Battling the Inevitable

I felt my body plummeting from the sky. The pressure on my back and the roaring wind were overwhelming. I knew I had to act quickly before I crashed to the ground and met a gruesome end.

In the apocalyptic world, there were countless ways to meet your demise, and falling from the sky was a cruel twist of fate.

It was almost comically ironic – in a world filled with monsters and dangerous games, I was about to die from a fall.

I shifted my position, turning my head up and my feet downward. With the ground rapidly approaching, I activated the shield skill.

It absorbed the impact, and I bounced off the ground. My head was throbbing, and I suspected I had a concussion.

"Shit," I mumbled, trying to sit down near a pile of rubble.

My body ached all over, and my vision was blurred. I was so tired, so overwhelmingly drowsy that I couldn't fight it anymore.

But then, I could hear the sound of the whale again, in the midst of dying. I was curious about that whale, why was it always coming back when I was in this state?

Wasn't it just my hallucination, because I was dying? Or was it Randy trying to keep me alive?

However, it gave me the strength to open my eyes and access the system interface. With trembling hands, I ordered a health potion and a stamina potion from the in-game store.

As I drank them, my HP slowly began to recover, but the poison from the bullet was taking its toll.

[Danger!]

[The poison from the bullet can't be healed with potion alone!]

Fucking Hell! How was I supposed to get rid of the poison?

[The poison will continue to drain your HP and will disappear when the skill duration ends.]

[Remaining time: 2 minutes.]

This was the worst thing that ever happened. This was my last straw. I never imagine that damned superstition could make me die like this.

It felt like the universe tried to kill me.

And then the worst happened. A minute later, the man in the black robe stood before me, wielding a combat knife.

He threw away the robe and showed his muscular form. He was relentless, refusing to let me go. It was clear that he intended to kill me or die trying.

I didn't know what was wrong with him! But damn, just leave me alone, man.

My stamina had returned, and my wounds had closed. I was ready to unleash some powerful skills and turn the tables on my relentless foe.

However, as I attempted to materialize my weapon, I was met with a nasty surprise. My MP was completely depleted, and I couldn't even use my normal attacks!

I desperately needed to buy some MP potions from the shop system, but the man I was facing showed no mercy.

He continued charging at me, much like a relentless Terminator, his determination unwavering.

Likely, the man had also exhausted his MP. I mean, why would he use the combat knife if he could use a gun?

Despite the injuries he had sustained, he remained incredibly fast. I couldn't help but wonder how he managed to keep running at such a pace. His resilience was truly something else, and I was in a dire situation.

I may not have been an expert in close combat, but I still had my swordsmanship skills to rely on. I stood up and drew my short sword, ready to face this determined adversary in a life-and-death struggle.

The combat scroll I had acquired the previous day proved to be a valuable asset. It felt like I had a mental database of combat moves at my disposal, even though my battle IQ was far from impressive.

As the man in front of me lunged with his combat knife, I managed to parry his attack. But he quickly adjusted his grip, holding the knife backward, and swiftly brought it perilously close to my throat.

I narrowly dodged it, but his swift kick landed square in my stomach, sending me tumbling backward in agony.

Damn! The pain was excruciating, but I had to keep going. With the knowledge from the combat scroll still fresh in my mind, I countered his next attack. I knelt down and slashed at his feet, causing him to grimace in pain.

"Argh!" he exclaimed. While he was momentarily slowed, I seized the opportunity to regain my footing.

I attempted to stab him, but he managed to evade my attack while delivering a vicious punch to my face. My nose started to bleed and my vision swam from the blow.

In my weakened state, the man lunged again. This time he succeeded in stabbing me, right in the shoulder. The pain was unbearable. "Son of a bitch!" I cursed through gritted teeth.

I attempted to pierce his leg, but he still wouldn't let go of my shoulder. This man's resilience was really something else.

As a last-ditch effort, I decided to use my hard head, literally, to headbutt him.

The impact was brutal, leaving my already forehead battered and bloody become even more bloody, but it also hurt him. With a pained grunt, he withdrew his knife from my shoulder.

The system notifications continued to flash on my screen, updating me about my bleeding and steadily declining HP.

The good news was that the poison effect had dissipated. The bad news was I was dying. Fuck! Everything hurt!

And my head really killing me. I regret that decision.

As I fought to catch my breath, I gingerly held my wounded shoulder, wincing at the pain that seemed to have invaded every inch of my body. Honestly, it's a miracle I was still kicking in this sorry state.

God must love me and hated me at the same time.

Then, I saw my enemy in front of me. He was ready for the round two. I launched the first attack, but the man expertly deflected my blow by using his free hand to redirect my sword and swiftly slashed my arm.

After that, his hand forcefully pushed mine, and in a swift, merciless motion, he thrust his knife into my chest.

Agonizing pain surged through me, and I let out a desperate scream. I couldn't fathom that this would be the way my life would come to an end.

Yet, I refused to give up. I clung to my sword, driving it deep into his waist with all the strength I could muster.

My short sword's reach exceeded that of his knife, and my strike inflicted severe damage, potentially rupturing his insides.

We locked eyes, and I saw his gray eyes inside that mask as they met my crimson ones.

Our gazes communicated that neither of us would yield until one of us lay defeated. With this understanding, we pressed on, both of us howling in pain as we fought for survival.

But in a fateful moment, the man materialized a revolver before me, and I knew that my time was up.

As the trigger was pulled, I had a sudden flashback, feeling guilty for what I'd done to Matthias in the mini-game and regretting that I couldn't apologize to him.

I hope he didn't die just because some flying dinosaur got him. He was right; I should have stayed in the cottage.

My thoughts then drifted to Randy, and the prospect of making amends with him when we met again.

A gunshot echoed through my ears as I felt the bullet pierce my skull. My body tumbled to the ground, and I closed my eyes. The final thing I heard was the system's emotionless declaration:

[You've been slayed]

***

I hate when someone uncollected my novel from their library. It makes me question my storytelling skills.

Like wth wrong with my novel readers?! Please tell me instead of just uncollected my novel!?

Ah, well. I just pried that whoever does that will wake up every day with an unbearable pain in their neck and question their own existence.