Levelling up

When the creature felt the sword that was stuck on his neck, it went berserk. Blood started pouring out of his wounds as though a water pipe had burst in its neck. It swung his long neck towards Dave. While Dave retaliated by blocking the blow from its neck with his shield. The swing was powerful enough to make Dave fly back.

The creature was experiencing an excruciating amount of pain. As it moved his head, the sword lodged in his neck also moved, which caused it a lot of pain. But the creature was not that intelligent and it didn't know what was better for him. It moved his head sideways despite the pain as it wanted to take out the sword from his head…

Dave felt his whole body going numb as the neck of the creature struck him. He felt like someone had rammed their pickup truck straight at him. But still, with the numbness, his brain was working perfectly. And he knew that he was still not out of the danger zone. The creature was still here and it would take only one attack to kill him.

He immediately got up and saw that the creature was banging his head and body in nearby trees. The berserk creature started running around here and there in an attempt to take out of the sword from his head. Seeing this, Dave thought that this was the best chance he would get to run away. And it was then he glanced at the man that he came to rescue.

The barrier protecting the man was gone. And now the man was crawling his way out slowly in all of his four limbs. Looking at him crawling, Dave knew that the man was not injured.

'Why the hell is this mother fucker crawling? This stupid son of a bitch should be running.'

It was then something whizzed past Dave's cheeks with an astonishing speed. A cut appeared on his left cheek. He touched his cheek and sure enough, a cut had appeared on it. And blood had started coming out of it. Dave touched his cut and looked at it weirdly. It was then he looked back and saw a quill being stuck on the tree behind him.

Looking at the quill, Dave started having a bad feeling. And sure enough, soon more quills were fired by the berserk creature in random directions. But luckily none of them hit the crawling man or him. But the quill that brushed off his cheek was a wake-up call for him. Thus Dave then quickly got up and started running towards the crawling man.

He grabbed him by his shirt and quickly lifted him, over his shoulder. The man was skinny thus he was very light. After quickly grabbing him, Dave started running away from there. And it was while running, that Dave felt a quill pierce his free hand, but he didn't stop to look at it. He just kept running straight, trying to make as much distance as he could between him and the creature.

***

Dave ran until he felt like his legs were gonna break. And when they did stop, the screeching berserk creature was far behind them. After stopping he put down the stranger under a tree. And sure enough, that man had fainted. Dave then slumped down beside the man and started to try to calm down. He could still adrenaline flowing through his body while his breaths were heavy.

It was then he glanced at his hand to check the quill that had pierced his hand. When he inspected his right hand he saw that the quill had made a hole in his right hand and most probably passed through it. Blood was pouring out of his hands. He instantly took out the shirt that he was wearing and tied it around his wound. While on the other hand the man that he rescued was lying unconscious beside him.

Now barechested, Dave turned around towards the man. He didn't know whether there was something wrong with the man, so he kneeled towards him and shook his head. And after shaking his head once or twice, the man finally opened his eyes…

AAAHH!!

The man woke up screaming. When he saw Dave standing in front of him, he remembered what had happened. Tears suddenly started pouring out of his eyes and he started sobbing loudly…

"Dhanyawad Bhaiya! Meri jaan bachane ke liye." The man said in a foreign language that Dave did not understand. He could feel the emotion of the man and believed that he was trying to thank him. But he wasn't sure.

"Are you alright?" Dave asked in English.

"I… am… well," the man said while sobbing. Hearing this, Dave sighed in relief.

"Oh great… I thought you didn't speak English."

"I speak…. Little little" the man said while wiping his tears.

"Well little is fine by me. Do you know where we are?"

"Where… Forest… We in a forest."

"I know we are in the forest. I want to know where is this forest. Do you know?"

"No." Hearing his answer Dave sighed. He felt a little bit down because even though he had found a fellow human being but he can't communicate properly with him. But it was then he remembered the common tongue skill that he got. He instantly started wrecking his brain and started the knowledge about the common tongue started pouring into his mind…

"Can you understand me now?" Dave said while speaking an alien language. Hearing his sentence, the man looked weirdly.

"I understand you." The man spoke in English.

"Try to speak this language. If I am not wrong you would be able to speak this language as well." Hearing him, the man then started wrecking his brain and soon he was surprised again when the knowledge of a foreign language came flooding into his mind.

"How do I know this language?" the man spoke with a puzzled voice.

"I don't know. It seems like something out of the fantasy book to me."

"What is your name kind, sir?"

"Me? My name is Dave Gonsalves."

"I am Sanjay Singh."

"Indian?"

"Yes… And you are from?"

"America," Dave said and then he sat down beside Sanjay.

"Oh… Donald Trump. I know him."

"Good for you…" Dave said awkwardly as he didn't know what to make of his reply.

"I owe my life Dev. Thank you for saving me."

"Don't mention it. And its D-A-V-E not D-E-V"

"That is what I said. Dev."

"Never mind. So what do you reckon is happening to us?"

"Don't know. Maybe God is punishing us because of our sins."

"You were a sinner back in India?"

"I was a butcher. Maybe me killing all those innocent animals has got me into this situation."

"I was a cook. And I may have sold some weed when I was young but other than that, there isn't any sin that I committed."

"You were a drug dealer? Were you part of a gang?" Sanjay suddenly asked while looking at Dave.

"I was a drug dealer when I was 17 something. But after my 18th birthday, I stopped." Dave said.

"Oh."

Then both of them sat side by side to each other. They didn't speak further. But it was then, that Dave suddenly a message ting in his ears. He looked around and then saw that there was a message icon floating in front of him.

"Can you see that?" Dave asked while pointing at the icon.

"See what?"

"Didn't you hear the message ring tone?"

"No… Did you hear it?"

"Seems like it," Dave said and then he mentally tried to open the icon and soon enough a string of blue messages came pouring in front of him…

................

You have slain the Earth Porcupine.

................

You have been awarded 120 Exp for your feat.

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Congratulation! You have levelled up.

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5 Stats points have been awarded to you.

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You have attracted the gaze of The Destroyer of Worlds

................

You have attracted the gaze of The All-Knowing Father.

................

You have attracted the gaze of The Three-Headed Old Man.

................

You have attracted the gaze of Fat Fighting King.

................

You have attracted the gaze of Mistress of an Owl

................

You have attracted the gaze of The Wine Maker

................

Looking at the messages, Dave was confused. 'What do they mean that attracted the gaze? And who the fuck are these people? Destroyer of Worlds? What the hell? What kind of names are these?'

"What message did you get?" Sanjay asked.

"It seems like the monster that I lodged my sword into had died. And I have levelled up"

"What does levelled up mean?"

"I have no fucking idea."

"Then what should we do now Dev?"

"I think we should go back. To the creature that we killed." Dave said while getting up.

"Why?"

"Well, for starters I need my sword back. Secondly, we don't have any food or water with us. That creature could provide us with enough meat that could last for a few days."

"But I am a vegetarian."

"You are a butcher. How the hell is a butcher a vegetarian?" Dave said while looking weirdly.

"My life, my rules."

"Whatever, look around you man. We are stranded in the middle of the forest with no way out. Eating that creature's meat is better. After all, it is not like there is a pure veg restaurant waiting for you just around the corner." Dave said and then he started walking back. While Sanjay started thinking about what Dave said.

"Wait for me!" Sanjay said when he saw Dave walking away. He decided to follow him for now. He doesn't want to eat the meat. But he couldn't deny it, that it is the only option that he got now…