Fight. Level. Survive.

“God dammit.”

If all of his attacks were just going to pass straight through the Monster, then how the hell was he suppo-, wait, what the fuck.

Mandatory Quest Received! Fucking Run!

Quest Objective - You have, for the second time, invoked a Taboo. Whatever the result is, you will not be ready for it. Hence the running.

Reward - You get to not be wiped from existence.

Everything seemed to still. The colour seemed to drain away from the world around him, leaving everything looking dull and lifeless. The breeze that had been, up until moments before, causing the leaves on the tree trees to rustle was now absent. Even the Vespara started backing away.

Mason was confused. He wasn’t sure what was happening. He had Invoked a taboo? What could he of possibly done to cause that? He doubted that these Vespara things were considered holy….

He had shot a Magic Missile, and the attack had gone right through the giant wasp. He had gotten annoyed, and then he had said…oh, God dammit.

Ohhh. Oh fuck.

As realisation struck him, the ground started to shake. He didn’t exactly trust his system, he thought its advice of ‘Fucking Run’ might be the best course of action. He turned to look where doe Nays was. Still in animal form, she was staring at him with terror and accusation in her eyes. Evidently, she had heard what he had done.

As the world shook, he dashed over to Nays, scooped her up into his arms and started to run. Chancing a look behind him, he saw a crack appear in the ground, a giant hand emerging from its depths.

“What the mother fucking fuck is that.” He shouted as he ran.

He felt Nays tremble in his arms as he sprinted faster, trying to put as much distance as possible between them and the emerging creature. The ground continued to shake violently, making it difficult to keep his balance. He could hear the sound of rocks and debris crashing against each other as the creature made its way to the surface.

The sky turned dark as clouds of dust and ash filled the air. He felt himself coughing and choking as he tried to take in the air.

Achievement Unlocked! Accidental Demon

Through nothing but your own idiocy, you’ve managed to temporarily awaken a Demon.

Reward: Quickfire history lesson.

There were 15 Gods. The 10 minor gods rebelled against the 5 greater gods. This resulted in an all-out war throughout the cosmos. The greater gods cursed the lesser gods and turned them all into horrible, disgusting beasts. Demons.

The war bought with it death, destruction and unimaginable horrors to mortal kind. Eventually, the 5 realised the only way to stop the pain and suffering they were causing was to curse all 15 divine beings to eternal sleep.

Each time the word ‘God’ is spoken, it weakens the curse, resulting in more and more of the Demon’s power being awakened.

The result of invoking the Taboo is caused by this power and can vary from a small inconvenience to what you are now experiencing, an echo of a Demon’s consciousness that has temporarily slipped through the curse hold.

He chastised himself for his stupidity. Mayry had warned him not to use the word, yet he had still done it. Now, he was running for his life with a terrified Nays in his arms as a monstrous creature, apparently a demon, emerged from the depths.

As he ran, he couldn't help but wonder if the gods and demons of this world bore any resemblance to one of the pantheons of earth. He had always been fascinated by the myths and legends of ancient civilisations of his home world, but he had never really believed in any god or gods, and now he was probably going to be squished by one.

He stumbled over a loose rock, nearly losing his grip on Nays. She yelped in fear, and he knew he couldn't afford to make any more mistakes. With renewed determination, he pushed himself harder, running faster and faster.

Figuring he was far enough, he slowed to a stop and turned to look at the horrifying creature he had summoned.

Mason had sprinted as fast and as far as he could away from where the Demon had first appeared, but now fully emerged, he could see as if it were standing right in front of him. It stood hundreds of feet tall, its skin was black as coal, its eyes glowed an ominous red. Its body was muscular and covered in sharp spikes, its limbs were long and twisted like the branches of a long-dead tree. It let out a deafening roar and locked eyes with Mason. He had definitely not run far enough.

When Its gaze met his own, he felt every muscle in his body freeze up. He couldn’t so much as twitch his finger. When the gargantuan entity lifted its foot and took one huge step towards him, all he could do was watch on in horror. With every passing second, the Demon drew closer. With all his heart, he willed Nays to run away and save herself, but just like him, she was paralysed.

He knew he was screwed, but out of morbid curiosity, he wanted to know how screwed.

Brobdingnagianthos - Level ??? Lesser Celestial.

I feel your scan. I know you’re there. I see you.

Well, that was creepy. Surely it knew that Mason knew that it could see him. If that really had been the demon communicating with him, why did it feel the need to state the obvious? He felt like he was missing something.

As it got closer, his brain started to feel like it was vibrating, his vision blurred, and a pressure that felt similar to his Mana started to build within his chest.

Now with the Demon only a few steps away, Mason started to think about all of the regrets he had. He regretted the way he had left things with Mayry. He had assumed he would see her again soon and be able to make up with her. He regretted he had never gotten the chance to say goodbye to his family on earth, he had still been holding out hope that one day be able to return and tell them of his journey. They wouldn’t believe a word, but he would have still liked to share it with them.

You are level 15, and h h h have 4160 experience points. 2 levels levels levels worth of Chaos Energy would-

The notification faded. What the heck was that? His system had glitched. That was strange. He had never really thought of it as an actual game system that could glitch.

You are level 15 and have 4160 experience points. 2 levels worth of Chaos Energy is required to break the divine paralysis. Spend? Y/N?

Without a second thought, Mason mentally smashed the Y.

The Demon stopped midstep and lowered its foot. It stared at Mason and almost imperceptively cocked his head to the side.

He could move again. In his arms, Nays was still paralysed.

Knowing for an absolute fact that nothing in his repertoire of abilities could so much as Itch the Demon, Mason turned and once again ran for his life.

He heard a noise behind him. It wasn’t the booming footstep of the Demon pursuing him. No, those never came. It sounded like a baby’s cry mixed with the engine of a car failing to start with a hint of distortion. It was laughing. The demonic entity that he was certain would be his end was laughing at him. That truly horrifying sound would haunt his dreams for the rest of his life.

The laughing suddenly stopped. Mason turned to see the Demon was gone.

Mandatory Quest Fucking Run! - Completed

Quest Objective - You have, for the second time, invoked a Taboo. Whatever the result is, you will not be ready for it. Hence the running.

Reward - You still exist. Congrats.

Now he was relatively safe, he wanted some answers.

“Help, Spending level,” He said to the air. Nays looked up at him weakly. The poor thing had been terrified and barely had the strength to shoot him dirty looks.

His attempt at getting a help Notification failed. He was already dreading the moment Nays turned back into herself, but he figured in for a penny… “Help? Spending Levels against Demons?”

Help - Using XP

XP is used to level up and gain new abilities. With each new XP threshold you reach, you will gain a level. Levelling up will unlock stat points-

“You know that’s not what I mean!” Mason shouted, making Nays shift in his arms. He started to pet her to calm her down, momentarily forgetting that she wasn’t really an animal.

He pulled up his Menu and checked his character sheet.

Name: Mason Hughes

Level: 13

Current XP: 3550/4200

Race: Human

Class: Hunter

Health Points (HP): 260

Mana Points (MP): 285

Stamina: (SP): 185

Stats

Strength: 24 (+15) 39

Agility: 19

Endurance: 17

Vitality: 16

Resilience: 12 (+26) 38

Intelligence: 34(+10%) 37

Perception: 24

Willpower: 14

Free points: - 4

Skills:

Identify (Basic), Magic Missile - INT (Advanced), Emotional Outburst - PER (Advanced), Camouflage - PER (Advanced), Random Summon (Advanced)

Class skills, Basic Monster tracking.

He was missing 4 points in each stat, and his free points sat at minus 4. He really had lost two levels but the system was refusing to acknowledge that it was even possible.

It really sucks losing those levels, but he was alive, and so was Nays, so things could be a lot worse.

Thinking of Nays, he looked down and realised the doe had fallen asleep in his arms. His petting her had indeed calmed her. It was strange she hadn’t transformed back yet, perhaps she had run out of energy.

Not wanting to disturb the sleeping doe girl, he stayed where he was and shimmied over to the nearest tree so he could rest his back against it.

It had been a strange day. Just once he’d really like to experience the good of this world instead of the worst. This time, he had to admit it was entirely his fault. He had to remember never to say that word again. He had read that when children were just learning to speak, parents often got a ritualist to perform a ritual that would prevent them from saying the word. He wondered if he could get the same done. Though, if he ever got back to earth and his mum forced him to go to church as she often did, that was going to get pretty awkward.

He found himself stroking the doe in his lap again. What was he going to say to her when she woke up, that he accidentally said a word that every living being on this planet knows not to say?

He was pretty screwed there, but at least this was pretty nice. He was probably jinxing himself by thinking it, but this was a nice little break from the madness that was this world.

He paused, half expecting a hydra to appear out of nowhere and attack him. Thankfully he wasn’t that unlucky, nothing happened, and he got to enjoy his peaceful bliss for a little… while… longer…

He felt something move. he snapped awake.

The doe he had fallen asleep with on his lap had woken up and was no longer a doe but a naked woman. A naked woman who had been trying to covertly get off of his lap without waking him. When he had been nudged awake, his hands had come up in case he was being attacked. While he wasn’t currently being attacked, judging by where his hands had ended up, that could change pretty soon.

They both blushed. Mason apologised, but surprisingly, Nays didn't mind and even flirtatiously said she might let him do it again if he behaved himself.