NOVEL NEXT (Chpt. 8) Making all the wrong decisions (3)
A few minutes had passed and I was still in the cage. Thankfully I still had the cloth that I initially took from the cave, otherwise, I would’ve been regretting a lot of things, the wood was quite rough. It was also hard to simply not hit myself against the sides of the cage in general. Kind of made me wonder how far away I was being taken. The carrying continued for what felt like forever.
It continued for a bit more until it finally stopped. The cloth atop the cage was taken away. I was in an empty room with nothing but a single table, the cage itself was sitting atop the table. The man that beat me up stood there.
“Alright, we need to wash you first.” Eh. “Can’t have you enter the other room looking like you are full of mud, although I still wonder why your blood is black.” His face got close to mine and stared at me through the bars. “It intrigues me.” His eyes were akin to a snake, no humanity left in them. I shivered.
“Oh, you are scared? I like that.” He sighed. “Although I guess it’s a bit too late to enjoy myself.” He left the room for a few seconds and entered once again with a wooden bucket.
“What are you doing?” I asked in confusion.
“Just what I always do.” He raised the bucket and splashed its contents on me. It was water… It ran through my body and finally dropped out of the cage and into the ground. It came out kind of muddy, although I no longer felt dirty.
“Oh, it looks like it’s effective. I am glad I bought that water artifact.” He said to himself.
“Artifact?” I asked hearing the rather unfamiliar word.
“Nothing you have to worry about girl.” Dismissed… “Since you are rather cooperative I will explain what is going to happen.” I nodded having no other choice. “I will carry you into the other room, touch me or do something to me, and you will regret it.” His voice was again scary, I had no choice but to nod. I kind of felt powerless in a sense.
He smiled.
“Well, I will take you to your residence little one~” He said with fake affection.
“Leah…”
He paused for a second. “What?”
“My name is Leah!” I pleaded.
“Pff, I don’t care at all! Although you are certainly on the more pleasant side of the spectrum. I’ll tell you what.” His face closed in. “If you don’t sell, I will give you a home, you are going to like it a lot~” He licked the side of my face.
“Eek…” Out of reflex and disgust, I pushed my arm in a rush and dug my fingers into something soft by accident.
“Ouch, you bitch!” He kicked the cage to the ground. It fell along with me, the cage broke open. It was yet another chance. Possibly my last chance... I tried to sprint towards the door, as I leaned weight on my right leg pain shot up through it, splinters had dug their way into my calf, but that wasn’t going to deter me, it was for my freedom.
Through my sheer desire to escape I started to sprint towards the door, it felt like an eternity, almost as if after every single bloody step the door would go further and further away from me. My entire leg was burning and protesting in pain.
“Oh, no, you are not going anywhere you little demon!” I felt my arm get overwhelmed by blunt pain as his firm grasp enveloped it. “I will tell you what, you really did me there. I will acknowledge it.” He closed his face in, one eye closed that was bleeding profusely.
Before I could react he threw me to the ground, a dull sound echoed throughout the room as pain shot through my lower back.
“You know, you are surprisingly resilient, you should be dead by now!” He praised as I saw his feet creeping closer. Was this it? Was this how it was going to end? Perhaps it was.
His firm grip held my neck as I struggled around, choking me. This was how it was going to end… I started coughing. Was this really it?! I mean, was this really it!? Would it end in such a lame way?! I felt panic rush into my brain, I hadn't considered it would be like this.
“Any last words girl? I have to say, you really did a lot of bad things today! And to think I was beginning to like you!” He started laughing as I struggled to free myself from his grip. A second or so more of laughter and I noticed he had loosened his grip. It was my chance, if only...
My vision started to turn red. I was seeing… things, they were flashing in my vision, and yet I couldn’t tell what they were.
‘Like hell I’d die like this! Not dying to this person, be it a core, be it the nation that kills me, but this guy won’t!’ Anger was building up inside me, be it unfairness, be it something else... I could tell, I wasn’t strong, I was pathetic, but still… I… wanted to live… it was unfair! One last chance.
I opened my mouth and pushing my neck with new-found strength I bit on his hand with all the power I could muster, my fangs dug into his skin, but it wasn’t enough. I could see it, his eye was that of a predator playing with his prey.
Ding!
[Error…] Ding! [Error…] Ding!
[Error…][Error…] [Error…] Ding! [Error…] Ding! [Error…]
[Error…] Ding! [Error…]
[Error…] [Error…] Ding! [Error…] Ding! [Error…]
My head and vision were overwhelmed with stupid notifications.
“Error my ass!” I bit into his hand yet again, this time I dug in my fingers into his wrist and started to gnaw at his skin like an animal— No, I was an animal... The struggle paid off as he let go of my neck, I dropped into the ground with a loud thud. My leg was completely torn and unresponsive from everything.
“You little bitch! You are supposed to be nothing but a sex toy! JUST A WAY TO GET MONEY! The only good thing your species is good for is that! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE NOTHING BUT TRASH! DON’T GET SO COCKY!” He was holding his hand in pain, I noticed he was quite far away from me, for the time being. He seemed rather altered, maybe this was my chance.
I frantically looked around the room and I noticed something within my vision. Little square icons with illustrations on them, three of them were constantly pulsating as if they were ‘active’, a bone, a scythe and some type of collar. The last one was a question mark that was unmoving. I—
SLAP! “Don’t get distracted!” I rolled on the ground with pain shooting through my leg and cheek, it was hot, it burnt, it hurt… I lifted myself in pain and looked at him, even though he sounded mad he still had a smirk and the same look on his eye. He was just toying with me.
I heard his calm and slow footsteps, my eyes looked around in a panic. I had to find something, anything to survive, something sharp, anything was fine! I started to panic and started to back off against the wall as I faced him.
As I backed off my hand rubbed against something rough, out of reaction I looked at it. It was a piece of wood from the cage shaped just like a stake. I gripped it as I backed off, I needed him to get close, I couldn’t waste this chance...
“Now now, you had such guts, what happened?” He got closer to me, casting a shadow on top of me. “TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED!” His face was right in front of mine.
NOW— I swung my hand at the highest speed I could muster, the stake clashed against his neck. I saw the icons pulsate with strength. That was it, his eyes were wide open. Even the one I had stabbed.
“Ha…” I had won… I was making eye contact with him, I had done it... I let go of the stake I was finally done— clack…
The piece of wood hit the ground with a hollow ring, my eyes started to shake as they glanced at it. It was totally clean, then what—
“So those were your guts, huh?” His face was still close enough to hear his breath. “I will put you out of your misery if you insist so much!” His arm pulled back as he made a fist, I saw his veins pop on his muscles. It was my end, I closed my eyes. I did not want to see it, I gave up…
CRASH!
Was death so loud and painless? Although I had no idea if I was supposed to still feel my body at this point. And yet I kept hearing bangs outside. I opened my eyes and his fist had stopped, he was looking behind him.
He soundlessly stood up as he looked towards the door.
“The collector is here! Gartz, he is here!” Someone cried from behind the door.
He clicked his tongue and stood up to look at the door, he was distracted. “It’s only been two days and he is back?! Luckily I have something for him.” He said as he was about to turn back to me. It was now or never!
As I tried to push myself one last time my leg refused to work...‘If only I could just…’ it was totally wrecked. It couldn’t just end like that! I grit my teeth as I mustered all my strength on my left leg. And miraculously lunged myself at him, my heart was beating fast and my vision was foggy, and yet I could see him perfectly.
I landed on his shoulders. “What are you—” I could see his neck and the place I had stabbed, it had hit a piece of metal, this time I wasn’t going to miss, even if I had nothing to stab him. I would still get the job done, even if I had to resort to doing that again.
I coiled my head back and bit with the utmost force I could muster into his neck “Get off me!” He started to hit me, but it was weak and panicked. Chomp! If biting it once wouldn’t do it then make it twice, thrice, as many times as needed.
The struggle continued for a few seconds.
“YOU ARE NOT GETTING AWAY WITH THIS!” He started to build momentum and smashed his back against a wall. I coughed blood into the air and fell down.
“YOU… I WILL KILL YOU.” He gripped my neck with inhumane force and lifted me as he grinded me against the wall, it was my end. “HOW DOES IT FEEL TO DIE?! HUH, IS THAT NICE?! TELL ME! TELL M—” His talking slurred as his eyes started to fade.
I hit the ground with a loud thud… “Ha… what happened?” I muttered as I regained my breath and saw in front of me with the focus I was recovering. The man had collapsed on the ground, unmoving.
Ding!
[System alert: You overcame a life or death situation. +9 to all stats!]
Ding!
[Unique title acquired: Fatal Penetration — Speed and swift movements are sometimes the only road to triumph. +200% Penetration type damage -100% To Blunt and Cut type damages. — Unique.
“In a deadly situation, it doesn’t matter what it is, if you can get through it, you can do anything.” — Zaktan 10th commander of the Death Empire.]
Ding!
[Degraded effect — You go unpunished for the murder of Gartz Julier. Arlesh sees you in a rather dark light.]
I recovered my breath as I ignored the ringing notifications in front of me. It was annoying, I wanted nothing to do with it. I started to hear some trembling outside and just things moving in general. Along with approaching muffled voices.
I couldn’t really be bothered anymore. The pain was settling in and my body started to feel fatigued. I just couldn’t keep up anymore.
“Wait, you said it was tomorrow!”
“Times change…” The steps continued approaching.
“No, but you shouldn’t!” The door opened. “I am telling you—” the man that was arguing with him froze in his tracks as he peered into the room. “Eh, Gartz! Gartz?!”
I started losing focus on the things in front of me. All I could see was the panicked silhouette of a man in front of that Gartz person. A pair of feet stood right in front of me.
“Well, now this is rather interesting…” He paused. “I will be taking this one.”
“No! You can’t she is—” It didn’t really matter anymore, body felt heavy and unresponsive, my breathing was almost forced and involuntary, my head started to feel a deep pain inside.
“No, I will be taking her…”
I fainted.