Roy found himself floating in a dark space.
Oh fuck, am I dying? he cursed, only to find his mind cleared of any influence. Moreover, it wasn't completely dark. Thin wisps of interconnected webs of white light flashed around him, battling against an invading force.
Roy didn't need to think twice to figure out what they were. It was the pedant providing defence against the toxins.
Without overthinking, Roy nudged the interweave of the essence to surround the foreign toxin and overwhelm it. To his surprise, his essence consumed the toxins. It left his essence weakened, but soon he felt relieved of its paralyzing effects.
But still, the bigger problem remained.
Roy was relieved of the poison, but he wasn't free from the clutches of the man.
Roy's eyes fluttered open. The first thing he felt after regaining consciousness was that he was being transported somewhere. He was slung over the shoulder of a man who seemed not to have noticed his awakening yet. It was presumably the same round man who had attacked him.
Calm down, don't panic! Roy told himself, forcing himself to stay calm. He knew panicking would only make things harder. First, he needed to assess his situation.
The bastard carrying him was probably overconfident in his darts, so much so that he didn't even bother to tie down his limbs. Or perhaps he didn't know that an easy target like Roy could have resistance to his toxin. Either way, it worked in Roy's favour.
The red sun hadn't moved much in the sky, indicating that not much time had passed since he was at the abandoned farm. The next few things Roy observed were more important. There was no one else present. The surroundings were still silent, with towering trees and thick hedges.
Roy's heart grew cold as a plan to free himself began to brew in his mind. He didn't know the chances of success, but he had to try. The man, honestly, didn't appear too high level, which was relieving for it to work.
With that, Roy silently called upon his status screen and accessed his inventory.
He made no disturbance to alert his captor. The man had carried Roy's bow and quiver of arrows, and they were within his reach, though taking them would likely alert the man. Besides, for what he was planning, he needed a cruder weapon.
He eyed the machete buckled at the man's waist and pulled the acidic venomous gland from his inventory into his palm. Roy thought it would be a small gland, but it turned out to be a handful.
Good, the bigger the better.
The man's arm shifted, finally noticing Roy's state. However, Roy gave him no time to react to what was in store.
Without warning, he shoved the gland into the man's face and lunged off his back.
The man screamed as the gland burst open, releasing acid and venom onto his face, melting and infesting him. But more importantly, it blinded him.
"My face! My fucking face!" the man roared, clutching his burning skin. His face instantly turned swollen, red, and purple, his eyes bloodshot. "I'll kill you, level 2 bitch! I'll fucking kill you!"
Roy barely registered what he said as he pulled the machete from the man's waist.
I'm not a killer, his mind cried, remembering the fact, but that didn't stop him from driving the machete into the man's back.
The rotund man let out a guttural scream, shouting curses. "I'll torture you to death. Just wait, you little fuck!" He flailed his arms wildly, trying to fend off his attacks.
Roy ducked under the man's arms and rammed his foot into the back of his foe's knee, shoving him down to the ground. The man was stronger than him, but not so much that he would be powerless to defend himself. And his Bestial Agility helped all it could to make it easier for him.
He waited no longer and plunged the blade into the man's neck, eliciting a sharp cry.
The round kidnapper jerked up, shifting their position, and Roy fell onto his back, narrowly avoiding the slam caused by the man's wild movements.
His captor screamed in agony, spouting incoherent words, which Roy assumed were curses. He paid them no mind and rolled on the ground to pick himself up.
The machete was still in his hand. High on adrenaline, Roy acted on instinct and lunged at the man, plunging it into his chest. Roy encountered some resistance as he tried to penetrate the man's skin, but the weapon seemed to be no ordinary tool.
Once it pried open the tough skin, it dug into his internals just fine, as red-hot blood bubbled up from the wounds.
The man was already dying from the first blow, and the second one sealed his fate. His body jerked a couple more times before his struggle ended.
[You have defeated a Tier 1 Human Thrall.]
[+0.4 Strength]
[+0.3 Agility]
[Trait crystal of Poison Resistance (F) has been added to your inventory.]
Roy's chest rose and fell as the warm energy of the level-up finally pushed away some of the chill he was feeling.
I just killed a man, he thought. I just...
Roy moped the blood on his body, as though trying to erase the evidence of violence. His stomach lurched in convulsion, as all the berries he ate tried to find their way out.
Roy gritted his teeth and turned his head, physically forcing himself to calm down. He breathed in and out several times to calm his mind before looking back at the corpse.
He was sure the guy had nothing good in mind when he captured him. But there was something different about killing a mindless beast and a sapient human.
A chilling coldness spread in his chest as he stared down at the corpse. Unlike before, it didn't disappear, as though leaving behind evidence of his crime.
The system notification indicated the man was a Human Thrall, which could mean there was someone else, his master, possibly far higher level than the dead man to have taken the man as his thrall.
It didn't bode well for Roy.
The corpse finally disappeared into smoke and mist, leaving behind all its possessions. There was another dagger in the possession, along with a few vials, and the instrument the man used to shoot darts at him. And of course, a bunch of the paralysing darts.
Roy eyed them for several seconds before finally gathering them into his inventory before disappearing from there.