The wolf stared down Owen, checking him if he was a threat. There wasn't a single trace of fear in the carnivore's eyes.
Owen was already running, but the wolf was vigilant and thought to itself if it was worth it chasing after him.
While Owen sprinted away at full speed, he noticed that he could see basic information about the wolf above its head.
==========
[Forest Wolf - Level 8]
[Affiliation - N/A]
[Skills - Unavailable] (You do not have the necessary detection skill/s to view the following information.)
==========
And because animals don't usually have moral values, the wolf's name was the color yellow. If it was truly evil though, the color would be red.
His mind whirred rapidly.
Owen's eyes looked at the trees and knew that he couldn't climb it. He looked at the nearby stone boulder and immediately knew it was unfeasible to use as something to throw the wolf away.
Nothing.
Nothing!
There was nothing for Owen to use to escape this predicament!
All he could do right now is run, and that's what he did with all of his power.
The wolf was wary of Owen since it had never seen something like him before. But it could also see that Owen was getting far away.
The wolf took one step forward and shook the meat off its mouth.
Because it showed hostility, the color of the wolf's name tag turned red.
*Grrrrr…. Nrragh!* The wolf growled deeply and immediately rushed forward.
Owen heard thumping noises behind him. It was getting closer and closer.
When he turned around, the wolf was almost there!
Despite his body pushing all of its strength to run, it wasn't fast enough.
With a few more lengthy strides, the wolf easily caught up with Owen and by using its mouth, it snatched Owen's left ankle, tripping him face first into the dirt.
"Gah!"
Owen flipped himself upright from the ground and saw that the wolf was biting his feet hard.
"Sh*t!" Owen used his other leg and began kicking the wolf in the face.
The wolf received some of the kicks squarely on its face. All it did was make the wolf angrier though.
A few more kicks later, the wolf had enough and lifted Owen into the air like a ragdoll.
When Owen was flung up, the world slowed down for him.
The only thought in his mind was, 'Am I going to die…?'
*Crash!*
The wolf slammed his body into the ground.
"Kahh-!" Owen's body was so shaken from the impact that his mouth and nose began leaking blood.
[-3 HP]
The wolf lifted Owen once more, ready to slam him down again.
Thinking quickly, Owen used his left arm to absorb some of the impact. But against that much force, his arm was like a toothpick that could easily break.
*Crash!*
[-1.5]
"Aaaaaaghhhh!" Owen's wrist broke upon landing on the ground. His pitiful cries filled the air, but no one was able to hear it.
Owen's left hand looked like it was snapped backwards at an unnatural angle. It was only hanging on because of his skin and veins. The bones of his forearm stuck out of the fresh red muscles that spurted blood.
The wolf was still roaring in anger.
It didn't like Owen shouting so loud. Because of this, the wolf began biting Owen's hand off, even his forearm wasn't spared.
Like biting off a carrot, the wolf crunched through his wrist and his hand.
[-2 HP]
*Crunch…* *Splurt..*
Owen watched as his hand was eaten with nothing he could do about it.
Not only that, the wolf began sniffing parts of him that were bleeding. So, it started eating his bleeding left Achilles tendon.
"No, no, no! Stop!" Owen was struggling helplessly and started looking for anything he could use against the wolf. He turned his head and saw a rock that was right next to him. He grabbed it with his right hand.
He used his elbows to sit upright and swung the rock at the wolf's eye!
*Awooo!!* The wolf whimpered in pain after its left eye was crushed into chunks of bloody paste.
When it recovered, it looked at Owen with a look that spelled its intention to kill him immediately.
Owen threw the rock at the wolf, "Damn it!"
The wolf shrugged it off and snarled at Owen for even trying anything.
With a huge bite, the wolf used its mouth to get ahold of Owen's left cheek and ripped his skin off. It tore through the left side of his face, taking off the skin on his ear, his eyelids and his scalp.
Owen screamed on the top of his lungs. It was a scream of pure agony and despair under the threat of death.
The muscles under his skin were now visible. The fibers, yellowish fat and cartilage were all exposed on the left side of Owen's face.
The wolf's ferocious bite destroyed parts of his tongue, took out several of his teeth, and parts of his nose. Some pieces of skin were now hanging by a thin piece, ready to come off once pulled. His left eyeball was punctured, destroying many essential parts for it to work.
It was a gory mess.
After this, the wolf ate the skin that it just ripped off.
And unlike the wolf that was barely damaged, Owen wasn't doing so well. He was missing parts of his face and tongue, his left hand was gone, his left leg was bleeding out and was full of holes.
Because of the amount of damage he took, Owen couldn't muster the strength to get up. Giving the wolf the impression that Owen could no longer fight.
The wolf bit his bleeding leg and dragged him back to the deer that it was eating earlier.
Owen's entire body went limp. His arms were barely following along.
While being dragged back, Owen's body was roughed up by rocks and pebbles. He hit some branches and rocks, causing him more bruises and small wounds.
After returning to where it was eating earlier, the wolf began feasting on the deer once again. The wolf felt like the deer tasted better than human flesh.
*Crunch… Slssscchh…*
The wolf tore through the deer's organs and fat, noisily enjoying its meal.
"..."
Owen was barely breathing. His mind was barely hanging on.
His mind was in disarray.
"... Why does it seem so… quiet…" A teardrop escaped his right eye as he murmured. This wasn't what he envisioned to happen at all.
The reality began sinking in.
Owen could tell that he was no longer in his original world. He lost any thoughts about being able to return after dying. His instinct knew that this was different.
But the pain that he felt knowing that he might not even see the faces of his mother, his father, his sisters and his friends. It was something that hurt more than anything else.
But he couldn't do anything…
He smiled at himself. "So this is how I die…"
"Ah, so many regrets… So many…"
"I wouldn't be able to feel Mom and Dad's embrace anymore."
"I won't be there for Jazmine to bicker with."
"I won't be there when Annie wants someone to talk to."
"I won't be able to play games with Rocky and mess with Melvin."
"I won't be seeing what my life would be after turning twenty this year."
"My life…. What was it all worth again…?"
"I don't understand…."
"During the early days of my life, I felt empty."
"I saw that I was different, I knew that… I could learn things no other child could at that time, I was able to be better, I could see flaws, I knew I was special."
"That ability to see flaws, I was proud of it. It allowed me to take advantage of them to improve my life."
"But all that aside, I know that I wasn't human when it came to the mind at least."
"I couldn't make connections with anyone. It was never genuine."
"I didn't get why my perspective towards people was like that."
"All I know was survival is paramount compared to anything."
"Whenever I look back to those years of my life, I hate everything about that version of myself."
"Whenever I talked to people, no matter how real it seems, no matter how heartfelt it sounds, I knew it was all fake."
"The only reason why I was kind? That was because I saw that acting kindly yields benefits."
"I carried that attitude until I grew up in junior high."
"I always scored high in tests, I got the best grades, I was the most athletic, and I got everything most students would ask for."
"But of course, some people could sense that it was fake."
"And when someone confronted me with my ways…."
Owen paused for a brief moment. His smile quickly faded.
He could recall the scene of him and a person speaking to him angrily in the school rooftop. That person tapped his forehead with his index finger thrice as he yelled,
"... The hell do you mean you're trying? Do you think we're fools Owen? Do you think we're just someone you can use?"
"We're people Owen, get that stuck in your f*cking head! My brother died man! He said he was your friend! Why aren't you feeling anything?! Are that numb or was everything about your friendship all fake?!"
"Enough!" Owen pushed the person off the balcony on impulse.
After that moment, Owen finally felt emotion for the first time.
"…"
"I have no idea what happened to him after I pushed him off."
"But I remember going back home breathing hysterically."
"I suppressed my gift and felt that the flaws that I see was a cruel joke that dehumanizes everyone around me."
"Only that time did I truly care."
"Pathetic life, isn't it?"
Owen sighed deeply.
Owen wanted to stop thinking.
Since it was time to die, it should be like that.
He had a lot of regrets, but what could he do?
In front of death, even Owen had to recognize his worth and rest. He had done his best, he thought of every way that he could to escape it, but if this is what death wanted for him, then he might as well close his eyes and embrace it.
At least, not until he heard a familiar sound…
*Vhoom..*
[Bleeding-4]
*Vhoom..*
[Slowness-2]
*Vhoom..*
[Weakness-2]
*Vhoom..*
[Vision Obscurity]
*Vhoom..*
[Defenselessness]
"..."
Owen's finger twitched.
Suddenly, panels after panels informing him about debuffs began surrounding his face.
It was strange…
Despite bleeding so severely, the small streams of blood that tried to leave his body didn't give a feeling of weakness or light-headedness. In addition to that, his vision from his eye that was damaged by one of the wolf's teeth suddenly became clearer.
And even though his organs and muscles were damaged, he had never felt so strong before. His sluggish body no longer felt so hard to move. Instead, it felt like his joints were maintained like a well-oiled machine that moved smoothly.
Owen clenched his jaw.
A visceral scream of primal energy rang in his mind.
"I-"
"AM NOT-"
"GOING TO DIE-"
"LIKE THIS!"
"I WANT TO GO BACK HOME."
"I WANT TO SEE MY FAMILY AGAIN."
"I WANT TO LIVE!"
Owen slowly got up and saw that the wolf was busy eating the deer's flesh. It didn't seem to notice him because for all it knew, Owen was dead.
Although Owen was close to dying, he felt a strange feeling enveloping the entire area like a fog.
He didn't know what it was. But when he looked closely at the wolf, he felt like the way it was moving was….
Wrong.
The wind rustling against the tree branches, wrong.
The rocks laying around the place, wrong.
The wolf with its back turned on him…
Absolutely wrong!
All inefficient, all ineffective, a world full of flaws!
This was his gift.
Flaw Discernment!
He embraced it at its fullest.
For the first time in years, Owen's gift was unleashed in full capacity!
Owen looked at his left forearm and saw sharp bones sticking out. He showed nothing but a surprisingly tranquil expression.
He stepped forward ever so slowly.
The wolf was still oblivious of his presence.
But as it ate, the wolf felt that something was amiss. The wolf's ears stood up and turned around afterwards.
But the moment it did, Owen got on top of the wolf and wrapped his right arm around its neck. His legs tightly gripped the wolf's body as his left arm with exposed sharp bones stabbed the wolf's eye socket!
*AwoOOOoo!*
The wolf whimpered in pain like a terrified pup. It tried struggling, but Owen was strangely stronger than before.
Strong enough to keep it locked.
The wolf tried to turn around and bite Owen, but Owen merely dug his forearm deeper into the wolf's skull.
The wolf howled in agony.
Since that didn't work, the wolf flailed its legs all over the place. Kicking up soil and small rocks as it did.
But Owen never let go. Right now, a normal person would've been tired from the wolf's resistance. But since Owen's class ability inverts fatigue into energy, his body is something with virtually infinite stamina.
He pulled out his forearm from the wolf's skull and stabbed it inside once again! And Owen's right arm wasn't idle, it was squeezing the wolf's trachea so hard that it was starting to be deprived of oxygen.
"DIE! DIE! DIE!" Owen was shouting hysterically.
Owen twisted his forearm inside the wolf's skull. He pulled it out once again, and a grotesque gaping hole full of flesh and blood that looked like strawberry jam could be seen from the wolf's eye.
The wolf still tried to fight back, but Owen would just stab it repeatedly.
He stabbed the wolf for biting his foot.
He stabbed the wolf for ripping his face off.
He stabbed the wolf for taking off his left hand.
He stabbed the wolf for almost killing him!
And after a few minutes, the wolf stopped struggling and its body slumped. It wasn't dead yet, it was just unconscious because it couldn't breathe.
Owen wasn't satisfied though. He stood up and got on top of the wolf's body and began using the exposed bones in his forearm to spear its brain out.
"DIE! GO TO HELL!" Owen shouted with such intensity that his bloodied face splattered small drops everywhere.
He released all of the pain he suffered and the anger he harbored against the wolf.
He growled like an animal, much more of an animal than the lone wolf itself. "GAAHHH! NGGH! NGGH-! …."
*Slsch… Slch…*
He kept stabbing the wolf's head while screaming like a lunatic. If anyone were to see him now with his current mutilated appearance, he would look like a crazed zombie with its eye about to pop off his skull that was desecrating a corpse.
*Vhoom..*
==========
[+ 73 EXP - Forest Wolf: Level 8]
[EXP: 73/100]
==========
[Achievement Unlocked: Loss of a Life]
- Kill anything
[Rewards: +102 EXP]
==========
[You have leveled up!]
[Level 1 > 2]
==========
Even though he saw the notification, Owen was still stabbing the wolf's head nonstop. Right now, it looked like pink mush with whitish brain goo and bits of broken bones.
At times like this, people would stop after losing their energy. Taking time from their fatigued state to regain clarity.
But Owen was still going at it.
He didn't stop at all.
He no longer had the sanity to stop.
Well, it was until something had to snap him out of it.
*Vhoom..*
==========
[Insanity]
==========
"Huh..?" The crazed look on his face immediately faded away. He widened his eyes, thinking about what he had been doing just now.
Owen looked at his bloodied up body and with a moment of realization, he stood up and slowly backed away from the wolf's corpse.
He tripped and fell on his back.
Owen examined himself. With a trembling hand, he started to feel the overwhelming pain that used to be covered by adrenaline.
Owen didn't cry this time.
He has already shed enough tears.
This was his reality now.
He had to accept it no matter what.
It was either that, or he dies.
Plain and simple.
"..."
––– 10 minutes had passed…
It took a while until Owen stopped sitting on the ground in silence.
Because of the [Bleeding] debuff, his wounds are all healed by now.
Skin grew back on his face, but it looked like it suffered burn marks. So although he was fine, there were still traces of damage.
His scalp grew hair once again. There were no problems with it except that his hair was thinner on that side. His left leg had fully healed, but his left forearm didn't regrow his hand. Although the healing provided by reverse bleeding was good, it couldn't regrow torn limbs.
The skin around his face healed because there was enough skin to rebuild his body with.
Owen also managed to learn that even though the [Bleeding] debuff can help him stay alive, it also closes its own wounds, meaning it was somewhat temporary. He also cannot bleed for a long period of time because complete blood loss will kill him.
Right now, he sat down and contemplated his next course of action.
He raised his left arm to scratch his hair in frustration, only to remember that he no longer had a left hand.
He sighed, "Seriously, this… this isn't like the dream that I had." His eyebrows furrowed.
"I'm still weak… too weak."
Owen then decided that it was better to leave now.
He walked quite a long distance away from the wolf since it may attract some other predators that could kill him. Right now, he had low blood reserves, so any kind of severe injury would kill him.
He wandered around the forest with caution. Every little sound would scare him to the point of paranoia.
When he stepped on a branch, his entire body twitched, adrenaline pumped rapidly as he tried to look around him for threats.
"I have to be more careful now…" Owen remembered that time when he first encountered that strange woman.
'Compared to the wolf, that porcelain girl is still worse..' He thought to himself.
Suddenly…
He heard the sound of water trickling.
Owen found this suspicious, why would there be water here?
He followed the source of the sound. The source of the noise came roughly in the northwest direction.
Owen was careful. After all, Garden Of The Gods never ran out of things that could kill you.
Because of his silent and steady pace, Owen soon saw that the source of the sound was a long haired guy with some armor and significantly better clothes than him. The guy also had two hatchets on each side of his belt.
Yes, he was just peeing. He was facing a tree, so he couldn't see Owen creeping behind him.
Although this wasn't what he expected, what really caught Owen's attention was the campfire which was a fair distance away from him. He could faintly hear a conversation going and see some people around the campfire.
He also saw the basic information above the man's head.
==========
[Ledasdore - Level 8]
[Affiliation - Bandit]
[Skills - Unavailable] (You do not have the necessary detection skill/s to view the following information.)
==========
The man's name was Ledasdore, and his basic information was colored red.
Owen didn't see this person as a… well, a person.
Right now, all he saw was loot and experience points.
His old ways are slowly returning.
However, Owen knew that he has to be sneaky because all the debuffs he had earlier were now gone. [Weakness] was caused by his arms being damaged, [Slowness] was because of his injured leg.
The sources of the other debuffs can be traced back easily, so there was no need to explain them.
Owen looked left and right to see if anyone was close by. He was also looking for something that he could use. It was great that he found quite a large rock nearby.
Did he hesitate? Not this time.
Even though he accepted the reality that he was in another world, he also accepted that he had to do anything to get back.
And if he does get back, who cares what he does in this world?
If he killed one, or two, or even hundreds, thousands, or millions, why would that matter?
Owen wouldn't normally think like this, but he was just exposed to hellish pain and a near death experience that made him fear for the things that he held dear to disappear. He didn't have enough reason in him right now.
He picked up the rock and slowly approached Ledasdore from behind.
'Nothing personal, you kill and you get killed… for me, that seems fair enough.' Owen said in his mind.
It was enough justification for him right now.
Owen raised the rock. But what he didn't account for was the shadow he cast from the moonlight.
As Ledasdore was relieving himself, he looked at the tree and saw that his shadow was showing that someone was behind him.
"The hell?" Ledasdore turned around and saw Owen throw the rock at him.
And it was the last thing he saw.
*Bam!*
Ledasdore's head was struck heavily by the rock, knocking him out. His head smashed against the tree, shaking off its leaves and causing it to drop some pinecones.
Owen quickly took the hatchet on the man's waist and chopped it down on his neck. When he pulled it out, it made Ledasdore's arteries spurt out blood.
He wasn't dead yet though.
Ledasdore's ambush was heard by the other bandits.
From the campsite, a tall and large man with two missing fingers on his right hand looked at where the scream originated and saw Owen looting Ledasdore's body. He had good armor with chainmail and a quiver of arrows on his back.
His name was Drulg.
He noticed one of his men from afar get attacked by a random man. Obviously, he was angry.
"Hey! All of you! Get that bastard!" Drulg wasted no time and quickly grabbed his sword and a bow the moment he saw his men getting attacked.
"Got it boss!" A cross eyed, stupid looking bandit nodded and ran towards Owen.
A few ugly bandits followed as well.
Bandits are known to plunder everything from people. That meant that these bandits were doing this for a long time to acquire all of their armor, clothing and weapons.
Before giving chase, Drulg turned around and told his remaining men, "Guard this area while we're gone… Do not touch our haul or else some of you are going to be fed to the wolves without your limbs.."
The nearest bandit fearfully nodded his head.
"Hmph.." After giving orders did Drulg finally left.
"..."
Owen turned his head and saw the bandits approaching him.
While he did so, the whistling of an arrow could be heard nearing him.
*Qiiiuuuhh-*
*Thwack!*
An arrow landed on the tree that Ledasdore was pissing on. This urged Owen to move faster.
"2." Owen called out in his mind.
The inventory panel appeared in front of him.
Owen grabbed two hatchets and tested how he could put it in the inventory slots. He quickly figured it out by focusing on one slot, causing the item that he's holding to immediately enter it.
Whatever magic is behind the scenes seemed to understand his intention of storing an item. This was great for Owen.
Seeing this, Owen quickly looted Ledasdore's armor and began storing them in his inventory.
However, another arrow hit the ground near his foot. And sadly, Owen had to leave despite only filling 7 inventory slots.
He made a run for it.
*Thwack!*
Another arrow was shot, but it killed Ledasdore instead of hitting Owen.
"Dammit! My EXP!" Owen cursed, he regretted not killing Ledasdore.
He assumed that he was dead, but he remembered that there wasn't any EXP received.
Owen sighed in frustration and sprinted away as fast as he can.
Drulg saw that Owen was now running from them like a scared hare. He sneered.
"That kid's not getting away from us that quickly." He thought to himself.
Drulg decided to shoot another arrow towards Owen. But under the moonlight, he saw that Owen would turn around from time to time. Seemingly focused on him.
It made sense since he was the only one with a bow. But another part of Drulg said that what Owen was doing is useless.
"Heh, like looking behind is going to do anything.." Drulg pulled an arrow from his quiver and shot an arrow.
But surprisingly, Owen ran a bit to the left the moment he showed the intention to shoot, which made the arrow miss completely.
"Hm? That kid knows what he's doing?" Drulg sensed that whoever he's chasing knows a thing or two about fighting.
This feeling made him think.
"This kid must be a bait…. If so, whoever is doing this put someone who's good at running and avoiding arrows for a reason…" Drulg thought that this made sense.
He stopped running and shouted, "Halt! We're going back…"
"Huh?"
The bandits were confused.
An ugly looking bandit with a sword asked Drulg, "But boss, why?"
"This must be a bait… They're separating us for a reason… we should return and get the packages delivered to our clients." Drulg watched Owen run away into the darkness before turning around.
The other bandits felt that his intuition must be correct.
They had no qualms about Drulg's decision.
"But, boss… what if that kid or whoever is with him comes back?" The same bandit asked.
Drulg merely laughed. "Then this time, we're prepared. I'm sure all of you would pay more attention now that there's a squeamish rat hiding in the forest."
The bandits nodded collectively.
"..."
— Meanwhile at Owen's location…
"Huh?" Owen turned around after seeing that the bandits were no longer chasing him.
"Strange… In the game, they would chase you nonstop. Do they act differently now that the world is real?" Owen thought about this and felt that it must be the case.
"That's not my problem, at least I got what I needed." Owen called out the inventory panel and looked at his gains.
…
— At the bandit's camp.
Seratil, a decently sized bandit sat on a log near the campfire. He was holding a piece of wood and a knife on the other hand. Seratil was trying to carve a horse, but since he only picked carving as a recent hobby, the horse looked like a hog with down syndrome.
Other bandits sat around him, waiting for Drulg to return.
Soon, they heard footsteps.
"Hm?" Seratil turned around and saw a figure of a human. But since this didn't belong to Drulg or to anyone who belonged to their camp, he frowned.
"Who's there?" As the figure approached, Seratil was now sure this wasn't one of them. He grabbed his sword and quickly stood on guard.
The other bandits noticed where he was looking and similarly took their weapons.
They were all expecting a terrifying looking man, but as the figure got closer, it looked more… feminine?
Eventually, they saw what the figure looked like.
She was at least 200 centimeters tall, her hair were like thin strands of gold. Her eyes were reminiscent of the translucent appearance of fresh honey. She had a large scar on her right cheek that healed improperly, making it look quite gnarly.
The scar on her right cheek were thin enough to expose the general shape of her lower jaw.
She also wore a black wide brimmed hat and a long black scarf that flowed down behind her like a small cape.
Her right arm was completely made of mechanical parts powered by blue runes carved into it. As she walked, the metal wheels that allowed for movement created smooth metallic sliding sounds that seemed awfully chilling to hear.
She wore a long sleeved black windbreaker made of a strange leather and black pants of similar material that fitted around her body, outlining her great figure.
Each of her boots were buckled by two belts, the metal components shining against the campfire.
Her weapon is a sword with the sharpness and luster of obsidian that was held by her left hand.
The woman lifted her head to look at the bandits, revealing her face in its entirety.
She laughed ever so softly, "Hahaha…"
"Hey there boys, my apologies but, a client of mine asked me to return all of what you've stolen… So pardon my intrusion, I will make it quick."
Seratil's pupils shrunk considerably.
He recognized this woman.
The beautiful mercenary who roamed the lands.
According to the rumors surrounding her, no enemy survived unscathed upon encountering her.
The survivors weren't lucky at all.
Most of them lived their lives wishing for death because of their injuries to the point that those who died were considered lucky.
She is also rumored to be a sadist, a necrophiliac, and a disgusting wretch despite her beautiful face.
[Ixila, the Mercenary of Golden Grace.]
The last thing Seratil saw was a wave of her arm and a swift flash of light. There was also his headless body in front of Ixila.
That was when he realized that he was just a head now, flying away from his body.
"So that's her... She's really gorgeous." In Seratil's final thoughts, he still found her captivating.