Over the past year, Chara and Flowey went to many places, becoming as close as siblings.
They climbed high mountains, walked across ice, crossed cracked wastelands, and leaped over roots where the cracked ground was wide enough to fit a foot.
They had been everywhere, basically.
Especially the high mountains!
There weren’t many monsters, but each one was strong.
The first time she encountered a snow mountain monster, she was slapped right away, her back slamming into the rock wall.
It hurt so much she couldn’t stand up for a long time.
!
● The biting cold wind makes you feel the approach of death.
● Attack: Snow Mountain Monster
-684
-114
-514
● You won!
You earned 360 XP.
…
Later, she changed her knife.
She picked it up from a cave, not knowing who left it there.
The blade was longer than the previous one and a bit lighter.
It felt awkward to use at first, but after swinging it a few times, she got used to it.
The monsters on the ice were even more troublesome.
Their shells were very hard, and the knife would slide off when chopped.
She had to use the tip of the knife to poke the gaps to hurt them.
After getting frostbite the first time, she knew how to dodge the second time.
After that, she cleared out those bad monsters and some bad humans (she didn’t kill the good humans and good monsters, because Flowey stopped her).
More and more died at her hands.
Her [LV] grew higher and higher, and her DETERMINATION became stronger and stronger.
–+–
Status
LV: 64
HP: 1346/1346
–+–
She had known what [LV] meant for a long time.
She believed that with each level up, she was one step closer to something.
The only thing she cared about was that when her [LV] was higher, the monsters didn’t hurt her as much when they hit her.
Flowey had followed her for a whole year.
Although he didn’t talk much, every time Chara fought, he would use his vines to block attacks for her, or pull her up when she was knocked down.
Of course, the main thing was that Chara’s height had barely grown??
But her hair had grown quite long, which was a bit troublesome.
…
That day, she was walking in a river valley.
On both sides were red rock walls, and under her feet were gravel.
The river had dried up, leaving only a dry riverbed that extended forward in a winding path.
Flowey squinted on her shoulder.
“It’s so hot here.”
Chara took off her coat and draped it over her arm.
The dark green old coat was too big, making it inconvenient to walk in.
After walking for about half an hour, the river valley widened in front of her, and the gravel on both sides of the riverbed became more and more abundant.
Then she heard a strange sound, a dense clack-clack noise, coming from far away and getting closer and louder.
Chara stopped, her hand pressing on the hilt of her knife.
The sound came from behind a pile of rocks.
!
● You encountered…
a bug??
That thing crawled out from behind the pile of rocks.
It was as big as a human, shaped like a beetle, but with many legs, each ending in a curved hook.
Its body was covered in a black carapace with dark purple patterns extending from its head to its tail.
Its head had two pairs of compound eyes, pitch black with no visible pupils.
Its mouth was a pair of massive mandibles, opening and closing, making a clack-clack sound.
It was a True Sting.
Chara had never seen this kind of bug, and Flowey certainly hadn’t either.
“This isn’t from this world.” Flowey’s voice was pressed very low.
“I don’t recognize this kind of monster.”
Chara drew her knife.
Before she could even raise her knife, the bug moved.
It was too fast.
Multiple legs exerted force simultaneously, and its whole body catapulted forward.
The sound of the air being torn hadn’t even reached Chara’s ears before the thing was already in front of her.
A front claw swept over.
The tip of its claw slashed from her left shoulder to her right waist.
Her clothes were forcibly torn open, her skin was cut, and blood gushed from the wound.
She fell to the ground, the gravel digging into her back.
–+–
Status
HP: 346/1346
–+–
That single strike almost took her life.
With 1346 HP, she was slashed down to 346 in a single encounter.
A full thousand points of damage.
She had never endured such high damage before.
When those monsters hit her, it was at most a few dozen points per hit, and a hundred was rare.
But this bug made her lose three-quarters of her HP in one hit.
Chara lay on the ground, watching the bug turn around.
Its compound eyes faced her, showing no emotion, but its mandibles opened, clacking up and down, as if waiting to eat something.
Flowey’s vines shot out from her arm, wrapping around one of the bug’s legs.
“Get the hell up!
Are you an idiot???”
Chara rolled over and scrambled up.
The wound was pulled, and blood gushed out even faster.
She didn’t look at the wound, nor the blood.
She stared at the bug, gripping the hilt of her knife with both hands.
The bug struggled, and Flowey’s vines were torn apart.
Transparent sap flowed from the broken ends of the vines.
Flowey let out a scream, but still didn’t let go.
The remaining vines wrapped around it again.
Chara charged forward.
There were no moves, no techniques.
She just raised her knife above her head and chopped down with all her strength.
The knife chopped onto the bug’s head.
-9875
The bug’s carapace cracked open, and black liquid flowed from the fissure.
The bug let out a sharp screech, its multiple legs scratching wildly at the ground, kicking gravel everywhere.
Chara pulled out her knife and chopped again.
A third strike…
a fourth…
a fifth…
-9963, -9934, -5436, -6498
Its movements slowed down.
Its legs started to slip, unable to stand steadily on the gravel.
● The final strike!
● Attack: Bug??
-999999
● You won!
You earned 15000 XP, and your LV increased.
…
The bug’s legs twitched a few times, then stopped moving, turning into dust and disappearing.
Chara leaned against the rock wall, panting heavily.
Bright red blood flowed from her left shoulder, dyeing her green striped shirt dark.
She had used all her strength for that last strike.
She looked down at the wound.
The flesh was torn open, and she could see the muscle tissue inside, but it hadn’t hit the bone.
She dug into her pocket and pulled out the cloth strips she hadn’t finished using before.
She tore off a piece, bit one end, and used her other hand to wrap the strip around the wound, wrapping it a few times and tying a knot.
Flowey’s vines hung down from her arm.
The broken ones hadn’t grown back yet.
He poked his flower head out.
“What was that thing?”
Chara shook her head.
She didn’t know.
She had killed monsters, killed humans, and killed things that moved and things that didn’t.
But she had never seen this kind of bug.
Its body structure wasn’t like any creature in this world.
The patterns on its carapace, the structure of its compound eyes, and its way of moving were all different from monsters.
Flowey was silent for a moment.
“I feel something is off.”
“What?”
“I can’t put my finger on it.” Flowey’s petals closed a bit.
“I just feel like something is about to happen.
This bug isn’t from this world, but it appeared here.
That means something brought it here, or it found its way here on its own??”
Chara used her knife to prop herself up and stood.
The wound started bleeding again.
The cloth strip was completely soaked.
Blood dripped down her waist and onto the gravel.
She gritted her teeth, tore off another piece of cloth, and wrapped it on the outside, wrapping it a bit tighter.
● HP is slowly recovering…
–+–
Status
LV: 65
HP: 357/1360
–+–
Flowey poked his head out from her shoulder, looking at the dust.
“We need to go.”
Chara nodded.
She wiped the black liquid off her knife on the rock wall and tucked it back into her waist.
The dark green coat had fallen to the ground earlier.
She bent down to pick it up, draped it over her arm, and covered her still-bleeding wound.
She turned around and walked back, following the direction of the river valley.
● Narrowly escaping death makes you feel a chill down your spine.
This fills you with DETERMINATION.