Chapter 2: Change
The children were starving and so were the adults. The usual scene of their tired bodies lying here and there came to my sight when I opened my eyes again.
I turned to the right, noticing skeletal remains of the goblins, same as earlier. These were those who had starved to death.
Worms... they were visible too, but I decided to stay away from them.
Starvation? I had already gotten a solution for that.
This thing that was stuck to my face, I'll call it Stucky. So Stucky said something along the lines that if I stayed back, I would get bear meat.
It didn't lie.
I could feel the bear meat somewhere nearby. It was not in the cave, however.
"Where's the meat?" I asked, knowing very well that Stucky wasn't lying.
And then, it happened. Stucky became two Stucky.
He multiplied and now, there was another Stucky towards my left, almost stuck to my ears.
I could see it, however, distancing from me as it showed tons of blue boxes.
In one of them, was meat. I could sense it. I could feel it. I could smell... no, I couldn't smell it.
I lifted my left finger and touched the symbol that was visible and out came a large chunk of bear meat!
It fell to the ground with a thud as I failed to hold it any longer.
Squelch-
It was laden with blood, completely fresh meat as if it was cut from the bear just a moment ago.
The bloodied stench was so powerful that the adults and children at the distance turned towards me, with gazes full of confusion and surprise.
"This... meat?"
"Gubzo? What's that?"
"It smells so good! What's that!?"
"What's this smell?"
"Ah, I'm aroused. I'm aroused..."
"Is that meat!?"
I thought that an explanation was a must so decided to tell them about it, but then no one was ready to hear me out.
The adults just leapt and started running. The children, crawling. The newborns, rolling.
I didn't move.
The meat had fallen right in front of me, close to my feet. I saw the goblins, rushing like maniacs, devoid of any consciousness, and devouring the meat like animals.
I watched them with a cold glint in my eyes, without any emotion, all while my stomach grumbled.
I watched them, from a high stand, as if looking at ants... and realized, the humans thought of us the same.
I turned back instinctively, only to find humans entering the portal.
It had started again.
New humans would enter and massacre all of us... but they were not new at all.
I couldn't believe my eyes when I finally noticed, recognizing the humans.
There were five: two females, each holding long swords and wearing armor while the three males were distinct in wielding short blades which I didn't know about and long thick wood with some stone atop of them.
I stood in front of my kin, which made me the first target.
The female who had previously struck me marched with long strides. She unsheathed her sword from her waist as she had a grin on her face.
I didn't move.
I had my kin behind my back, though, what did I expect them to do? Save me?
With minimal effort, I turned to see what they were doing.
Running? Maybe yes.
Trying to find a place to hide? Probably.
Begging for their lives? Possible.
But what I turned to were mindless savages who continued to feast on the bear meat, which was long gone, and now all they did was lick the ground, as if they were intoxicated by it.
Blood spurted all over, drenching my eyes and painting my vision in red.
I was struck down, on the ground, yet, they continued to feast. And one by one, all of us were dead.
I wasn't, as I still retained my consciousness. I don't know how, but barely.
Maybe her strike did not connect perfectly, but I saw... I saw them cutting our ears, chipping our nails, and amputating us—collecting all of them in a bag.
I stayed still. No, I didn't intend to, but I still did. Her strike made me immobile.
I could breathe, just barely.
I kept losing my green blood. But I was alive...
...alive for a total of four hours, gasping for breath, drooling crazily as I was left alone, in the dark as the portal closed down.
I was dead.
『You died.』
…
『Mission 2: Kill a Hunter』
『Reward: Skill ×1』
Stucky was stuck to my face when I opened my eyes again.
I could once again hear the voices behind me. They were back to life.
They were hungry.
I realized that after death, whatever we had done before, didn't matter. Everything is... reset.
"Where's the meat?" I asked again, just like before.
I was hungry and tired of dying over and over, which is probably why I decided to eat.
The boxes appeared and I was excited... but they were empty.
I stared at them, dumbfounded.
I was sure there had been bear meat in one of these boxes.
'Was that all a dream?' At this point, the confusion had started to get to me. It was beating my will to understand.
My head was lowered. I wanted answers.
I turned left and right frantically, noticing the same old dead bodies filled with the same old worms.
There were no other dead bodies, no other marks.
I was confused... super confused.
'Just what's going on?'
The blue portal was in front of me. Humans could enter at any time. They would kill again...
Stucky kept telling me something. It was about killing a human. And the reward would be... skill? I don't know what that is, maybe the meat of another bear named 'Skill', or maybe I'm just dumb.
But how would I kill them?
The humans entered through the portal, this time only one.
I recognized him. He was one of the males who held small blades, uh, daggers? Yes.
He walked towards me, menacingly.
My hands were empty. But I had nails.
The hunter dashed towards me. He was faster than anyone I had seen.
By the time I finished thinking about my nails, I was already on the ground, hearing the screams of others.
The same thing repeated. Chopping our ears, chipping our nails away, and our limbs...
I died.
『You died.』
It repeated a few more times.
Another hunter, a male, with similar daggers approached. He was fast, and I was killed.
Then came another male holding a long stick with stone. He didn't approach us but cast fire everywhere, burning us alive.
This one was particularly painful because I didn't die soon. I kept burning, feeling the pain, and even after the fire had vanished, the pain remained.
I twitched involuntarily... however, this time, the male didn't approach to cut our ears.
Was it because everything was damaged? I couldn't help but wonder before I succumbed again.
One by one, they kept coming and killing us, and I finally realized...
"It's time to kill."
I'll bite them and use my nails if I don't have a weapon. If that fails, I'll use my bones, and if even that fails, then I will cause irreversible damage to my enemy. I will gouge their eyes, rip out their genitals, and amputate them—a weird sensation filled me as these random thoughts clouded my mind.
Stucky's words lingered in my head, and I, really did decide it... this time, to kill a human.