Lord of the Karmic Fate

What was the creepiest and most blood-chilling experience one could ever undergo throughout their lives?

Was it getting accidentally trapped in an abandoned hospital for the rest of the night during a wild thunderstorm?

The sensation when they are being followed from the dark on their way home just a little after midnight?

Or perhaps was it the feeling when one was all alone at home and suddenly the sound of light footsteps was coming from outside of their living room?

Raven, although experiencing all of the ones mentioned above, none of those past spine-chilling moments could come even a tiny bit close to the feeling he was currently experiencing!

Right at this very moment, he was stared at by a faceless and grotesque creature in the middle of a dense forest where the sole thing that ruled except for darkness was the white fog!

The feeling to be stared at by such a creature in such a hair-raising environment was truly a blood-curling experience, there was no question about it!

'Calm down... You have climbed up here exactly because of this reason...' Raven closed his eyes as he took a deep breath and calmed his rapidly beating heart down.

'It can't reach you up here. You are safe.'

As he calmed both his mind and body with those words, Raven opened his eyes slowly and glanced at the creature below. However, it seemed that was a bad idea as the very next second all the color vanished from his face.

"Of course, I fucking jinxed it!" pushing himself up on the branch with the trunk as the support, Raven gawked downward with a pale face and watched with horror as the creature began to climb toward him!

Yes!

Right before his very eyes, that thing was impaling its long and bony fingers into the tree's steel hard surface, using that means to pull itself up inch by inch and reach him!

"This is bad. Really, really bad! We have to do something, but what? Any wise ideas, Felix? ...Felix?" turning his head to the side when hearing no answer, Raven's eyes widened and fear became stronger in his heart.

Right on the tree branch where Felix's body should have been at the moment, now there was nothing but empty air. It was pretty obvious he ran away but as to how or when just like previously Raven had no idea at all.

'Bastard!'

Raven cursed loudly in his heart and shifted his gaze back at the creature, watching as it climbed higher and higher using nothing but its fingers!

"Okay... Let's calm down first." Raven mumbled and breathed in deeply before exhaling slowly.

And surprisingly enough, it seemed to be working as his mind immediately got clearer and while fear still lingered in his heart his body no longer trembled.

[3 minutes and 34 seconds remaining!]

"Roughly four minutes to go, huh?" Raven mumbled and once he shifted his gaze at the creature he began to think of ways to safely escape.

"Considering the speed with its climbs, it will reach the top in less than 2 minutes. Although it is a lot of time, in fact, it is not." Raven spoke to himself to further calm his tense nerves and began to examine his surroundings.

However, even after two entire minutes, the only thing he was able to think of was a big fat nothing!

He could obviously choose to jump onto the closest tree next to him as with his boosted physical strength and Moon Rabbit Slippers that seemed feasible, in the end, Raven decided to disregard that idea.

As for the reason? There was not enough space for him to gain even the slightest momentum, and without any, he would only end up falling!

There was also the option of him climbing even higher as there was still at least about an extra ten meters above his head, but considering how fast the creature was climbing he would only push him into a corner, so that also was a no-no.

Then, the only solution that remained was...

Raven's eyes turned resolute and lowered his posture slightly as he watched how the creature was getting closer and closer to him at a rapid speed.

Time seemed to slow down in the eyes of Raven and what was in truth seconds felt as if they became minutes!

[58 seconds remaining!]

'Now!' just at the very moment the creature grabbed the branch he was standing on and the time fell below 1 minute, Raven stepped on the creature's fingers and jumped.

Then, once he was in the air, he turned around and with a mocking grin flipped a middle finger at the creature before allowing gravity to grab him and drag him toward the ground.

But it seemed that was a bad idea, as karma immidieatly collected its debt on him.

When he stomped on empty air to gain an extra jump just as he did all this time and get the chance to land without much trouble, weirdly, this time nothing happened!

He was still falling toward the ground and no matter how many times he stomped he was unable to jump once more!

'Why is it not working?' Raven's eyes widened and his pupils shrunk to the size of a needle when suddenly realization hit him like a train.

'Don't tell me...!' Raven raised his gaze toward the sky, and just as he feared, the moon which just a second ago was visible at some point in time got engulfed in thick black clouds, sending everything in the forest into complete darkness!

All the color from Raven's face vanished in that very instant and without having the time to groove on his bad luck, pain, one he has never in his entire life felt before, assaulted his whole being.

BAM!

Crack!

"AAAAAAARRRRGGHHH!!"

Screaming with a voice filled with nothing but pure pain and suffering, Raven stared with wide and tearful eyes at his bottom which now looked like nothing a few seconds ago.

Both his legs were twisted in ways that would be impossible to imitate through normal means. Fractured bones pierced out from almost every part of his thighs, feet, calf, and heel from which blood flowed out uncontrollably, gradually forming a thick puddle of blood just below his body.

There were even a few thicker bones that were piercing through his belly, allowing him to see a bit of his inside, yet, no matter how much he stared at his "wounds" he could feel nothing but pain.

In fact, he not only was unable to channel his thoughts into his now shattered limbs for obvious reasons, but everything below his neck was numb, seemingly because several bones in his upper body got broken while it was also very likely that even his spine suffered massive damage.

As for how he was still alive despite falling from several stories high and having almost all the bones in his body shattered which would have meant, logically speaking, certain death, Raven had no idea nor could he think of any as the pain he was currently feeling was much worse than death itself!

The only thing he was able to do was to scream from the top of his lungs and watch through his blurred vision how his Vitality was rapidly declining.

[Vitality: 187 -> 142]

[Vitality: 142 -> 95]

[Vitality: 95 -> 21]

Raven tried to swallow his screams as much as possible, but unfortunately, he was helpless.

Furthermore, to make things even worse, through his blurred vision, Raven could spot how the creature above him had already leaped off the tree, seemingly ready to land on his head and blast it into bits like a watermelon!

'Fuck... Is this.... how all this will end?'

Raven felt bitter inside and for the first time in his entire life, he really hated himself for both his inability to think forward more to avoid this misery and because of his cursed luck.

Raven's eyelids got heavier as his Vitality got nearer to zero, and as the scenery around him started to be swallowed by darkness memories began to flash in his mind one by one.

'I wonder how Thomas and Old Dan... Dad is doing. Are they alive or...' questions filled Raven's mind as he closed his eyes, indicating he has completely accepted his fate.

Even the image of a young girl popped up in his head, causing a tear to roll down from the corner of his eyes.

Damn, he was indeed pathetic, wasn't he?

However, strangely, even after he lay motionlessly for ten entire seconds, he felt no pain nor did his thought process got severed which could have indicated he has died. He could even feel the gentle breeze on his body which...

Wait... Feeling a gentle breeze on his body?

Raven's eyes snapped wide open and subconsciously sat up which shocked him even more as that would have been impossible! After all, his whole body was destroyed! Let alone feeling a thing, he shouldn't be able to move even an inch!

"What is... Huh?" Raven was about to look at his bottom when suddenly several magic panels emerged before his face, obstructing the scenery around and in front of him almost entirely.

[Survived until time limit!]

[Rules of White Domain will be applied to everyone now!]

[Congratulations! You have successfully completed Main Quest [Survive until the end!], and Hidden Quest (1/2) [Escape death's grasp just before the end of the time limit!]]

[Because your Avatar Traits at the start of the Realm Game had been distributed randomly your rewards will be greater and doubled in amount!]

[Receive rewards now or collect them later?]