3 C2: Struggle
[Chapter 2: Struggle]
...
It took me a few minutes to recover my composure... It was the first time I experienced death or at least the first one I remembered...
The horrible pain of having my skull crushed had left me a pretty big mental scar and also left me completely scared of finding that monster once again. My hands were trembling and I had an enormous amount of sweat going down from my back whenever I thought of going through that experience once again.
After I stood up once again and decided that I should probably find a place where to stay for the time being, I started moving through the dense crimson forest with my senses in extreme alert in case that bird was around here.
The fear inside me was making me lose my composure, as the only thing I wanted was to find a place where to hide and rest. Unfortunately for me, I never managed to find somewhere where to rest...
*Groaaar!!*
*Bam!!!*
Because before that, I was rammed brutally by a Hoglin that was passing by, and noticed me immediately before I even managed to hide.
My chest was completely crushed, and probably my heart exploded as well during the process because after that I woke up once again in the spot where I had appeared the first time... The pain also struck once again right after reviving, my heart was pounding like crazy and my ribs felt like they were being crushed slowly but surely.
However, this death made me realize something that made me almost want to cry.
That Hoglin that killed me had almost the same amount of stats as the other one I found before... So there was a possibility that Hoglins in general had that many stats, and that I was the one weak here...
No... maybe it's just Hoglins who are abnormally overpowered... Maybe if I find other piglins like me I may have a chance of surviving...
"But this place is completely filled with those monsters... How am I supposed to escape from here?"
I looked at the surroundings with fear apparent in my eyes... Even if I wanted to escape from this forest, being actually able to do so was another completely different matter.
"Damnit..." In a fit of rage, I cursed under my breath and did my best to hold back my tears of helplessness. Just to vent my anger, I punched angrily the tree where my body had been lying before I arrived at this place, and tried my best to think of a way to get out of here.
"Hmm?"
However, right when my punch hit the trunk of the tree, strange golden spiderweb-like marks appeared around the area where I punched and stayed there for a while before they disappeared completely, leaving the tree completely unscathed.
"What is..."
At that moment, I finally remembered the strange abilities I now had, besides the respawn thingy.
Trying my best to recall everything I knew about Minecraft, I remembered the fact that you had to punch trees if you wanted to start crafting tools and weapons for your own survival.
"Could it be the same thing here?"
Curious about this new discovering, I softly punched the tree to see if any golden marks appeared once again. However, this time no marks appeared, and the tree stood completely unaffected by my punch.
"Do I have to punch it really hard?"
I'll be honest, I wasn't sure if trying to break this tree was worth the risk of breaking my hand... Enough I had with being the weakest being in this place.
"But seeing it from another angle... This might actually be an opportunity to get some weapons to defend myself... Whatever, I'm out of options already..."
As I resolved myself, I prepared my fist with some nervousness evident on my face and stepped forward in order to launch my best punch.
*Bam!*
My fist struck heavily the trunk of the tree making a small sound, and fortunately, this time the marks had indeed appeared where my fist struck. Furthermore, the recoil of the attack seemed to have been absorbed by this strange ability, and no damage was done to my fist.
I looked incredulously at my fist and seeing that this indeed seemed to work, I decided to continue punching it with all my might until this tree couldn't be able to continue standing.
*Bam!*
*Bam!*
*Bam!*
*Bam!*
As I continued punching without stop, the spiderweb-like marks started spreading across the area progressively, and soon, the whole trunk of the tree was covered in these marks. Finally, after punching the tree another dozen times, the part where I had been punching all along finally broke apart, and surprisingly, disappeared right after that.
[You obtained +1 Crimson stem]
-[New recipes unlocked!]
A small window appeared right in front of me as soon as the part of the tree I have been punching until now disappeared, and although these trees did indeed have a certain similarity to fungus, I didn't expect them to be actually Fungus... Either way, now that I had gotten in my hands this crimson stem, or to be more specific, this wood, I could start crafting... things.
Not sure what things, but they could be useful for sure...
*Shronk!!*
"When did-?!"
But before I could even do something with my newly obtained wood, a Hoglin suddenly from within the bushes and rammed me with incredible force.
I could feel my organs being crushed and torn apart, as the blood that flowed in my interior left my body in immense amounts. My muscles were flattened like they were some sort of pancake, and my bones were shattered into thousands of pieces, cutting my interior, and reaching strange places that bones shouldn't reach.
*BAM!!*
My limp body crashed heavily against the nearby trees and fell unmovingly to the ground after that.
The pain I was going through right now was so much, that I couldn't help but cry a bit while I watched the Hoglin approach my body and start eating me alive. After that, probably the whole forest was able to hear my screams and cries for help.
At some point, I stopped feeling pain. But it was probably because there was nothing left of my body that could make me feel pain.
While I waited for my body to die once and for all, my mind suddenly started pondering about how would my status look at a moment like this
}---------Warrior's status--------{
-Name: Rukh
-Race: Infernus Porcus Sapiens / Piglin
-Age: 26
-Enhancing energy: None
°°°
-Hp: 1/16
-Attack Power: 12
-Level of Experiences: 0 [0% of Progress]
-Current protection granted by the armor: 2
}--------------------------------------{
Ah... Fuck, what did I do to receive this...?
I wanted to stop being other animal's food... But why was that so hard...?
Let's just hope the next round doesn't end this fast...
...
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A few days later...
...
Inside a dark cave, the figure of a piglin could be seen sitting on a corner while muttering something in a strangely crazed tone.
His trembling hands and his widened eyes made evident that he was not in a good state. Furthermore, his body was incomparably thin, and one could say that the poor creature had not eaten anything for months.
This poor creature was none other than Rukh. Who had been surviving for three days straight without having eaten anything, and not drinking anything as well. His body was on the verge of collapsing, and his mind was no better.
The only thing he had been able to eat since he woke up as a piglin, were decomposing corpses of Hoglins or other small animals that traveled through the forest. And when there was no more option, he tried to eat the glowing fruits that grow on top of the Giant fungus that assimilates trees. But unexpectedly for him, they were like rocks and they had nothing edible inside them.
He had also created some tools and weapons, but all of them got lost or disappeared after being killed instantly by one of the monsters roaming around the forest
Be it by crushing, decapitation burned alive, or even butchered alive, Rukh has been dying constantly during these days. His mind was starting to break apart, as the line that maintained him sane was becoming thinner and thinner every day with every death he suffered.
Now, having to hide inside a cave without water or food because of his fear of getting killed again, his mind was in no better state, even though he was not being attacked right now.
However, unlike what most people could have thought, this state of mind from which Rukh was suffering was also affecting him in another way he could have never imagined.
Rukh was a human before waking up as a Piglin, he knew that at least. But now that his body was that of a piglin, slowly but surely his instincts and feelings were starting to morph into that of a Piglin while his mind was weakened due to fear and pain.
Without him knowing, the savageness and the greediness of a Piglin were filtrating through his mind, and someday, this could make him take a completely different turn than what he could have expected in a beginning.
Even the horrified and traumatized look in the eyes of Rukh, although imperceptible to normal people, was slowly starting to change into a more angry and maddened look with every death he suffered.
This was only the beginning of what was to come.
The creature that could decimate every being in this world, and the creature that could bring everything to an end was starting to come into being.
...
