The Isekai Game

Internalizing

There was a sting resembling burnt carbon that woke up Vanessa. Raising her head, she saw Gula panting. Within seconds she twitched in every direction. Nothing living was around. But it was clear Gula had a rough time. 

He looked down into her eyes, "You should get going". 

Without food nor water, Vanessa brushed herself off while heading out. She glanced a few times to see Gula glaring back. It was clear that he wasn't coming. He needed to defend the shrine. Facing forward, the ground was clearly slopping down. There were some thick trees in the distance. It was the path to the water shrine. 

"Don't run!" shouted Gula, "You'll wear out what little energy you have"!

The c***k of light in the sky couldn't brighten her spirit a bit. It was back to being alone in a crazy apocalyptic world. She walked away with a hand on her katana. It was obvious she will need to avoid battle. But damn did she need food. 

In the cool air blowing against nearby waters, Vanessa could still hear her stomach growl. Obviously, it would alarm nearby beasts. Yet who knows how dead this place was. The trees were so thick and condensed with one another that she had to climb over bushes to get across. 

Stepping in muck was the least of her worries. Though there was gooey mush sticking between her toes, Vanessa caught a little bit of light from the sun along with the water on her arm. It was black with a strong metallic smell. She flinched a bit, wanting to throw up. Instead, she sucked it up and continued climbing over bushes until she fell down into a swamp. 

Rising from being completely submerged, Vanessa brushed back her wet hair. Realizing it wouldn't stay, she pulled out a scrunchy to put it in a ponytail. She tried to walk off, but the knee-deep swamp hindered her from moving so fast. It left her rising a leg out of the water and stepping over just to get by. After a few feet, her legs were already cramping. 

Consistently stopping to stretch out her legs, Vanessa would look out for the best route to take. But the damn swamp was so dark. And the sun didn't seem to help. The sky was fading from black to a reddish hue. Everything looked the same, trees and bushes in water with dark areas that she couldn't see through. It eventually clicked to her that she was possibly going the wrong way. 

This wasn't fun. It just sucked. And Vanessa hated it. Her typically cool demeanor and kawaii attitude turned to bitter swears. Whenever she stopped to stretch her legs she would spit, thinking the muck was in her mouth. Every muscle in her body wished a gator or something would just eat her legs. 

Never did her wish come true. It was as though the game just wanted her to have a miserable time. It only took God knows how long before she found herself just standing there thinking about this crappy time. Nothing was going well. Everything was a click away from ending. All she needed to do was a reality check to quit and be free to go home to a fresh shower.

That sounded like a plan. A solid one. Logan can throw a fit. What was he gonna do anyways? Vanessa would be more than ready to remind him who won in December. But that wasn't the problem. No matter how internalized she was in the middle of the swamp, she couldn't bring herself to call that reality check to quit. 

The hairs on her back stood up. 

"Crap," she thought, spinning around, drawing out her katana. 

It was dark and drooping of thick vines and tree roots. Her blade collided with its wooden claw. 

Bits chopped away as the creature swung its other claw. Vanesa stepped past the creature while slashing her blade in its chest. 

Nearly tripping, she sliced her blade again, "Ice". 

Three icicles pierced into it, "Freeze". 

Just when the monster was freezing, Vanessa felt a tingle on her calves. A quick breath was taken before she jumped out of the water. 

She couldn't quite see it, but there was definitely something in the water that swiped at her. 

Running lightly through the water, she made sure to concentrate on her surroundings to keep her sensory ability active. It wasn't much, but it surely it was able to help her avoid last-minute attacks. 

Her calves tingled again for her to jump. This time, she jumped and spun to stab Masamune in the water. 

A second wooden creature rose out of the water to box her down.

Underneath the water, the creature the four-eyed thing came over her for an attack. She used her legs and hands to push herself away with her butt c****d out.  

She rose out of the murky waters where the creature tackled her. In its tackle, she latched its arm to stab her katana right through its stomach. 

Calling "freeze" she tried to push it off her katana. Instead, it tackled her again. 

Pulling her legs to her chest, Vanessa managed to kick herself away while keeping her katana. 

The creature froze in the water reaching out for her. Meanwhile, she stumbled through the water. There were more of these wooden creatures poking their heads out of the water. They were barely visible. But she can see their four white eyes staring at her. Some had large wooden spikes sticking out their back which made them look a little scary. 

Regardless, they were slow. And with her sensory abilities, she could sense when they attack.