“Anyway, leave here already! What are you doing just standing here?!” I yelled urgently as the skeleton walked painfully slowly towards us.
“B-but… I lost my doll that Scheon gave me in that forest there…” Elise pointed towards just past the skeleton walking. There was also a bigger boy that chimed in, despite the obvious helplessness in his voice, “our secret base is there! We can't let that undead ruin it!”
I sighed as I listened to this group of children. I once again took a closer look at the skeleton’s description. Its movement shouldn't be too hard to avoid.
“Listen, just deliver those ingredients to Lisa, okay? She seemed really sick, so please, get to her as soon as possible.” The moment I mentioned that, Elise's expression went pale. I pat her shoulder with a smile, “I’ll get that doll for you, so just go.” As soon as I said that, she immediately rushed towards the village.
“Elise, wait!” Another boy I didn't know the name of ran and followed her. Roy also started to move his legs, alongside with the other children. Including the one with a scraped knee. I thought you stayed here because you were hurt?! I couldn’t help but mentally retort at them.
After there was only a skeleton left and me, I finally readied myself for my secret weapon. There were only around six meters from me and the skeleton, but it was enough distance to do something I already planned on doing anyway. I banished my sword away to prepare for it.
“Time to run!” I yelled, particularly to no one but myself. I ran towards the opposite direction of the children, which was almost directly towards the skeleton.
It was moving so slow that I barely needed to dodge, no, the skeleton didn’t even seem to bother catching up and just stood there. I made sure to stay close with the skeleton so that it didn’t chase the children. After a while, it finally started to painfully walk towards my direction.
I went towards the secret base the children were talking about while making sure the skeleton was following me.
“Heh, this looks easier than clearing the tutorial level in a gacha game—what could possibly go wrong?” I muttered confidently, eyeing the seemingly straightforward objective ahead of me.
I kept running, no, scratch that—it wasn’t even running. It was more like a casual stroll to the children’s hideout, with the skeleton trailing behind me like it had all the time in the world, about seventeen meters away. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear it was just enjoying the walk, too.
After what felt like an eternity—or at least long enough for me to consider starting a conversation with the skeleton about its skincare routine—I finally reached the children’s hideout. It’s a simple hut made with various leaves and small logs with a strong and leaning precariously against a massive tree that looked like it had been around since the dawn of time.
“How nostalgic…” I muttered, remembering my childhood days as the other children would take me out to their hideout whenever my mom would be late picking me up at the park. I rushed inside the hut without a door and snatched the doll I saw Elise was holding this morning.
I saw the skeleton still walking towards me. Its bony feet were scraping against the dirt, a good ten meters away now. It looked almost pitiful, like a stray dog chasing after someone who’d long stopped caring. I gave it a passing glance, sighed, and casually walked around it. Once I was clear, I broke into a full sprint toward the village, leaving the poor skeleton to awkwardly turn around.
“Mission cleared! Pull rates up for victory snacks!” I yell, skipping playfully in the forest without any care in the world. The trees swayed gently, probably judging me, but I didn’t care.
My stomach was growling intensely. I stopped mid-skip, realizing that hopping around like an idiot wasn’t going to fill me up. With a sigh, I adjusted my pace to a normal walk. Glancing to my side, I noticed that the skeleton was so far behind now. It was almost too far to be seen.
“Aaah!” I cried out in surprise, my voice echoing through the forest. While I was busy checking the distant skeleton behind me, my foot caught on a vine.
“Ugh, come on!” I groaned, desperately trying to shake off the vine. But the more I tugged, the more it seemed to have a mind of its own, slithering up my leg like some kind of revenge-hungry plant. “Hey, stop it! I’m not your lunch!” I yelled at it, as if that would do anything. But, naturally, it didn’t listen. The vines only tightened, wrapping around my leg like a clingy silver haired classmate.
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I glanced behind me to see the skeleton slowly inching closer towards me. The once distant skeleton was approximately around thirty meters, now closer to twenty nine meters. At this rate, it would take a minute for it to reach me.
“Come on, come on,” I muttered, yanking at the vines with increasing desperation.
Suddenly, a stinky smell emerged close to me. I glanced at my left to see a sudden gigantic flower, blooming right before my eyes. It was like something straight out of a nightmare. The petals unfurled with an exaggerated slowness, releasing a cloud of dusty powder that floated through the air like a toxic fog. I gagged, swatting at the air in an attempt to clear it.
“What is this? A walking disaster of bad smells and pollen?” I was half tempted to gag, but then I remembered—skeleton, twenty seven meters away, slowly closing in. No time for flowers or their questionable hygiene.
Looking at the skeleton suddenly made me realize something. “I have a sword!” I quickly summoned it. The sword from the gacha system materialized in my hands. Without wasting any more time, I swung the blade at the vine wrapping around my leg. A swallowtail butterfly materialized as soon as my blade touched the vine, and It zipped toward the giant flower with incredible speed, a blur of wings, as it collided with the blooming petals.
(-13 Physical Damage)
(-2 Physical Damage)
As soon as the text bubble popped up next to the flower, I immediately focused my attention on the flower next to me and used my Identification Lv. 1 to it.
<
Health Points: 625/640 [97.65%]
Category: Plants
Description: A stinky flower. It mostly just stands there, catching anything that moves like it’s the world’s worst vacuum cleaner with its vines. Harmless to creatures the size of a mouse, but inhale too much of its dust, and you might find yourself regretting life choices—or at least, regretting your nose for the next hour.
“Ugh, come on!” I yelled in frustration, swinging my sword like a mad fox girl, launching a barrage of strikes at the flower. With each hit, a swallowtail butterfly appeared out of nowhere, charging straight at the flower like a tiny, angry army. But no matter how many butterflies I summoned, time was still ticking, and that skeleton was getting closer with every second.
I kept my eyes glued to the health bar, watching it drop at a painfully slow rate. Fifteen seconds of non stop swinging, and all I’d managed to do was whittle its health down to 400 HP. 400?! Seriously?! Was this flower secretly a tank? This was taking forever! I could hear the skeleton’s footsteps growing louder, and at this rate, I'd be turned into skeleton food before I even finished this stupid flower!
"Help!" I screamed into the forest, hoping some miracle would happen. My arms were on fire from swinging the sword non-stop, but the flower just wouldn’t die! Meanwhile, the skeleton was getting closer and closer, its bony form now only halfway from where I first saw it.
I was panting like I’d just run a marathon, my entire body screaming in protest. My arms felt like they were made of lead, every swing of the sword sending shockwaves through my numb muscles. My chest heaved with each desperate breath, and my legs were trembling like they might give out any second. But I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t afford to. The skeleton was closer now—way too close—and I could feel its cold, relentless presence inching toward me.
With each swing, my vision blurred from exhaustion, but I kept going. My grip on the sword was slipping, but I forced myself to hold on, hacking at the flower with wild desperation. This flower was the only thing standing between me and the nightmare that was about to catch up. But the damn thing wouldn’t fall, and the skeleton was almost within reach.
Every second felt like an eternity, my body screaming for mercy, but I refused to stop. If I didn’t take that flower down, I’d never get out of here alive.
Health Points: 175/640 [27.34%]
Another fifteen seconds passed. Fifteen more seconds of relentlessly hacking at this ridiculously high HP flower. Each swing of my sword felt like it was getting weaker, but still, the flower refused to give up. Meanwhile, the skeleton—well, I refused to look at it. It was getting too close for comfort, but if I even thought about that thing, I might just panic and forget how to swing.
“Damn flower, please just die already!”