Chapter-32
(First-person POV)
More than six hours later, after leaving the location of the wounded magical beast, I was still running through the woods.
In these last six hours, the only time I had taken a rest was when I was hiding or when the system was locating a safer route.
After seeing what had happened to that elephant size magical magic, I had not even stopped to drink water from any of the lakes or rivers that I had come upon on my way through the forest in the last six hours.
My throat is burning and tastes like blood; my heart is beating so fast that I feel it's trying to burst out of my chest; and my temples are beating due to the beating of my heart.
Huff––Huff––Huff
Getting out of this dangerous region has become my top priority now.
Halting my steps when I was suddenly met with a wall off of bushes. I began to stab the bushes in front of me two or three times, as if I had done it now a lot of time already. Then using the spear as a support, I jumped above it before continuing to run.
It's hard to run; I would cut myself on small branches. The ground is uneven, which makes it difficult to go fast, especially with the roots.
And I would also have to be careful of the high bushes, where sometime small but dangerous magical beast could be hiding, waiting to attack any passing creature that would be a prey in their eyes.
But even then, I had covered most of the distance that I needed to cover to leave the inner region of the forest. Now I only needed to cover the last 5 miles before I would enter the safe zone.
For the last six hours, I had been really lucky not to have met a predator-type magical beast on my way through the inner region.
As the system had made sure to focus on regions with only less populated areas, which had only docile creatures and less dangerous magical beasts in their vicinity.
Suddenly coming to a stop and using a tree on my right as support, I looked around myself before I asked the system in which direction I should move.
[Towards your right, Host] [It is only straight ahead after that.]
"Straight, Hun. That means this place is safe." I said this while trying to even out my uneven breathing.
Huff––Huff––Huff
[I apologise host, but I could not find any safe route to enter the safe zone area of the forest from here on.
So I have located the least dangerous one of them all. Also, please keep in mind that the safe zone is not an actual safe zone for the current you, host.]
Hearing this, I grimaced. I also knew that. I just hoped that I would meet an adventurer who could help me reach the village.
I raised my head to look in the direction of the sun, which was slowly descending downward, warning me about the arrival of night.
"There is still an hour left before the sunset. I can make it." Saying this, I felt my heartbeat calm down a little. I had been feeling this eagerness since the very first time I exited the mountain.
Realizing that I would be able to see another human being made all my senses jolt awake in excitement.
All I needed to do now was keep moving.
(Third-person POV)
Steeling himself, Karna could only push away from the tree and then continue to run. His sweaty hands were tightening around the crude wooden spear, trying to hold it in his hands to be prepared for anything.
But just as he was about to move forward, suddenly inside his head, he received some information from the system at the same speed as his neurotransmitter transferred information.
This jolted all of his senses, and in that next moment of the one-tenth of a second that had passed after he had received the information, Karna felt a cold sensation on his back.
And without any hesitation, he turned around raising his hands that were holding the spear and then thrust forward the spear with all his might.
A small sound was heard as the spear pierced something and struck the tree trunk. This sudden and maybe even a little unconscious motion contained all of Karna's strength.
Because of which, when the spear struck the tree trunk, he was pushed a little back. His sweaty hand slid on the crude wood, leaving his hand splintered.
But Karna was not focused on this; he looked at what was in front of him with widened eyes and a gaping mouth.
In front of Karna, only four inches away from his head, was the head of a reptile-like creature that was nearly 6 feet long and 4 inches thick—it had its mouth gaped open.
The crude spear had penetrated right through its mouth, coming out of the back of its head, and then stabbed into the tree trunk.
Standing still and now awkwardly holding the spear, he could see the long, sharp fangs that were jagged with drops of green liquid seeping. Its long, green, slick tongue was wriggling around the spear like a snake.
The reptile was still not dead as it wiggled its nearly 6-foot body to get its head out of the spear.
Karna, who was still shocked by what had happened in the last 2 seconds, awkwardly stepped back.
"Ah!"
Suddenly, he felt a stinging pain in his head that made him hold his head in his hand, but luckily it only lasted for a second or two before vanishing.
Karna knew that this pain in his head was related to how he had been able to react so fast and survive this creature's attack.
'So, It was caused by the system's use of its link within my brain. The ability to transfer and implant any information in my brain when needed. That's good.
But this ability or feature of the system is a double edge sword for me. It puts a lot of strain on my brain and, if done for too long, can even irreversibly damage my brain.'
'Maybe in the future, when my intellect stats have increased significantly, I will be able to use this feature freely, but for now, it can only be used at a bare minimum level.' thinking this he gazed at the still alive reptile.
The creature was known as the Dagger Snake and was one of the reptile species of the magical beast that one could come upon in this forest.
It had a poisonous bite that was not lethal but through which it could make any creature, even a Monther, unconscious.
And then, using the sharp upper part of its head, which was like a dagger—from which it got its name—it would rip its prey's belly apart, entering through that opening it made it will begin to devour it preys organs.
Due to the effect of the poison, its prey would feel no pain, remain unconscious, and live for a while as it continued to devour the warm and fresh organs.
All of this information had been transferred into Karna brain, including the information that this thing was attacking him and its location, when it was about to sneak attack.
'The dagger snake must have been hiding up in the tree and then sneaked up behind my back to attack me when I had my guard down. Thankfully, the system was able to sense its presence and then react faster than the snake.'
[Host, the dagger snake is about to die.]
"Huh?" Hearing this, Karna was not the least bit happy. Why? Because of something that was mentioned by the system related to his first kill.
Well, it had been more like a warning, which had left him completely flabbergasted.
With a panic-stricken gaze, Karna looked toward the dying snake. As the convulsing and wiggling body of the snake came to a halt, Karna heard the system voice announcing its death in his head.
And the next moment Karna heard the familiar mechanical ding going off again. And a bunch of notifications appeared in front of me.
[Ding]
[As this is the host's first kill, one of the core functions—the process of engraving the "Mark of the Dead" on the host's physical body—would be initiated.]
Hearing the last announcement, Karna cursed out loud. "curses!"