Earthling in Uncharted Dimensions

Chapter 155: Predator Becomes Prey

'Something is not right.'

Lee was walking through the shadows of the buildings as the sky was slowly darkening. The streets were almost completely occupied with residents and vendors of different kinds. The shops had placed lanterns which had eyes wide open and illuminating the area around them, and shedding light on the path. Only the alleyways between the buildings remained spooky and unexplored.

The sensation of being followed was always felt by Lee. Thus he was careful when crossing the streets and moving through the shades of the shops. He had acquired a piece of thick cotton cloth, with which he covered his head and wrapped it around his neck. Since many people wear turban, and a few have cultural criteria to wear a hood, people did not find him strange. As he glanced around through the corners of his eyes, the feel of being focused by something became more intense.

'Shit!'

The silently incoming flying spike was swift and Lee barely caught a glimpse of it. Even though he couldn't see it clearly, his heart which was flooded with vigilance, directed his legs to vanish into the alleyway. As his head moved toward the nearest alleyway, an iron spear came and pierced the spot where Lee was a second ago, and made an auditory announcement as it got lodged to the wall. Lee missed the sharp spear by such a small margin, that the piece of cloth he had was hooked on the tip of the spear.

Without turning back, he entered the alleyway and found a spot to hide in the darkness. From the position, he scanned the spear which he missed by sheer luck. The reddish grey colour resembled a variant of bronze, and the uniform thickness of 2 inches diameter, except for the tip, was not a common sight regarding spears. The depth with which the rod had lodged into the wall, made Lee skip a heartbeat.

It only took a second for the mildly murmuring streets to plummet into violent screams. Chaos raised its head taking the cover of darkness. The transformation of slow moving people to an aimlessly running herd of sheep was quick and natural. Lee made a mental note that wherever civilization thrive, people tend to show a similar pattern of behaviour.

Presence of people on the rooftop alerted Lee, and he further retreated into the darkness. Regulating his breath and after reaching a completely inaudible state of respiration, Lee glanced up and saw people in dark shade coloured clothings. Their peculiar dress which was perfect for blending in with darkness raised every bristle on Lee.

'Orc? Goblin? Elf?'

Lee was unable to determine the race of those shadows. One among them had a large build like an orc, some lean like an elf and some short like a goblin. Without any movements, Lee hid there for more than half an hour. The track of time was lost, until the notification came up.

=+=+=

30 HOURS TO COMPLETION.

=+=+=

Lee had only averted his gaze to the panel for a second, and the shadows disappeared. Even after repeated searching, his eyes couldn't pick up any trace of their presence. Without any brainstorming, he was able to conclude that they had known of his presence in the alleyway, where he hid, and that they could even register the movement of his pupils.

An overwhelming sense of threat enveloped his heart, but Lee was calm. He was expecting a move from their side, but nothing happened as expected. He assumed that those people were waiting for him to make a move. He couldn't help, but applaud in their patience, as Lee remained like a statue for about a minute.

"There is no use hiding."

Shadows extended from the alleyway's entrance, and a rough and deep voice came. Lee found all his conclusions correct, and deduced that they must be a group of mercenaries. Without wasting any moment, he stepped out of the darkness, from where he was hiding, while leaving a mouthful of air silently.

"Who are-"

Before Lee could question their identity, shurikens came flying at his vital spots. They were precisely targeted at his neck, chest and temple. With minimum movements, he evaded the oncoming threats, and managed to catch the last shuriken by two fingers. The thin, yet unmistakably sharp cross shaped projectile was held between his left hand's index and thumb fingers.

*thuck*

Lee somehow failed to sense the attack from above. But he heard the wooden rod cutting the air, but couldn't react to evade completely. The rod missed his head and striked his right shoulder, thus planting him on his knee on the ground. A kick came and made contact with his back, and Lee supported his torso from falling on the ground, with his extended hands.

Lee grabbed onto the wooden rod to lift it up and counterattack. But as soon as he touched the rod, he was violently electrocuted for a second. The reaction only lasted for a second, but gave a lethal dose of electricity to Lee. Fortunately, he did not die, because his body was used to lightning and had formed resistance against it.

But this trait could only save his life. Lee's hand came loosened up from the rod and his figure lifelessly fell on the ground. A faint twitch he made, revealed to the strange bunch of people that he had not died. They took the detail into consideration, but gave no importance to it. 

Even his mind was in turmoil from the unexpected surge of energy. Lee tried to think clearly, but he ended up derailing his thoughts many times. Sensing that the unanticipated attack had taken a toll on his body and mind, he had no choice but to leave everything to fate.

Since our MC was alive, they did not store his 'corpse' in a storage ring. They had a short and silent talk that Lee, who is half dead, is only as good as dead, and could be stored in a spatial ring. But the ring, which was only programmed to store inanimate objects, refused to agree with them. Thus Lee was wrapped up in ropes, and the person who had the large build like an orc, took him on his shoulder.

Like grandmaster assassins, their presence disappeared as their figures vanished from the sight. The darkness of the alley served as a curtain to conceal their movements. Towards one of the powerhouses, they accelerated. Lee, who had his five senses wrapped tight, could only obediently stay still, until he was strong enough to contend with them all.

---

=+=+=

29 HOURS TO COMPLETION.

=+=+=

Even though Lee was wrapped like a shawarma, he was able to see the notification with his consciousness. From the movements, he assumed that the bunch of mercenaries are still moving towards their hideout. He assumed that they had to exploit the darkness of the streets and to tread carefully, so as to not expose themselves.

His body began to sway in an unexpected angle, and then he felt weightless. To be exact, he was being thrown as he felt being in mid-air. The pleasure of freely floating did not last long as he received a plain, but powerful strike on his torso. From the impact and pain, Lee assumed that the object must be a long and thin object, like a rod, staff or a spear.

His figure fell on the ground twitching and rolled in reaction with the force. Whoever it was who delivered the blow, were very happy to see him twitching in pain, and began to thrash him with vigour. Multiple hits were greeted by his body, and Lee started to count the number of cracking bones. He also noted the main hotspots of pain throughout his body.

"Untie him!"

A high pitched shout came from the near proximity and Lee turned his head towards the source instinctively. A smack was the response to his response. Lee rolled on the ground, while lessening the pain accepted by his face. Rage, and an urge for revenge, began to silently build up in him. Lee was only waiting for the correct time to strike. But first, he needed to see the owner of the voice.

The peculiar tone was something he had heard before, but he couldn't think further, as his head was repeatedly giving him pain. Instead of increasing the load on thoughts, he patiently waited for them to unwrap him. And fate did not let go of his hand. After a few more random kicks that aimed at his upper and lower torso, he was dragged for about a few feets and was starting to get unwrapped.

'AARGHH!'

Pain! All he could sense was pain all over his body. The volley of strikes had chipped away a major portion of Lee's health and he was drenched in his own blood. The ropes were stuck to his skin, and blood acted as adhesive. From the outside, no drop of blood could be seen, because the mummified wrapping was so tight that the blood remained inside the ropes.

Lee violently twitched as the rope was peeled from his skin. His clothings absorbed a major portion of the damage, but they acted as amplifiers of pain where blood came out of the wounds. Lee cried internally and determined that no sound must be made. He decided to suffer the pain for the only purpose of vengeance.

He was positioned upright on the floor, and his head was unwrapped. After slowly opening an eyelid, he saw a few figures in front of him. The ropes were soon completely taken off, and Lee fell on the ground. As he felt like losing consciousness, he was able to take a glance of the culprit, of his sufferings.