Encounter with Evil

As the echoes of battle faded into the forest's depths, Raven found himself enveloped in an eerie silence.

The air was thick with tension, each rustle of leaves seeming to whisper secrets yet untold.

With a wary gaze, he surveyed the clearing, his mind racing with questions and uncertainties.

"Fugesg hrsiin gjjfs."

The shadowy figure shouted, but Raven couldn't understand the language.

"System, detect the language, and initiate translation."

Raven commanded, his voice tinged with urgency.

'''

[ Detecting a foreign language,

starting the analysis of the language]

[analysis complete Verdantian language detected]

[starting to implement the language in the user's mind]

[implementing complete you can now speak, write, and understand the Verdantian language]

'''

"Ughh"

He grunted, briefly clutching his head as the influx of information settled.

With the language barrier now broken, Raven steeled himself for the confrontation ahead, ready to confront the shadowy figure and unravel the mysteries lurking within the forest's depths.

As the shadow came closer and closer to Raven, it became clear that it was the shadow of a man with purple eyes and very dark hair.

The man continued to shout with clear anger on his face, but this time Raven could understand what he was saying.

"You little bastard, where the hell did you come from, and why are you interfering with my attack, or rather, why are you defending this abandoned family?"

After he finished talking, Raven looked back at the family, and they were shaking in fear. It seems that they could recognize the man in front of them.

The man standing still extended his right hand towards the lone goblin who was also defending the family and shouted.

"How are you not affected like the rest of your kin, you little insect?"

After finishing, the man's hand started glowing with purple mana, and the goblin fell to the ground and started squirming in pain.

After the mana in his hand subsided, the man looked even angrier this time.

It all happened in a matter of less than a minute.

but Raven immediately knew what was happening.

The man was trying to control the goblin's mind, and it seemed like he failed, and not for the first time, apparently.

Raven looked at the family before taking any action that might harm them and whispered to the family head,

"Do you know this guy?"

"Not at all, but I think we know where he came from."

The father replied

Raven continued asking

"He doesn't look like a good guy."

"Oh, he isn't, he comes from an extremely evil organizati__."

"What are you two whispering about over there, or are you that scared to see me that you're trying to find a way to make me calm down before I kill you all."

Raven whispered to the father again.

"Ok, he's definitely not a good guy, and I'm going to see what I can do against him."

"Can I borrow your sword?"

 The family head hesitated for a moment, considering whether to hand over the sword, but immediately came back to his senses and realized that helping Raven was the best course of action.

As Raven held the sword for the first time in a while, memories flooded back of the old days when he devoted a decade to mastering its use.

Ten years of relentless training flashed before his mind, each moment etching a deeper connection between him and the blade.

"It's been a while, old friend,"

Raven murmured, feeling the weight of the sword in his hand.

With a practiced stance, Raven prepared to face the strange man, his determination radiating from every fiber of his being.

"Let me show you what a world champion in swordsmanship in my world can do,"

Raven declared, his voice steady and resolute.

Turning to the mother, Raven requested,

"Can you buff me again? I need all the strength and agility you can provide."

The mother nodded her head confidently, her hands glowing with a gentle light as she chanted incantations under her breath.

And before she could finish her casting, the man lunged at Raven with blinding speed, his sword slashing through the air with lethal intent.

"Do you think I will just wait for you to get all buffed and ready to fight me?"

But Raven reacted with lightning-fast reflexes, his movements fluid and precise as he deftly parried the attack, his sword meeting the enemy's blade with a resounding clash.

"If you thought you could catch me off guard, think again. The last seven years have been a rollercoaster of twists and turns, leaving me unfazed by anything."

With each exchange, Raven seemed to move with uncanny precision, his reactions almost preternatural in their swiftness and accuracy.

It was as if Raven had anticipated the man's every move, his instincts honed by years of training and sharpened by the heat of battle.

'During the past two years while designing the system, I had to anticipate everything any user could do in the game, and I guess I became able to predict any and everything that could happen.'

As their swords clashed in a symphony of steel, Raven's thoughts drifted back to the countless hours spent designing the intricate systems of his virtual world, a testament to his ability to anticipate and adapt to any challenge.

With each exchange, Raven seemed to gain the upper hand, his strikes landing with deadly accuracy while his opponent struggled to keep pace.

Yet again, the man tried to take him by surprise as he cast a fireball in his other hand and launched it at Raven.

But Raven easily avoided it, as he was looking out for the man's other hand in case something like this happened.

"What did I tell you? You can't take me by surprise, so just show me what you've got and let's end things here."

The man's face contorted with rage as he unleashed a barrage of attacks, each one more ferocious than the last. But Raven met each blow with unwavering resolve, his focus unbroken even in the face of overwhelming odds.

With a swift and calculated movements, Raven sidestepped the fiery onslaught, his movements fluid and graceful as he danced away from the flames.

His senses were heightened, and every fiber of his being was attuned to the rhythm of the battle unfolding around him.

The man's frustration grew palpable as his attacks continued to meet with Raven's expert defense. With each failed strike, his movements grew more erratic, his once-coordinated assault devolving into a desperate flurry of blows.

But Raven remained steadfast, his focus unbroken, as he countered each attack with precision and finesse.

With a swift motion, he parried the man's strikes, his sword slicing through the air with lethal accuracy, cutting the man's left hand off so he wouldn't cast anymore magic.

As the searing pain ripped through his body, the man couldn't help but let out a guttural scream that echoed through the forest.

Despite victory appearing imminent, Raven stayed vigilant, his senses attuned to any potential danger.

He knew that the battle was far from over and that he would need to stay one step ahead if he hoped to emerge victorious.

As the battle intensified, the man's desperation peaked.

"You made me do this, and now you will start regretting your actions."

He retrieved a dark red, glowing gemstone from his pocket and devoured it with a savage grin. In an instant, his wounds began to heal, even his hand grew back and he transformed into a raging force of nature.

"It's... it's an otherworldly gem. You need to get away from him. You can't face him; he's gone far and beyond anything any human has ever reached."

The goblin screamed in fear.

Despite the warning, Raven knew that retreat was not an option. He steeled himself for the inevitable showdown, his resolve unwavering even in the face of overwhelming odds.

With a deep breath, he tightened his grip on his sword, ready to confront the unleashed fury of his foe.

As he prepared himself for the upcoming confrontation, a sudden warmth filled his body, healing his fatigue and increasing his stats.

Raven looked back and saw the mother,

completely exhausted, lying on the ground.

Her condition signaled to him that she had given all she had, emphasizing the urgency of his need to win.

With renewed determination, Raven squared his shoulders, his eyes locked on the transformed foe before him.

The air crackled with tension as the man's body pulsated with dark energy, his form contorting into a grotesque semblance of its former self.

As the transformed man charged forward with unparalleled speed, Raven braced himself for the impact, his muscles tensing in anticipation. With a deft sidestep, he narrowly avoided the crushing blow, his senses heightened to the edge.

Raven moved with fluid grace, his movements a testament to years of honed skills and unwavering determination.

But the transformed man was relentless, his attacks coming fast and furious, each strike infused with dark power.

Raven gritted his teeth against the onslaught, drawing upon the last vestiges of his strength, Raven unleashed a flurry of strikes, each blow aimed with deadly precision. 

With each strike, he sought to chip away at the man's defenses, to find a weakness amidst the swirling chaos of battle.

But the man seemed impervious to pain, his dark laughter ringing through the clearing as he shrugged off Raven's attacks with ease.

With a savage grin, he unleashed a devastating barrage of blows, each strike driving Raven further and further back.

With a lightning-fast final struggle. Raven delivered multiple hits to the man, and because he didn't feel any pain, he didn't know what was happening to his body.

"You are done for now. You will wish you never interfered in other people's business."

 The man said laughing at Raven.

"Huh?, Huhh?"

"Why? Why won't my body move?"

The man was trying to attack Raven again, but Raven was standing still, knowing that he had already won the battle. 

"Oh, you see when you get injured and hurt a certain type of nerve in your arms and legs, you won't be able to move them anymore and then you__"

Raven didn't even finish talking, but the man fell to the ground.

"Exactly, you fall to the ground."

Raven got closer to the man cautiously and dragged him away from the family so no one could see what would happen.

"Now will you tell me why you did this? And what exactly are your goals?"

Raven watched as the man's body returned to normal and continued with an evil grin on his face.

"And it seems that the thing you ate has a duration on it, so it's not a permanent increase in your power."

"I can't say anything, I will die before I can even finish one sentence. I saw it happen to other people, and it won't be me, it won't."

Raven again looked with an even more evil grin on his face.

"Don't worry, I will know what I want to know, whether you want it or not."

"System scan his mind and body for anything that can cause what he said to happen."

'''

[Starting the scan.....]

[scanning complete]

[found a cursed device on his right arm]

'''

'Can you identify what the device does?'

"Hmm, no response?"

"I guess this function is still not implemented yet."

'Can you at least tell me where exactly it is?'

'I guess it's all on me now.'

"Do you know what the problem with being a perfectionist is?"

Raven looked at the man lying on the ground, unable to move.

"Cut the bullshit talk, and if you want to kill me, just do it fast; I won't say anything."

The man looked at Raven with a serious face.

"Well, the problem is that when I want something to happen, it will happen no matter how hard you or anyone else tries to prevent it. It will happen."

"I said you would tell me everything I wanted to know and believe me, you are going to tell me."

Raven took the sword and cut the man's arm from its roots to remove any devices or curses that might be on it.

"Now there is nothing to kill you but me, so you tell me everything you know, or you will stay in this pain for as long as possible."

The man screamed in agony, his cries echoing through the forest

"So.., are you going to say anything? Or do you want me to continue?"

"If you are worried about anything happening to you, don't worry; the curse was on your arm; the arm is gone now, and so is the curse."

"I will.., I will talk."

"Good for you, buddy. Now tell me, who are you? And why did you attack this family? and who is this family?"

"Firstly, I don't have a name; I go by the number 1097."

"I don't know this family. All I know about them is that no one in this world cares about any of them.

I only attacked them to complete my mission and to become an official member of the organization."

"What mission?"

Raven curiously asked

"It's,"

The man hesitated for a moment before looking at Raven's serious face and realizing that he didn't have any other choice.

"It's a mission stating that I have to kill 10 people at the very least, and the more I kill, the higher my position's going to be."

"And how many people have you killed so far?"

"If I succeeded in killing this family, my number would've been 110."

Despite his intense anger, Raven managed to regain some composure in order to continue the interrogation.

"OK, and what is this organization about? Or who is the leader?"

"I don't know the leader nor the organization's purposes."

"Ok, then, what was the gem you ate earlier during our fight?"

"It was a gem filled with life force from the people I killed; it heals all the wounds and grants immense power but with the drawback of losing your mind and going berserk for a certain amount of time."

"Do you know anything else about this organization?"

"No, I don't know, but I know that it's a very scary and powerful organization, and even I am nothing more than a simple pawn in their hands."

"Well, then you have nothing more for me."

Before the man could say any other word or plead for mercy, Raven took the sword and planted it in his neck, killing him in one go.

"It's time to go check on this family and see what information they have for me."