A pained, wrinkled expression appeared on the young boy's face as a large flame briefly licked his fragile, frail body. His eyes shot open, revealing blue eyes. Struggling to his feet, he looked around, his surroundings becoming clearer as sweat dripped down his forehead.
A ton of questions flooded his mind. According to his memory, he had been dead after an effort fighting back the lunatic patient, but was failed. He couldn't live unless... this was all just a dream? Even so, he quickly dismissed the thought. The searing pain in his hands from the fire was far too real to be an illusion.
Not yet. Something weird happened to him; his body became so hard to move, like this body didn't of him.
"I'll figure it out later," he muttered, focusing on the path ahead.
In his eyes, dead bodies littered the ground everywhere, from the young to the elderly. The one thing they all shared was the same trait: they had died only moments ago.
These corpses were still very fresh.
But it did not matter to him. What he cared about was the massive firewall burning all over the place.
A few minutes later.
Quickly, he moved his frail legs, glancing around in fatigue to find an exit. Despite the countless questions swirling in his mind, demanding answers, his life had to take top priority.
The sounds of fire echoed everywhere, consuming everything in its path, leaving no corpses unburnt. This place felt like a floor far beneath hell itself.
Before long, he had found an exit.
"Finally!" The young boy smiled in satisfaction, but it didn't last more than half a second before his expression began to change as he heard the sounds of footsteps nearby.
"Damn! There's someone".
"I need somewhere to hide!" he muttered, quickly glancing around in worry.
However, time wasn't on his side.
"Dammit!" he cursed.
Suddenly, two figures emerged from the corpse-filled wall just a short distance away.
"I want to sleep!" one of them groaned, yawning widely. He looked utterly tired.
Beside him stood a muscular goblin, who glanced at the man with a tired but slightly annoyed expression.
"Don't talk so much. How many times have you said that already? You should focus on gathering Keith grass before it dies, or the master will kill us," the goblin said firmly.
The man nodded, yawning again. "Don't worry. We have plenty of corpses. That kind of grass will grow abundantly for us."
The large goblin sighed. "You don't understand. Our master knows every corpse here, so don't do anything stupid."
"Now move quickly! If you don't, I'll report your thoughts to our master!"
Hearing that, the man sighed, showing no emotion.
"Fine"
A few minutes later, the sounds of the two figures gradually faded into the distance. From beyond corpses, something began to crawl out.
"The grass is called Keith? What the hell? Wait, that man is a goblin," the young boy grimaced as countless pieces of new information swirled in his mind.
"I need to check this. I think my eyes have some matter, " he muttered, managing to get up from beneath the burned corpse he had hidden under.
He had partially guessed what was happening around him, but there were still things he needed to confirm. With his past knowledge and studies, he refused to let something absurd trick him.
He carefully shifted his small legs, ensuring no sound.
As time passed, he finally reached the area where the two people he was looking for were. It wasn't much different from what he had initially seen.
"Wow, is that true? But why do I barely find any surprise? I even see a bit of familiarity. I suppose that is the effect side of watching anime every day," he sighed, trying to explain everything logically.
Then, his gaze fixed on the two figures plucking grass, leaving all questions behind.
The grass in question, called Keith, was a rare ingredient for healing potions. However, it only grew in the ashes of dead bodies.
Now, everything was clear.
This place looked like a factory where potions.
By now, he was certain: he had been reborn in the world of a lunatic patient's novel.
"Damn it… not even my death was normal."
Then, after a pause, he added, "No… I think I should thank him. I've been given a second chance."
A slow smile spread across his face. Perhaps it was the first smile he had worn in 15 years.
Countless thoughts began to sprout in his mind, ranging from stealing everything from the main character to marrying a beautiful wife. Yet, none of that mattered until he got out of there.
Creak.
"Huh? What was that sound?" The man plucking grass froze and glanced around, searching for the source of noise.
The young boy grimaced, silently cursing his own carelessness. His movements had accidentally caused a noise when he brushed against a nearby corpse.
For now, he remained perfectly still, pretending once again to be just another lifeless body.
***
"Hmm... Maybe just a rat?" The man lightly rubbed his chin slowly, lost in thought. Then he glanced at the large goblin and said, "Hey! Did you hear that?"
The large goblin had heard what the man said, but he only shook his head and lowered his back to continue stuffing grass into his pack.
"Get on with your job. It's probably just a rat."
The man shrugged his shoulders and smiled.
"No. You're being careless. If it's a robber, our master'll kill both of us. He will be furious about someone stealing grass from his factory."
The man glanced at the large goblin again, smiling slyly.
"Right?"
The large goblin sighed deeply and nodded.
"You're right!"
The man didn't say anything more and only smiled again.
Yet, this situation was far from ideal for the young boy. Now, regret overwhelmed him.
"Damn it! Why did you trust him, stupid goblin?" the young boy cursed angrily.
"Should I run, or should I keep hiding like this?"
"No, I should have run away from here in the first place. Why am I even thinking about following these two bastards? No, I'm going to die again!"
Once more, countless thoughts raced through his mind. Of course, overthinking was yet another one of his flaws.
If he moved, certainly he would be seen. But he didn't move; he went to his fate for luck.
Regardless of the choice he made, there was always risk.
Finally, he chose to send his fate for luck. Anyway, his body was too weak to flee from both guys.
The large goblin slowly stepped to the sound of the source, while that man also did, but he was behind the muscular goblin.
The large goblin took his hand to the corpses, flipping it over.
"Nothing."
Yet, he didn't stop but checked other corpses.
"Haha! Fucking robber!" The sound of laughing echoed loudly. Then the man shouted at the large goblin in fun,
"Hey! Come here! I found him!"
The muscular goblin heard that, but there was a bit of suspicion. He stepped slowly to the man and said,
"Why didn't robber shout or do anything?"
"Haha! Are you doubtful of your best friend? Don't worry! I cut his neck before he could do anything." The man laughed loudly, forcefully shooting at the corpse's abdomen.
Despite this, the man said, the large goblin still doubted it. He arrived near the corpse beside the man and flipped it over.
"Hmm"
Unlike what he thought, the corpse in front of his eyes was only an old corpse; it had died at least 20 days ago.
He grimaced in anger, turning his face back to the man.
"Foolish! It only…"
Instantly, the slight light quickly slid into the air.
"Aah...aa...a."
The muscular goblin fell to his knees on the ground and slowly looked up at the man with a distorted expression in terrible pain.
"W-why?" He managed to say something, but his neck was cut partly.
The man only smiled. He said while slowly licking the knife filled with the blood of the muscular goblin.
"Simply, I like blood!"
"Now, die!" The man gripped his knife, cutting with all his power at the large goblin's neck.
The blood from the stumpy neck shot out so much, everywhere around this site, and both guys.
And the muscular goblin's head fell to the ground, rolling in front of the young boy's face.
The man looked at the large goblin, just dead, spitting at him.
"Stupid! This place's only rats!"
The man glanced around again. After he left the area, there was a lot of fresh grass.