Watching the life drain from me was an oddly cold process: I saw it at the bottom of my vision, where my HP bar slowly moved into the red, draining from 50% to 25%.

No idea how much time passed.

10/30 HP

The Thorn Guard took another HP point from the Zebda, but at the rate he was going, I was going to be dead long before he made much headway.

That’s when something important popped into my mind.

The Dragon Gauntlet.

The game had told me I’d won it right after defeating the Earth Dragon. But with all the distractions of that moment, I hadn’t put it on yet…

Eyes went to the corner of my vision, as my HP Bar slowly drained.

Went from MAIN MENU to ARMOR AND WEAPONS.

A picture of my body was presented before my eyes. There were lines connecting the various parts of my body to the potential pieces of armor I could wear, as well as the weaponry I could wield.

My eyes focused on the Dragon Gauntlet. Within a second, it was brought to my arm.

I exited out of the menu.

Had less than 10% Health left.

I felt bad, but I didn’t feel so close to death.

Odd thought to have, as I raised my fist in the air.

Brought my fist down on the Zebda’s claw and heard it crack.

The Zebda let go.

4/30 HP

The Zebda’s other claw came at me. I grabbed it in mid-air, then crunched it in my hand.

-1/30 HP

The Zebda squealed, then collapsed.

I watched it turn translucent, then disappear.

“Thank you, brave hero!” the Thorn Guard said. “You destroyed the Zebda.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I coughed for second, then continued. “I have eyes of my own. I can see it.”

The Thorn Guard nodded at me, smiling, seemingly oblivious to how little I gave a shit about him.

I shook my head, grimly laughing. “Dumb motherfuck.” Turned around and headed back towards the Thorn Kingdom walls.

Didn’t really know how buying and selling worked at the bazaar, but my HP wasn’t doing too hot, which meant I’d need to look for a good healing potion.

Most of the walk home happened without incident. Remembering where the monsters had been made it easy to stay out of their path.

When I got within sight of the gatehouse, though, I became a little confused. Last I remembered, there’d been a Zebda attacking the wall.

Walking by this time, there wasn’t a Zebda to be seen.

Carefully I walked, wondering if the Zebda was hiding. My gaze checked the sky, it checked to the forest to the right of us. Presumably the Zebda wasn’t behind the wall; if it was, it’d get killed soon enough.

That’s when it happened, a respawn.

The Zebda appeared out of thin-air without warning.

Its claw was coming at me before I knew what was happening.

Managed to use the hand wearing the dragon gauntlet to grab the claw before it hit me.

27/30 HP

The other claw came down though, before I could draw my sword.

Lost a decent amount of HP. The Zebda forced me to the ground.

Head throbbing, blood rushing to it.

My HP Bar was going down fast. It’d already been low, now it was only 10% away from 0.

Grass was ripped out of the ground as I was scraped across it.

Fuck. Fuck! FUCK!

The sack in the Zebda’s underbelly opened. The slimy jaw came at me, teeth bared.

Sharp long teeth digging through armor, crushing flesh and bone.

Air leaving my body.

HP Bar fell to zero.

Time to die.

---

Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter! If you did, please rate and review. Your support encourages me to write, which means faster/longer releases. Woohoo!