The Fool's Freedom

Alan stood up and started casting [Mind Jab] as soon as there was a target in range. The creature couldn’t even draw its jagged-looking weapon from the belt it was hanging on. It held its head and looked up in surprise just as Alan clumsily jabbed his spear into its throat.

You have slain Lesser Kobold (10)

There was a loud cacophony of hissing and growling sounds as the kobolds realized they were under attack. They drew various assortment of weapons, and some had bows, but most sported daggers, weirdly shaped cleavers, and short spears. Alan saw an arrow get one of the bow carriers in the eye. The monster instantly went down.

Davis chose that moment to jump behind the group and start waving his spear. Whatever training he had received from monks or videos, it had not made him a good spear fighter. He quickly realized that as he barely managed to deflect the attacks of the two kobolds that had turned towards him and were attacking him with wide savage swings. Few more rushed towards the trees where Ashlyn’s arrow had come from. The woman was nowhere to be seen and Alan hoped she was smart enough to keep her distance as she had nothing but her bow.

Alan cursed as another three kobolds rushed him. He used [Mind Jab] on the first, slowing it down. The skill was definitely not as effective as it had been on the wolves. He barely managed to hit away the spear of the first kobold that reached him when the second sliced at his thigh with its short sword. There was pain as the blade tore through his pants and cut him. The wound felt shallow but still hurt like a bitch. Alan roared and started throwing [Mind Jabs] at whichever kobold was closest to him, waving his spear like a madman at the same time. The reckless attack took him a few seconds.

Suddenly, one of the kobolds dropped its weapon and gave a high-pitched wail that stunned both enemies and allies. Its eyes were wide open in terror as it stared at something behind Alan, who had the urge to turn and find whatever horror had caused the breakdown of the creature. Instead, he bit down on his tongue and jabbed his spear in the kobold’s wide-open mouth, somehow managing to drop [Efficient Basic Movement] and trip forward at the same time, making the attack even more vicious as the spear went through the mouth and exited through the back of the kobold’s skull in a gory shower.

You have slain Lesser Kobold (11)

Level up!

You have reached level 12!

+ 3 Attribute Point

Alan managed to right himself and send another few [Mind Jab] casts to the nearest kobold of the two remaining. He saw an arrow hit another one of the monsters to his far left. Ashlyn was fine, that’s good. The fight turned into chaos as there was a second wail and another kobold froze in terror, liquid soiling the bundles of cloth wrapping its body. Alan tried to pull his spear and follow through, but it was lodged deep in the skull of his victim.

FUCK.

With empty hands he jumped towards the terrified kobold and easily wrestled the jagged dagger from its clawed hands, then stabbed it on the side of its neck and pulled, raining blood all over the front of his tunic.

A sudden pain shot through his chest and he went down on one knee next to the fresh corpse. There was no air, only tightness. Alan’s vision blurred and he cursed as he felt his body lose its strength.

You have slain Lesser Kobold (10)

“Alan!” he heard Florence yell from somewhere behind and threw himself to the side. Something dull hit him in the right shoulder and he heard it fall on the leafy floor next to him. He managed to turn in time to see a kobold come upon him. He grabbed for the creature’s throat but it slapped his hand away and raised its second dagger. Alan screamed and cast [Mind Jab]. He could feel his own mind start to unravel once again with the overuse of the skill but there was nothing else to do. The Kobold barely swayed, but that apparently gave enough time to Florence to work her magic.

The monster’s eyes went wide, but it didn’t scream like the rest. There was foam forming around the corners of its mouth as it shook its head and resumed its attack. Alan watched the dagger lower and raised his left forearm to meet it. It tore through his flesh and he screamed, droplets of his own blood dropping into his waiting mouth. The monster kept pushing until it suddenly didn’t. There was a gurgling sound and more warm blood splashed on Alan’s face and burned his eyes, much like it had been with the boar.

You have slain Lesser Kobold (12)

Level up!

You have reached level 13!

+ 3 Attribute Point

The monster dropped to the side and he could see Florence, gripping her bloodied dagger and standing above him.

Saved again, huh? Goddamn it.

He heard Florence’s voice boom above him.

“FUCK OFF.”

A wave of terror so strong it almost made him vomit seemed to brush against his mind, making him tremble. Death was certain. Torturous, gruesome death. He wanted to beg for help but all that came out was whimpering. He could see the horror of the abyss, he could feel its arrogance, its depth, its indifference towards his life. He was nothing. A flea. A speck of dust in a universe that couldn’t give two shits about him. He was dying.

“Alan! Fuck me, sorry! I overdid it! Alan, wake up!”

There was another wave. Something warm, gentle. Alan felt safe now. His mind spun at the change but it was all good.

Alan choked on some of the kobold blood in his mouth and turned to the side, wiping his eyes.

“Fuck, woman, stop! For fuck’s- stop! I’m alive!”

“Oh, thank fuck.” Florence cursed and sat down behind him, gently taking hold of his head in her lap. “I thought I scared you to death for a second.”

“You almost did. What the fuck was that?”

“When the monster was playing with and torturing Mr. Zeller I stored some of his emotions before it tore off his head. That was a part of them. I can usually target only one being at a time but these ones are strong and they… leaked?”

Alan didn’t know what to say. This had been the weirdest near-death experience in his life and most had happened in the past week alone and knowing Florence literally fed off of such things didn’t make him feel better.

“Flo, don’t take this the wrong way… but you are fucking terrifying.”

“Thanks. Now shush.”

There were soft footsteps and Ashlyn’s face appeared above him. She was sweaty and her black hair was sticking to her face. She was also angry. Very angry.

“Fucking Alan, what is wrong with you?! Can you like, stop trying to die every fucking time we fight something? You can run now, stop acting like you are crippled, and move for once!” Now there was the Ash he knew and loved.

“Sorry, Ash. It looks worse than it is. You should see the other g-”

“Shut your fucking mouth up or I will finish what these freaks started you dumb cunt.” Ouch.

“Most of the blood isn’t his. I think he just overused his skill.” Florence helpfully added.

Please, for the love of-

“Are you stupid? Answer me! Are you stupid, Alan?” Ashlyn raged. Alan turned his head and saw Davis stand a bit further from them, holding both his and Alan’s abandoned spear. There was a lot of blood on him but the man looked fine, apart from the shock on his face as he stared at the polite and kind Ashlyn tearing Alan a new one. Most of the blood was on Davis’s fists.

“Answer me!” she grabbed him by the tunic and shook him.

“Ouch, okay, okay. I’m not stupid, Ash. I will be careful. Please, I am actually bleeding here.”

That made the girl snap to attention. She took out a few of the water spheres and broke them all over Alan, washing him from most of the blood that wasn’t soaked in his clothes. She then took out a piece of cloth he recognized as her old shirt and tore a few pieces, wrapping one tightly over his forearm. The other she wrapped around his thigh.

“Your arm is bleeding a lot. We should move and get to the camp.” Ashlyn said and walked away. God, she is very mad.

“She cares a lot about you,” Florence whispered next to him. There was something strange in her voice.

“We are good friends. She got me the job, you know.”

Florence smiled and helped Alan stand up and wash up some more while watching Ashlyn and Davis, who were making a pile of the kobold’s weapons and satchels. There were all kinds of things. The satchels contained mostly strange-looking dried herbs, worms, some furs, and a few vials of dark liquid. There were also two small round cages woven with some very thin but quite sturdy strands of grass that held bugs similar to the ones Davis had held in his jar when they met him. These ones were alive and glowing with a faint blue light that Davis swore could rival the [Light Orb] once it was dark.

Alan looked at Florence. Fuck. Once again, I owe someone my life.

“Hey Flo…rence,” the girl returned his gaze. She didn’t look that scary up close but Alan choked on his next words. I should work on that. He took a deep breath.

“Oh, god, are you in love with me?!” Florence suddenly exclaimed and took a step back from him.

“What?! No! No!” Motherfuc-

“I am not ready for a relationship, I am sorry. The apocalypse has just begun you know!”

“THANK YOU! Okay. Thanks for saving me. That’s it. That’s all I had to say!” Alan yelled making Ashlyn and Davis look at him. He felt himself blushing.

I should [Mind Jab] her until that rotten brain melts. Goddamn psycho.

Florence burst into laughter and slapped a piece of meat on his chest.

“You should eat. You’ve lost a lot of blood.”

Fuck you too.

They managed to gather most of the weapons, abandoning the ones furthest from them. Alan picked two short daggers and stuck them on his belt. Florence got a spear and a thin bow after Ashlyn promised to teach her how to use it. Ashlyn packed the second bow and gathered all the arrows she could find, including the ones that were deep into Kobold's brains and glared at Alan when he tried to carry the rest of the haul. She put a bunch of dried herbs and one of the vials of liquid in his bag and separated the heavier stuff among the other three members of their group. Davis seemed happy to get a short sword to complement his long spear and a dagger for his belt. He bundled the short spears and tied them together, carrying them on his back. All in all, they were armed to the teeth when they started to move again.

Alan tried to act like he was well, but his head was spinning and the tightness in his chest, while lessened, remained. His forearm was tightly wrapped the bleeding seemed to have subsided, but it was still there and the arm had gone numb. Worst of all was the system message hovering at the back of his mind.

You have excessively exhausted and strained your body. Due to the effects of [Severe Weakness] your Strength and Dexterity have been permanently reduced by 1.

Trait: Severe Weakness (Epic)

Your body is weakened due to a genetic error. You suffer from muscular dystrophy.

The growth of your physical attributes is limited and they deteriorate with time.

You have excessively exhausted and strained your body. Due to the effects of [Limited Vitality] your Vitality has been permanently reduced by 1.

Trait: Limited Vitality (Epic)

The effect of raising your Vitality is greatly lessened.

Your Vitality grows weaker with time. Straining your body will speed up this process.

If Vitality reaches 0 you will die.

If he didn’t bleed out, he would die because his body would give up on him. Though, as things were going, he would probably die much sooner. [Mind Jab] was good if he could capitalize on the openings it created. And he didn’t. Ashlyn was right. As it stood, he was still stuck in the mentality of someone who could barely walk without support, even though the higher physical attributes had alleviated a lot of the issues and [Efficient Basic Movement] reduced the strain and fatigue in amazing ways.

Alan cursed. He had 6 free attribute points and he briefly considered putting them into Vitality but gave up. It would be a waste to exchange 6 attribute points only for 2 Vitality. If he could even raise it, which he doubted.

The loss of physical stats was more important and he crossed his finger as he put 2 of his points in Strength and Dexterity respectively, bringing them back up to 15. It was only a single point it was important to him to be in the best physical condition he could be. The other 4 points he put in Mind. There was a subtle change as he did it. His head became a tad lighter as some of the strain accumulated due to [Mind Jab] disappeared, and his thoughts cleared the tiniest fraction. That was interesting.

The trek back was mostly silent except for Ashlyn grumbling about him being dumb and Florence agreeing in various ways. He had to agree. He fought reactively and stupidly. He had survived mostly due to other people exceeding themselves so far and saving his ass, while he was busy being stuck in his own mind and acting like he knew what to do and how to do it. It hurt.

He would already be food for the worms, which frankly worked fast as fuck in this world if it was not for the people he had ended up with. What if he had been on the subway? Or even worse, renewing his expired driver’s license? God, he couldn’t imagine the types of people he would have to rely on.

There was a wolf howl somewhere behind them, cutting through the creepy silence of the forest and making them hurry their steps. Alan tried to not be the reason the group slowed down, but his body simply refused to listen.

There was another howl, closer.

“They are chasing us.” Ashlyn suddenly said.

No one responded. They couldn’t take another fight like the last one, be it wolves or kobolds. Alan couldn’t take it; the rest would probably be fine if they didn’t have to look after him.

The group moved in silence under the scattered rays of the setting sun. Alan looked up and his heart grew cold. The darkness had become much scarier once the crawling horror had paid them a visit and given them a demonstration.

Just as they reached the ruins Florence gasped and turned around, staring towards the depths of the forest they had just crawled out of.

“They’re nearby. We won’t make it.”

“Fuck. The sun is almost down too.” Ashlyn said. “Ok. Grab the bows. Davis, go up and help Alan and Florence. We will make a stand.”

“Aye.”

The man climbed one of the largest pieces of the weird ruins like a monkey and Florence didn’t struggle much in following him either. She was surprisingly athletic. Alan, using his one good arm to grab Davis’s spear, felt like the deadweight of the group once again. With a lot of effort on both sides, he finally made it up, panting and ashamed. Again.

There was a cold thought forming in his mind, just as Ashlyn climbed up next to them. She was fast. Alan watched the sun go below the highest treetops, cursing at his stupidity.

Ah, and here I thought this was a second chance at life.

“You should leave me.” He spoke. The words brought along an odd calm that lasted all of half a second as his three companions replied at the same time.

“For fuck’s sake, Alan!”

“No.”

“You good, man?”

He appreciated them, but it was stupid to die for him.

“Look. You can run, I will hide it out in the ruins. They probably won’t attack the camp and if they do you have the rest of the group to back you up.”

“We are not leaving you, man,” Davis said.

Ashlyn handed him one of the kobold bows and left a few arrows next to him. It was a crude but sturdy piece of wood. “Yeah, just focus. I need to teach you how to fire a bow in the next few minutes so get that stick out of your ass and listen.”

Something brushed against his mind and Alan felt his fear and dejection stir, ready to get pushed away by something else. It was weak and warm.

He glared at Florence. “Never do that again.”

“Sorry,” for the first time, the girl looked ashamed but then turned towards the woods. “They are here.”

Alan tried the bowstring. “So… pull the string and hope the pointy end sticks them, Ash?”

“Fuck me.”