A long, black walking stick hit the stone with its metal tip, echoing with the plague doctor's every step.
Clang…
Clang…
Clang!
The sound grated Thanh Van's ears, like nails driven into a coffin. His body warned him to move, or that was the last sound he would ever hear.
But Thanh Van's curiosity won over his miniscule will to live.
Black leather gloves hid away the hands that were trained to kill. The towering humanoid was dressed in darkness, only the bird's beak mask made of the ivory bone of a beast, the peak long and lined with sharp teeth, could be seen from beneath the wide-brimmed hat. The two black holes for eyes were dead set on Thanh Van.
"RUN, NOW, DAMNIT!" Kruger's roar drowned beneath Thanh Van's wild, thumping heart.
A harsh shove pushed Thanh Van off balance. He stumbled - trying to gain his bearings - too late.
In just a blink of an eye, the plague doctor who stood before him just now had disappeared from his sight.
Thanh Van's heart froze as he stumbled backwards, but before he caught himself, right at the corner of his eye, death stared down at him through the bird skull.
He dodged just in time, twisting his body away from the sharp knife that reflected the bonfires crackling around them.
Cotton tore like paper, revealing the milky white skin beneath. Sharp pain grazed his ribcage, the icy edge of a blade only a harrowing inch away from plunging deep within his heart. Somehow, Thanh Van suspected he wouldn't have survived it. Not like the many times before.
For a second there, he truly feared for his life!
Something hot and wet trailed down his side. Faintly, Thanh Van knew his skin had broken, but not too deep.
He wouldn't die from a little scratch.
But god damn it if it didn't HURT!
Thanh Van gritted his teeth, feet slipping over the smooth stone surface from his quick movement. But before he tumbled face first towards the bloody pavement, strong arms caught him midair, near crushing his lungs.
Thanh Van blinked up in surprise. Steel-blue eyes glared down at him, worry swirling in the dark depths.
Kruger had returned just for him.
How terribly romantic-!
Thanh Van had no time to breathe before his saviour already shoved him forward.
Up ahead, Kim Jihun was struggling with Kunze.
"GO!" Kruger roared in his ear, and Thanh Van didn't waste a second more. His feet hit the stone pavement running and the frail beauty disappeared into the pitch-black alley.
***
The sky above was shrouded in darkness, the path ahead the gullet of a beast.
The air stood still. Not even a breeze brushed against the bare skin.
Sweat poured, mixing with the blood, clinging to his skin. Thanh Van ran, eyes wide open, struggling to take in the murky shadows ahead. His lips parted, gasping in the chilly air.
But Thanh Van was not afraid of darkness.
No.
He was busy cursing this damned NPC skin for being so weak!
He had not gotten far, and already this body was giving under. The pain on his side stung with every shaky breath in, his muscles so strained Thanh Van was sure that if he stopped, he would crumble into a pile of flesh and bones.
He could only run -so run he did.
Silence closed upon him on all sides. Death hounded his heels and in the back of his mind, Thanh Van knew, within this deathly silence, the plague doctor was not far behind.
His skin crawled at the thought and a smile broke over his petal lips.
The alleys he raced through seemed to have no end in sight. The walls crept closer until he pumped painfully into the ragged stone walls that appeared out of thin air. The skin over his shoulders and elbows split open as he hurtled headlong through the tight alleys. Blood trickled down his arms, filling the air with the coppery scent of death, but no pain could hinder his path.
Stone-pebbled roads twisted and turned, the stones loose and jutting from the ground, as if waiting for him to trip over and fall straight into death's embrace.
"System… this is cheating!"
A burst of broken laughter rumbled from his stomach as Thanh Van fumbled his way through the maze of village houses, just barely escaping death.
Hell, for the first time in centuries, Lam Thanh Van was scared out of his damn mind!
[Creator…]
The mechanical voice echoed within Thanh Van's mind.
[You too are breaking character.]
Thanh Van didn't give a rat's ass if someone heard his crazed cackle - he never felt so fucking alive!
A stone wall suddenly rose before him and Thanh Van did a hard turn - crashing against the rough surface with his shoulder first.
Pain tore his body asunder, but Thanh Van ignored it, barely dodging the knife that sunk into the stone wall where his head had been just a second before. The knife cut through stone like butter. The plague doctor wielding the weapon was nowhere to be seen and Thanh Van wasn't going to wait for him either!
Death breathed down his neck, right on his heels. Silent but deadly, and Thanh Van's hair stood on ends.
The killing intent was so stifling, Thanh Van almost felt a sense of euphoria wash over him, like a mortal standing on the edge of the ledge, ready to freefall to the unknown.
He loved it!
For the first time in his life, the predator had become the prey - and the system - how did the system do it?
Since when was it capable of creating such a powerful NPC?
Thanh Van's smile slowly faltered, realisation dawning over him.
The system had always failed to kill him - and for the love of god it had tried - too many times to count. But never in any of those scenarios and situations did this much killing intent appear in one NPC character.
Something was off.