Struggles

[Ding]

[Notice: You have been idle for 2 hours and 32 minutes]

A faint ding entered my ears while a screen appeared before my eyes.

I immediately close my eyes, yet even after doing so it seemed like the screen would not go away.

I had been sitting in the same spot for several hours now, and it had gotten to a point where my rocking had seemed to immaculately blend in with the rest of nature as if it was just something meant to be.

Not for a single second did I forget the pain of death, the cold sensation that slowly seeps into your mind as you lie there defenseless.

I could vividly remember every moment of that nightmare and could identify it like the back of my hand.

My entire body had not stopped shaking ever since I had been given this new body to inhabit...

The worst thing about it was that the body didn't even feel like it was mine.

Every physical movement and sensation felt oddly alien to me, as if I was a newborn trying to learn how to move for the first time, yet at the same time vividly remembering how to do so without the need for any help.

I could move fine, yet my movements were almost... rusty?

The moment I heard the sound of the system notification, I felt a strange jolt travel through my very bones.

I had once again remembered the moments before my death, the scenes playing out in my mind at a pace slower than the original.

It was as if my mind was trying to constantly sabotage me, making me suffer more and more every single time I watched it by slowing it down. maybe it was a way for my mind to force me into getting used to the scene, but even then it would not have been the best way to go about things.

The tears had not halted and instead, he only increased in volume in the last few hours.

*Rustle* *Rustle*

Yet, with a single sound, the tears that had been flooding out of my eyes stopped in their tracks. My high heart rate which had become erratic in the previous minutes had slowed down to about 40 beats per minute.

I couldn't even understand how I knew that it was around that much, but at that moment it didn't matter.

My body had sprung up and fixed itself into a fighting position. I only then realized that my left arm had come back, yet just like the heart rate problem that I was skeptical about, I simply did not have the time to think about it at that moment.

My eyes had become cold and calculating without a speck of remorse or other emotion that could get in the way of my conquest...

My conquest to survive once again.

*Rustle*

The rustle now was a lot closer and had come from one of the nearby large bushes, yet due to the size of everything in this world, I had found it a lot easier to identify the movement within the bush before eventually linking it back to an animal I had seen before.

*Screech*

A loud screech-like squeak left the mouth of the rate as it lunged towards me while baring its fangs at me.

Its movements felt oddly slow... Unlike the other rat, this one seemed to be a lot weaker, yet that was not the main focus of my surprise.

It had only taken me an instant however, I had already found myself in front of the creature with my palm extended and muscles I had not recognized until now bulging from my forearm alongside several nerves.

I looked at the rat with an unwavering stare of coldness and killing intent. A killing intent that dominated seemingly anything I looked at.

Unbeknownst to me, my eyes were now containing a faint yet visible crimson halo that surrounded my pupil.

I had been ready to kill from the moment I had heard its movement, and as if my body was moving instinctually to those thoughts, I could only watch as my body moved on its own and my hand turned into a blur before slamming into the figure that had charged at me.

*SLAM*

The sound of my palm hitting the creature resounded in the area alongside the cracking of several bones before eventually, having the rat flung across the area we were in just to slam into a tree, break the top part off and fall onto the broken tree just to have it get impaled in the same instance.

My sight did not move from where it had been situated as my gaze grew more intense by the minute, not even blinking with the worry that there might be a chance that the rat is still alive.

[You have killed a Swamp Rat]

[You have gained +15 EXP]

[You have leveled up]

[Level 7]

[Progress: 5/6400]

I had finally gotten an indication of the rat's death, yet unlike others who would have let their guard down completely, I was still not completely sure if the rat had survived my attack and so I was still ready to attack at all times no matter what position I were to be put in. It was like I didn't trust my own system.

I hated to admit it, but I was kind of scared. The simple palm attack I had done had already caused all alarms to ring within my mind screaming at me to stop and retreat, yet I knew that I had no choice in the matter.

It was as if my mind had a mind of its own, and while the situation was not as bad before I had died, the instinctual movements mainly activated whenever I was in a life and death situation, now they were activating no matter how weak the thing attacking was.

My body seemed to think of everything as an enemy, from the grass that brushed against the soles of my feet to the trees that moved a little after the wind blew.

Any movement, scent, touch, or sound would put me on full alert even though I knew that nothing could attack me without the feeling of dread overcoming me and in the process, also warning me of an incoming attack.

'This is bad...' I thought to myself with a frown eventually converging onto my cold facial expression.

'I'm becoming too paranoid, and at this point, it isn't even me, it's this damn body moving on its own.' My frown deepened but I couldn't do anything to resolve my mental turmoil, or at least not for now.

The best thing I could do was try and overcome my fear of dying...

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