Stampede

"SOMEONE, HELP ME!" a voice yelled, "PLEASE HELP ME FIND MY SON!" another voice requested, "HAVE YOU SEEN MY ARM?" another voice asked, and with more screaming and crying, filled the surrounding area at the Southeast Gate as a carriage arrived at the scene. 

Aki, along with the Guild Master and the other adventurers who were near the training arena, had finally arrived at the gate and stepped out to witness the scene from Hell. 

"DAMN IT!!" the Guild Master yelled, "HOW THE FUCK DID THIS HAPPEN!!" he yelled as a heavily injured guard came over to brief the Guild Master on the situation. 

"The monsters started to pour out of the forest suddenly and started attacking people," he started to explain. "We don't know the cause of it, but we believe it's a stampede."

Stampede refers to times when a large number of monsters spontaneously start to leave their territories for an unknown reason. 

"Have you notified the Royal Knights?" the Guild Master asked. "Why aren't they here?" 

"The First and Second Squads of the Royal Knights had left earlier this week to deal with an S-Rank Monster towards the South Gate, and we don't know when they will be back," the guard answered. "In the meantime, the Captain and Vice Captain of the Southeast gate are currently still engaged in battle outside," pointing outside the gate.

Aki and the Guild Master quickly rushed outside the gate walls and witnessed a terrifying scene. 

The once green field was now soaked with multiple colored blood that came from the human, horses, and monsters as their bodies were scattered around like leaves.  The remains of multiple broken carriages were left on their sides, with their inventory soaking up the blood while merchants & civilians sat frozen as soldiers attempted to protect them. The sounds of metal clashing against each other and the screaming of soldiers and adventurers could be heard as they continued to fight. 

"DAMN IT!" the Guild Master yelled, taking out a silver broad sword from his item box, "You fuckers are not going to take any more lives under my watch!" he declared, rushing onto the battlefield, striking down any monster he came across. 

Aki stood alone, watching, and continued to process the scene that was occurring in front of him. As a former soldier, this scene wasn't uncommon, and he should be used to it by now, but for some reason, he couldn't shake off his uneasiness. 

"H-HEY! Are you okay, Aki?" Layla asked, arriving on the scene with Brox and some soldiers. "What the hell is going on here?!?!" she inquired, witnessing the onslaught. 

"ALL OF YOU, FOLLOW ME!" Brox ordered, charging ahead with his halberd axe in his right hand, "DON'T YOU ALL FUCKING DIE ON ME NOW!", he ordered before disappearing into to fight. 

"Someone help me!" a little girl's voice yelled. Aki looked around and saw a small child pinned down by her unconscious mother on the ground. The mother had a long slash across her back and was bleeding profusely, with a Kobold holding a dagger approaching them. 

Aki noticed a preloaded iron crossbow in front of him, grabbed it off the dirt ground, and attempted to aim it at the Kobold's head. 

"Heavy....this thing is heavier than it looks," Aki thought, struggling to support the weight with two hands, forcing him to a half-kneeling position. "I've used crossbows before, but this thing weighs at least five times more than the ones from the modern age," with his arms beginning to sway. 

"Can I even shoot this thing properly?" Aki questioned, as self-doubt began to fill his head, "No matter how accurate my marksmanship was on Earth, will I be able to make this shot without killing the little girl?"

The Kobold stood in front of the little girl with its arm raised and a short dagger in its hand, "PLEASE, HELP ME!!" the little girl screamed, looking directly at Aki, who was still unable to fire. 

"Give me that!" Layla stated, grabbing the crossbow from Aki's hands, and proceeded to aim & fire it with her right hand only, striking the Kobold in the head. "Someone retrieve that little girl and her mother!" she ordered as two soldiers ran to rescue them.

"Are you okay, Aki?" Layla asked, with Aki remaining frozen, "Don't worry too much about it, okay? Shooting a damaged crossbow is extremely risky, and I'm happy you didn't take that risk," she reassured him. Layla knew that the crossbow wasn't damaged at all, but seeing how much Aki struggled to fire, she was hoping to help ease his emotions. 

"I'm going to help out now, so come back inside the gate, okay? " Layla suggested, as the soldiers were approaching back to them, carrying the little girl and her injured mother.

The soldiers brushed past him, "Why didn't you shoot?" the little girl whispered, with Aki looking up towards the little girl, staring directly into her empty left eye socket, and saw darkness. 

The fight continued, with screaming and yelling, while Aki stayed motionless on his knees with despair filling his mind. 

"I-I wavered?" Aki thought, "I've taken countless lives as a soldier, a police officer, and even as a criminal, never wavering once, but I suddenly could do it anymore?" looking down at his trembling hands. 

Aki knew deep down that he truly didn't want to fight anymore in his second life. The fight in the forest proved to him that he was at the bottom of the food chain, and if he continued fighting, he would die a pointless death again. 

"MAMA, I'M SCARED!!!" a voice yelled from inside a broken covered wagon, followed by the sounds of soldiers screaming as they were sent flying away by a Green Troll. The Green Troll started to rip apart the roof of a merchant wagon, exposing the passengers still inside, a little boy with his father and mother. "SOMEONE HELP US!!"  the mother yelled.

Aki looked around for Brox or the Guild Master, but they were nowhere to be seen. He stood up and began frantically trying to look for a soldier or an adventurer to help them. 

"Is there anything I could even do?" Aki questioned, " Even if I did intervene, what can I do? Can I even save them?" as his mind began to find reasons to justify his action of running away. The father was hugging his wife and son tightly, shielding them from harm, while the mother's eyes were closed, bracing for the end, but the son's eyes remained open and stared directly back at Aki. "Please help us!" the little boy's lips mouthed as the mother's scream overtook his plea for help.  

Aki recalled a similar scene from when he was a rookie police officer, where he arrived first on a scene of a family trapped in a car accident. The father & mother were unconscious, but the little boy gave the same look, pleading for help as the car began to ignite, while he remained frozen. It was thanks to an off-duty firefighter who arrived on the scene a few moments later that the family was saved, but to him, it was one of the biggest regrets of his life. What if the off-duty firefighter never showed up? Would he have watched the family burn alive? 

The Green Troll began to reach towards the father with its large right hand, before suddenly falling onto the ground. Aki had run up and bashed the Green Troll's right knee cap with a light mace weapon. 

"RUN!!!" Aki instructed, telling them to escape while the Troll wasn't looking. The family stood up quickly and began to run away, with Aki beginning to follow behind. 

"FWACK!!" Aki yelled as he felt a large hand striking him on the right side, breaking his right arm as he flew a few feet away and landed on the ground. Aki's right arm was still bruised from fighting the Guild Master earlier, and the blow just now caused his bone to finally break. "Come on, stand up!" he demanded, struggling to pull himself up, before getting struck again by the Troll and being sent flying further away again. 

"THIS MOTHER FUCKER!!" Aki yelled as he stood up, with his broken right arm dangling in front of him and blood dripping down from his head. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!" he declared, with anger and vengeance replacing his doubts & fear. Aki began running towards the Troll, pulled out a spear from a monster corpse, and then threw it with full force towards it, *Javelin Throw*.

The Troll quickly shifted to the left side, watching the spear landing behind it, creating a small hole in the ground, before turning back around to see no one in front of it.

"I'M RIGHT HERE YOU FUCKER!!" Aki yelled, side-kicking the Troll's right knee, causing it to lose balance again and fall forward onto the ground. "I'm not fucking done with you yet!" he yelled, recovering the spear, and proceeded to stab the Troll from behind multiple times before finally plunging it into the heart, with purple blood oozing out. 

*Skill: Critical Strike Unlocked* 

Aki began to wobble as his adrenaline began to wear off, and the blood loss started to take in effect. 

"I've played my part, right?" Aki thought, removing the spear from the Troll's body, " I can rest now, right?" as he started to walk back towards the gate, using the now damaged spear as a walking cane.

Aki continued his slow trek back towards the gate, as his senses began to dull, with the sound of screaming and fighting disappearing completely in a silent high-pitched tone, until a single deep laugh awoke him. Aki's heavy eyes darted wide open, and he began to look around for the source of the laughter and saw a group of monsters, two Red Trolls and a few Kolbods, were eating a dead horse, with one of the Red Trolls laughing away. 

"That fucking laugh.......that cocky laugh!" Aki muttered as his emotions began to flare up again, recalling another memory.

It was a normal day at the Police Station, and Aki was returning to clock out of his shift when he saw a little girl and her mother speaking with his colleague, a detective. The detective promised the little girl that he would bring justice to the one who murdered her father, sending them off happily before returning to the back office.

Days became weeks, weeks became months, with zero progress being made in the case. The family would come back into the station every Monday to follow up, but were turned away, stating the detective was actively investigating at the moment. In reality, he was in the back, laughing away while talking to his colleagues or flirty with the new female hires. He would spend all day reading the newspaper or watching the racehorse before going home early. After a year had passed, the case was closed out, with the ruling being a suicide, even though there was a clear sign of foul play and evidence to back up the claim. The detective in charge needed to improve his crime statistics, as he was up for a promotion, so he started to close all his open cases, ruling them as suicides. The mother and daughter were sent into despair when they were informed of the conclusion.

It was only a few months later that the family found the murderer themselves, bringing justice with their own hands and dying by house fire after it was completed. 


"DON'T YOU FUCKING LAUGH!!!" Aki screamed, rushing towards the monsters and throwing the damage spear directly towards them,*Javelin Throw*, with it landing onto the horse carcasses and causing it to explode. The Trolls became enraged as their meal disappeared and began to approach Aki, slowly. 

"AKI!!!" Brox yelled, noticing Aki's erratic behavior, "Guild Master, why is he here on the battlefield? I thought you ordered only C-rank and above to be allowed on the battlefield, so why is he here?" he questioned. 

"Damn it! I brought him here because I thought he would be an asset in our fight, but it looks like I was wrong!" the Guild Master answered, looking toward Aki's uncomposed self. "Let's get him under control." 

The Troll picked up a large boulder and threw it at Aki, with it landing behind him, with the shockwave sending him flying into the air toward them. Aki landed onto the ground with one of the trolls grabbing him by his left arm and holding him in the air, dangling. The Trolls began to laugh loudly as they caught the stupid human who thought he stood a chance against them. 

"DON'T YOU FUCKING LAUGH AT ME!!" Aki yelled as the troll's face morphed into the detective's face in his eyes, "I KILLED YOU ON EARTH ALREADY AND I'M GOING TO FUCKING DO IT AGAIN!!!" as he began to frantically kick in the air, with his left arm popping out of his shoulder.  The Trolls became unamused with flaying, proceeded to reach forward and snap Aki's neck with a tiny pinch, releasing him as he dropped to the ground lifelessly. 

"AKI, NO!!! Layla screamed, witnessing Aki's death from the gate's entrance. Layla came back out to search for him when she couldn't find him inside. 

"FUCK!!!" Brox & the Guild Master yelled, picking up their pace towards the Troll in hopes of recovering Aki's body before he gets devoured.  

The Trolls began to point at each other, asking who wanted to eat the dead human, with neither of them being interested in a skinny human. Finally, they decided they would give it to the Kobolds before walking away, heading into battle to look for a better meal as four Kobolds ran towards Aki's body. 

*SPLIRRTT* A Kobold's head went flying, hitting one of the Red Trolls on the back of the head, followed by three more heads as all four Kobolds fell onto the ground, dead. 

"WHERE THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GOING!!!" Aki yelled, standing up, enveloped in a red aura. 

*Skill: Berserker Soul Obtained* *Berserker Soul Activate"