Lucky panted for air, gazing at the same inverted city he had first seen upon waking up in this world. He closed his eyes to catch his breath, lying flat on the ground with several hounds unconscious... and their severed limbs.
"I guess the lab rat is actually special," he breathed out, reopening his eyes once again. "None of them turned as human... and none of them smelled close to a real three-headed hound I've met."
"Imp," he called, making the little Imp in the corner jolt. "What time is it?"
"Ke?"
"Right." Lucky blinked slowly. "I forgot. You don't know about that. How long do you think I've been fighting these guys?"
"Ke ke!"
"All night?" his brows rose, looking at the sky once more and noticing that the lights up there looked a little dim. "I see. Nights seemed a little longer than it should be, huh?"
Another piece of information acquired, he thought.
Lucky propped his elbows on the ground, pushing himself to sit up. Once he did, he glanced at his surroundings. The hellhounds were just as fierce as the ones he knew. They were even more vicious in the night, considering they were creatures of the dark.
They were strong; the marks their paws and claws left on the concrete ground were proof. Some of them also had poisonous drool, melting the concrete as if it were nothing but a cube of ice in a frying pan. However, they were just plain monsters out of control. Those very few with intellect were the real pain in the neck.
"Meaning, it doesn't mean they could think on their own, they were humans," he murmured, ruffling his hair. "What a complicated yet interesting world and creatures."
"Ke. Ke. Ke."
Lucky snapped his eyes and raised his brows at the skipping imp. The latter carried his bag, skipping his way to him, and then putting the bag beside him.
"Well, thanks," he expressed, taking his bag. "One thing I learned is that accessing the inventory through this bag takes a lot less tiring than opening up a space. You're quite useful."
"Ke…"
"Do you… talk other than making that noise?" he asked out of pure curiosity, opening his bag to put the worn-out sword back in.
"Ke."
"You can?"
"Keke!"
"Huh?"
"Ke! Keke kekeke."
Lucky scrunched up his nose as he stared at the Imp in dismay. "You can talk, but only through illusions?"
"Ke!"
"Can you do that now?"
"Ke."
"Why not?"
"Kek!"
"Ahh." Lucky nodded in understanding, taking out the already-opened bottled water he had opened many hours ago. "So, your illusions don't work on me anymore, huh? Is it because I already saw through it?"
The Imp nodded, about to explain further details, but Lucky didn't seem just as interested anymore. It frowned, waiting for the man to chug down the entire bottle. When Lucky finished, he hissed in satisfaction.
"That hit the spot!" Lucky grinned, feeling a lot more energized after chugging the entire bottle. "I'm feeling much better now. I wonder if those guys are still alive."
"Ke."
He raised his brows as he looked back at the Imp. "Right. I came here for a reason, but don't worry. Putting a hold on it and fighting these guys isn't a bad idea."
Lucky's initial plan was to read the entire book in one go so he could only be in pain once. It was better that way than reading each scripture little by little and being in pain little by little. But alas, when he thought of the pain, Lucky knew his plan could probably kill him.
He wasn't the most meticulous person in the world. A little bit of pain, or even great pain, wasn't enough to stop him from taking a risk. However, the pain after reading that book was out of this world. He couldn't even put it into words.
But in simple terms, reading that entire book without any preparation could have killed him. Hence, he chose to fight those night phantoms to see how much strength he had in this world. It was also a warm-up.
"I might be strong enough to take down all these fakes, but I'm not strong enough to survive the book," he muttered, getting a little annoyed at this sick guide given to him. "First, a rigged multiple choice, and then a guide that could kill me."
Surely, he wasn't sent here to have an easy time.
"But then again, I don't think the gods could do anything more than send me here." Lucky looked ahead, swiping the air in front of him, which then revealed a screen. "So I can see this if only I put my mind to it, huh?"
He squinted his eyes, lifting his gaze, and the screen also followed. As soon as he did, the screen locked on the severed hellhound not far away.
[Two-Headed Hellhound
Type: D - MONSTER
ATK: 2300
DEF: 3000
SKILL: N/A Special Attribute: N/A]
[Drops: Metal claw]
Lucky skimmed through the details on the projector that had zoomed in on the severed monster. He had known this additional game element in coming in here was lame. However, was this true?
To make sure, Lucky shifted his eyes to the other carcasses around, and it only showed the same description above.
"So, basically, they were just monsters." Out of pure curiosity, Lucky shifted his eyes to the Imp beside him.
[Imp Warlock's Attendant
Type: B - FAIRY
ATK: 8900
DEF: 2900
SKILL: Trickery, Illusion, Invisibility.
Special Attribute: Not attained.]
Lucky raised a brow, a little more interested in this little creature. Its attack was even higher than the hounds he fought. Though its defense was low, it was still amazing.
"So I can use it for the living too?" Lucky let out a chuckle while the Imp cocked its head to the side. He ignored it, moving his eyes to different hounds. Many of them showed the same stats as the first one he looked at, but some had little differences.
For instance, the one on the right.
[Two-Headed Hellhound
Type: C Intelligence - MONSTER
ATK: 3300
DEF: 3900
SKILL: Poison shower, Sulfuric fluid type
Special Attribute: N/A]
"So, those are the smarty ones, huh?" he rocked his head, looking up in case he could get a piece of amusing information about the city above.
[GENESIS]
That was all it showed. Everything underneath was full of question marks.
"Unless I get there, it'll stay unknown, huh?" Lucky didn't feel as disappointed as he didn't expect anything. "I should try this one on that Nero guy."
Lucky was about to remove the screen when it suddenly showed seven packages. He looked at it quietly for a moment. He hadn't checked them since getting in here. Thus, out of curiosity, he pointed at one. The package emerged from the screen like a 3D presentation.
"The hell?" he frowned, spinning it around in dismay. "There's no recipient?"
He spun it aggressively, flipping it up and down, but to no avail. The packages were sealed, but there was no given information or instructions. All that was written on the side of the screen was, "???"
"Dang…" Lucky felt his heart drop to his stomach, staring vacantly at the projected package. "I should've known about this when that misdelivery warning popped up."
"Ke?"
He glanced to his side, seeing the Imp tilting its head. "Never mind," he grumbled, waving and closing his fist in front of it. At the same time, the screen disappeared.
"Good news and bad news. The good news is I have a tool to get some hints about where I should go, and the bad news is that I needed to use the tool." Lucky got up from his spot, carrying the bag over his shoulder.
"Let's go back, Imp," he cast the little beast a look. "Let's see if those guys made it through the night."
The Imp let out an excited noise, leaping to Lucky and landing on his shoulder perfectly. The Imp grabbed hold of his shoulder, slowly fading out of sight while Lucky sprinted back to where he left those three.
*
*
*
Lucky took less time to get back to the half-ruined building. But when he returned, his previous joke just came back to life. Standing several meters from the entrance, Lucky stared frozen at the body lying motionless on the floor. The body was missing a leg, blood spread underneath him, and the remnants of a vicious fight remained in the surroundings.
"Nero."