Ch.1 Run!

Akash ran through the school corridor as fast he could.He couldn't do much but pray to god that someone would save him or he could survive somehow.His sweat was getting into his eyes making them burn and his legs were giving out but he couldn't stop as it would lead to imminent death.

He had a feeling that he might die from just fear even before the monster caught up to him whenever he remembered the sight of it chewing the head of the school principal.The monster was a 3 meter tall green colored giant which looked like orcs which usually appeared in games or novels.The way it had glanced at him was very similar to how the neighbours cat looked at a rat before playfully killing it.The glance proved that it thought of him as its new toy.His first and only thought at that moment was to somehow escape from the sight of that monster and hide somewhere safe but there was no such place in the school which could help him escape from the orc.

Akash knew that the only reason he could run from the orc was that it had given him a headstart.If not for the fact that it was playing with him,it could've crushed his head immediately.Akash decided that he only had one way of surviving through this situation.He didn't think the orc would let the marked prey go unscathed so he would only have a chance to survive by blinding it.

Akash remembered that in the chemistry class last week his science teacher had his hand slightly burnt as a drop of acid had fallen on his hand during the science experiment as he wasn't wearing gloves for which he was heavily criticised by the principal.Akash couldn't help thinking that if a drop could burn his teacher's hand,a bottle should take care of the monster's eyes.

With this in mind,he sprinted towards the lab.Thankfully the lab was also on the ground floor near the principal's office.

While the time he took to process the situation appeared long,barely a moment had passed.

The orc threw the monitor in the principal's office at the small figure scurrying in front of him,feeling happy at the plight of the scrawny rat.

The orc missed and the monitor hit the pillar beside the corridor.Glass shards from the broken monitor pierced into the leg of Akash and he fell at the door of the laboratory.The orc appeared angry at the fact that it had missed and roared.Maybe it no longer felt like playing with the toy it had found.

Akash felt the world rolling around him as the sudden fall led to him slipping into the laboratory but the skin on his arms and legs got scratched and bruised.He couldn't feel much of the pain at the moment as it was suppressed due to adrenaline and his survival instinct but his whole body felt numb.Akash reached towards the shelf in a hurry to find the chemical bottles to ensure his survival.He could feel death was coming for him.

The sound of nearing steps of the giant made his heart feel heavy and he looked through the bottles in a haste.

The light at the door seemed to be blocked by something.Akash realised that the crucial moment which dictated his life or death had arrived.He finally found the bottles of hydrochloric acid and sulphuric acid.He looked at the orc once,hiding the bottles of acid behind his back.The orc lumbered towards him,it's steps causing the ground to shake as if an earthquake had occurred.When it was but 2m away from him,he used his full force to throw the bottle of sulphuric acid at the eyes of the orc.

It didn't think of the bottle as much of a threat,thinking of the act as the final desperation of the trapped prey whose hope of escaping had been shattered but it still slapped at the bottle to throw it away.The immense force brought by the slap of the orc broke the glass bottle which was already considered quite brittle.Hope arose in the eyes of Akash as he saw the acid splashing at the eyes of the orc.The orc screamed in pain while holding its head.

It went on a rampage smashing everything near it but by then Akash had already dragged his aching body towards the other door of the laboratory.He threw the bottle of hydrochloric acid at the monster too and then slowly and carefully walked towards the generator room.

He thought that he should be safe by now but still taking precautions didn't hurt so he headed to the only other place which he thought could damage the monster.He could still hear the banging sounds coming from the laboratory slowing down.The sounds suggested that the monster was either dead or it had calmed down.It didn't seem likely that the monster had died as the worst that the acid could have done was blinding the monster and burning its face.

This meant it had calmed down which was bad for him.A calm hunter and one which was toying with its prey were two different concepts.He did his best to walk silently,hoping that it wouldn't find him but the intense activities were already taking a toll on him.He never regretted not excercising as much as he did now.The generator room was close to the school gate,about 100 m from it.It didn't have a proper room but was an enclosure.It was surrounded by concrete walls but the metal gate was slightly on the shorter side.Akash finally reached the generator room.He tried to open the gate but it was locked.

He held onto the metal gate and somehow climbed it to the generator room carefully.The sounds coming from the laboratory had completely stopped since a minute.When Akash climbed down from the metal gate his hands slipped and he fell down and hit his head.He staggered towards the generator and then slipped down while leaning against it.

The misadventure he had with the orc had already beaten him up both physically and mentally.His wounds started hurting after he had saved himself from the date of imminent death.He wanted to sleep as he also felt dizzy with pain at the back of the head.But he knew he couldn't sleep as he was still in danger and the threat was far from over.

He finally had time to think about what was happening.The first thing Akash could think of was that he was in a dream and everything will be back to normal when he woke up.But he quickly dismissed this thought as he was in a lot of pain which ensured he was definitely not dreaming.The second thought Akash had was that he had gone crazy.He had already heard about people having Paranoia and hallucinations.Maybe everything was just a hallucination and he was acting crazily?Maybe he had hurt himself instead of being hurt by some monster that appearred out of some fantasy world.Who knows if it had been him damaging school property by himself while thinking he had been escaping from a monster and the principal was fine.This thought appeared about as scary as that of the appearance of a monster from some fantasy world as this meant that he had gone bonkers and might spend some years at the mental hospital.If that was the case,his life would turn out to be a tragedy with him being a burden to his parents even in the future.The third idea he had was that monsters were invading the earth just like in those novels he had read.This thought also filled him with fear for he knew that if his world changed like those novels with the average life he had lived,he wasn't some protagonist for sure and the fate of most extras or side characters in novels was usually dying without the slightest hope for survival unless one was the friend of the protagonist and he sure as hell didn't have any close friends.He calmed his racing thoughts and finally decided that no matter which case,he still had to do his best to hold on.He decided not to overthink as he was still not safe.Deep in his mind he hoped that everything would turn out to be a dream.

He closed his eyes and just as he was about to drift into sleep he heard a whizzing sound.Akash looked at the head of the school guard lying in front of him.His mind went blank.The orc once again appeared in his vision.Its eyes were closed and the skin on its hands and face appeared badly burnt from the acid.Akash couldn't understand how it had found him.He didn't have the energy to resist anymore.The orc hunkered down in front of him,it's fists magnifying in front of his eyes.Akash couldn't move no matter how much he wished as his body was no longer listening to him.The best he could do was to move a few inches and stare transfixed at the doom which was coming.The fists of the orc brushed past his shoulder,the impact throwing him away and then hit the generator.The hit caused the orc to experience an electric shock and a burning smell wafted out but Akash was already in no shape to find out as he had already blacked out due to the impact as his head hit the wall.Before blacking out he remembered a buzzing sound but he couldn't think anything.

Akash felt like he was in a dream.He turned into a weird lizard like bipedal creature.He watched throught its eyes as it killed several giant wolves with a spear.He could not understand what it was.All he could see was the way it handled the spear to kill the wolves and its footwork.Everything appeared weird yet familiar to him in this dream.He also heard some conversation but he couldn't remember any of it.

After who knew how long,Akash finally woke up.His head still felt heavy and his body felt very weak.The pain was killing him.A quick inspection revealed he definitely was not in a dream as he saw the corpse of the orc.It had blackened as it had been roasted from the electric shock.Akash approached it to check it.

The moment he touched it a strange ringing sound went in his head.A strange blue screen appeared in front of him.He tried to touch it but his hand went through it.He read the words that appeared in the screen.

[Successfully killed two star monster barren giant.]

[For the first one to slay a two star monster,we praise your resolve.]

[You have earned an achievement]

[All stats are increased by 3]

Akash could instantly felt the pain receding and his body started feeling comfortable.When he focused at the corpse of the barren giant which he thought of as an orc,the blue screen changed.

[Corpse of two star barren giant]

[Barren giants are monsters blessed with great strength and have a very strong sense of smell.They prefer living in tribes.Only the strongest barren giants hunt alone.The ability to hunt alone is testament to the status of a barren giant.Their monster core is located in their skull.The core can be utilised to make medicines.]

Akash hesitantly looked at the corpse for a moment.He found the school guard's head near the generator too.He thought for a moment before heading back to the principal's office.He vomited as he looked at the pieces of his principal lying around the room.

He gritted his teeth but withheld from calling the police as he was not sure of the situation outside.He knew that the most likely thing to happen when he reported the exact situation to the police would be them taking it as a prank call if nothing happened outside the school or in other areas.And if more such cases arose then no one would have time to spend on his case.

He decided to call the police later after talking to his parents.He called home and waited for the call to be picked up with a heavy heart hoping nothing happened to his family.