I kept seeing the face of the creature, cruel and twisted, chasing us through the grass. I could hear Lina shouting and Anubis barking with more ferocity than I’d ever heard from him. The towering creature grabbed Lina around the waist, lifting her high in the air. She didn’t scream this time, instead, her eyes were locked on mine. She looked…sad. Disappointed. A stab of regret hit me in the heart. We stayed like that for a long moment, and I was suddenly very aware of my shame. I’d allowed this to happen. I’d been the reason she was now in the clutches of this beast. But, what could I do? I wanted to move forward, to do something. But I was stuck, my legs unmoving. I thought that maybe if I could get them to budge a little bit, then I could—

Suddenly, Anubis leaped into the air, biting down on the creature’s neck and tore its throat out. The creature reeled, dark blood spurting out everywhere, thrashing. Then it hurled Lina into the rift with its final breath before collapsing. Anubis bounded into the breach after Lina.

This time, it was me with a dying monster for a few moments. I still couldn’t move. I was rooted to the spot, unable to even make a noise as the dying creature expired in the grass a dozen feet from me. The creature’s eyes stared deep into mine, and its death rattle became an awful grin.

Then, suddenly, it flew at me, its eyes bulbous and terrifying.

I woke up with a start. It was late afternoon now, and the fire had died down to little more than a candle’s flame. I was pressed hard against the log; my feet curled up underneath me. I was cold again. I went to stand and felt the muscles in my back pinch. I took a sharp breath, collapsing again.

“Ah!” I roared, grasped the ground, and then slowly, carefully, I pushed myself up into a seated position.

“That hurt…’ I said. I rubbed the muscles in my neck and shoulders, trying to relax them and very gingerly slid my legs—now asleep—from beneath me.

Man, I was a hot mess.

However, I noticed my Stamina bar in the right-hand corner of my vision. I found myself smiling at the amount beaming back at me. It had refreshed.

Stamina 100/100

That felt great. My HP hadn't budged since my lunch, and I found that strange.

Huh…weird. Does resting not replenish health?

Honestly, though…why should it? In the real world, if you took a nap your wounds weren't magically fixed. It stood to reason that this place must have worked on similar rules in that regard.

I need to get my hands on a health potion. Does this world have those?

Despite my aches and pains, I felt as though I’d gotten a fantastic rest and could maybe even get right to searching for Lina.

I stood, allowing my legs to get their circulation again, and stretched. I saw smoke from the fire was still slowly billowing into the air.

I heard a crunch near the far-away trees.

What was that?

I stopped in my tracks and listened intently.

Some sort of animal? Maybe a deer or a fox?

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

I focused on pinpointing the direction of the noise and stared into the darkness within the thick forest. Straining my eyes, I could just make out a large, lumbering shape, pushing its way through the dense foliage.

Shit! The creature from last night slithered to mind, and I felt my adrenaline rising.

I glanced over at the fire and saw the indicator.

[Campfire] Would you like to engage further?

Yes/No

I discreetly selected the option to put out the flames. Instantly, the fire disappeared and the smoke dispersed. I breathed a sigh of relief and grasped a charred piece of wood from the pit. It wouldn’t be much, but I’d need to defend myself.

This wood had a curved, root-like shape and just under a foot long, had the same thickness of a broom handle. It had likely been in the pit for longer than the other pieces based on its quality.

Shattered Wood

[Weapon]

Rarity: Super Common

Type: Blunt

Durability: 13/40

Atk: 9-12

A piece of broken wood found in a fire pit. I suppose it could be useful to prop open a door?

[Shattered Wood] Equip?

Yes/No

Hell yes, I’m equipping it!

I gave it a perfunctory swipe. It would have to do.

I glanced to where I had seen the silhouette against the trees and froze. There were three shapes now.

Big shapes.

The outline of the humanoid monstrosities shuffled out of the thicket and into the afternoon light. Vast and imposing, the group resembled great bulls or even demons, their broad-shouldered frames wedged into tight-fitting armor.

Armor? I’m definitely in some sort of medieval reality, then.

I could also see one of them—the tallest—had burnished red skin and a sword swaying by his side. The one farthest behind, a russet-colored beast, carried a cruel ax on his back. The shortest of them was dressed a bit lighter in comparison, his armor made of shiny leather. He didn’t have any visible weapons. His skin was a glossy gray and his hair was the color of bone. All of them had curved, sloping horns curling out of their heads.

I had always wished for something like this to happen when I was a kid. Admittedly, even as an adult, it was a beautiful fantasy to consider. However, when staring down three real-life demons armed to the teeth, I could practically feel my confidence draining out of my pant leg.

It didn’t seem as though they had noticed me. Yet. Also, I couldn’t see any health bars on them like I had with the Sungecko.

Are they not close enough?

I had to hope they also couldn’t see mine. As the creatures got closer to me, I could hear a bit of their conversation.

“Man, that was friggin’ wild,” the big one boomed, shaking his head. “I never would have thought the whole Guild would show up! Did you see Angolar’s face? He looked pissed!”

“Yeah!” The small one agreed, nodding profusely.

“If Donnagal hadn’t used Brazen Fury, we’d have been boned,” Axman stated, his voice quite a bit higher in pitch than the other two, sounding much like a young boy despite his appearance.

What the hell are they discussing? And why do they sound so...normal? They’re speaking so casually and modernly. I expected a lot more thee’s and thou’s.

I crouched low and peered around the campsite for a way out of this predicament. I was still a ways off from the river, but if I could sneak over there, I might have a shot at an escape. I turned and began to move as quietly as I could, half-walking and half-crawling toward the raging rapids of the river beyond. I looked over my shoulder after my first few steps.

The three horned creatures halted, continuing their discussion. The short one with no weapons was gesturing wildly but I couldn’t tell what he was saying. When he stopped, the other two exploded with laughter.

I wasn’t sure who or what they were, but I wasn’t going to stick around to figure it out. I would have no way of knowing their intentions. More importantly, I had to get to Lina and Anubis.

I skirted the edge of the site and kept myself as close to the ground as possible. I had only made it a few more feet before I froze—a message had erupted into my view.

New Skill Learned: [Sneak - Level 1]

This skill allows you to find your way out of sticky situations quietly! He who bravely sneaks away, lives to fight another day (or avoid the fight altogether)!

I had stopped so suddenly that I accidentally dropped the piece of Shattered Wood. Loudly.

Ironic, eh?

“What was that?!” the deep-voiced one shouted. I snapped my head in their direction. All three of them had spotted me; their eyes cemented to my location. I wasn’t sure what to do, and it seemed as though my body was refusing to move. None of them moved either. We all just stared at each other. I could hear a rushing pulse in my ears as my heart pumped adrenaline-addled blood at top speed.

Then a twitch. The short one shot his index finger out in my direction.

“Look,” he said, “some dumb nubcake got lost out here! He’s not even wearing any equipment!” He took a step forward, the white gash of his fanged grin flashing at me.

“Another wave?” Deep Voice wondered. “Already?”

“What a moron!” Axman chuckled, hefting the weapon from his back.

“Nubcakes…” the short one said again. “No point to them, I always say.”

Then they looked at one another, big grins spreading across their features and I had an even worse feeling than I had already had.

“It’s a shame he didn’t make it back to Galenbaile before those ruffians got to him.” That was Deep Voice, ripping his sword from the scabbard at his waist.

“Shame,” echoed Axeman.

“Shame,” echoed Short.

In an instant, the three of them advanced on me.