5-5. Desperate situation




 We walked around a lot but didn't find anything of note.

 Oh yeah, there's something I wanted to try out, so let's give it a try.
 This world is like a game, so I thought maybe I could see the status or something.

 I don't know what to do, let's just call it "status open".

'Status open'.

 At the moment I say that, a single, slightly thick board appears.
 That board is floating in front of me.
 On the surface of the board.

 Name: Tetsuya Takahashi
 Age 25
 Level 1/1
 HP 20/30
 MP 3/3
 Attack Power 3
 Defensive Power 3
 Speed 3
 Skill Points 0
 Skill: [Body Absorption]
 No resistance

 It says this.
 You can see it in the status open.

 Maybe it's weak, this number is probably weak.
 Does the level 1/1 indicate that the limit level is 1?

 There's a skill called corpse absorption, is this the first skill you get?

 Is it strong? No, that guy who summoned me, this meme, said that the initial skill was weak.
 If that's true, then this skill is probably useless skill.

 If it absorbs dead bodies and nothing more happens, then it's certainly just a useless skill.
 Let's not hold our breath.

 But your HP is going down. Maybe it's because you got beaten up by a bunch of bad guys.

 So how do I get rid of this? I got out in the open so....

Status Closed.

 The moment I said that, the board with the status on it disappeared.
 Open and out, close and out, right? I've learned.

 Anyway, I'm the weakest person in the world now.
 Still, I'm not going to die for sure.
 Let's pay as much attention as we can to find the way out.

 That's what I thought, and I started walking.

 I walked for a few minutes, and the smell of something rotten began to waft through the air.

 It was a nauseating smell.
 The smell seemed to be coming from ahead.

 It gave me the creeps, so I avoided the direction of the smell and walked in the other direction.

 After walking for a while...

 Kats, Kats, Kats, Kats, Kats.

 I can hear the footsteps of something.
 It's the sound of footsteps of a creature that's walking on two legs.

 A human being? Or.....

 I look around to make sure I'm okay.
 I can't find anyone making the footsteps.

 The footsteps grow louder and louder.
 I looked for a place to hide, but there was no place to hide.

 Then I have no choice but to flee.
 I walk quickly in the opposite direction of where the footsteps are coming from.

 Then the tempo of the footsteps increases.

 They start to run!

 I match it and run away.

 But the footsteps are getting louder and louder.

 They're faster than me!

 I look back.

 A little farther away, I see someone chasing me.

 A green humanoid creature of small stature, with horns sprouting from its forehead.
 It's small, but it has a vicious face and is scary.
 Maybe it's a goblin, but I think it's a goblin.

 It has the image of being the weakest monster in the world, but it has a club, and it's probably impossible for a level 1 me to defeat it.

 All I can do is run... but...

 Goblins are faster than me! Several times faster.

 I mean, I'm slow, right? 
 Something is obviously slowing me down several times more than it was when I was younger.

 Sure, I'm not getting enough exercise, but is it going to slow me down this much?
 Maybe because I've reached level 1, my physical abilities are lower than in my former world.

 No matter what, if I don't do something like this, it will definitely catch up with me!

 Do you have a place to hide?

 I'll look for it as I run.

 Hmm? This smell.

 The rotten smell I smelled earlier is drifting back in.
 Come to think of it, the direction I'm running from is the one I was avoiding earlier because of the smell drifting through the air.

 If the smell gets tighter, those guys might run away too.
 This time, I decided to put up with the smell and keep running.

 I decided to do that and keep running.
 But the goblins are chasing me without regard to the smell.

 What are they doing? Why are they running after me? You're gonna eat me! There's nothing good in the food.

 As I was complaining in my head, the goblins were running and throwing something at me.

 A rock.
 They throw dozens of them.

'Eww!'

 One of them hit my right leg and I fell, screaming.

 I was running and I roll with great force.
 It hits my whole body. Pain runs through my body.
 Then I stop in a position to lie on the ground.
 The taste of earth and blood mixes in my mouth.

 I manage to get up, but my right leg doesn't move.
 The stone throwing I did earlier injured me.

 I glance behind me and see the goblin that was running earlier is now coming towards me on foot.
 He had a smirk on his face, probably because he was convinced that he had finished me off.

 d*mn it, move! Move your feet!

 I try to move my legs, but they don't move.
 I try to crawl away, even if I have no choice.

 Shit! You've got to be kidding me! I don't know why I'm in this mess!

 The thought of unreasonableness surged in my heart.

 When the mushroom saved my life, I almost believed in the existence of God, but it seems that such a thing does not exist in this world.

 The goblins are closing in on me. I don't know what they're going to do to me, but I don't know what they're going to do to me. But if they catch me, I won't be safe.
 The chances of escaping in this state are slim to none.

 Nevertheless, I follow my instinct to live, crawling on the ground and moving forward.

 Hmm? This is....

 There was a hole in the ground.

 I could smell a terrible rotten smell coming from inside the hole, and I frowned involuntarily.
 It seemed that the source of the putrid smell in the area was this hole.

 The bottom of the hole was too dark to see clearly.
 It was so deep that there was a possibility of death if you fell in.

 Before that, there is a tremendous resistance to jumping into the place that generates such a smell.

 But if I don't, I'll die for sure.

 ---- I have no choice but to go!

 I jumped into the hole at will.