Chapter 8: Chapter Six: Ones Unlucky Enough to Encounter Monsters

Cold. Too cold. And this feeling. What is this thing over me? It is heavy and gives shivers to my spine.

I moved my arm, and a chunk of snow slid from the tower stacked over me. "So, that's where all that cold and weight comes from." I pushed myself and got up, and the rest of the snow fell. "My clothes got covered in snow, and I think my sock is frozen but had worse."

Perhaps a small fire will fix all my problems. I began moving towards my shelter. I have some wood left I can light on fire, and my wallet still has a couple of bucks ready to be used as kindling.

I moved inside and grabbed some wood. They are still unchopped. How bothersome. Thankfully, I have a large log I can use to cut others and an ax I can use to cut wood. Now, I shouldn't wait anymore if I want my clothes unfrozen.

I dropped the woods outside and began grabbing them one by one and cutting them with a single strike of my ax. Weird to think I managed to survive that cold. All my clothes are almost frozen and fuck. I doubt I will be able to remove all that blood from them. Still, nagging wouldn't help, not even a bit.

You either work to survive, give everything you got to your last breath to every single drop of blood flowing through your veins, or die, perhaps even worse, live to feel your loss. At least, that's what I learned in my fifteen years of experience.

I saw many soldiers, some more skillful than me, some smarter, and I saw them die just because they didn't have the power to grasp and do everything for victory.
But, it was me who won in the end. I survived, didn't I? I saw countless battles, yet it wasn't me who lost. Then what was the thing driving me to give all I had for victory?

Is it revenge, or patriotism, maybe hatred, maybe none, just sheer lust for blood and death? Now, I don't have a country to go. I have no one to hate, nor someone to take revenge from as I had before. Neither do I have a war to fight.

I kneeled and placed my ax on the ground. These thoughts are too much of a burden for me to carry, but I cannot live without them.

What am I fighting for, a country perhaps millions of light years away from this one? What is the reason I am trying to survive in this place? The war ended, and all the heroes praised are now veterans, on earth or hell. Is all that worth it? A dark past with blood of thousands on it. Is such life worth going through? I ask myself, do I deserve to live, or perhaps ask this better to myself, do I believe I am worth giving all I can do to see another day?

Maybe I will learn the answer to this question one day, but till that day, I have no wish to close my eyes, not in this place.

I got up and grabbed my ax meanwhile. I still have wood to cut and meat to control. I hope I managed to smoke that meat well enough. I doubt wolf meat will taste good, but it is better than a handful of toxic berries.

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Meat is smoked, maybe not flawlessly, but good enough to reserve it for a week in this cold, and look at the coincidence, I am hungry.

I placed some woods and things like leaves and money in a somewhat dry area and lit them on fire. The weather is clear today, a good sign for the fire. While wood burns, I opened a small smoking tent made from wolfskin, grabbed a portion of meat, then skewered it with a wooden stick, and placed it near the fire. I made something like support using rocks, so I am not obligated to hold the meat, but I should turn it around now and then.

"New quest."

Voice broke my silence, but a quest. I wonder what that is, but I hope it is nothing urgent because I feel like my hands are a little filled right now with all those corpses lying in my front yard. I need to get rid of them before they draw predators.

"Say what you have to say. I won't be able to do it anyway." I start turning the skewers since one side is already heated enough.

"Point of interest is nearby for a better chance of survival User must go there at the first opportunity."

"Okay, let me finish my food first. I look at what I can do afterward." This thing, and this world itself, I have a hard time understanding any of it, but I suppose no one in their rightful mind question walking skeletons.

I took some quick bites and finished my meal in a blink of an eye, it is not healthy for one to eat this fast, but I need every second of daylight if I want to survive in this snowy hell.

Now, time for tasks. The first one is checking goblin corpses. That big one was carrying something. Maybe I can use it. The second one is carrying these corpses away and praying something big eats them without leaving a trace, and lastly, check to this point of interest.

I start by checking on the big guy, others only have small spears I can only use as large skewers, but this large basket, I wonder what this one has since the big guy was pretty careful while carrying it.

I moved towards the basket. It is a little covered in snow, but what isn't at this point? I pushed the snow away from its top and opened the cover at its top. No luck identifying what is inside since it full. Maybe I should drag it to my cave and dump things inside to the ground. Yeah, I think I should.

So I did, dragged the basket to my shelter, and dropped everything in it: Jewelry, books, tools, some small boxes, some pans, a dutch oven, and lots of bottles filled with different colored liquids. I wonder who these creatures stole these from, or better not knowing it.

I quickly packed items back into the basket and dragged them into a dark corner of the cave, I am still busy, and those are very stealable.

Now, back to goblin corpses, I doubt they carry valuable stuff, so better to stack them up somewhere far. If I had an open place, I could even burn them, but small predators and alike will do for now.

And now, back to my job.

A short time after it. I dragged corpses away and collected all the stuff I threw to goblins in last night's battle. Now, I think I have spear time for Voice. "Point of interest. How can I go there."

"Southeast of here."

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Good, only answers, just as I like.

If I see that vendor I bought this lighter from one day, I will tip some generous amounts for this product. This little compass is saving my life in here. Without it, who knows what I would do to find my location?

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After a calm trip through the forest, I found the point of interest. It is a wagon, the kind drawn by horses, it is big too, but this is not important.

There are humans around the wagon, well, dead ones but humans. That means there is civilization nearby, maybe not advanced enough, but the simple life of a farmer or hunter. Now that I can settle for considering my situation.

I moved towards the wagon. My first move was to check if any of the bodies around were alive, but no luck. They all are dead, at least for a day, told by their condition. They are all looted too.

I moved towards the wagon and opened it. There were half-eaten corpses and forcefully opened, then emptied luggage inside. "Shit." I quickly shut the door and turned towards the front of the vehicle. Nothing there too.

"Halt!" I heard a voice. "Don't you dare to move one more step?" And a cough, a painful one, followed these words. A survivor!

I quickly rushed to the other side of the wagon and saw a man sitting on the ground. He gave his back to the wagon.

"Translation Activated." Voice talked. And I trust it.

"I mean no harm, but you don't look good. What happened here, friend."

"A human, you don't look like a bandit too, fuck. Goblins, a small horde of it, at least hundred of them with some fucking hobs, if I were you, I would escape here fast as I could. Some of them might return for a snack."

"Hundreds of them. I only saw five. Only with one hob."

"Hah, so what you did."

"Killed them all."

"I admire your strength. Hey, you don't have anything to drink with you? Huh?"

I looked at my bag. "Just water."

"That's not a drink, anything strong like some cheap sailor drink." The man was barely talking and coughing some blood when he finished his sentences, poor bastard.

"Sorry, none. I wish I had some too, but please keep your strength. I can drag you to a safe place and perhaps treat you, and then we can find a drink." I cannot let the first human I found die.

"No! I see those savages kill my men, do things I can't even say to my daughter and wife, then eat them alive! This life. I don't want it anymore. I want my last moments to be next to this vehicle, next to the grave of my loved ones. Plus, I am too far gone anyways."

I can't say anything. This man lost the battle, and if it's his choice to stop. Then I can only respect him. "Okay, I respect your choice, but you said hundreds of them, right? I've been in this forest for a week but only saw what five of them."

"Damn, you are one lucky bastard then," He coughed more blood. "Now, if you don't have any more questions, I will take a short nap here."

"Please! I grabbed the man from his shoulders. "Closest human settlement where it is."

The man looked at me with dead eyes and began falling. I only heard a faint squint. "I answer that after I take a little nap."

He is dead. I controlled his pulse and breath, but nothing. I hit the wagon with my fist. "Damn it! Damn you Voice, and damn you things locked me here! Wanna have fun with me? Good, I will have fun." I got up.

But suddenly, a supernatural object stopped me. It is a square screen, half transparent, flying through the air and blue. There is something written on it.

[New Quest: Hunt.]

And Voice started to talk. "To gain an escape chance, the User must kill four specific monsters residing in this forest."

I smiled. "It is on then."

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