... I angrily sat up, only for another piece of metal to fall and hit me squarely on the head. The pain was so intense that I passed out. When I woke up, several of my teammates' bodies lay beside me, making me want to vomit. I backed away and bumped into a Level 2 monster—it glared at me and flung me into the air. I could only laugh at my ironic fate. I fell onto a blood-soaked red shirt—my stomach was already empty, so there was nothing left to vomit. I got up and saw that the gun in my hand was gone. I helplessly used a piece of iron to defend myself while the system laughed at me, making me extremely angry at this system.
I saw a monster gasping for breath, so I rushed in to attack it after completing my progress of 2/5000. Seeing the progress increase made my stomach rumble, but just as I was enjoying myself, the ground shook. A huge monster with a single eye bigger than a buffalo's emerged from the ground, flinging me back into the blue sky. Then my shirt got caught on a tree branch, and the monster charged at me like it was attacking its new home. The broken system just laughed at me. Luckily, my teammate shot the monster dead, or else I think I would have been counted among the dead. That teammate even cut me down from the uncomfortable tree branch. Oh, I am so grateful.
He wore tattered civilian clothes, his face beaming with a smile, his brown hair disheveled, holding a few stubble hairs. He was so kind that he shared a portion of his food with me, making me cry tears of joy, because today was the first time I had met a good person.
"Who are you? What's your name? I am so grateful for your noble heart..." I said.
"It's nothing! We are all soldiers protecting humanity together! Helping each other is only natural! My name is Nam! What's your name...?" Nam said with a bright smile.
"Oh! My name is Mochan! I'm new to the unit, please guide me! Thank you very much..." I said.
I was chatting happily with Nam when more than a dozen bat-like monsters, each nearly half my size, rushed towards us. I frantically grabbed an iron rod and climbed up, but tripped on a rock and fell flat on my face. The monsters couldn't help but laugh loudly. While they were still laughing, I crawled away to another spot. Nam took the opportunity to throw a grenade that blew the monsters to pieces, then turned back and laughed at me.
"When you applied to join the team, you must have been a circus performer. You must have been very popular!" Nam laughed loudly at me.
I almost lost my head and clicked my tongue. I got up, grabbed the iron rod, and moved forward. Nam followed me. I opened the mission log and saw the progress bar at 3/5000 monsters, which was discouraging. Nam kept following me for some reason. While walking, I saw a level 0 monster. Excited, I charged in and just as I finished the monster, the level 3 mother of that monster appeared, forcing me and Nam to run for our lives. Luckily, we escaped; otherwise, I'm afraid we wouldn't have been able to save our lives. Nam and I breathed a sigh of relief after escaping the monster.
"Why does the world have to have someone as unlucky as me...!" I hadn't even finished speaking when a bomb exploded, throwing me several hundred meters away.
Oh, my hunched back! Unfortunately, Nam had sacrificed himself. Seeing this, I burst into tears for my unfortunate comrade.
"I'm not dead! What's wrong with your eyes...!" Nam's voice trembled, making me scared and step back.
"Get me the medicine! In the left pocket... quick!" Nam's voice trembled again, as if he couldn't hold on any longer.
I frantically took the medicine from Nam's left pocket and gave it to him to drink. After drinking it, Nam sat up and smiled.
"Hey! Are you okay, Nam? It must hurt a lot..." I asked in panic.
Nam smiled and said two words: "Goodbye." Nam collapsed. I held my breath and looked at Nam, tears streaming down my cheeks.
"Hey, stop crying! I was just pretending!... I'm fine! Ahahaha!" Nam stood up and laughed in my face.
"You're still too young and naive! I know you're fine! I was just acting! Ahahaha!" I stood up and laughed even louder than Nam.
"Stop laughing! If the monsters find out, we're all dead..." Nam stopped me.
And sure enough, more than a dozen giant wolves as tall as people surrounded us, but they only attacked me while Nam was ignored.
"I have no grudge against you guys! Huhuhu...!" I cried out.
"Too bad it turned out like this! Thanks, buddy! Ahahahaha..." Nam couldn't help but laugh.
"What are you standing there for? Call someone to help me quickly! I can't take it anymore!" I growled.
Nam rushed off to find someone, but he was still laughing as he walked.
A moment later, Nam returned with a guy wearing a black cloak with a cross on it. He looked serious, but when he saw my situation, he couldn't help but laugh and forgot his mission to cut me. I could only lie there helplessly begging, but luckily, he realized it and cut me. After a while, when I was cut out, I was happy because my progress had reached 23/5000 monsters, but my clothes were slightly torn - to be honest, they were super torn, plus the stench of sweat and the smell of blood, even the guy who cut me, an experienced person, vomited. He took Nam away, leaving me behind—he had invited me to go, but I couldn't—because I still had that bizarre task to complete. I had no choice but to endure it. Luckily, he had a conscience and left me a stack of protective charms...