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[ World: MSS - Loading... ]
"Speech"
"Thoughts"
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The tunnel was deceptively roomier than how it looked from the outside. The ceilings were at least triple my height and it was wide enough for five people to walk side by side comfortably. Compared to the one I had woken up in, it was a mansion. Yet, the size of the tunnel didn't stop me from feeling claustrophobic, the knowledge that I was locked in here against my will was suffocating.
"There's always a way out in MSS. Let's check the door first." I managed to keep myself calm.
One thing I learned in 14 years of MSS was to check every nook and cranny, even if they looked like nothing at first glance.
Instead of walking down the tunnel right away, pressed my ear to the door slowly. I stayed in the position, seeing if I could hear the orc's footsteps. Either the door was too thick or my [Hearing] stat wasn’t high enough. I decided to try the handle anyways, but the door was just a flat slab of metal. There was no handle from the inside in the first place. Looking around, I tried to see if I could find anything of use. Seeing the magic stones illuminating the tunnel, I tried to dislodge them to see if I could carry some with me. I used my hands at first but they didn't budge. I resorted to using my sword to try and pry it out, but it ended up chipping the already dull blade.
“Pity. But it makes sense. They wouldn’t leave a bomb lying around for us to use.” Most magic stones caused a small explosion when thrown with enough force. These weren’t big enough to cause real damage but it would still have been useful in my current situation.
Who knew what godforsaken things I would encounter in these tunnels.
The next thing I tried was much less practical and bordered on insanity.
“System.” As soon as I said it out loud, I felt heat rise to my cheeks though no one had been around to see.
I had read enough webnovels to know that I should have received a cheat ability or at least my status screen. Upon saying the word, I had hoped a blue screen or free floating information would be flooded into my brain. But of course, nothing happened. This meant a lot of things. Most likely the people of this world didn’t have the concept of levels or stats. Furthermore they would have no way of keeping track of achievements or quests.
“Then how will they know they leveled up?” Without knowing you reached level 10, 20, 30 and so forth, you wouldn't know when you were ready to absorb a new Core.
I shoved the question into the back of my mind. I had to focus on the present. Looking at the long winding tunnel ahead of me, I gathered my courage started walking.
“Ok. I just have to get to the end.”
I racked my brains, trying to see if this was a dungeon that I recognized from one of my countless playthroughs.
“Samaka Dessert and dark-green orcs. Damn it. There’s too many possibilities and not enough clues.” I walked down the corridor, slowly. I had my sword out and the round shield strapped to my opposite arm.
Whenever there was a fork in the road, I followed the path that was less steep. I wanted to be as high up as possible. I walked for what seemed like an hour or so. Every now and then, I would stop and kneel, listening for any footsteps or voices. After doing this about a dozen times, I let myself relax. I hadn’t heard anything so far and little bits of hope began to surface.
“Maybe I can reach the end without any trouble. Just by walking.”
I continued on in this manner for what seemed like hours. Without anything to tell time by, I actually had no idea how long I walked. But when I was feeling the strain of sleep and imagined that it was near nighttime. But it didn’t take long for the lethargic energy to leave me, because after turning the next bend, I stopped in my tracks. I walked backwards as slow as I could, hiding behind the wall again. Sticking my head out, I tried to get a better look.
The creature I saw was about five feet tall and with bluish-green skin, completely naked. It looked vaguely humanoid except for the ugly round nose and bright yellow eyes that outshined the magic stones. On top of its head there were two tiny horns sprouting from a mess of tangled hair. In one hand it carried a wooden club and in the other, some kind of furry animal which was squirming.
As I watched, the creature slammed the mess of fur against a rock multiple times. Flecks of blood flew onto its face and it grinned as the animal stopped moving. It sat down on the ground and started licking the blood off of his hands.
I recognized the creature as one of the early-level monsters from MSS. I imagined that I could see the blue box that often popped up on my screen.
[ Lesser Dokkaebi (도깨비) ] - Grade 10
Monsters in MSS were graded from 10 to 1, with 10 being the weakest. I had probably hunted millions of these things. But this wasn’t me sitting behind a screen. This was real life.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
But most importantly of all, it was in my way.
“Fuck. Is this really happening?”
It was clear what I had to do.
I had to kill it.
I sat behind the wall, observing it prolonging the inevitable. The creature finished licking the blood off of his hands and then squealed, kicking its legs into the air in joy.
“Gee! Gee!”
I just couldn’t get over how ugly and repugnant the thing looked. In comparison my orcs could’ve won a beauty contest. The Dokkaebi turned to its fresh kill and started ripping off the fur. By all rights, I should’ve been disgusted but I could only think about how hungry and thirsty I was. I fantasized about a scenario of me killing the monster and stealing its kill.
I saw the monster bite into the raw carcass and tear out a piece of meat with its teeth, chewing with glee.
“Am I still willing to eat that thing?”
The answer was a resounding yes.
With hunger and thirst driving me, I carefully tiptoed out from behind the wall and approached the creature. During its feeding frenzy, the Dokkaebi had turned its back to me. It was ripping the carcass apart with its bare hands, tearing meat off of the bone and devouring the creature with relish. As I got closer and closer, I thought my heart would beat out of my chest in nervousness and fear.
Yet, a small part of me wasn’t scared of the Dokkaebi, but scared that there wouldn’t be enough meat left for me. I was close enough to count the hairs on his head and smell the musk around him. Being this close to him, I could see that his proportions were off. His limbs were too skinny for his rounded body, and the neck too thin to support the enlarged head. His fingers were long and spindly, like a spider’s legs.
I was so close that I was sure I could reach out and rip the meat out of his hands.
Instead I stabbed him in the back.
I’m not sure about the life of a regular person since I didn’t have many friends. But from what I know about our society, stabbing someone isn’t easy to do. I remember reading a scientific study about butchers and other professions that work in slaughterhouses; how these individuals were more likely to suffer from mental disorders. What I wanted to say is that it’s not easy stabbing a living, breathing thing the first time. Most of people tend to chicken out or the guilt overtakes us midway.
I let my fears get the best of me.
I’ll never make that mistake again.
The blade sunk about two inches deep because at the last second because I loosened my grip on the sword.
“Oh Fu-.” Was my thought as everything went to shit.
“REE! REEEE!” The creature went mad and immediately turned around. I lost my grip on the sword and it clanged uselessly to the floor. In that short second, the creature’s face was permanently burned into my memory. Eyes wide with anger, fear and a ruthlessness that I had never faced before. Its lips and teeth are stained with blood and meat gristle.
It lunged towards me and threw me on the floor, clawing at me with its hands. Its hands were all over my face, my eyes, nose, mouth; my brain couldn’t comprehend what in the hell was happening to me.
“Shield. Shield. Block, block block!” I had managed to hold onto my shield and I brought it up to my face but the creature knocked it aside with its hand. I brought my other arm and pressed it against the creature’s face which was digging into my shirt, its sharp fangs trying to get at my stomach.
Immediately the creature switched tactics, biting into my forearm.
The pain awoke a memory in me. When I was just a kid, I went swimming in a lake with my grandparents. I had a tube wrapped around my waist and a book in my hand, reading while floating on the lake. Before long, I drifted to the middle of the lake where my feet couldn’t touch the bottom any more. It wasn’t a big deal, my grandpa came and got me but I felt the same thing I felt back then.
Fear of death.
“AAAAHH!” I heard myself scream as I slammed my shield into the creature’s temple, knocking it away. The Dokkaebi scrabbled on the rocks, shaking its head and I saw it head for the wooden club on the floor. But I didn’t let the creature get away, I jumped on its back and started slamming the edge of my shield on the top of its head. I was considerably bigger and probably heavier, yet the creature managed to get to its feet and run backwards, slamming me against the rocky wall.
I felt a stabbing sensation all over my back, some of the rocks must have pierced my skin. But with adrenaline running high, I ignored it and tried to get my arm without the shield around Dokkaebi's neck, hoping to choke it. At the last second, the creature opened its jaws and I saw it trying to bite my forearm again so I released him falling backwards.
The creature spun around immediately and got on top of me, but this time I got my shield up.
Its teeth and claws were leaving bloody gashes all over my body as I moved my shield to try and keep up with its speed. But I was too slow and the creature took another big bite on my shoulder.
“AGH FUAAA!”
I was going to die.
Killed in this tunnel and no one would ever know how I died.
When I first got put into this tunnel, I thought that I’d be able to survive. A small part of me still believed that this was no different than when I played MSS in the real world. If someone asked me to name a monster’s habitat, skills and the Core it dropped I would be able to answer it at the drop of a hat. I knew the location of every secret equipment, bosses and achievements. Yet, I was going to be killed by this Grade-10 monster.
I had underestimated this world I was in.
The stain of scarlet bloomed over my shoulder as the Dokkaebi wrapped its arms around my neck like a lover’s embrace, trying to bite at my neck. I got my shield there in time but it was an awkward position; the Dokkaebi used its hands to try and pry it away. I used my weight to roll us on the ground, so that I was on top of the creature. Shoving the shield into its chest, I picked up a rock and smashed it against his head. The creature’s head rocked back and I saw his eyes glaze over. It was dazed.
I remembered the orc that beat the elf to death back in the canyon.
The orc did not underestimate the elf. He had continued until he was certain the job was finished.
So I did the same.
I didn’t stop.
I kept smashing my rock against its head until the only movement left in its body were slow twitches. Even that stopped in time. I sat there on top of the Dokkaebi, breathing hard and blood trickling down my face. I got off of the creature and leaned against the opposite wall. The rabid creature which had been screaming murder just a moment ago was now motionless. Its eyes that screamed madness were lifeless, and the blood stained face looked no different than raw sausage bits.
This moment felt so surreal, yet I myself had never felt so present in the here and now. The sense of being alive, the fact that I existed in this place and at this time were undeniable truths. The corpse in front of me was proof. I had thought I'd feel guilt or remorse, but instead I felt relief and intense joy. It was a feeling I had never felt before in my entire life. It didn’t take me long to identify what it was.
“I survived... I'm alive”
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Name: N/A
Race: Human
Age: 24
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Level: 3
Stats
[Physical]: 2
[Mental]: 1
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Spirit Core Slots Available: 1
Spirit Cores: N/A
Skills: N/A
Achievements: N/A
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