene. But it's reality and the sight is pretty gruesome with vomited blood flying everywhere from Dave's mouth.
As Dave started to lose consciousness from the pain, he started to think that before this, his death had never been this painful. At the very least his two death from before was done instantly and one other was done in his sleep. But right now, his body was dying slowly.
To make matters worse, Dave can feel his soul start to weaken. He was about to give up hope when the root suddenly stopped hitting him. It moved slowly to retrieve his battered body.
When the root was about to touch his body though, Dave suddenly recovered and disappeared from where he fell. The root moved around confusedly for a bit It then started to hit the ground a few times to show its anger and slowly disappeared into the ground.
Not too far from where the root disappeared, there was Dave. He was holding his breath and not moving one bit. After some time, Dave decided that the danger was gone so he come out of his hiding.
What happened before was Dave used the second and third skills he got from dreadclaw. The second is 'Instant Acceleration' and the third is 'Darkness Shroud'. Although it looked like he could get away with instant acceleration before he even got hit, acceleration was an ability that eat almost all of his mana.
Not only does instant acceleration take away most of his mana, but it was also only capable of sending him away a few meters. There was also a strange condition where at least two of his limbs have to touch the ground. Sighing, Dave then used silent step to get away from the strange tree.
A few days later, as Dave walked with more caution than ever, he arrived in front of this prison.
*
*
And that's how he stumbled onto this prison that pretty much screamed
'Beware, dangerous criminal inside'
As Dave finished reminiscing about the scary tree, he could hear an enchanting but angry voice flow through the air to his ears.
"Hey, seriously. I don't need anything. Just talk to me, please. Don't you find it pitiful that a beautiful, gentle young woman was speaking to herself in the middle of nowhere?" the voice said with a tone full of sadness.
Dave was about to answer when a booming voice can be heard from the wolf-shaped mountain behind the prison.
"If I were you, I wouldn't answer that woman." Said the voice to Dave.