Manav was looking down at the dead body laying infront of him.
The elder's lifeless face looked relaxed and carefree, but there was no light in his eyes, which remained open in a disturbing sight. His blood was slowly disappearing into the black floor of the room.
"Goddamit...why did you..."
I disparaged my urge to puke. It was my first time seeing a human corpse, a corpse of a person I had known just a couple moments ago and killed with my own two hands.
I would've loved to have had the time to process the situation and deal with my shock, but just like all things in this new world-
Nobody gave me any time.
I heard some footsteps. I forced myself to concentrate, and my mind began to race to find any sort of way to explain the situation. But it was likely impossible.
Well, finally, I just decided to simply hide the body and come up with a decent excuse when asked.
But the footsteps ended way too fast. The climber or climbers had seemingly rushed up the stairs. Did they sense something already?
I almost felt glad. At least I didn't have to try to hide the corpse anymore.
Then I heard the rattling of weapons. Then some massive, intimidating figures appeared from the stairs.
They possessed bountiful muscles, battle scars, and the characteristic porcelain grey eyes and hair.
There looked to be four or five warriors of the village standing in front of the doorway.
Usually locked, this time it was wide open.
"Respected elder, we have returned fr-"
A warrior with a missing eye reacted first.
He immediately thrust a long spear with absolutely tremendous force.
By the time the spear had left the one-eyed warrior's hands, the others reacted immediately. They brandished their weapons, and a thin warrior standing behind the others sounded a horn with a virulent shriek.
I narrowly avoided the spear, with the weapon only leaving a gash on my shoulder.
'How the hell can he thrust something that heavy that fast! How is he supposed to be a forsaken, this world's equivalent of a normal human?'
Well, I did spare the oncoming warriors a glance, albeit a short, hurried one.
Once again, only a focused thought was required, and [The System]worked its magic again.
[Lvl 10 forsaken human- Kaeran]
[Lvl 6 forsaken human- Kartina]
[Lvl 8 forsaken human- Int...
[Lvl 5 forsaken human- ...
[Lvl 6 forsaken hu ....
I didn't have enough time to react to this great information, of course.
A boisterous huntress had already began to attack me with a massive battle-axe of sorts,but her movement was limited in this cramped space.
She was also trying her best not step on the...body.
That gave me a crucial opening.
I barely mangaed to duck under her heavy battle-axe and pulled my dagger out.I kicked her heels with all my power,which made the woman lose her footing.Then I manuvered the dagger to her neck.
I had reached a new low....I was holding someone hostage.
Well,atleast she was not actively trying to kill me now.Quickly,I stepped back and forced her to do the same.
Now I hoped the others would stagnate,atleast enough for me to try to explain myself.
But the one-eyed man and the other warriors were already rushing at me with terrifing speed,not caring about the life of their fellow combatent.
Once again I cursed my luck,but this time I was sure I could survive.
I stoped treating the tall huntress as a hostage,but rather has a shield instead,albeit a temporary one.
No matter how cold or heartless they were,I was sure the warriors weren't willing to stab their own kin to fight an enemy.
That gave me enough time to break a wooden board which was located in the indentation where the window should've been, and jumped down onto saf-
...below me, there was another gathering of people wanting to kill me.
But they seemed more mundane. They looked about as unprepared as I.
Fortunately, I managed to avoid them; my surprising entry had stunned a lot of them, buying me crucial seconds, and the crude gathering's fighters weren't as fearsome as the warriors that entered the room.
[Lvl 3 forsaken human...
[Lvl 4 forsaken human...
[Lvl 2 forsaken human...
I steped on some of their heads.. and desperately lunged towards the main entrance of the makeshift town hall.
Fortunately the lower floor was empty,everybody seemed to have gone outside or climbed up the stairs.
Everyone except a pale,short-statured boy with a terrified look on his face.
I grabed him by the shirt and rushed out of the building carrying the boy like a ragdoll.
I will apologise to him later,don't worry about that.I may have used a woman as a meat shield,but I am a man of great principles.....
Just not in these circumstances.
Thankfully there was an exit at the back,from which I rushed out.
I didn't notice this earlier,but I was very fast and surprisingly agile.It seems going to level 7 had a lot of benefits.
I was a lot stronger too,It was just whatever threat I was put up against was equally more dangerous.
I stoped dragging the boy,who looked like a traumatised ghost by now,and picked him and placed him on my back.He was about half my height and I had gained some decent forearms so it wasn't too difficult.
I didn't want to continue dragging the poor guy anymore.I was sure it was painful for him.Well I didn't have time to ask him his opinion.Because-
For the third fucking time...I ran.
Well I did have a bit of pride this time.If I had chosen to use my [Constructer]designation to summon a larger metro coach,I likely would have crushed the higher level warriors in that cramped space.
Killing the other sub-level 5 people also wouldn't have been too difficult.
But I didn't want to kill people,obviously.
and I also had to carry this little guy with me.
I only ran because of morals and dignity...yeah...morals and dignity.Definitely not because I was weak! Not because I was weak!
Whether that was true or not,my pride needed it to be.My identity except my background at Palstom still seems to be blured.But I do understand that I used to be a bit of an arrogant person.I could tell by my personality right now.
But it also seems I was adaptable,considering how I knew to sacrifice my pride inorder to live.
Why did I want to live then? To build world-class public transportation of course!
To build great trams,metros and regional trains and integrate them into a world-class transport system to provide great,cheap and convinient logistics to citizens!
Why was I so passionate? Well my public transport- focused endevours were all I remembered from my past life,aside from basic knowlege about the world and video games,of course.
For the massive headache I received when I got here,There were pitifully little memories of my identity floating aroung in my head.
"A job at Palstom" "A passionate advocate for transit"
They were the only fragments of my own personal identity that was concrete and stable.In the present,it was all I had for a final goal.
For all my ambitions regarding transit,there was barely any chance to even begin attempting it,atleast in the present or the nearby future.All I had done so far was...survive.
Actually I did kill that Goblin duke by shoving a metro coach up its head.That was pretty rad.
Finally I seemingly had ran enough to not see the village anymore.I also made sure nobody pursued me.Luckily the direction where I ran this time was not towards the Behemoth.
I also didn't have too much trouble pathfinding.It seems that when the old man mentioned the crude map,
It somehow got added as an item and got integrated with [The System],making a min-map of sorts.
"Mister,are you... d-done running?Please... t-tell me you a-are.I a-am feeling a bit..a bit..."
The boy spoke in an increadible strained and tired voice before fainting.
It was increadible he had not already done so,insanely increadible.The pupil was clearly above the level of a normal human with nine or ten years of age that the boy looked to be.
Also the boy seemed to be a bit...ready?He didn't argue or fight back.He just accepted being kidnapped by an unknown newcomer who had just killed his master.
The terrified look he had shown earlier seemed less like fear and more like recognition of an odious fact and anticipation.Now that I remember it.
Had the old man told him about me and his own death earlier? What sort of mastermind was that elder really?
I was also shocked to see the boy's stats.
[Lvl 6 Awakened Human - Luster Lancelet]
A last name....That was surprisingly rare.The boy was an 'awakened' just like me.
Does that mean he can use [The System]?
No,most likely not.Maybe 'Awakened' is a coloquial term for a mana weilder?
Thanks to the mini map,I was able to find a sort of shelter within another ruin.
First,I made sure the area was safe,and rested under a covered section of the former bastion.
I made sure to put the fainted boy named Luster in a comfortable position.And then I ventured out a little bit.
I took a couple nearby branches of nearby dry trees and aranged them together in a pile.I did not remember watching any survival shows,but I could atleast manage this much.
I did not even need rocks,the branches were rough and hard enough to trigger a bonfire by rubbing them together.
As I felt the pleasnt flames against my bruised palms.I felt the desire to finally take some proper rest.But I choose to stay vigilant and keep watch.I had to protect this young boy and also keep myself alive.
Better be safe than sorry.
This time, I had made a good choice.Just as the sun had begun to set, the picturesque sky was defiled by the presence of some flying abominations.
They were grotesque but also elegant. They had burning blue eyes and protruding,moon-white beaks, but their bodies looked mangled and dirty, covered with turquoise feathers. Their wings were long and aerodynamic but were covered by scars and a tinge of weakness,just as Manav was.
One of them flew ahead of all others. It looked the most aged and also the most ferocious.
They,just like the Goblin Duke,had clearly not seen food in a long amount of time.
[Lvl 8 Awakened Beast- Turquoise Ravener]
[Lvl 8 Awakened Beast- Turquoise Ravener]
[Lvl 9 Awakened Beast- Turquoise Ravener]
[Lvl 8 Awakened Beast- Turquoise Ravener]
Each and every one of them was a higher level than he was. And they were all rushing straight at him. Not only were they stronger...but they were most terrifying of all-
Desperate.
I wanted to scream at whoever sent me into this hellhole. There were no grand battles, no grand and beautiful sights, no fantasy dragons breathing fire. Just desperate creatures in a monotone and bleak continent devoid of any peaceful life.
I signed and then bit my lip.
I took out the formerly bloodied dagger that the old man gave me. It had absorbed all the blood, just like the makeshift town hall's creepy black stairs and floor.
It was time to hunt.
Actually, that is someone who had a good chance of beating the coming creatures would say,
It was time to survive.