Chapter 4
Royal nudged the dead body with his head, seeming to make sure that it was dead.
A dull ache spread through my body, I felt like a truck had run over me. The way my body aches, I s.h.i.+ft slightly and find that no bones are broken, but it hurt like they'd been broken.
A slight ding went off.
「-278 HP」
「Player is also experience bleeding effect, please cleanse the negative effect」
I cringe when I see that number. That had shaved off a good chunk of my health, these monsters weren't a joke, they're strength was insane. Now I've got a negative effect, I had no idea how it wanted me to heal that effect.
Royal with a toss of his head throws the clown corpse to the side and moves closer to me. Opening his slightly blood maws, his tongue flicks out and licks my body, coating mine in a layer of saliva.
I shudder at the sudden warmth of his tongue, but another ding goes off.
「Negative effects have been countered with the saliva of the Serpent of Night! 」
Looking up at Royal a smug expression rest on his snake face. I raise an eyebrow but pat his head anyway. It really did appear that he was more than just your average snake, or should I say average familiar.
「Player didn't acquire the soul of the Clown Jack」
I frown, but I quickly get over it. Even though it would have been nice to obtain a strong monster like this, it wasn't a sure thing that I would obtain every monster I defeated. I'm sure the stronger the monster the more difficult it would to be to obtain their soul.
Rubbing a hand over my face, I wipe the saliva and blood from my face. It was an understatement to say that I felt disgusted at the moment.
Glancing over at the corpse of the monster, I look at the gaping hole that had been blown into the side of its face. The force of that arrow had to be unbelievable to have done that much damage.
"Hey! Are you alright?" Matthew voice sounds, I turn my head slightly to find him running towards me. A bow was in his hand and sweat drips profusely down his brow.
He pauses in front of me and looks at me, before turning to look at the corpse of the clown. A relieved look surfaces on his face, once he sees that the clown is for sure dead.
"You're still able to move right?" He asks me as he kneels down by my side. Royal gives a slight hiss in his direction.
"Yeah, I'm still able to move," I grunt pus.h.i.+ng my body up. I force my legs to move and I manage to get to a standing position. The pain was starting to subside, and I was able to drag a deep breath into my lungs.
Standing up, I notice that the forest that we were in was dead quiet. It was like all the life in the forest had vanished and we're the only living souls within it.
It would appear that we aren't in the clear just yet.
Matthew seems to have sensed the change in the forest as well because his whole body tensed up like a spring. Yet, before he could even open his mouth to speak an object appears practically out of thin air and rams into his chest.
The force of the blow throwing him back like he weighed nothing. An indescribable chill crawl's down my back. I felt a tidal wave of fear just wash over my body. It was hard to breathe.
It felt as if all the oxygen had been sucked out of my body. Like I'd entered into a land devoid of life. I couldn't move my body; it was like an indescribable force was compressing my body. My mind felt like it was going blank, this fear was something that had no reason for it.
Royal's hulking body wraps itself around me, supporting me from falling and at the same time dulling the palpable feeling of fear. Leaning on his body, I draw in air into my starving lungs.
What in the world was happening?!
Peaking over the top of Royal's body, I can make out the figure of something. It was walking slowly through the trees like it didn't have a care in the world. My stomach was churching in fear as it approaches, an aura of dreed seems to surround the monster that was approaching us.
My body was telling me that I needed to flee, that I had no chance of winning against this monster that was approaching. While my brain was trying it's best to sort through the information of the situation.
I
The closer and closer the monster came, the stronger the fear was it felt like a mad man had a knife to my throat. This was irrational, even when my life was in actual danger, I hadn't felt this level of fear.
Something was wrong!
As if something fell into place a bomb seems to go off in my head, and the fear that I felt subsided.
「Resistance to Fear Activated! 」
「Player's mental state under attack! 」
That was right! I almost forgot that I had a pa.s.sive that protected against fear attacks. This was a mental attack, that meant that this monster was probably strong in attacking one's mind, that meant that it was probably weak to physical confrontation.
Having the fear lifted slightly, I felt like I could breathe again. This d.a.m.n monster!
Gritting my teeth, I'd cut down this coward of a monster.
At this point, I could see the culprit that was attacking my mind. It was a sickly-looking clown, that was moving quite slowly towards my position. Both of them are completely black and don't have any eyeb.a.l.l.s.
It was dressed in a vibrant golden outfit, with a black J carved into the golden ensemble. Other than that, it was also sporting grey skin like the first clown, it also had ugly golden hair pouring down from its head.
What an ugly creature!
Sucking in a deep breath, I wait for it to get closer and closer. I had no idea, if I was right that'd it'd be physically weak, but I knew that I wouldn't be as lucky as with the first clown. I had Matthew's help and I wasn't wounded; I knew that I'd taken quite the beating. My Hp was defiantly suffering.
I'd lost over half of my Hp in the battle with the first clown. It was safe to say that I wouldn't be able to take another beating like that until I regained my HP.
What a mess this was turning out to be!
"Royal, get ready," I whisper softly.
At this point, the sickly-looking clown was just a few feet away from us at this point. A smug look was resting on its features, it thought that it had already won. But I suppose from its perspective and its experience that I hadn't run into anyone that had a pa.s.sive or resistance to mental attacks.
What an unlucky fellow now that it had run into me…
Once it had gotten within a couple of feet from us, Royal lunged towards the clown, not expecting a counterattack. All it could do was sidestep Royals attack. However, that left it open to an attack from me.
Darting forward, I brandish my sword and swing it down towards its head. Unable to dodge another attack in such quick succession.
My blade comes down like the blade of a butcher on a helpless chicken, I clean-cut its body in half.
Disgusting black blood pours out of the two halves of its body that fall to the ground.
「Level Up! 」
「Level Up! 」
「Player did acquire the soul of the Mental Clown Jester」
The lingering effects of the clown's mental attack vanish at its death. My shaking legs aren't able to support me any longer, I fall to the ground landing on my b.u.t.t.
My whole body felt like it was on fire, every muscle felt overused and strained. It was uncomfortable, I wanted to close my eyes and go back to sleep, but I bite down into my lip.
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There was no time to sleep, these clowns are relentless, they just kept coming!
At least I was able to obtain this clown as a summons, it would have been a waste if I'd missed out on this chance. With this new addition, I'd gain a powerful trump card, if anything out of my league approached. I'd be able to make a quick escape.
Sucking in a deep breath, I look up at the sky, it was getting a little dark outside. I'd need to find some cover, or I'd be a sitting duck. Who knew what would come out at night?
Sighing, I push myself up and quickly s.h.i.+ft through the split corpse of the clown I just killed. But it didn't have anything on it.
Without wasting any more time, I head over and look for Matthew. I imagine that he didn't get blown too far away. I follow the devastation that was left from him being knocked back and quickly come upon his body.
His body was impaled on a fallen tree, the roots of the tree were like knives, they'd cut deep into his body. Blood drips down the root, and I cover my mouth, he looks a lot like a mutilated corpse.
There was no way that he survived this…
Walking over to him, I quickly check his vitals, but he's dead. I felt my stomach turn more; it looks like I was on my own from here on out.
I was planning to leave him when I remembered that he was also a player, he must-have items on him.
A dilemma arose in my mind, was it okay to take a dead person thing?
I wrestled with that thought for a split second before I tossed away those naïve thoughts, he would have done the same to my body if he had the chance. The strong survived here, it wasn't a game for weak people.
"Royal pull his body down!"
Without hesitation, Royal pulls him off of the tree stump and lays him out on the ground in front of me. His body is full of holes from the tree roots, but I steel myself.
I wasn't in the position to feel bad about this in the least.
I quickly peel back his clothes and search for a bag or a hidden compartment of sorts. After rifling through his pockets, I notice he's got a black ring on his finger. I pull it off of his finger.
「The Player has found a storage item! Since the owner is dead, the player is the new owner of the storage item. 」
Lucky!
I wonder what he has stored in the ring. I slide it onto my finger and begin to stand up when I notice a hint of silver peeking out from under his s.h.i.+rt.
Bending back down, I lift his s.h.i.+rt, and more carnage appears before my eyes. But there is also a silver card, it looked similar to the flaming black card that I'd gotten from that administrator guy when I'd woken up.
Grabbing the card that covered a bit in blood. I shake it off and rub a hand over the bloodied parts, to clean them.
The card was quite solid and had a bit of weight to it. On the back of the card was the design of an eyeball, within the eyeball is a target design.
Flipping the card over a brilliant light begins to s.h.i.+ne and it felt like my eyes are melting. The feeling only happens for less than a second, before it's over.
「Sharpshooter Acquired」
My hand was empty now. It looks like I'd gotten a new skill. This was perhaps Matthew's skill that he had obtained.
Did that mean that if you died your skill would be left behind for another person to take?
I wanted to spend more time thinking about this, but the sun was creeping down and I had no desire to sit outside. First and foremost, I needed to find a new place to hide. Looking back towards the cave that I was in, I knew that was out.
If we'd been found there the first time, then it was safe to say that this was the enemy's territory. You should never stay in the enemy's territory.
I had to pause, how in the world did I know all of this…
I'd couldn't really remember anything from when I first woke up to that light. This wasn't information that someone just randomly had… just who in the world had I been?