The Shapeshifter - Chapter 31 Experience 2

Experience (2)

‘This feeling …’ My hands are currently in contact with a loose and powdery substance. It was like the feeling of … sand!

My eyes that were closed was forced open. I quickly jumped up to stand. Ever since I’ve arrived on the desert, I’ve been passing out most of the time. I was very happy that I could finally free myself, off of the killings. I actually don’t like to hurt anyone, much less kill someone. I was never a violent person back on Earth or even on Terra.

The scenes from yesterday suddenly emerged in my mind. From the time that I did my first kill unto the last. I saw men die by my hands, I saw them beg for mercy; to spare them. However, I mercilessly beheaded them without even sparing a glance.

The feeling of my sword slicing past their necks was an unpleasant experience. At first, I could feel the sword slicing easily through their flesh, then I met a bit of resistance when it hit the bone. It was like an amateur, peeling an avocado, they would even cut the seed.

A weird feeling was building up inside of me and my stomach was churning. Then I barfed. How nice!

Vomiting in the middle of the desert. I did great. I looked around to search for water in the oasis, but reality struck me hard. I am not yet back in the real world. With widened eyes a man came to me and asked if I was okay.

I tilted my head, dumbfounded at what the man has asked. I wanted to ask him back ‘Do I look okay to you?’ However, I’m not in any position to say words like those. This man was clearly stronger than me.

I simply asked back if he has any water. Then he turned around to get me some. Not long later, he passed me a canteen filled with water. I used some to gargle then drank a bit. I passed the canteen back to him and thanked him, however, he quickly rejected and gave me back the canteen.

I was actually taken aback by his rejection and then I realized something, so I smirked at first, then laughed out loud, attracting the attention of the surrounding people. How disgusting of me. I shook my head and laughed it off, I was embarrassed.

I was quite puzzled; how can we be in the desert when we were just in the mountains yesterday. The question bugged me, so I asked the man about it.

I was astounded when I learned that the man, I was currently talking to, was the captain of the cavalry. When he heard my question, his jovial mood suddenly turned sour. He said that he has received an intel that there were currently enemies lying in ambush few miles away from the bandit’s lair.

The captain didn’t believe it at first, so he sent his fastest scout on foot to see whether or not there were really enemies. They waited for half an hour, yet the scout still hasn’t returned. So the captain ordered his men to prepare to move out at moment’s notice. The captain gave another quarter of an hour and the scout was a no show.

So he ordered his men to hastily retreat and they took the long route that leads to their kingdom. And that long route, was this desert. Resources may have been scarce in the desert but it was not filled with much danger. However, if they were stubborn and arrogant, and decided to face off the enemies; they would face utter annihilation.

And that’s how they arrived at the desert.

It was a good thing that they have found an oasis after they entered the desert or it would’ve been disastrous for us. I noticed that this cavalry brought the women from the cave. I couldn’t help but smile at the thought that there are more good guys than bad guys.

…

We have already stayed in the oasis for a night. I could see the sun peeking at the horizon, it brought a humid morning air, different than the one I was used to. Just as the cavalry were packing their stuffs there were slight tremors underground. I wasn’t the only one that noticed this, all the cavalrymen too.

I took my sword and removed it from its sheathe. My eyes are running around the surrounding and I was ready to defend against a sneak attack. I saw that every single one of them has already drawn out their weapons whether it be spears, lances, long swords and shields they were prepared. The only thing they aren’t wearing was their heavy armors.

It wasn’t long before a huge desert centipede emerged! It was about 5 meters long. When I saw it, deep fear was permeating inside my body. I immediately knew that this fear, was from being stared at by a natural predator.

For the first time, I wasn’t deeply rooted by fear. So I was slowly moving my feet back, afraid that the desert centipede would notice me retreating. To my luck, someone actually initiated an attack against the desert centipede.

It was the captain of the cavalry! He was holding a huge lance and a shield and he gave off a domineering aura that even caused me to take a step back. I knew for a fact that this battle would be difficult for the cavalry. So I went out of their way and watched from a safe distance.

With my current abilities with the sword, I would only be a hindrance and liability to them. It would be best not to cause any troubles. It was a battle between a 30 cavalrymen vs a giant desert centipede. At first the battle was on a deadlock, both sides seemed to have the same firepower.

Not until one man gets suddenly caught by a leg. The centipede quickly took the opportunity and coiled around the man then it bit off the mans head. I was naturally shocked when I saw it kill the man in a single breath.

The balance was quickly broken by a single death on the cavalrymen. Even though it was only a single casualty, it was what I was seeing right now. They are getting obliterated by the beast. And they are … getting closer to me?!

What the hell did I do? I quickly motioned the women behind me to retreat. However, all of them were crying. They barely escaped a calamity last night and now they had to face another. Nonetheless, I have to save them. So I turned around and shouted at them, though it felt unpleasant, that was the only thing I could do.

Then I saw black silhouettes passed me. Sh*t! I turned back and saw three men were currently holding off the giant centipede. They won’t be able to hold them long enough! I glanced at the girls behind me and they were already sitting on the horses with the other cavalrymen.

F*ck! I couldn’t help but curse at the current situation. The others ditched their companions and scampered around like little children running towards the horses.

I watched as the giant desert centipede slowly made its way towards me. I’m not gonna lie, I was really scared coming face to face with this centipede. I was feeling a familiar aura coming from it, but I just don’t know where I’ve felt it before. It doesn’t really matter to me as I’m about to die now.

Hopefully, once I die in here, I will wake back up at the real world. So I gave the centipede my most dazzling smile. The centipede just stood in front of me, looking at me and doing nothing. Even though I’ve accepted that I was about to die, I was still afraid of dying.

My palms were starting to moisten up, my knees are getting weak, yet I have to show this centipede that I wasn’t afraid of it. Then something boggling happened, the body of the centipede looked as if something was about to come out of it.

Its body was continuously expanding and then it suddenly shrinks, every happened so fast that after a second, the giant centipede suddenly became an old man. The old man was wearing a beige colored ancient attire that doesn’t suit well with his white hair. It made him look very … ancient.

I was like, what kind of sorcery is this? How can centipede turn into a man? Then I suddenly recalled the history lessons I learned back at the village. So he’s at the king stage already, then why did he prolong the fight with the cavalrymen?

“Boy. Why are you in your human form?” an ancient voice sounded, as the old man talked. I was baffled by his sudden question and replied, “I beg your pardon?”

The old man chuckled and said, “I said, why are you in your human form? Do you not like your beast form?”

I really didn’t understand what the old man was saying, so I didn’t nod my head like any idiot would do and told him that he should’ve been mistaken and got the wrong person. He laughed at me and looked at me like he knew my secrets then he smiled and said, “If that’s what you like then fine by me. I just want to remind you that humans are treacherous creatures. When you’re with other human you have to raise your guard up all the time.”

I was like, what is wrong with this old man? He must’ve caught my expression and immediately told me what the cavalrymen did earlier. Yeah, I was mad, but at least they saved those girls. And the fact that this old man was such a strong being was unknown to us earlier.

“Where are you going lad?” he asked. Since the old man didn’t want to harm me, I told him where I was going, “To the nearest human city. Do you know which direction it is?”

“Okay let’s go east! I’ll be accompanying you in your journey towards humanity’s kingdom! But why are you going there?”

“To learn the way of the sword!” I proclaimed. I actually tried to use mana when I was resting yesterday, however, I find them to be chaotic and scarce.So I’ve decided to use the sword while I’m currently in here.

Since in the real world, I already have a ‘good’ sword and I just don’t know how to wield them. The sword that I got from the Scorpion Emperor’s Palace should be good, since it was kept in good shape by the late emperor.

Just before we set off towards the east, I was assaulted by a sudden dizziness and it came from nowhere.

Then a thought suddenly emerged in my head. ‘Since I was brought here, in the desert, I’ve been fainting most of time. Hah. I really need to get out of this desert. Not only here, in the real world too.’

Soon my vision turned black.