The screech resonated at the air again, yet Aiden didn't dare to look down. He knew it had seen him but was hoping that it won't find him.
"It's going to kill me, it's going to kill me," Aiden muttered in an intangible language as tears trickled down his eyes. 'Feeling restless' was not the right phrase to explain the situation of his mind.
His back was wet with sweat, so was his palm. Every time he tried to close his eyes, he could see a pair of red eyes staring at him.
He was scared. He felt someone squeezing his heart every time he heard the sound of hooves hitting the hard ground. He couldn't breathe, yet he kept muttering like a fool, "It's not going to come so high in the tree. It's not going to see me. It can't be...
*Tzzzz*
His neckband sent a burst of electrical charge through his body. In a moment of vulnerability, he was struck unconscious by a sudden shock.
*Tzzzz*
Next short burst of electrical shock from the PADS forced him to wake up. There was very little duration between each pulse, but in that moment of carelessness, Aiden had almost fallen.
No matter how much they were trained, after all, they were teenagers. Seeing a giant beast in a picture is one thing, but looking at the eyes was different. And that's why the pulse was programmed as a combat support system in the PADS.
[Host is in a state of shock. 34% drop in rationality. Emergency short bursts activated.]
[Hormone level under control. 47% increase in effi...]
The notification continued to appear in his mind, but Aiden ignored it. As soon as he woke up, he quickly stabilized his body on the branch.
The beast was still shrieking, but it was no longer affecting his mind. After a short burst of the collar, his mind had calmed down.
'What am I doing here? I've been trained for so long and I'm going to fail as soon as I get here! No, I promised them. I'm going to live.' Aiden shot those thoughts back in his mind as he peered to reassess the situation.
That thing was a few meters away from the tree, but Aiden had no idea what it was going to do. Yet he was sure of what he had to do.
'Flash' As soon as he ordered the shuttle, it sent a short burst of high-intensity flash. It radiated the forest for a moment, and on the next, the forest plunged into suffocating silence. But it was effective to draw the beast's attention.
*Boom*
*Boom*
The assault went on, and Aiden could see it all. The camera on the shuttle continued to send feedback to him. As soon as it flashed, the beast charged at the shuttle in force.
Due to the elongated hind legs when it was on four, its body arched awkwardly. But his strength could not be ignored. Each time the giant antler clashed with the shuttle, it penetrated the outer shell.
Alas! It was made of conmet, more commonly referred to as conscious metal or mana metal. As long as there is mana or any kind of energy in the surrounding area, it can be repaired on its own. When the beast attacked for the second time, the wounds of the first attack had healed.
'This won't do.' Aiden couldn't help but sigh. 'It is a beast without intelligence. Driven by instinct it will continue to attack until it dies. I have to end it quickly.'
Aiden peeked down while the beast had no intention to spare any glance towards him.
'Ready the taser at the maximum strength.'
[Taser is on stand-by.] In his mind, the system verified.
"Release" Aiden screamed in rage. Just as the antler reached the shuttle once more, enormous electric snakes shot from the vessel. It was a short time but the blinding light forced Aiden to turn away.
The attack has been effective. The beast fell to the ground as part of its antler broke off. Its body continued to spasm. It took a while before the beast could stand up again.
Still, it's been struggling to stand straight. Fear was in its eyes as it looked back at the shuttle. It gave another piercing cry with its tongue before the vampire deer vanished in the dark forest.
The whole ordeal was played out in front of his eyes, but Aiden couldn't spare a glance at it.
He felt someone squeezing his heart hard enough to burst as he stared at the face in front of him. It's a face. He stared at the human face. A human face with no eyeballs or teeth inside the mouth.
'How could there be another human in here? And it's not just one.' As the spark spread from the shuttle, Aiden saw thousands of faces staring right at him. However, he was confused, 'When did they get so close?'
He could not even ask the system to check the beast, nor could he look away. He felt that they would attack him as soon as he looked away, so he didn't dare.
The wind sent chills down his back every time it touched his wet back. His eyes were itching to close, but he couldn't.
'It's better to give up.' Even as he thought about it, he couldn't dare to lose his taunted nerve. Aiden was already running on the fumes, and now he felt he had exhausted it, too. 'It's better to die now. I could never win against so many of them.'
*Dong* Dong*
'Cowbell, isn't it?' Aiden was startled. In a moment of carelessness, he closed his eyes. He was ready to accept his death, yet he cried out in frustration. "Nooo."
He opened his eyes, and he was greeted not by a face, but by a butterfly. Precisely, an insect that looked like a human face with wings of butterflies.
[Face flies. 0.6-0.8 meter in length. With a wingspan of 2 meters. Gives off a pheromone that induces hallucination.]
"You bastard, can't you let me know before the hallucination starts?" Aiden couldn't help but curse out loud while struggling to avoid all the face flies that were flying around.
[The host wasn't under a pheromone-induced hallucination.]
The robotic voice poured a bucket of cold water on his body.
"Wasn't that the flies? Then why did I hallucinate? "Aiden was shocked at the explanation.
[The host is diagnosed with Acute Mana Poisoning,]
As soon as he heard the robotic voice, all the strength left his body. But the voice wasn't finished,
[Host can live for a maximum of six days.]
It took a long time to get his breath back to normal. "It's impossible. It can't happen to me. System, run a full check of my body. I want to have a detailed analysis. I want to know all about it."
[Initiating the analysis. Asking for permission to draw…]
The system couldn't complete his words, yet Aiden had already confirmed it, "Just do whatever you want."
Moments ago, he struggled hard to survive a little longer, but now that the system had informed him of his inevitable fate, he couldn't believe it. Even if it was an error-free system.
The shock was so great that the needle pierced around his neck was no longer painful. It took a few minutes, but every minute was an eternity for Aiden.
[NAME: Aiden Law {Injured} {Dying}
Age:16
Element: Wind
Level: 2 (2)
Grade: D (A)
Strength: 7 (11)
Agility: 9 (17)
Endurance: 5 (21)
Dexterity: 7 (15)
Intelligence: 10 (15)
Health: 18/57 (-/89)
Mana: 10/32 (-/81)
Battle rating: Level 2 (Level 5)
Skill: [Reduce Drag] [Air Punch] [Air spike] [Wind Skin] [Wind Burst] [Wind Scythe] [Wind Gale]
]
"How can my stats be reduced by so much?" Aiden was expressing his disbelief and the system provided him with an answer.
[The efficiency of the left shoulder is reduced due to injury. Due to acute mana poisoning, excess mana is constantly corroding the muscles and bones of the body, and…]
"Stop it." Aiden growled, "Tell me what the hell's wrong with my body?"
As soon as he asked, an image of a human body appeared in front of his vision. A transparent body with lines all over it.
'These are not the blood vessels, but the mana channels. And the place where all the mana is stored is the bright spot in his abdomen. It's called the 'mana vessel,' but there's one thing Aiden couldn't understand. "What is the bright point over the heart?"
It seemed that PADS was waiting for him to ask the question.
[This is the body of an acute mana poisoned patient. To be precise, it is the body of one who cultivates magic using the Eastern Methodology.]
[By Eastern methodology, mana is absorbed from the surrounding area and stored in the mana vessel. But when one is diagnosed with acute mana poisoning, another vessel appears in the body.]
The point at the heart began to blink as the system spoke. The mana flow within the body, which has been streamlining until now, has become turbulent. And the mana began to flow to the heart.
[In the case of ordinary mana poisoning, the vessels formed at the limbs. So, by discarding that part, one could survive. But in the case of an acute one, the vessel is much stronger, and even if one goes through a heart transplant, it will...]
"Shut up. Shut up" Aiden screamed like crazy. He was not even worried about the result of his careless action. He went crazy and somewhere in the middle of this craziness he screamed out loud, "Medicine."
"Yes, there is a medicine" He tried to slide down the tree but his impatience peeled the skin from here and there. Aiden was unable to give a damn about the new wound as he ran to the Pod Shuttle.
The shuttle was in the shape of an egg and was three meters high. The outer shell was already repairing itself, but that wasn't important as Aiden ran straight inside.
He was looking for an anti-mana poisoning medicine, but it wasn't there. He looked at the place where the backup drugs were supposed to be, and it wasn't there either. It wasn't just the mana poisoning drug, there wasn't a single medicine in the entire shuttle.
"It can't be." Aiden fell to the floor as he grabbed his head, "How could he forget to distribute the drugs?"
Aiden had no idea whether the device was attempting to be dramatic or not, but it decided to tell him.
[It is concluded from the toxicology report that you have not received any shots of anti-poisoning in the last month.]
"Huh! What did you say?" Aiden screamed in rage. But he understood everything the next moment.
"Alex, it's Alex. Only he can do that. He was responsible for distributing the shots. He was the one who was supposed to put the medicine on the shuttle."
Horror, rage, fear, anger weakened his mental health. Weakness, too, invaded his body, and he could no longer stand.
In the status all the values are like,
Stats: Present value (Actual value)
Strength: 7 (11)
