Lord of the Karmic Fate

Running through hallways after hallways with heavy but fast steps, Old Dan collected one purple crystal after another.

"I can still hardly believe I am not dreaming and all this is... Real."

Just a day ago Old Dan could remember how he was preparing to go to a party meant for privileged people, yet, here he was now, running through hallways and collecting shards while trying to escape from getting devoured by a beast!

"For some reason, I feel like this Realm Game is quite similar to that old video game I have played when I was still a teenager. What was its name again? Dac... Pac... Urgh, I can't remember."

Old Dan kept running and collecting shards without stopping while quietly talking to himself to help his tense nerves to calm down a bit.

After all, it was only natural even for him, an adult man to feel a scarce amount of anxiety after experiencing all the weird things he did in the past few hours not to mention after watching how a snake a size of a truck was trying to devour him!

Hell, it was a snake the size of a huge ass elephant! Who would not feel scared in the face of such a beast?!

"Hm? This..."

After running for a little more than one minute, suddenly Old Dan arrived in a room which looked quite like a hall for banquets.

Circular laid tables were placed on the sides with chairs around them while the middle region was left empty except for a floating shard that instead of purple was bright yellow!

Old Dan had a hunch about what this new piece of shard could do, and to see if his guess was correct he quickly extended his hand and grabbed it.

[Time Shard acquired! All Shard Chasers will now be frozen in time for 15 seconds!]

Bam!

The moment the words materialized before his face on the small magic panel, the yellow shard in the hands of Old Dan cracked and as if pumping a large amount of water into a balloon it exploded into pieces!

Whoosh!

"W-Woah!" forced to take a step backward because of the powerful shockwave that swept into every direction the moment the shard exploded, Old Dan's eyes widened slightly.

This item was exactly the one he had guessed it would be!

"I wonder if that brat is doing fine or..." Old Dan mumbled as he glanced at the magic panel on his side, but seeing how the number of collected shards was not increasing, his fingers subconsciously got tightened into fists.

Meanwhile, in another room, Raven stood with a stiff and pale face with his eyes fixed on his hand which was bleeding thanks to the broken pieces of the syringe that was now piercing out of his hand!

"Hiss!"

Upon hearing the quiet but hair-raising hiss from his front, Raven slowly raised his head only to see how the mocking grin on the black snake grew wider.

Then, without any prior sign whatsoever, the black beast opened its jaw wide and lunged itself at Raven from above, ready to consume him with one single gulp!

Raven clenched his teeth, finding himself in a deep dilemma. He understood way too well that he was in checkmate as no matter what he will try to do next the white snake behind him watched every move of his!

It was rather obvious that if he decided to dodge the black snake's attack the other one would not hesitate even a second and swallow him in a whole piece!

'Damn it! If my Dexterity would have at least three points...' Raven sighed bitterly in his heart and closed his eyes, but just as he began to move his eyelids a powerful shockwave swept through the dining area!

[Time Shard acquired! All Shard Chasers will now be frozen in time for 15 seconds!]

Whoosh!

"Huh?" watching how the black snake froze still in mid-air with a wide-open jaw, only a single meter away from him, Raven felt confused.

However, his confusion only lasted a second when he saw how a small panel appeared on his left, holding a countdown which at this moment was already at 13 seconds!

"I don't know what happened, but I would be a fool not to live with such a golden opportunity!" Raven narrowed his eyes and quickly grabbed a knife from his side which he immediately swung at the beast's eye.

"Try and smile now, bitc-"

Crack!

[Vitality: 140 -> 139]

"Argh... The... Hell?"

Watching how the knife in his hand failed to pierce the snake's eyes and even snap which flew past his head, leaving behind a deep cut on his cheek, disbelief and fear flashed within Raven's eyes.

"...This must be a bad joke, right?"

Raven's eyes widened and wished to try again, but when he saw how he only had 7 seconds left he clenched his teeth and decided to start running.

Like, what joke was this? He didn't know how strong he was currently with his 4 points of Strength, but he was confident he could easily crack a tree trunk with a single punch if he wished to!

Yet, with strength like that and with the help of a sharp knife he still failed to pierce the weakest point a living being could possess, the eye!

It felt almost like he just tried to stab a metal alloy instead of something soft and slimy!

'Common sense and logic really do not apply to things within Realm Games!' Raven thought in his heart as he dashed out of the dining area and started to collect the shards once again.

However, not even after collecting his 4th shard, increasing his and Old Dan's amount just a little above 200, a scream swept through and shook the whole hallway around Raven.

[The effect of the Time Shard has worn off!]

[200+ Shards had been collected!]

[Every Shard Chaser now will gain an extra 2 points of Speed!]

"Bullshit!" Raven cursed out loud as he felt a hint of anger for the first time after many years, thinking about what was currently happening was unfair.

But regardless of whether he will accept or not, the ever-growing tremor below his feet indicated that the speed of the two beasts indeed increased, and they were closing the distance between them and him slowly but surely!

Raven clenched his teeth and instantly increased his speed while changing directions to make the two beasts' chase even harder!

Running through hallways and various bigger rooms while collecting shards, Raven didn't slow down at all and watched how slowly but surely the number on the magic panel on his side got closer to 500!

However...

[350+ Shards had been collected!]

[Every Shard Chaser now will gain an extra 2 points of Speed!]

Raven's face changed once again, but just a second after the notifications appeared in front of him, and just as he turned left in a corner, he reached an intersection that had a red crystal in its middle!

"What's that?" although confused as he has never crossed paths with a red crystal before, Raven quickly dashed forward and grabbed it.

[Revealer Shard acquired! Everything now will be visible to all Shard Collecters for 30 seconds!]

Whoosh!

In that very instant as the new notification appeared before Raven, suddenly all the walls around him turned half-transparent, allowing him to see not only the remaining Shards he had to collect but also spot Old Dan in the far distance together with the two snakes that were chasing after him from behind!