Half the body of woman emerged from the water and moved towards him without moving her legs, while a soft chant of feminine voices, brought by a light breeze together with a scent of vanilla, was accompanying her. The wind was moving her silky long silver hair, and her glacial eyes were fixed on him with a half-smile and her head slightly cocked on the left.

Richard couldn’t stop from looking at the creature, as it the first time he had seen something remotely human. She did not blink for the whole time, neither her lips ever parted a bit, or her chest seemed to heave in breathing.

When she arrived at the shore of the lake, she tended a hand on him.

“You’re not a monster”, a cold voice said, but it wasn’t coming from her, “I can sense reason inside you, even if you can’t express it”;

When the System window told him about a dungeon, he didn’t expect to find something so friendly like this. Too friendly, perhaps. He gave a look at the entrance of the subway behind him.

“You can trust us”, the voice said again, “We’ll help you. We’ll make you talk again. We’ll give everything you want”.

It felt too easy. Nothing was given in his life as a human and that rang true enough even in this new one. He shook his head, refusing the offer, but a strange blue light hovered near the forehead of the woman, from which he could not shift his gaze from.

His lids started to droop, and his vision became blurry, with darkness claiming everything apart from the woman. Her skin and hair became dark, and her eyes shifted to a brown color. Was that Carla? It was impossible, but why should it be?

He was sitting on the couch, keeping the TV remote in one hand, trying to find something good to watch together. John this time was hundreds of miles away, visiting his parents, and this was the perfect time for Richard to confess his feelings for her if he could find the courage.

“Hey, Richard”, she said, while she opened the fridge in the kitchen. She cracked open a can of beer, “Do you want some?”;

He nodded.

“Then why don’t you come over here?”, she smiled at him, and, as he couldn’t say no to her radiant smile, he rose from the couch and moved towards her.

But even after ten steps, it seemed that she was still too far for him to reach. His flat was small but it now it seemed like he was inside a castle, why was it taking so long?

“Richard”, she said again, and her smile turned into a grin, “Everything is alright. You trust me, don’t you?”. She tended again her hand, but the skin was now pale, without any visible blood vessel.

Richard stopped, and looked at his sides, and instead of finding the rest of the living room, there was only darkness. His human skin should be smooth, but if he ran a finger through it, he could feel the sharpness of the dragon scales.

All of this was fake, there was no other explanation.

You are not hypnotized anymore.

A multitude of high-pitched wails rose in the air, making him cover his ears and grit his teeth. The eyes of the woman turned black, and the hair was gone, while a dark web was spreading on her skin starting from her chest and ended on her clawed hands. The muscles of her shoulders and arms were bulging, and she shrieked at him, baring her large fangs.

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You have been spotted by a Lv. 12 Hostile Lamia.

The snake part of his body, covered in purple bright scales, rose from the water until she was towering over him. She lurched upon him as if her body was a large spring, keeping her mouth wide open. Richard shot a fireball at her, but she raised her arm and a veil of water dispersed the spell without doing damage. There was no way he could defeat that thing.

He screamed and bolted away from her, but her fingers grabbed one of the horns, sending him sprawling to the ground. Without looking, Richard shifted his body on the right, just in time to avoid being bit in the neck, but her fangs sunk inside his left arm, shattering his scales as green blood poured on the ground.

You have been poisoned! You lose 2% of your Health Points every minute.

As she twisted her fangs inside the wound, Richard’s body shook in pain. A jet of fire rose from his mouth and it scorched the right ear of the lamia.

You have used Fire Breath. You have consumed 10 units of Mana.

You have landed a critical hit on a lv. 12 Lamia.

The lamia howled as she retracted from him, dragging her fangs inside his arm before pulling away. Richard rose from the ground and sprinted before she would gain control of herself again, his left arm hanging limp at his side. Behind him, other creatures rose in the air from the water, their wings making a buzzing sound. Their faces with childish features, but with the same glacial eyes, pointy teeth and devoid of hair was like something coming out of a nightmare.

You have been spotted by 150 Hostile lv.3 Harpy Husks.

The entire sky was full of those creatures that were diving towards him. A javelin grazed his scales and bounced on the ground, and he made a sidestep to avoid another one landing near him.

There was only a few steps to reach the entrance of the subway station when a creature blocked his way, pushing his arm backwards to throw him a javelin. There was no other choice to fight there or die. Richard lowered his horns, aiming at the creature’s belly.

The husk rose in the air, but his horns pierced through the skin of the thigh. Richard and the creature tumbled down the stairs. Its bones made cracking sounds and it screamed as it rolled down the floor. When they stopped, the creature had its ribcage and pelvis pointing in opposite directions and one of the wings was bent in two parts.

You have defeated a Lv.3 Harpy Husk. You gain 60 EXP.

The creature coughed blood and its glacial eyes stared at him as it opened its mouth, pushing its long tongue out, but without making a sound, then it stood still. Other wailing sound came from the stairs and the buzzing of wings was louder.

The lamia shrieked again, and the ground shook so hard that dust fell from the ceiling. Water started to flow from the stairs. He had no time to waste, and he ran away.

Thy didn’t pursue him inside as Richard ran for his life. The System helped him by automatically releasing the units of wood inside the internal chamber he had harvested before to keep his flame alive.

Arrived at Edmund station, he found difficult to step over from the tracks to the platform as smoke puffed from his nostrils. He collapsed against a pillar and his muscles stiffened and shook in convulsions, while his heart, of which he had never felt the presence much before, was now racing inside the back of his heaving chest. A green foam was pouring out of lips, and a wheezing sound was coming from his lungs.

The venom has reached your heart. You have lost 98% percent of your Health Points.

The System will activate the secondary blood supply. You will go into cardiac arrest in thirty seconds.