Aiden stood frozen by fear.
He stood still for an entire hour, trying to understand what he had just experienced.
"Just… What just happened…? This can't be real…?" Aiden mumbled to himself.
"This can't be real… I am just living in a simulation. Yes, this might be it… And the way to get out of this game. It is to beat it." Aiden's eyes flickered with a new hope they hadn't experienced in a while.
He made his way towards the free log.
He sat on it and didn't even think about trying to pour some soup for himself, as that girl is always watching.
He waits until everyone is asleep. He then drinks every last drop of the soup directly from the pot. He couldn't handle his hunger.
Then he goes straight to sleep, ignoring the inhuman shouts coming from within the forest.
The next morning has come, everything plays just as yesterday, and he knows what is coming for him.
But the pilots are no longer here. And thinking about them made him forget the fact that the girl was behind him.
He then gets knocked to the dirt.
"I don't care where you came from, but you won't live here for free; you've got a sturdy body, so you are eligible to be in the hunting team." The girl shouted.
"Hunting team? How many people are there?" Aiden grumbled.
"Ugh… It's currently me and that scrawny-looking guy there." She pointed a finger at where that guy was.
Aiden looked in that direction, and there was a skinny-looking guy, probably in his 30s.
"How is that guy eligible then?"
"He knows some stuff or two about edible plants and mushrooms—, no time to spare, let's go."
Aiden is forcefully dragged, his butt getting scraped by the dirt.
"Okay. Okay, I'll go, just stop dragging me." Aiden grumbled
"Good choice, and don't you dare try to sneak away from."
"Whoa, chill out, I won't, I won't, you have my promise."
The trio has now gone out of the forest, and they successfully found edible plants and drinkable water. But on their way back, they encountered something they won't be able to defend against.
'The basket filled with all kinds of plants was dropped on the ground, next to Aiden's shivering feet. In front of him was that same monster that's been ruining all his plans.
The girl was his first victim in this regression; she was always his first.
That scrawny-looking guy picked up a dagger that was once the girl's and tried stabbing the monster with it, but it did no damage; in fact, it only broke itself.
The monster looked back, and with a single swat, the man was eliminated.
The monster was distracted, and he took his chance to flee.
Aiden frantically stood up, then started sprinting in the direction of the fire.
"Th-ey're sac-rifice-s wo-n-'t be in v-ain."
Then he noticed him and started chasing him. Aiden's adrenaline took over; he started running, not even paying attention to the obstacles ahead, and he hit a tree, fell over, and got his nose broken. His head is spinning. But then he looks back, the monster was right behind him, grinning like a maniac.
"Fool…" The monster muttered.
Boom.
The figure caught up to him.
Aiden woke up again, sitting on the same log, the log where everything had started.
The image of the creature slaughtering the entire hunting team was buried deep in his mind.
He couldn't shake the feeling of being torn to pieces.
Hopelessly waiting for IT to devour him whole.
"I can't keep on going like this… "
I'll kill that damn deer.
Aiden bent over and picked up his trusty fire axe.
Suddenly
DING
His phone buzzed.
"What is it now?"
The notification stated.
[Game #3: Revenge has started.]Objective: Inflict a wound on the one who severs. A monstrous 5-meter-tall beast equipped with horrific, bloodied antlers attached to its skull. Claws made from bones on both hands and feet, and all black eyes. His skin is inflicted with deep scars. Made from prey that dared to fight back.
"Oh, perfect, that's what I was trying to do..."
And left the campfire.
Heading where the figure is located.
1 singular minute in, he already started hearing its inhuman shouts.
2 minutes in, the footsteps are growing louder and faster.
Towards where Aiden is.
3 minutes in, he starts hearing vines being ripped apart, accompanied by heavy breathing.
4 minutes in, he starts hallucinating about where the monster could be, then frantically beats it with the fire axe.
5 minutes in, it appeared.
Glaring straight at its gray soul.
Aiden charged toward it.
Not a hint of bravery.
It's driven by the fear and trauma IT has given him.
"Take this." Aiden drove the axe into the monster's left thigh.
It took him all his strength just to pull it out.
"Ho-w d-o You Fe-el abo-ut tha-t." His breath was ragged, all fatigued.
The monster kept looking at Aiden, not even defending himself.
Laughing maniacally in Aiden's face.
"You'll never kill me. Even if you die and die and die again." The monster said, flashing a wide grin.
"Wha-tt."
"AHHHHHHHHH" Aiden attacked his face, injuring him.
The monster didn't flinch; it didn't even feel pain.
"It's time to end this." The monster mumbled. A wide grin shaped his lips.
It ended with a single slap.
The difference in strength was massive.
"Come back again. I'll be waiting." The figure said.
Aiden felt his lungs dying. But with one last push.
He threw the axe towards the deer-shaped monster.
"Her-e's an ea-rly gift…"
Then.
Black…
It's all black once again.
"Do I have to keep dying like this?"
"Will my life even continue on, if I beat this…?"
Then light again.
He's back at the same campfire.
"I tried everything I could think of."
"This is not fair!" Aiden shouted.
Every pair of eyes around the campfire turned to him.
With one brave man questioning him about his well-being.
But Aiden didn't want to have any of it.
He stood up, glared at the newcomer.
And then started hammering his face with his fists.
Crying while punching.
"Why did it have to be me? Whyyyy. Just. WHYYYYYYYYY." Aiden shouted
"You will never understand my pain. You will never!" He screamed, now strangling him.
The man's face has turned a deep red. His face reddened from the pressure.
Before he could kill the man.
He got separated from him with the help of two other men and that girl.
"Hey, snap out of it." The second man said.
Aiden started calming down.
Looking at what he had done.
He stood up and then went silently into a corner.
Not daring to utter one word.
The other survivors went to sleep.
But he refused to get some rest.
Day and night.
He remained in that same corner, reminiscing about what he had done.
By time. One by one.
Each survivor volunteered to go hunt.
But almost all of them never came back.
Some arrived all traumatized, some wearing a brave face, carrying a basket full of either inedible plants or poisoned mushrooms.
The ones who were dying of hunger always ate them in the midst of tasting them.
Most of them succumbed to the poinsoning of the uncooked mushrooms.
But once in a while, they still gave Aiden his share.
It all kept going until Aiden was the last one remaining.
The campfire was seconds away from extinguishing.
Aiden finally looked back.
He grabbed his fire axe.
And starting to cut some trees.
But before he could finish.
The fire is no more.
The shouts in the distance only grew louder.
It's coming.
Faster than ever.
In less than a minute, it's already in his face.
Aiden accepted his fate.
But when he opened one eye.
He still carried the same injuries as the last time.
With this realization.
Hope poured in.
But this regression was a no.
He met his end at the hands of the same creature.
[SYSTEM INTERFACE]
Name: Aiden Cross
Age: 19
Level: 1
Race: Human
Status: Alive
Title(s): [None]
Aura Color: None
Aura Core: Dormant
--- SKILLS ---
360° Kick (Lv 1) Mockery (Lv 1) Roundhouse Kick (Lv 2) Counter Flow (Lv 1 – Locked
--- USER STATS ---
STR: 7 | AGI: 9 | INT: 5 | END: 6
PER: 9 | WIL: 8 | CHA: 1
HP: 100/100 | Stamina: 85/85 | Aura: 0/15
EXP: 12/100
Currency: 0 Aura Crystals [Faint]
0 Aura Crystals [Low Grade]
0 Aura Crystals [Standard Grade]
0 Aura Crystals [Bright Grade]
0 Aura Crystals [Radiant Grade]
0 Aura Crystals [Pure Grade]