The Hedge Maze - Part 2

𝗛𝗶𝗺𝘂𝗿𝗮 𝗦𝗮𝘁ō

I arrived at the first portal, for some reason my face feels a bit dry but I ignored it for now; remembering what happened to me the last time I went inside a portal, my mind felt broken as if some sort of barrier from my mind was destroyed which caused my mind to feel backward.

My face was centimeters away from the portal, I wanted to try and see if my death perception can detect danger from it but after a good thirty seconds, there was nothing.

Sighing, I walk towards the portal with my eyes closed, the reason for this was because when I entered the portal here, I saw many flashing lines of lights which made a shape kinda like a circular white tunnel that curved around meaning I was being led to the end of that portal to here, not to mention, those lights felt like they were all shining brightly at a frequent pattern making my eyes hurt even further and so to avoid sensory overload, I closed my eyes this time.

Luckily, the inside of the portal had a cool breeze similar to the inside of a mall so I would know when to open my eyes again.

*Wooooooooooshhhhhhhh*

I hear a cool breeze pass me as I pass through the portal which took approximately seven seconds. My mind started to hurt a bit since this was the second time I entered a portal however I didn't have enough time to catch up with it as I blocked an attack.

"Schhhhalalalalal!!!"

A fast screech was the first thing I heard then my death perception alerted me of incoming death above so instinctively, I raised my right hand to block the attack with my longsword. After a short moment, my eyes finally opened to see a bright green monster with a scythe.

Said scythe was bearing down on my forehead but what slowed down my longsword, however, I was not proficient with one-hand swordsmanship, and not only that, I also had a low strength count so this monster was slowly overtaking me.

The sharp blade slightly pierces my forehead. My knees were bent to the point of me falling but the force of this bright green monster counteracted that.

I bend my body forward then the scythe arms hit the ground, cutting the air. I assumed that arm was already being raised again so without the need for death perception, I dash forwards, passing the monster, and hear a sharp cutting of the air as it tries to cut me from my previous spot.

I finally managed to take a good look at this bright green monster by checking his name first.

Name: Grasschopper

Race: ?

Stats:

Strength: 24

Dexterity: 35

Constitution: 15

Wisdom: 15

Intelligence: 18

Charisma: 0

Possible skills: ?

'Grasschopper huh?'

I said to myself, though its name wasn't really surprising since this thing was an actual grasshopper but it had new arms on its side which had those large scythes used to cut grass. It was slightly taller than me, had a bright green exoskeleton, and had two new scythe arms from the side of its body that was twice as long as an actual grasshopper front arm. I was practically disgusted at the sight of this overgrown bug; readying my sword once again, I waited for the grasschopper to attack me first.

'That thing is still strong at combat but its constitution and intelligence are really low meaning I can kill it easily as long as I can pierce that exoskeleton.' I thought that this monster would have more constitution since his exoskeleton would be considered a passive skill but it looks like it was considered as armor instead.

With a short leap, the grasschopper shortens our distance and tries to slash me with its right arm but I dash back before counter-attacking with my longsword to its head. I put my longsword above and behind my head so that I can do an overhead strike however, the creature opens its wings and retreats with a high jump before landing.

I felt revulsion by just the mere sight and sound of it but I didn't waver; With my longsword readied, I dash towards the grasschopper before it lands and the moment it did, my readied longsword stabbed its head.

It tries to slash me weakly but before hitting me, I dash a short distance back and watch it slowly die as I steady my breath.

'My footwork was fine but I had an unsteady breath during that fight.' I criticized myself again.

The reason I've won was because of the grasschopper's low wisdom and because of it, even with the grasschopper having higher strength and dexterity, he was a bit stupid to not take the offensive, overwhelming me which would lead to my death.

'Not to mention my strength.' I sigh.

'Having my left arm would be great right now I said to myself indifferently.

'I can't even train my body properly now since losing my left arm' I looked up into the air, the bright moon was no longer above me; dragging the dead carcass of the grasschopper, I went back to the portal and decided to rest there and wait for morning.

Looking at the dead carcass, I see a healthy-looking bright green color all over its body meaning it couldn't be starving and it also wasn't grotesque like the failed experiments.

I nod to myself, this would mean that this monster was a monster made by Megu for this maze.

This monster was fast but its attack was quite clunky as expected. It was like someone just attached a pair of scissors' arms to an animal and called it a day.

My mind went back to the battle against this monster. I was immediately overtaken by it and almost died before even taking a good look at it.

'Considering, I was only in the second layer of the maze, this monster should be the weakest of them all...and I was easily overtaken by it.' I thought to myself self-deprecatingly.

If only, I could train my body, then I would at least stand more chance against them.

'Or maybe you just don't want to and instead wanted to leech off them instead?' A small harsh voice in the back of my mind asks and in response, I stayed silent for a moment before opening my mouth slightly.

"I...don't know," I said out loud while looking at the sky; closing my eyes, my mind became peaceful once again because I couldn't see this world anymore but only this dark void, a place where my fears and hatred do not exist.

"...I want someone, anyone to be on my side."

I said something in a lonely and sad voice that I couldn't hear completely as I slowly lost consciousness.

*****

𝗙𝗿𝗲𝘆𝗮 𝗕𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗸𝗲𝗻

With the help of my staff, I managed to easily head up the mountain with its rough trail. Thanks to my strong body, I still had a good amount of stamina left so I still had a great fighting form.

I look up into the sky. My eyes only see the bright sky. Today was a hot day so there wasn't any snow falling right now but everything on this mountain was either damp or wet.

Even now, I still haven't opened my menu yet other than that time, we updated it because of it being Megu's blessing. I wanted to stay true to my faith as best as I can so I haven't taken a good look at this so-called menu. This also meant, I have no map of the area and that's why I was taking the trail to avoid getting lost.

"Would this pose a problem with him?"

I asked myself. I knew well that they were all a devotee of Megu and they also knew that I was a follower of Hu.

Most religions hated each other but as for Megu, he taught his followers to accept everyone even those of different religions because every religion, every race, and every culture had entertainment far different from what we had.

And thanks to that teaching, I was easily accepted as one of their own.

I sigh, I couldn't help but feel sad about that town. It was dim and depressing.

At this point, that town would die soon enough and soon we would follow. I might not know much, but I did know that there shouldn't be a lot of scouts in that town and most people were already in their 40s not to mention, that their birth rate should be really low. We needed to leave this land as soon as possible if we wanted to survive.

As I thought that, I began to walk faster but was interrupted by a rustling sound about 3 meters away from me which was getting closer.

I spun my staff around to block three consecutive attacks before spinning around my body and stabbing the attacker.

I look at the attacker briefly. It was a humanoid being with spider-like properties like having four spider legs on its back, ahead of a spider, and many spider eyes around its body. It screeches at me for a small moment before running at me.

The spider's legs readied themselves to stab me but I dodged it before screeching at me again.

I felt digested by just looking at the monster but I didn't waver; though I did not know what it can do, I do know, I was better at fighting so after a moment, both of us dashed at each other.