If there was anything I hated more than I hated my stepmother, then it was being toyed with.
That feeling of dancing around someone's palm like a puppet.
It didn't sit right with me.
Screeechhh!
The bloodling lashed out with its claw causing me to awkwardly reposition myself, then it slashed again.
Its arm carved through the air where my ribs had previously been, then it attacked again in frantic wild motions.
Its movements were disorganized, distorted by the unpleasant noise spilling from Ryu's phone.
'Good, it's working.'
But it wasn't enough.
Even with the handicap, I could clearly feel the difference in strength between us.
I wasn't accustomed to battle, despite the fact that it was at a disadvantage, one slash from the bloodling could still end me for good.
It attacked once again.
I spun on my heel, turning my body to evade the attack and counter with the knife in my hand but at that moment, my foot slipped.
'Shit!'
I jerked back.
But my movements were too slow.
Its claws grazed my sleeve tearing through my fabric with a dry rip.
"Argh son of a—" I stifled a hiss as a thin stream of crimson stained my uniform red.
The pain made me stumble causing me to lose my balance.
My shoulder slammed against the alley wall and my vision tunneled.
The bloodling paused then licked the blood off its fingers.
For a second silence descended.
Wrong!
It felt wrong.
Why did it feel unfamiliar?
My body.
It was like I wasn't used to my own body.
My instinct was trying to guide me but my body… no I was rejecting it.
Ba-dump, Ba-dump.
I knew I should have been terrified.
That's what made it worse, I wasn't.
If anything my mind was as calm as a still lake.
Like a lock had been placed over my emotions.
I stopped resisting and I let my instincts guide me.
A few steps away from me, Ryu remained still but I could see the panic on his face and the tension.
He was ready to move if anything happened to me.
The bloodling twitched.
Then it stilled.
Before sniffing the air.
'Oh no!'
The bloodling lunged forward while I lurched aside.
Ryu's noise was working, but it wasn't overwhelming it, at best it only made the creature confused.
But that no longer mattered.
Since it could smell me as well the creature could detect my current position regardless of how I moved.
It lunged faster this time, but I held my ground.
My body moved before my mind could even process it.
Heels spun in a shallow pivot allowing the creature to rush past me, then using the momentum from its attack, I stabbed.
The bloodling screeched trying to thrash itself out of my range but I didn't give it that space, I followed up with another thrust and another.
It hissed, showing the grotesque rows of teeth on its eyeless face.
Slowly I could feel it.
Although it was slightly clumsy and still a bit awkward, I was moving in the same pattern I did in the game as Alistar.
The game itself had an immersion rate of ninety percent, meaning it felt almost the same as my real body.
Even the pain felt real.
Everything down to the last detail was almost the same.
Right now I could tell, although subtle, my body was slowly adjusting.
Call it muscle memory but the three years of accumulated experience were surfacing albeit slowly.
I let that instinct lead me and I slowly found my movements falling into rhythm.
It was still clumsy and still a bit wrong but I knew the reason.
My body wasn't moving the way I wanted it to because in the game, my character Alistar was at least six feet tall while I on the other hand was barely five-seven in my real form.
It didn't come as a surprise that my body wasn't moving the exact way it did in the game.
The bloodling closed the distance, however… unlike the last time I steadied my breath.
The bloodling's figure blurred as it moved but I slashed again using its outburst against it.
The creature recoiled, it looked more startled than hurt.
"Tch… too shallow."
Watching the creature slash blindly trying to follow my scent, I deliberately shoved myself to a corner with dirt crates.
The creature followed me instantly trying to maul me.
However its claws met air, or should I say dirt crates.
I evaded the attack.
It screeched, agitated at missing its prey.
I could feel the bloodlust emanating from the bloodling, that quiet nonexistent whisper promising to end me in the next second, sadly I didn't give it that chance.
My knife plunged deep into the creature's nape with all the strength I could muster.
Dark blood spilled on my skin.
The smell was appalling yet I could only watch in horror as the viscous liquid rolled down my skin.
The creature slowly lost its strength, it didn't take long before it stopped moving.
"Hah… ha, fuck…"
[Ding! You have slain a monster, level 3 bloodling.]
[Ding! Number of tutorial monsters slain: 1/10]
[The constellation, goddess of hunt is observing you.]
[The constellation, lord of escasty is amused by your struggle.]
[The constellation—]
"Ugh! Shoo you bloody midgets."
[The constellation, rampaging dragon is interested in you.]
"Argh fuck no!"
My breath came out raspy huffs.
From the corner of my eyes I could see Ryu approaching however, that wasn't what caught my attention.
Ryu seemed to have noticed too because his steps slowed and his face paled.
Outside the alley, from both sides actually we were surrounded by bloodlings.
It didn't take a genius to know that the grating sounds had attracted them and curse my fucking luck.
These bloodlings were above ten in number.
My body grew cold.
"Ryu… that sound, keep it on." I said, licking my lips before retrieving my knife.
'This is going to hurt.'
If I don't die I mean.
Either way, we were screwed.
****
[Time remaining: 00:12:34]
The interior of the museum was filled up, mostly because some people had been fortunate enough to be close by, regardless the remaining space was minimal.
For a place filled with people, one would've expected a more lively atmosphere or at least some chatters but the place was as silent as a graveyard.
No one spoke, not when they just saw their fellow human being mauled by a nightmarish creature.
Floating high above within the museum was Yao Yao with the same carefree smile on its silly childlike face.
That smile, it looked so innocent that no one would ever suspect that such a chaotic apocalypse was happening because of it.
Yao Yao looked around the museum then its gaze slowly fell on the constellation channel.
"Ohoho… goody goody, Yao Yao have two thousand constellations now! So many! So many! all thanks to those humans."
The little scenario assistant was particularly in a good mood because some humans had completed the side quest without any help from the system, that alone had gathered the attention of a lot of constellations into its stream.
"Heh… the museum is already filled up, Yao Yao will wrap tutorial"
Tssss…
Just as the chibi weretiger spoke, the museum door slid open.
Then a curse followed.
"Fucking hell."