"If fate would be so kind to give me a quick death…"
I'm here yet again, in front of the fire hydrant, despairing over the trauma I just experienced. A death of flesh being torn apart of myself, alongside my limbs and head as the cherry on top. Once again, I must say, experiencing numerous brutal deaths-
Is not something I can get used to…
…
I stand up, looking at my surroundings. An empty road, left and right. The building in north and south of me, most have Mazard reside themself inside it.
"With Pet Shop gone out of the picture right now, I need a new motivation."
(But what is it?)
So far, I've killed a creature smaller than me countless times. Even though I've died a few times because of a small mistake. I didn't have the guts to go further than any place I've set foot on.
Because there are more of these bigger and more ruthless creatures than Pet Shop. With my previous equipment, would I'll be lucky enough to land a scratch on them? Moreover, kill them?
Probably, probably not.
The only way to find out is to face them and possibly die with the most brutal and gruesome death yet again.
Short saying, I didn't have the guts. That's all…
"..."
"I'd like to live. Therefore, the first thing that came to my mind is to get used to living here."
A first step of motivation
With the thought in mind, I stepped into the very building in front of me.
I leap to the left, evading an ambush from the ceiling. An enemy then appeared before me.
(Two Mazards here like usual.)
I take a step back, looking for any weapon that could help me. Then I stumbled upon the small table I kept seeing. The one I kept making a Mazard shield out of. The loose screw of the table makes it really easy for me to disassemble it in a short time.
(Ok, this plank will do)
Disassemble the table. I got a wooden plank. Although it's bigger than my hand, it's hard to get used to it.
*RAAAAAGHH!*
The Mazards lunge themself into me, their potential food that would keep their stomach full for a while. If they can kill me, that is.
…
The fight ended with me gouging out the second Mazard's mouth with the plank.
Thanks to time and experience, I got used to fighting these small and violent creatures easily.
(... Got used to?)
If that's the case, would I'll be able to go further if I got used to fighting them? Like how I got used to fighting against the Pet Shop?
In that case, I'd need to get used to Death.
Once I'm thinking of the word "Death", my body trembles…
(... Let's focus on getting used to survive first…)
Next is water and food; there's only one source of each from which I can get them. Rotten flesh from the Beacorpse and Sunworm's drool.
(..., Right, I need to find another source of those too…)
"Anyway, thinking those aside, would this place be suitable for my life here?"
An old interior where almost none but only Mazards live for years. Most of the furniture has accumulated dust over them. But they're still usable.
"Sleep, huh… Most of the time, I only get those after dying. Despite being for a brief moment, I'd at least restored some of my sanity."
I say that as I looked at the bed full of dust. Without much thought, I dive my back on them. The bed itself was neither soft nor hard, and the pillow was the same.
"Achoo!" Causing a lot of dust to fly out, I sneezed a few times.
"I should've cleaned this place later."
…
I head out, searching for food and water as I intended originally.
Nothing much happened, really; the Beacorpse kindly gave me the bowl bone full of rotten flesh. I went back to the house and put the flesh on the table. Went to kill the Sunworm, make a torch, and use the bowl to store some of their drool.
+Bowl of rotten flesh
-Rotten flesh
+Bowl of Sunworm's drool
The drool stored inside the bowl can last for a while, and I can get more flesh from the Beacorpse.
But something occurred to me…
(Would the Beacorpse be kind enough to give me more of these again in the future? And would there be more Sunworm somewhere in the vicinity?)
… I guess I need to consider trying to get through one of the "walls". But other than that, I should've explored everything inside the "wall" first.
…
First cycle…
I took my time to explore every building from where I first woke up. Even the one I explored before I defeated the Pet Shop. Luckily, I've found a few rusty metals that I can made as a weapon, like a knife and hammer.
…
And then I found a few clothes full of dust.
"Achoo!, … I can do a few things using these- Achoo!"
…
I went to explore the basement of a building, and found a creature the size of a ball, lurking around.
"A rat?"
(According to the picture book I've seen, it looks like a rat, but ain't it a little big?)
The rat isn't singular; many red eyes appeared from the dark, filled with killing intent.
I flinched and retreated to the above, closing the basement door. But that's not the end here, the rats grouped up as they tried to push down the door, while I kept wasting my stamina to hold the door down.
And suddenly, one of the rats broke through the bottom part of the door as it bit my leg. Me, letting my guard down, leaned to the side before the group of rats pushed the door down. Seeing there's no obstacle between the rats and me, I pulled my weapon out, ready to fight.
One of the rats lunges at me, and I manage to block it with the shield as I counterattack with a few stabs from the side.
It was a group of 10, no less. And I just took one of them down.
"Alright… Come to me…"
…
Using the narrow environment as I kept my distance from them, I pulled them off and made it a 1v1 situation. That's how I killed all of them. A few blunder has been made with the scratch and bite mark on my limbs. But I got used to it, as then I wrapped the wound with the cloth.
…
Seeing the rats, I wonder if they're edible. Since it's the first time I've met them, honestly, I'm surprised I haven't seen them before this. Did they just lurk around the basement?
(... ?)
As I tried to get up, I immediately stumbled on the ground. I tried to get up again, but the strength left my body, leaving me helpless.
Then I cough, again and again, until the red liquid sprays the ground.
(Why suddenly…)
Was it coming from the wound? As I checked it, I saw the skin around the wound filled with a purple color.
"Was it… From the rats?..."
As time passed, I eventually stopped moving, living a slow death as I stared at the wall.