A damned pleasantry

Growl!

'Sweet mother of steel! Ordinary my ass! The actual f*ck is this?!' Ying exclaimed in bewilderment, 'How the hell am I supposrd to swing a tombstone with a stick?! This ain't a sword, it's a friggin sarcophagus with a handle!' He looked at the item's description, his expression contorting in rhythm.

[

Grade: Mortal

Description: An ordinary sword... But beware, it may or may not cause existential dread.

]

'Y-you... Tsk, damned developers!You balding bums, botched up fools, redundant degenerates, why would you even design something like this?! Like... why, WHY?!'

Ying was still in the process of cussing out the idiotic game developers when yet another low growl redirected his attention back to his quadruped opponent, who was about ready to attack.

"Damned sword, up!" Ying commanded, half hoping for some sort of magical effect to kick in. Of course, nothing of the sort happened. If he wanted the sword to move, he had to do it the old-fashioned way.

There was no running away from this seasoned predator, so unless he wanted to set a record for first player to die at the hands of a beast, he had to come up with some sort of game plan... And fast.

Whoosh!

The air whistling as a speeding cannibal dashed across the field, its claws and fangs bared against a rather… unserious, opponent—'Hey, I'm doing my best here!'

"Ugh!" With a stressed groan, Ying strained his muscles to haul his oversized coffin, his muscles protesting, his chest tightening, in an attempt to block the attack. It worked, somehow.

Well, almost.

CLANG!

A horrific sound erupted as the creature's claws – which were as strong as steel – collided with Ying's blade. The grating sound of bone grinding against steel forced him to grit his teeth, but then he felt a powerful force collide with the bridge of his nose…

The beast head-butted him.

Ding!

[-15 HP!]

"Ugh, so annoying…" Ying muttered in response to the message as he pulled himself up from the ground and wiped the blood that flowed from his shattered nose, just in time for the beast to lunge at him for a third time.

He was not even allowed the privilege of actually acknowledging the stinging pain that originated from his broken nose as a brown blur came crashing towards him again.

But Ying wasn't having it... Not this time.

'Oraa!' Ying yelled, quite literally dragging his so-called 'weapon', as his muscles and tendons bursted with the strain of an anvil, before giving in to gravity and allowing the blade to hurtle down with all its immense force.

The path of Ying's sword was ugly and crooked, totally amateurish, but that didn't matter. He could always temper his skill later on after all, what really mattered right was whether or not he could hit his target.

And somehow, he did.

Slash!

With a disgusting sound, Ying watched in slight elation as his blade easily cut a deep wound into the creature's right shoulder. It had made an attempt to escape by leaping backwards, but it was just a half step too slow.

'Damn, I was aiming for its head…' Ying forced a smile as he gazed at the beast, a massive gash had appeared on its shoulder from which crimson blood gushed forth and spilled to the earth below.

The beast licked its wound, trying to see if it could somehow clog the bleeding, all to no avail.

'Disgusting… But it's my turn to attack now.' Ying charged at the beast, but due to the horrible weight of his weapon, his speed was drastically reduced. "Damn it!" He yelled as the creature easily side stepped him.

'It's still preoccupied. Sneak attacks don't work with this heavy SOB of a sword, but it's not over yet.' Ying thought as a plan quickly began forming in his head. It was a rather straightforward strategy.

"Hey ugly, come on down and get a piece of this!" He taunted the monster.

To any casual observer, it would seem as though Ying had totally lost his mind, but there was a predetermined future for his every action. Even one as bizarre as pissing off such a savage beast.

In agitated response, the creature glared at him with a ferociously-murderous look in his eyes… Just according to plan.

'Yes! That's right! Come at me, I'll be the one to kill you!' Ying mused, not knowing when an uncharacteristic smile crept up his lips.

HOWL!

With a resounding battle cry, the wolf lunged at him for the fourth time. This time, however, Ying was prepared, he'd been carefully observing the thing's every move after all.

Using both hands, Ying raised his sword once again to block the creature's claws, and then braced himself in case another head butt came.

But the Mud Fang did neither of those things.

Instead, it simply ploughed through his legs, tackling the young cultivator and tossing him nearly ten feet into the air before a gruesome landing on the back of his neck. Ying groaned in pain.

Ding!

[-30 HP!]

Ding!

[-10 HP!]

Ying heard the series of notifications that followed, as well as the automatic overtone of the systems' voice which only served to aggravate his pain and discomfort.

The distracting sound was quite annoying, filling his mind with irritation each time it rung out.

'Oh for the love of-!! Make it stop!' Ying groaned as managed to get up to his knees, gripping his sword with one arm and suppressing the urge to massage his temples with the other; he gazed at the fearsome beast.

HOWL!

Another fierce battle cry erupted as the creature leapt into the sky one more, ghastly claws and bone chilling fangs fully bared in a feral attempt to eviscerate the still kneeling young human.

''Not today you damned thing!'' Ying roared as he grasped the sword with his second arm, then ducking the ferocious fangs, delivered a horizontal slash while still on his knees.

SLICE!

With a sharp noise, Ying's vision was suddenly filled with a frightening amount of crimson. The coppery smell lunged at his nose, assaulting his sense of smell, a few drops even finding its way onto his face... But it was not his blood.

Howl!!

The beast howled once more, but this time something was different about it.

Instead of the feral battle cry that Ying had heard earlier, this particular howl contained pain, suffering and fear laced deep within it.

The creature was merely expressing its dismay. After all, what wouldn't cry out in pure agony after getting one of its limbs dismembered from its body?

Howlll!!!

It cried out once again as blood streamed non-stop from the massive stub in where its left forelimb was meant to be. A boundless pain had long since replaced the maddened look of resentment that previously gleamed within its pupils.

Ying approached the maimed beast, his expression grave. "Painful, isn't it...?" He said aloud, raising his sword. "Just the way an actual wolf would react..."

With a deep breath, Ying steeled himself for the final blow. He gripped the sword's hilt with both hands, feeling the weight of the blade bearing down on him. The Mud Fang, sensing its impending doom, let out a weak whimper.

But that did nothing to inhibit Ying.

He swung the sword in a wide arc, using every ounce of strength he possessed. The blade bit deep into the creature's side, but it didn't quite reach its heart. Ying grunted, straining against the sword's weight as he tried to push it deeper.

The Mud Fang's eyes widened in agony as it realized it was about to meet its end, it wailed and spasmed, trying to resist, but one again—it was all useless.

With one final surge of adrenaline, Ying managed to push the sword the extra inch needed to pierce the beast's heart.

The Mud Fang's body went limp, its growls ceasing as its raised head collapsed to the ground. Ying stood panting, his arms trembling with exhaustion as he gazed down at the lifeless creature. Soon afterwards, the notification came.

Ding!

[You have slain a Mud wolf: Body Tempering Stage—2nd Realm]

Expecting more messages, Ying waited patiently.

'Maybe the system is lagging due to the number of players. A bit disappointing, but not unexpected.' He thought as he caught his breath, waiting for more notifications.

Seconds rolled into a minute, and a minute rolled into three, but no other notification arrived. It was then, that the reality of the game's nature finally dawned on him...

'Huh? That's it? That's all I got after killing that thing? No exp? No loot? Just... A damned pleasantry?"