World of Karik: A Game of Villains 16 Downshif

For a while I wandered through the woods, occasionally falling unconscious. I don't know, maybe that was my body's reaction to stress. It's not every day you see a scene of mass death. Yes, I admit, I came here exactly after the same thing, but... I didn't see most of the events unveil with my own eyes.

When I came back to my sense, I found that I had walked back to the familiar swamp in my zombified state. At least my brain still worked. Lose levels... I've already died and resurrected in this strange world. I could not remember, however, had my experience decreased after that. Maybe you didn't lose it at the first couple of levels. However, there was no use in guessing. I could only try. It seemed so easy: let someone kill you and resurrect, rinse and repeat until you return back to the desired level. Level 5, in my case. I couldn't imagine how many deaths I will have to suffer.

Unpleasant sounds were coming from the swamp. There was breathing, growling, buzzing... The place lived its strange life and was ready to absorb any daredevil who decided to wander in.

Yes, it was unpleasant to be there at night, especially alone. I wondered what was going on in the camp. Did someone else attack our people? How were the newbies? Not that I was worried about them—no, just curious. Everyone was probably wondering what was going on with me. No one was trying to come out of the graveyard. They knew I was still alive.

The moon disappeared behind the low clouds, and it became even darker—so much that I couldn't see anything further than my outstretched hand. I was going to have a hard time. Suddenly I felt an unpleasant, almost animal, fear. What if the Reaper attacked the camp? After all, Fox knew how to get to it and could have shown him the way. One could only hope that the girl wanted to leave without destroying her squad. Suck it up, Vasily! Even if they do come to our cave and start destroying the tombstones, you still have a chance to survive.

The light of the moon flashed through the clouds, illuminating the swamp, the forest, and the small hillock overgrown with bushes. How timely. I don't know how I managed to get to the place where I had hidden my portable tombstone in the darkness. Thinking about it, I grinned. If you were to say something like this in "our world" you wouldn't just be misunderstood, but put into an asylum, away from society.

I couldn't resist checking if it was still there. The sharp edges of the small, pyramidical stone edges dug into the palm of my closed hand. All right. Now I could go and face death.

It was much easier said—or, rather, thought—than done. The body resisted desperately. To cut my throat or to pierce my heart...? Fox, who had accepted the ways of this strange, new world, had no issues with it, but I did. So I had only one way out—let the monsters kill me. But it was also a rotten decision. After all, no one could guarantee that death would be quick. I could die from my wounds, from the dull, aching pain, maybe even get eaten. But even that was better than suicide!

But a conscious decision to die was not enough. Hands, it seemed, swung the scythe themselves, and the brain cast spells on its own. Thus, trying to be sent back to my tombstone, I killed at least a dozen Skeletons of the Drowned and one strange creature that looked like a small lizard with a spear.

No, this won't do, I thought, and went deeper into the swamp, falling knee-deep into the stinking muck from time to time. I put the scythe in my inventory. First of all, it was harder to fight back without weapon; and secondly, I wouldn't have to wander through the swamp in search of my corpse and stuff after I resurrect. I should take off my armor... Since I was going to die, I didn't want to take it off the corpse, which I hoped to turn into soon. I probably looked like a tourist who had finally reached the sea and was carefully folding his things on the shore before jumping into the water. I'm getting distracted. I came here for a reason. I needed to find a strong monster, preferably one strong enough to kill me with a single blow...

Soon enough, I met such a creature.

Kappa

Level 30

An eerie creature, a mixture of a frog and a turtle, emerged from the water with a wild squeal. It smelled of rotten fish. I instinctively jerked aside, trying to dodge the blow, and succeeded. But creature didn't miss the second time, hitting my temple and splitting my head open like a ripe watermelon.

You will be moved to the nearest tombstone by default in:

3…

2…

1…

Waking up, I jerked, as if I was still trying to dodge the blows. Damn it, it's pretty cold without clothes, I thought. Though, was this really my biggest problem?

Choking on an unexpected chuckle, I discovered something even more unpleasant—my experience had indeed decreased. However, after a couple of simple calculations, I realized that there were at least 50 deaths between me and level 5. One could easily go crazy doing this! But not me, I had to do it!

I came across the Skeletons of the Drowned again. I tried to be quiet, but they still noticed me and I was forced to kill them, which brought back the points I had lost. I began to wander through the swamp, choosing the most unexpected routes, came across the Kappa again, died after the first blow again, rose and sadly realized that all of my attempts to quickly lose levels were being compensated by all the experience gained killing skeletons on my way to the Kappa.

Having died and resurrected for the third time in less than half an hour, I realized that I was getting annoyed. Perhaps I should give up and returne to the base? Once there, I can give this a thought and make a plan in peace. No, I couldn't. It was as if something from deep inside me took hold of me and pulled me back. If not now, then never. Don't stop. It's better to do it all at once. Even if it took me a day or more—I had to do it. If there was no other way, then I would have to continue dying.

Chapter end