Chapter 18
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"Why has it gotten so cold?"
My body shivered despite the mild night chill, which should not have caused such a sudden feeling of fear as I walked deep into the desolate forest. With growing shock and horror, I noticed blood spattered on the ground like ugly red flowers growing on dark black soil. These were not just scattered spots, but clear traces of a bloody battle or deep, bleeding wounds, dark, clotted smears intertwined with fallen leaves and wet mud, emitting a faint metallic smell like the cold scent of death. I stopped for a moment, my heart pounding in my chest like a frightened bird trapped in a narrow cage, my eyes darting around in an attempt to understand the source of this horrific scene that had broken the silence of the night and stirred a deep and mysterious anxiety in my soul.
Would I find the injured expert now? What great luck! My heart rejoiced at the prospect of this discovery! I hoped he had not died before I reached him. What indescribable happiness would be mine!
I ran quickly along the sticky trail of blood until I could smell the pungent odor filling the air. I slowed down cautiously and looked around until I reached a huge, dark tree leaning against which was a motionless person with eyes fixed on me.
I screamed in fear as I pretended:
"Who's there? Is that a monster... Mom! Mom! I'm so scared, I want to go home now, please!"
I turned around slowly to examine my dark and silent surroundings and waved my hands frantically and confusedly as if I couldn't see anything in the pitch darkness that enveloped the place.
"You insolent human, who are you?"
I felt a hidden force wrap around my body like icy chains, and my body was pulled forward against my will, as if I were a helpless doll.
In front of me was a body glistening with the bloody sheen of blood. Despite the blood staining her face, I glimpsed the whiteness of her face, pale as a moon that destroys cities with its roar and stirs up wind and dust with its steps, with a beauty that defies nature, destroying continents and planets, sweeping away cities, killing men, women, birds, and crocodiles, destroying grains of sand with its sharp edges. sweeping away ant nests with its terrifying whispers, destroying dust particles with its piercing gaze, a fanatical germ killer with its polluted thoughts, a genius chef who prepares feasts from torn limbs, a legendary musician who enjoys the moans of his victims...bluh bluh bluh
I said quickly, trying to hide my rising fear:
"Ma'am... Oh my God! You seem to be seriously injured. Do you need help? I'm here to help you at any cost."
The woman said coldly, trying hard to keep her emerald green eyes open with great difficulty:
"Would I need help from a deceitful bastard like you, you scum? You were running towards me just a second ago, and when you got close to me, you started slowing down artificially and pretending to be ignorant of your whereabouts with deliberate stupidity, as if you were lost in this place."
I said with a sly smile:
"Of course I'm lost, my lovely lady, I'm lost in your enchanting beauty and your glowing skin that outshines the stars!"
I felt the chains surrounding me gradually weaken until they disappeared completely, leaving me with a sudden sense of freedom. So I boldly took advantage of what seemed to me to be weakness and tried to touch her provocatively.
The woman noticed what was happening with eyes green with anger and whispered coldly, almost freezing my blood:
"How dare you? You worthless insect."
Suddenly, her hand moved toward me with lightning speed, and a shiny blade, like a razor blade, flashed in her hand, which suddenly seemed strong and steady.
"Finally," I thought calmly as I closed my eyes in mock anticipation of the shiny blade piercing my neck and putting an end to this farce.
...
....
" Huh?"
I opened my eyes slowly and confusedly when I didn't feel the cold touch of the blade I had expected, only to find the girl lying motionless in front of me, her hand dropped weakly to the ground as if she had dropped a heavy burden.
I approached her hesitantly and placed my finger under her nose to see if she was breathing. To my shock, or perhaps to my deep disappointment mixed with a sense of strangeness, I found that she was not breathing! There was no sign of warmth or movement, no rise or fall of her chest, no faint whisper of life remaining.
Boo!
"Damn it!"
I shouted in shock and suppressed anger:
" No! It can't be!"
I slapped her cheek hard in desperate violence, as if trying to wake a body without a soul.
Damn it! Is this my bad luck? I always heard from Marlow, that foolish dreamer, that walking alone in the woods or mysterious places at night would lead you to meet a wonderful, powerful, but severely wounded celestial expert, and when you meet him, you save him and he makes you his disciple and teaches you amazing techniques, and his enemies come after him to kill him, and we go looking for treasure together because he's a wonderful, intelligent, handsome expert, and we conquer everything together as master and disciple. What a load of crap! Instead, I find the corpse of a miserable girl!
" Son of a bitch Marlow, have you been lying to me, you bastard? It turns out you're just like your illegitimate, crooked father. You've been deceiving me and filling my head with fantasies!"
I planned to find someone in his weak and miserable state and save him.
I imagined the heroic moment when I would offer him a helping hand. After all, I am a kind-hearted person by nature (there's no doubt about that) and I love saving people from death (especially when they are powerful experts who can teach me powerful techniques).
Just kidding...
My plan was to find him and provoke him by hitting or insulting him until he attacked me with his extreme strength, so I could experience something new, but I didn't expect this idiot to die so suspiciously quickly, just seconds after I met her! What a disappointment!
" Fuck you!"
I moved towards her with angry steps and started kicking her face violently to vent my explosive anger until I calmed my troubled self after long minutes that seemed like an eternity.