MARK'S PERIL ( II )

Mark continued to dash forward as the rats chased him, unaware of his actions as the only thing on his mind was escape from the monster rats. He hadn't even noticed that he had killed one of them until the notification sounded, adding 50 points to his soul energy.

After noticing the notification and the change in his soul energy, he willed the conversion of soul energy into stats, a bit confused by it. As his subconscious desired an increase in endurance and strength, they increased the most.

A surge of power rushed through his body, invigorating him.

He stopped running as the surge of power gave him confidence, confidence that made him believe he could take all three of them with the power he had just gained as he unknowingly killed one of them.

" This should be enough," he thought to himself as he readied his mind and stance for a fight.

With a shield in one arm, he dashed toward the incoming rats, his eyes full of hope. Upon arriving at the closest rat, he slammed his shield into it, the impact pushing him and the rat back.

"Still not enough," he thought to himself, as he had believed he could slam the monster into its comrades.

Observing the monster before him, growling ominously, he realized that a blunt attack, such as the slam he just delivered, wouldn't be enough to kill it. The creature appeared unharmed, and the slam only served to provoke its anger. Scanning his surroundings, he spotted the spear he had brought with him protruding from the monstrous rat he had unintentionally slain.

The monsters did not give him leeway to think as they rushed him, unfazed by his newfound strength.

He swiftly dashed back, narrowly escaping the bite of one of the rats. Unfortunately, in mid-air, he was struck by the rat he had pushed back, enraged by the actions of its prey. With a loud thud, Mark collided with the ceramic floor, breaking the tiles on impact.

He felt hazy as he had hit his head, blood trickling down his face.

His mind was in disarray as things did not play out as he wished. Attempting to regain some control of the situation, he tried to get up. Rising to his feet, his body shook as it had just been thrown hard onto the solid ceramic ground.

Wobbling on his feet, he managed to stabilize himself, still feeling dizzy from his earlier crash. After gaining a bit of stability, he noticed the monster rats running his way. Instinctively, he attempted to run but stumbled on a broken tile in the small crater his crash had created, falling flat on his face.

Noticing the state of their prey, the four creatures rushed toward him, their mouths salivating.

He turned towards the oncoming creatures, helplessness finally sinking in. He, who had almost lost the sense of fear, now felt it keenly. He was afraid of losing his life before accomplishing his goal of helping his friend. Afraid that his short life would come to an end at the hands of these disgusting creatures.

"I wanted to die in my old age, peacefully or on the battlefield... I guess one does not choose where he dies. Leo, I am sorry..."

Memories of his time with Leo flashed through his mind.

*******

"How come you are not afraid of being stung?" A twelve-year-old Mark asked Leo, who was up a tree trying to steal honey from a bee hive.

"Shhh," Leo signaled him to be silent, as what he was doing was a delicate job. Slowly and gently, he placed his hands in the beehive, scooping up the honey with his fingers.

He winced in pain as a bee stung him but did not remove his hand, as the immediate and abrupt motion would alert the rest. Slowly, he removed his hand and jumped off the tree.

"See, you got stung," Mark remarked, as he noticed the swelling on his friend's hand. He paced " I told you so "

"Yep, but only by one bee. At the end of it, I got the honey," Leo exclaimed as he licked the honey on his finger.

"But all the bees could have attacked you, you know. How come you were not afraid?"

"Let's see... Afraid... Fear... Fear is not that bad, you know. In fact, I was actually afraid. Fear is a good thing, but humans usually lack control of it, making the situation worse. So, I do become afraid but control the feeling, utilizing it to prevent what it wants to it wants to prevent. Fear comes in to prevent a danger your body or instincts forsee and when you control the power the fear gives you, you can surely escape the cause of the fear. I call it calm fear," Leo spoke, deliberately slowing down his speech to sound philosophical.

"Stop spouting b*llsh*t, ..."

"MARK!!! Leo!!! IT'S TIME FOR DINNER."

********

Mark snapped out of his daze as he thought of what Leo said.

"I am shaking because I am afraid; fear is a good thing, it is there to prevent what you are afraid of. What am I afraid of, dying?! Leo's death?!.. Then fear will do something to prevent it, right!?"

With a surge of adrenaline, his body instinctively moved, slamming the shield into a rat that had gotten too close for comfort.

Mark still lay on the ground, dazed, as his body and instincts tried to protect him. He took a fetus-laying posture and covered himself with the 2.5-radius shield, protecting him from the onslaught of the monsters.

The force of their slashes and slams reverberated through his body, causing him to cough out a mouthful of blood.

The rats slammed into each other as their prey was too small.

Feeling enraged, they stopped attacking Mark and started attacking each other, slashing and biting at each other over ownership of the prey.

Their battle gave Mark room to breathe as he was slowly being crushed by their attacks.

Taking advantage of the confusion, he slowly crawled toward the bag he had brought with him.

BANG!!

He pulled the trigger of a shotgun he had taken from the bag, blasting a hole through the head of the closest rat.

The loud sound from the shot startled the three, causing them to run away from the unknown noise, as was the nature of rats.

Mark steadied his breathing as he noticed the rats running away and a notification sounding proof of the demise of the rat he had just killed.

"Convert," he muttered under his breath. His soul energy plummeted as it was changed into his stat points.

He felt a surge of power in his body, but strangely enough, he was still fatigued as his vitality did not increase with his stats.

He was too tired to think or feel any sense of accomplishment from his kill.

His sore muscles began to heal as he lay on the cold hard floor, a steady rhythmic breathing escaping his lips. He had fallen asleep.

After 30 minutes of sleeping, he awoke abruptly, as one wakes from a nightmare. His vitality was replenished.

"How could I fall asleep? What if the rats had come back!?... Eh, well whatever... I need to find the infirmary," he said to himself as he grabbed his bag, ready to continue his journey.

He figured he might come across another monster and thus went towards the rat's corpse to retrieve his spear when he noticed the three rats feasting on the dead rat's corpse.

"I need that spear, but more importantly, I need the experience points they will give me. I need more strength if I wish to save Leo," he thought to himself as he resolved himself to fight the three rats, envisioning victory.

He dashed forward, armed with the shotgun, and shot at the closest one, blowing its head off. The two remaining ones, upon hearing the sound of the shotgun, ran in fear of the unknown.

Unfortunately, the path of one of them was toward the unknown it was running from. Mark, noticing the monster running towards it, pulled the trigger, but no sound followed.

"Out of bullets," he thought.

He threw the gun away as he grabbed a dagger from the bag, positioning himself to intercept the monster that had still not come to its senses as it tried to run away from the sound of the earlier gunshot.

The rat slammed into Mark, unaware of his presence in its path. Mark skillfully jumped as it collided with him, landing on its back. Holding onto the rat's body, he rode on its back as the rat ran to safety unaware of the intruder on its back. With a firm grip on the dagger, he stabbed at the monster's eyes, turning the dagger with each thrust.

The sharp pain the beast felt brought it back to its senses as it noticed the intruder on its back, but it was too late as the intruder stabbed at it again, this time with greater force.