A New Death Record

Len was nowhere near his home anymore. The world has changed. Light enveloped his body and reality was formed anew. As his vision cleared up, a whole different view welcomed him.

A gate over 20 metres stood tall in front of him. It made of metal and painted with words that he doesn't recognize. Len was fascinated and exclaimed.

"Waoo...!!"

The giant gate was guarded by two soldiers. They were wearing a steel armour with spears on their left hands. Such scenery doesn't exist in home world, he was sure of it.

"..."

Now that he's already here, what's next? He can't just stand there idly. Awkwardly, Len walked step by step to the gate.

"Halt!"

The soldiers noticed Len's odd behaviour and raised their spears.

"I'm innocent!"

Len backed off and covered his head.

"..."

The soldiers were wearing helmet, but their eyes can still be seen at such a close range. Len saw their eyes staring dagger straight at him.

"Who are you?"

"I-I'm just an innocent traveller…" Len gulped his saliva.

"A traveller you say? Hmm, you don't look like it. Where are all your belongings then?"

'Mind your own business old man', was what Len wanted to say, but they do have a good reason to be suspicious of him.

"I-I was robbed…"

"Robbed!? Hmm, so I guess you don't have any money with you then?"

"Y-yeah, I don't."

"Then you can't enter. You have to pay 3.000 gills to enter."

"3-3.000!? I don't that enough money! Surely there's tolerance right!? I'm just a person!"

"No. Nothing we can do. We can't let people just brazenly walk in and out as they please. The world ain't that kind, boy."

"B-boy? B-but I thought… this is the beginner village right? There has got to be some mistake, right? I'm gonna die alone out here!"

"..."

The soldiers didn't answer Len's cries. They just stared at him in contempt without moving.

Len fell on his knees.

'What do I do now?'

Len can't imagine himself sleeping in the wild. Such possibility was beyond him. Ever since he was born, he never sleep on a soil before. He always sleep on a comfy bed covered with blanket.

There's no way he would be okay with that.

Gritting his teeth and clenching the soil, he stood up and walked away. After a few steps away, he stopped.

"...?"

The soldiers tilted their head to the side, what is this boy trying to do?

"Hrahh!"

Len turned around and jolted to the gate. The soldiers realized what the boy was trying to do, he's going to enter the village through force!

"We won't let you!"

Len ignored them and closed his eyes.

'In this kind of event, I must get inside the beginner village no matter what! I'll think what to do next when I'm inside! Usually, another event will definitely triggered by then! I'm su-... eh?'

Len felt something missing.

His right foot. He can't feel it.

Moving his eyes downward, his right foot wasn't there.

"Ah…"

His foot was sliced off by the soldier. A powerful and swift motion that Len didn't even notice.

"AHHH!!!"

Pain and more pain. Len fell and landed face first on the ground. He screamed in pain, tears and snot trickled from his eyes and nose. He saw it all. His muscles, veins, fats and bones inside his body. His blood leaked like a broken dam, creating a puddle on the ground. This image was forever burned to his brain.

"Die criminal!"

Before Len knew it, his neck was cut. Blood poured inside his throat, choking his lungs. He can't breathe. He covered his neck with his hands trying to stop the bleeding, but it only made things worse. Puking his own blood, Len saw death was coming for him.

The pain was replaced by a numb sensation.

'I'm… going to die… for real…'

Darkness filled his vision. He can't feel anything but cold. So cold, he shivered.

And it was warm.

Standing blankly against the gate, a drop of saliva dropped from the corner of his lips. Snapping into reality Len touched his whole body.

"Ah… wait, what!?"

Len dropped on the ground and pulled his right pants. He touched his foot, rubbed them and finally pinched himself. It was painful.

'Was it a dream?'

Then he lifted his eyes to the gate and there were the two soldiers. Moving his eyes again, he saw a puddle of blood in front of the gate. His corpse was there. Len saw it disappeared into particles of light.

'T-that wasn't a dream at all!!'

"W-what?"

"Huh? Wait, you are alive? Ah! You are one of them! An apostle!"

"A-apostle? Wa-wait! Stop!"

The soldiers lifted their spears and started running toward Len. Fear of death and the adrenaline mixed up, Len immediately stood up and ran the opposite way.

But they were much, much faster than him. When Len made one step, they already ran 3 steps. The difference in strength and agility was clear, plus Len was fat and slow to begin with.

When they catched up, Len's vision suddenly went haywire. He saw the sky, the ground and then his own body accompanied by a sound of a pipe spraying water.

Within seconds, everything went red and he died once more by decapitation. He didn't even had the chance to scream in pain.

'Good folks? What good folks? They killed me twice in a row...'

When Len truly believed he will die for real this time, he vision returned and he was alive and well.

"What… in the world."

Suddenly, a blue panel popped out in front of him. On it was written.

[Your reputation in Derdun Village has decreased by 100.]

[Derdun Village has turned hostile towards you! If a villager sees your face, they will call the guards to capture you. If you resist then they will try to kill you.]

[You cannot respawn in a hostile area. You have been spawned 1 kilometres away from Derdun Village.]

"What… is this? My reputation… plummeted? Minus 100? I…"

Len dropped to his knees.

"I… I died twice within 10 minutes I arrived in this world. I'm so… wait."

Len stood back up. He realized he died twice, but he was revived again and again. So that means…

"I'm an immortal!"

Len jumped in joy. It only lasted for a moment though.

The feeling of death overwhelmed him. He can still remember every single second of it. His leg cut off, choked to death by his own blood and being decapitated… none of those were pleasant. Death wasn't fun no matter in a video game nor real life.

'Wait… video game? Could it be…?'

"Status… open?"

A blue panel bigger than the previous one appeared. It contained his information and status. Just a like the fictions he has been reading, this is a world with an RPG system where they can level up and learn a skill to their heart content.

His conclusion after checking his own status was that he's totally a weakling. He's level 1 and all the stats are below 10 points. Furthermore, his charm was only 2 points. Can he still be considered human? Was he always this ugly?

"This system is broken!"

He blamed the system and cursed. There's no way a human can be so ugly! Perhaps an animal might have better charm than himself. Life is unfair.

He has no skill or any useful item. What to do? He's hungry and thirsty, how is he going to get food?

'Calm down, there's nothing to be afraid of! I'm an immortal after all!'

Taking deep breaths, he convinced himself that everything is fine. But deep down in the corner of his mind he's actually terrified to the bone. Hunger is a slow and painful death, an outcome he definitely would like to avoid.

[You have been afflicted by (Famine) status!! All stats decreased by 20% ]

"Are you kidding me!?"

His stats were already low as it is, with 20% deduction, he would be even weaker than a child.

'No, no way that's true. It's ridiculous.'

Holding his wrath, he continued walking.

"Which way is it…?"

He can't go back to Derdun village. Not with those two guarding the gate. Staring at the sky that's turning dark little by little, he mumbled.

"A noodle cup and a coke would be great right now…"

…

??:?? PM. Nightfall.

Hungry. Thirsty. Cold.

With such thin clothing, there's no way he wouldn't be cold. He's sat below a giant tree while hugging his knees.

'Screw this world. This sucks.'

Tears began to roll on his cheeks. He wanted to go home and sleep on his comfy bed, eat noodles and drink coke. Maybe browsing the internet while at it.

But those were just wishful thinking. Nobody will help him.

"Why am I getting transported here anyway? The world isn't in danger, there's no demon lord, no special abilities… Why am I here for?"

He started to mumble to himself.

What Len's asking actually made sense to an extent. What he's here for? For what purpose? What kind of world is this? The truth was, even though he was excited to come here, he's technically got kidnapped.

"That's right! I was kidnapped! I… I didn't give my consent to anything at all!"

He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. Stressed and stressed for food, his defense mechanism began to turn and shifted the all the blame to the purple haired child.

"Sobs… sobs…"

Len was crying quietly when he felt something odd.

Something was moving. It was dark, but the moonlight gave him just the minimum vision to see what was going on.

Something was moving, jumping from tree to another tree.

"Hugh!"

Len was petrified. What kind of creature of the night is that? Len started to turn back and ran away. He was hungry and the penalty from (Famine) increased to 50%, his HP bar was slowly decreasing bit by bit. He's dying at a very slow rate.

But his will to live still persist. He don't want to die a stupid death and eaten by a beast!

After running for a few minutes, Len gasped for air with his sweat dampen his whole clothing. He took a break and sat down. The sweat cooled down and made his body even more colder than it already was.

Just as Len thought he was safe, the creature appeared right in front of his face from above.

"AH!!!"

A short shriek was the only thing Len could utter before a claw smashed his face.

[You have died!]

[You are within hostile area! Unable to respawn!]

[You have died three times in a row! Next available respawn is in 07:59:47]

[Respawn only available in a friendly or neutral area]

This time, Len didn't feel any pain at all. He just died like that. No bullshit, just smashed his head right in.

Currently, Len was in a semi-transparent form. While he was still feeling groggy, he heard a cracked bone and something else. Moving his eyes to the beast in front of him, Len saw it.

The creature in front of him resembled a monkey with blue fur. A giant monkey, it move its head and was munching at something. The sound each time it moved its jaw sent a shiver down Len's spine.

He wanted to puke, but unable to as he was already died. He's literally shaking in his boots.

'What is this creature?'

[Sapphire Ape] Level 42

Strength : 73

Dexterity : 52

Wisdom…

…

Len's eye bulged out.

'This monkey is level 42? How am I going to fight this thing?'

This sapphire monkey was many folds stronger than him. Faster, agile and bigger. He can't fight this creature.

'Why didn't my body disappear like last time? Was it because there's a gap in respawn time?'

Len wanted to run, but he was too terrified he can't move. It was as if he blended perfectly with nature and become a rock.

He couldn't avert his eyes. He was struck by the fact that he's being eaten by a monkey. It tore his clothes apart and rip his meat open. Taking the meat, the blood spurted everywhere. A disgusting mess. Len can see his own intestines and organs. Each time the sapphire monkey munched on his body, his corpse would slightly trembled, prompting Len to puke but unable to do so.

It was torture.

Len doesn't want to see this.

'This… is absurd…'

Something changed inside of Len. Within this 24 hours, he had experienced deaths and watched his own body being eaten. Some gears inside him stopped working and some gears that never turn, turning.

Len didn't move a single muscle. He stared at the sapphire monkey's face expressionlessly. Something is happening, Len knew it. But he didn't know what it was. He just knew something about him changed the moment this sapphire monkey ate him.

His fear wasn't there. His nausea disappeared. His body stopped trembling, instead he was frighteningly calm.

Why was he transported here just to die a dog's death? He didn't get any kind of special ability or a cheat-like item. What is the purpose of all this? Why was he being tormented like some kind of animal?

'This is unfair.'

With his head hung, he smiled. Dark lines covered his face and hint of madness was seen in his eyes.

He finally realized what he felt right now. It was something he's extremely familiar with. It was always there inside him since he was born.

It was wrath.

There's nothing more important that one thing to Len right now.

Kill.

'I will kill you. I will definitely kill you...'

He mumbled with his face covered by his hands.

'Enjoy your meal while it lasts.'