"No, not good at all." The words were barely a whisper, lost in the sudden, deafening thud of Rabboar hooves. I never thought something with that weight could support such speed. But then, hey, it's an alternate world, right? Physics were probably more of a suggestion here. The enraged Rabboar seemed to double its speed, a blurring mass of fur and muscle. Its eyes, like searing coals, dragged lines in its swift maneuvers, fixing on me with murderous intent.
It became a blur, a furry, unstoppable battering ram. I darted behind a gnarled tree, felt the bark shudder as the Rabboar crashed into it, then scrambled over a moss-covered boulder as it spun, spraying chunks of earth. My evasion was less skill, more frantic, desperate scrambling. I tripped on a root, barely catching myself, only to watch its tusked snout rip through the bush where my head had been a second ago. Splintered wood and leaves exploded around me.
It charged me relentlessly, which I barely dodged and most of the time now I blocked its attacks with my knife-sword, but as usual, the impacts threw me skyward, to the ground, or into the surrounding vegetation. "Oof," I grunted, spitting out dirt. "Cough, cough, cough." Feels like I'm stuck on a loop. Is this the game's way of telling me I need a new strategy, or just mocking my lack of progress?
My energy was dwindling fast. I think I was just running on battery reserves now, with airplane mode firmly on. If this continued, I'd be a nameless skeleton in this absurd world. I remembered, I hadn't even said thank you to my childhood friend Carlos, who'd had my back since primary school. I hadn't apologized to Mimi for ghosting her. This couldn't be the end.
Wait, what was that? Is that a splinter on its right rib? My eyes narrowed, focusing through the haze of exhaustion.
My Heightened Awareness twitched to life:
Wood Splinter: - Location: Rabboar's Right Rib - Size: About the size of 2 bananas
"Seriously, bananas?" I muttered, pushing the thought of the fruit out of my mind. "Note to self, attack the lower half."
The beast, which usually just squoinked, now roared, a guttural sound filled with pure hatred. It growled and grrrrrrrred, charging and biting like a rabid animal—logs, rocks, whatever stood in its way to trample me. It was clearly on a rampage!
"Rampage?" My gamer instincts thought of something wild, hours of gameplay stacked to a single, desperate move. With the last remaining energy, I stood up and ran as fast as I can. "Hey, Rabbit-pig!" I taunted, a desperate laugh bubbling in my throat. "Is that the best you got!?" I stopped, and then, in a very sloppy version, I performed the Ocho-ocho and Spageti dance steps, complete with wild arm flails.
"Growwwwwl!" Pure hatred burned in its eyes, as if screaming, "I'm not a pig nor rabbit, I'm BOTHHHH!" And its charge hop produced splashes of rocks and dirt as its hoof/feet/paw propelled from the ground, covering its trail a hail of debris.
My Heightened Awareness twitched again:
Attack: Enraged Charge Speed: More than 60 kph Trajectory: Shown as red line, between 3-5 seconds before impact Damage: (To you) Instant death
I immediately scuttled with all my might, sidestepping frantically. Its thumping hooves hastily gained on me while it shrieked and growled. Then I saw it. I jumped aside as fast as I could, but midway, its snout somehow caught my right trainer and dragged me in its path, throwing me, dragging me across the ground. Sanity, it seemed, finally took hold of the Rabboar when its wild charge came to an abrupt, loud thud! The beast had slammed headfirst into a big tree. The tree shook violently, and fruits fell from its branches, raining down around me.
"Wall slam, baby!" I gasped, my voice hoarse. Just like in the games, but this time, it was my enemy taking the hit in this unforgiving world. My triumph was cut short by pain and bruises. I struggled up, picked up my sword which had been thrown separately from me.
I walked slowly towards the beast, every muscle protesting. There was a small crater where the collision happened. The beast was lying on its side, breathing heavily and slowly, blood oozing from its mouth. A wave of pity washed over me as I stood above it.
It looked at me in the eye with a gaze I will never forget, like a candle nearly out of wax, like an hourglass running out of sand. It snorted, as if saying, "Pathetic, get it over with!" I knew that if I didn't do anything, this creature would suffer longer. I mustered up my courage and I used my remaining strength to push the splinter deeper. A faint Squoink. I closed its eyes.
Then, a series of prompts shimmered into existence:
Intermediate Sword Handling Learned Intermediate
Evasion Learned
Dash Skill Learned
General Awareness: Peach-Mango Fruit - Description: Might be edible
A rectangle the size of a bath soap box, brown, appeared nearby. It looked oddly similar to Jollibee's peach-mango pie, like a sick joke. Without hesitation, I bit the fruit. Its covering was hard, like biting bark. "Ptooey!" I spat, revealing the white fruit inside. Then, it oddly tasted like apple combined with guyabano, and had the texture of an unripe mango, but juicy. Very, very misleading from the tree name. I devoured it, my stomach protesting at first, but once it settled, I ravaged the rest, one after another, not noticing that I was making a muffled laugh like a deranged person.