A/N: Hoh ho. This is the First Turning Point guys. Before the questions in your mind popped up as comment, please let me ask you this.

Generally speaking, would people fight monsters right off the bat? If common sense applies?

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What is it that I thought right at that moment?

Yuuya wondered. Was he going to die here? Was he going to be killed so suddenly? Would he be devoured by this humanoid cricket?

The moment the sickle was about to stab into his eye, Yuuya's body fell down. His knees gave way for fear and he inevitably dodged the deadly attack.

Then he saw the monster flew over his head. Granted, the attack missed and yet it took less than five seconds for the creature to land its feet on a tree bark and it instantly leaped for Yuuya.

Chill ran down his spines. Yuuya, driven out of fear against this creature

olled to the side unsightly. He crawled. Gasping for airs as the maneater plunged to the ground.

Its sickle arms planted deeply in it. And surely it was a mistake for using too much strength just to kill a level one player.

(...the... fuck...? What the hell...? What the hell is this thing?)

Still on his butt, the Voyager stared in disbelief. It was surreal for a starting town to have a mob which could annihilate a town in a night (if this ra'zac was an authentic one). Heck, Yuuya couldn't understand anything with his rush of adrenaline even though it was just a game.

However... one thing for sure.

I must... run away!!

With a dash due to intense fear and instinct to survive, the Voyager, no matter how unsightly he was, fled for his life. His mind befuddled of anything, and he was sure he prioritized the correct thing for all weaklings.

Run. Run away. Flee for your own safety. Save your life.

Yuuya traversed over the magical forest he wandered in to. He ran through the tall grasses, falling from a sudden depression of land and he even climbed over a fallen husk of a tree mindlessly.

Sometimes, he heard the screech of the creature. Close. I'm still near. It's chasing me!!

The coward hastened his sprint. Even so, it proved as wasteful efforts the moment his view became hazy with his foot stumbling over an uprooted tree roots.

Yuuya fell. Because of his speed, his body rolled painfully until he stopped before a shallow marsh.

"Argh... gah... hac!!" Breathless, Yuuya coughed and groaned in pain.

His clothes were dirty by mud. He felt bruises around his body and because he didn' pay attention, he found out there were grazes and  cut wounds on his skins. All because he  charged forward thoughtlessly.

Still, he sighed. Fear was leaving his mind and body alike. He hasn't heard of the insect screech from that monster and he now recognized himself surviving......

--until a blade of a sickle pierced his torso from behind.

"...ga...ghak...... w... why.......?" The man interjected. Blood ran from his throat and he vomited the crimson liquid like a waterfall.

It was critical hit. Yuuya's defense stats also did nothing except reducing the total damages. His vital, which was his heart too were not touched by the sickle, oddly enough.

The Voyager helplessly turned his head. His darkening vision witnessed the morbid face of an insect which had deformed and outlined like the skull of a human.

There was no flesh though. Only rotten brown colored skin was sticking directly to the skull and the rows of dirty teeth hidden by a pair of something like beaks rattled.

It chirped. The maneater chirped and there was a savage expression dissimilar to a smile there. Even so, it was for sure, smiling and Yuuya became scared of it.

That smile. Those maddening glint of crimson orbs. Those desires for hunger, murder and tortures for the creature's prey shown clearly through its chirping.

At first, it did nothing but that. Suddenly, the creature stabbed into Yuuya using another sickle. It shook the sickles which had lodged in Yuuya's body randomly. The pain was heightened and his inside was being twisted around forcefully.

"Gah........! Argh...! St...op......!! Ugwaaaaahh!?"

It hurts. It's painful. It freaking hurts!! Yuuya hollered as the damages grew more and more dangerous beyond critical.

The stats distributed for all beginner Voyagers were actually the same. 100 for health, 100 for mana, 100 for stamina, and so on and so on. Alas, that did not mean BWO was ruled by stats. And that did not mean everyone could see health bars on their heads.

Instead. In this game... there were no gauging way of one's own health and mana. Wonder works in its own way, people could only track their definite stats such as the basic STR and whatnot. And obviously, that meant everyone, be it Voyagers or NPCs have but their own bodies to measure how strong they were.

Including for Yuuya, the game was surely... prioritizing itself on the realism. It was so real even though pains limiter have been reduced to a measly 15%.

And yet, to a coward who was broken by malice and violence, this was hell for him.

As blood drained off from his body, his consciousness was fading away. Yuuya was shouting, yelling, and even screaming for the monster to stop but he couldn't escape his fate.

He was going to be killed. He was being tortured to death. He was not going to receive a painless, peaceful death after all.

Yuuya imagined just how much he must endure until this avatar body died. He imagined how long would he stay like this till death grasped him.

What if... this creature would eat him alive? What if no help would appear?

The moment the coward saw his sealed fate, his indifference mask broke down.

"...no... stop......! I don't... want to die......! I don't want to die!!! Please stop it! Stoooooooopppp!!!"

Just as he pleaded, the creature suddenly moved its hybrid insectoid-human skull upward.

"There it is! The Diablo is here!!" With a yell, presences gathered together.

In moments, knights in armor with lances appeared. They quickly made a barricade circling the creature and isolated it. Yuuya included.

(...I... I'm saved......?)

The coward thought as tears blurred his vision. One man roughly past his thirties stood a little further from the rest of the knights.

"Hm? What is this? Why are the knights halting their attack? I thought I ordered you lots to Seek and Exterminate the threat once found right?"

"Our utmost apologies, Captain... but it seems the Cricknoid has taken a hostage."

"Hmph. Useless trashes are always everywhere. THIS is what you get for eating taxes and training without practical applications. No wonder none of you ever attained a title like how those Outsiders do."

One knight, a head shorter than him reported. Then the brown headed man with open helmet gazed at Yuuya. He was stunned for a bit but he quickly recovered.

"Oy, vice-captain. What is THAT?"

"Huh--? The hostage of course. It seems a beginner Voyager wandered into this Forest of Calling out of stupidity and well... bad luck happens for him."

"Hahaha! Now THAT is hilarious!! I have never seen such a clown of an Outsider like him!! He must have gotten his luck now!!"

Just as he laughed about, other knights could not endure as well and they too...... burst into mad laughter.

It was so light. The mood was not even tense as they all laughed which cringed the so-called Cricknoid. And it was unnerving, especially to Yuuya.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

(What... what the hell are they laughing at? Why are you all laughing...?)

He got a bad feeling. But it wasn't just that. It was the sensation of being looked down on and held in contempt. It was surreal, yes, but Yuuya's... no. The Devil was forcing out an answer that Yuuya never wanted.

"Doesn't matter. Just a Voyager doesn't mean much. Kill them both."

His vision blurred as the chaos occurred.

Yuuya watched the knights charged forward, lances in hands. They roared in unison which stunned the Insectoid, making it as easy as straw doll for training practice.

Then--Yuuya' body was pierced by dozens of lances alongside the maneater.

“.............gah……………”

Red.

Everything was red. Red from blood. Red from his own blood and the monster’s blood.

The Voyager’s eyes wandered. He saw the blue sky above him. Far, far away from his grasps. Surrounded by trees which seized the height like mountains pinned together.

So far. So distant. And it was like a fading light for him.

But--reality pulled him down.

The Voyager’s body fell to the ground. Lances over lances still sticking in his body as he drowned in the puddle of his own blood.

What about the pain? No one could know how painful it was for their own body bored through by countless weapons. Yuuya’s vision quickly darkened, but he could feel a presence approaching.

“Kill that Diablo. Don’t make any mistake this time. If you can, burn it down till no ashes remained.”

……it was him. The Knight Captain who laughed and ordered his subordinates to kill Yuuya along with the Cricknoid.

There was little chaos further from the body, but Yuuya could tell his life ending.

But--why? Why hasn’t he died yet?

“--You’re a lucky one. Did you expect this so you dodged at the last moment and only letting your body except your vitals be pierced?”

……there was no answer.

Yuuya was as good as dead. He had no remaining health and thanked to his cowardice nature, he couldn’t even retaliate. He was dying a miserable death.

“Well, let me tell you one thing. The Earl already issued a bounty of your head. It was only a matter of time for you who got into his bad side accidentally to be snuffed out. But well…”

*SMACK!*

The head was stomped. Yuuya sprang in pains as his consciousness shot back. With the dark luster, the eyes rolled and looked at the sole of the one who was trying to desecrate his death.

“You Outsiders are annoying. You have immortality, yet you’re so weak like us. Then you just suddenly took apprenticeship from great teachers and then surpassed us with unimaginable skills out of our reach. How does it feel now being degraded like this, you piece of shit?”

“................................”

“Let me tell you something. We have NEVER wanted your presences in this land. This island is our only home. Left after the destruction of the surface world. THIS is the reality we are living in. Yet you dared to set your foot here, suddenly making chaos and creating upheavals in many kingdoms. YOU bastards have always taken the glories and we were left with only small rewards not even enough to feed our children!”

The Knight Captain let out his anger. He repeatedly hit Yuuya. He stomped the head, kicked the throat and even used the sharp side of his greaves to smash into Yuuya’s solar plexus.

The dying Voyager was given a beating as the other knights paid no heed. Several even laughed in mockery as the violence continued for a while. In the midst of it all, no other soul was present and Yuuya was helplessly beaten one-sidedly.

“Sir Brown. Dusk will fall soon. We must report to the Earl about the Diablo’s extermination.”

“Huh? Ah, yeah. You’re right, May. Let’s go.”

The man named Brown turned his heel. Feeling refreshed, he even nearly skipped over the bloodied rag which he released his pent up stresses to.

“Now you can go die, Outsider. I’ll make sure you will receive a glorious grave later. HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!”

…………………

The voice grew distant…

The people disappeared…

And… everything started to disappear.

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Ah…… how long has it been ever since I was left alone like this…?

While silence and darkness surrounded the Voyager, he was nowhere as being dead.

No. He was dying for sure. Yet, in the middle of the widening pool of blood, there was a ripple.

“.....hah…. hah ha ha…. he he he he…!”

Crack. There was a sound. Snap. There was a wire snapping.

Abruptly, a laughter echoed in the darkness. Even though death was closing in to him, the Voyager laughed uncontrollably. As if saying it was very amusing.

Yuuya knew this would happen. He knew that no one in the right mind would ever help him. Rather, who would? Humans have been betraying one another, doing treachery and using laws as a way for them to hide from their mistakes.

Not only that. Yuuya was betrayed. He was shunned by other humans. Hated even. Above all, it was from those who proclaimed to be mortals when they themselves were just artificial intelligences! Ha! This world is truly distorted!!

And now, not even salvation would see him suffering. Here, dying all alone with pains was his fate.

How laughable. This is ridiculous. Yuuya laughed again and again and again and again.

…………………………

As the laughter subsided, emptiness overtook it. And in the next moment--

“......I’ll… kill… you……!!”

Yuuya’s tone of voice drastically changed. The pair of golden eyes inside the sea of red hinted murky hatred.

He had enough of it all. He had enough of this farce. Not only was he rejected by people in Earth, this world too rejected him even more.

Just because he was an Outsider. Just because he was granted with temporary immortality. Just because he had the possibility to create a heaven or hell.

At first, he thought he could have his way here.

At first, he thought something could have changed.

At first, he possessed a seed of hope for something which he once lost.

But this world rejected him.

Yuuya loathed it. He despised this world. Not only this world… he hated both worlds. Reality and Augmented Space alike. He despised the world which gave birth to Steve Westdale. And he hated the world which gave birth to Yuuya.

His heart--which was once throbbing weakly was given adrenaline. The sudden rush of hatred pumped the blood strongly  and caused the wounds to gush forth with more crimson fluid.

Still, Yuuya struggled. He struggled to move. He woke up from the darkness and he brought unimaginable hatred from death’s door.

Even so--the Voyager knew all too well he would die regardless of his actions.

If that happened, he would End for sure. Everything would be wasted. All of the hatred and despair he had would be for naught.

I must wake up. I must live. I must kill them.

The Devil was in sync with him. The whispers propelled him to stand no matter what. But only standing wasn’t enough. It’s not enough.

What should I do to not die here?

The question… was immediately answered with one keyword.

“....Let’s see if I can use this ‘Magic’ and overturn everything…!!”