A Futile Effort…?
The metallic howls echoed fiercely in this confined tunnel.
The wolves below me were just as loud, but I felt a bit of comfort knowing they couldn’t reach me. Before anything else though, I briefly checked my current status.
Maybe it was because I was currently blind, but when I called out my status, the familiar blue panel did not pop up. Rather, like before, an eerie and mechanical voice whispered in my ear.
It briefly told me the same gist of information I’d usually garner from a normal information panel. Well, in short, I leveled up by 1. This was good news, especially considering I’ve been stagnant ever since the double exp. bonus ended. Unfortunately, good news wasn’t the only thing I received.
My hp was borderline, about 6% remaining, while my body was also riddled in several abnormal status effects. Most noticeable was the fact that several [Bleeding status] effects were stacked, causing their initial effects to augment.
I don’t know how much time I had left, but it wasn’t a lot, and the fact that my body felt excessively sluggish was also a bad sign. I’ve never experienced it before, but I’m guessing the sluggish feeling was the effect of letting the stamina bar get too low.
After retrospecting a bit about my current situation, I finally picked myself up and proceeded to leave this narrow space. I backtracked and followed my original path, snaking my way around the ventilation shaft.
My current goal was to reach the “meeting spot” the girls and I had set up earlier. Although I said meeting spot, really, it was just the area behind the wall that we used for cover.
Going off the cognitive map I had from earlier, I eventually lowered myself out of the ventilation shafts.
I landed with a thud in what I hoped was a familiar hallway.
Of course, I couldn’t see it, so instead, I cautiously grabbed at the wall as I sniffed the air.
Honestly, I had no idea what I was doing, but in the absence of vision, I thought it might have been smart to start using my other senses.
Sniffing at the air, the tangy smell of highschool acid and singed fur eventually reached my nose.
I wrinkled my nozzle reflexively as my head turned to face the direction of the odor. More than likely, the stench was caused by the battle that took place in the hallway. It was also my destination, but I couldn’t just walk straight there unabashedly.
Even if I was close to death, it was pointless if I just went and died due to recklessness.
I started moving. Going off the memorized mental map I had of the 2nd floor, I snaked my way around corridors and classrooms, until I eventually reached my destination. From my current location, merely a couple meters down the hallway where the girls should have been, I could already hear the roaring of fire, as well as the heavy panting of two human individuals.
I was close...but...
...unfortunately, that was when I finally ran out of stamina.
Taking a shaky step forward, I tried fighting the fatigue as I proceeded forward. Too bad though, since after my 2nd step, my legs gave way, and I collapsed hard on the tiled floor.
With an annoyed spit, I ejected the gathered grime and dirt in my mouth as I weakly called out to the girls.
What came out of my mouth though, weren’t words, but rather, a pathetic sounding groan of both fatigue and pain.
I don’t know whether they could hear me or not, mostly since my hearing was getting pretty bad as well, but a moment later, a rather… delicate sensation enveloped me.
It wasn’t healing magic or anything, but rather human contact.
My head seemingly rested on a pair of warm marshmallows as something soft brushed my injured face.
I attempted to look up, as if trying to meet eye to eye with whatever or whoever held me, but as expected, all I saw was black.
“....”
“...”
“Hide?” A familiar voice suddenly spoke up through the crackling of the nearby flames.
The voice was soft, feminine, and for some strange reason, brought me a quiet comfort.
“Ugh… is that Hina? Hina?” I asked, unsure as to the owner of the voice.
“Y-yes, it’s me, but more importantly what happened?!” She let out a horrified gasp as I imagined her doing a once over of my beaten and bloodied body.
“Er… well, that’s not important right now, I *cough* I-I really need a heal. I-is Cielle around?” I hastily replied. My HP was slowly draining, at most I had 0.08% left. I was seriously cutting it close.
My head absentmindedly swept from side to side, in a vain attempt at looking around my surroundings.
“Cielle?” Hina asked dubiously. “Cielle’s been right here this whole time… Hide, don’t tell me… you can’t see?!”
Upon hearing Hina’s evaluation, a horrified and surprised voice suddenly gasped next to me.
[Ah… there’s Cielle.]
“Well, like I said-”
Before I could reiterate, Hina once again interrupted. “What exactly happened to you Hide! Why can’t you see?! Why is there so much blood everywhere?!”
“J-just calm down Hina!” I tried retorting through her growing hysteria. “Don’t worry about the blood, not all of it’s mine, more importantly-”
“Why did you suddenly appear down this hallway??? I thought for sure you were in the computer lab fighting?”
“I was, I was-jeez, just listen to me for a second! I’m seriously going to die!” I sighed out exasperatedly.
“Muu… fine, fine, I can’t argue with you there, you really do look like you're about to walk through the pearly gates… but after you're all fixed and well, you better explain, got it?”
Hina replied back, her tone had a modest undertone, but was fashioned to be severely reprimanding, like a mother scolding her reckless child.
“Okay, sure, but right now that’s not important, Cielle heal me! Heal me right now!”
My voice broke off in frantic desperation. No matter how much bravado I seemingly had, as expected, even I was afraid of death. I urged Cielle to heal me. I urged her even more to save me.
As if in compliance, a familiar, soothing warmth enveloped me. I recognized this blissful sensation as [Gemini Blue]. It washed over me, and while the fatigue still remained, I could feel the pain slowly disappear.
For a moment, I just laid there, fully appreciating [Gemini Blue]’s usefulness, as my severe injuries began to all but fade away. The warm, yet somewhat cool sensation enveloped my entirety, snaking its way down from my legs, to my right hand, all the way eventually to meet the throbbing pain in the back of my head.
I could feel, even in my head, as something was… rearranged. It was a weird sensation, one not easily described, but I at least knew that I was getting better.
Eventually, with much trepidation and after the soothing sensation had begun to fade, I slowly opened my eyes; I was greeted by the first rays of light that I had seen in what felt like a long time.
I looked up earnestly at a tear streaked girl’s face.
Cielle’s lips were curved in a quiver, mere inches away from my own. Her own hair enveloped me, creating a small curtain that seemingly enclosed both of us in our own private world, away from all the danger and death that existed.
At first, my eyes widened upon her close proximity, but eventually they softened as my own lips curved into a slight smile.
I had many things floating through my mind at this current moment. Several words and phrases I wanted to say, but for now, I satisfied myself with a slight gesture of appreciation.
“Thank you.”
With those words, it was now Cielle’s turn to widen her eyes, as for a moment she stared transfixed. Eventually though, this moment, this seemingly timeless moment was broken, as she quickly backed away, and turned towards the flames that still raged.
As she got up from me, I too attempted to sit upright. The fatigue was worse than ever now, as the original adrenaline rush I fueled myself off of had already vanished. I strained to look around, until my eyes met with Hina’s, who stood besides the flames while her hands maneuvered in front of her.
After handing me off to Cielle, it seems like she had gone back to whatever she was doing before, as she currently looked out over the mflaes.
Noticing my gaze, she stared back, her face donned with a tired smile. Going by her expression, I knew she wanted answers as to what happened, but that could wait for later. Right now, we still had a bit of unfinished business to take care of.
First thing though, was I needed to replenish was some bit of stamina.
I looked over at Cielle and asked, “Do you have any granola bars left?”
Prompted by my question, she fished around her pockets and came up with an old worn out protein bar. It was all mushed and beaten, but at the very least, the wrapper seemed to remain relatively unbroken. I quickly checked its stats, and was satisfied to find that the blue panels had returned. Also, the piece of calorie was just what I needed; with equip’s effects active, it could restore a little bit of my stamina.
I took the bar and slowly chewed. As I did, I checked my hp. I found that Gemini Blue had healed over 75% of my total, which, in retrospect, was quite amazing, considering how a mere 10 minutes ago, I was on death’s door.
As I marveled, I finally noticed the giant blob of darkness that floated harmlessly besides Cielle. The glob was massive, probably the biggest I’ve ever seen so far. It was truly an amazing thing to consider that this mass was the representation of almost all the pain and injury I received.
As I absentmindedly continued eating, from my side, Cielle spoke up. Her tone was still clearly worried, but it had somewhat calmed down.
“C-can you see now, H-Hide?”
Upon her question, I paused for a moment. I hesitated before I nodded in affirmation. Truth be told, I could see, but thing’s were somewhat… blurry. Although I figured things would go back to normal pretty soon, so I paid it no heed for now.
But… it wouldn’t hurt to work my eyes around a bit. With that thought, I did a few basic eyesight exercises, like looking at objects from a distance, or looking at something extremely close up, you know, simple things.
As I did this though, I was honestly surprised when a ding! sound resounded in my head.
A moment later, a new blue information panel popped up.
New Skill Earned!
[Name Pending]
You have experienced the absence of your primary sense, and have lived to regain it.
Skill Type: Rare
Skill Rank: Beginner
Skill Level: 1
Skill Experience: 0.00%
Effects:
-In exchange for the temporary loss or decrease of a given “sense”, one or more may be augmented.
-Sense loss decreases as Skill Level increases
-Sensory augmentation increases as Skill level increases
(*Author’s Note* - Try as I might I could not think of the skill name… if I come up with anything, I will ammend this chapter and/or tell you about it in a later chapter… for now, if anyone has suggestions…)
My eyes widened for a second, before they turned hollow and I let loose a bitter smile.
[A new skill huh… it’s a good enough reward, considering the things I went through.]
I didn’t know how helpful this skill would be in the future, considering it was kind of a more balanced skill that both had negatives and positives to it, but nevertheless, its at least a good reassurance to know I have a couple more tricks up my sleeve.
After I completely downed the protein bar, I could feel new found energy surging through my body, albeit miniscule. I was still unsteady on my feet and generally, my movement’s were still sluggish.
But I couldn’t wait here all day.
I attempted to rise to my feet, only to tumble backwards and fall flat on my own butt. I tried again, but the results ended up the same. My legs were still too weak, and my body was still too fatigued.
On my third try, Cielle wordlessly supported me by lending me her shoulder. I looked briefly at her, but otherwise I remained quiet.
With Cielle’s help, I moved over to where Hina was currently standing.
As I looked at her, hard at work, I noticed the perspiration sprawled over her face and exposed skin. She seemingly glistened, illuminated by the slight flicker of fire light the flames provided. Weirdly enough, despite all the sweat and grime, she had an otherwise refreshed smile plastered on her face.
At first I was quite confused as to why she donned such an expression, but after my eyes swept through the inflamed hallway, I quickly understood why.
In short, the two of them; Cielle and Hina, had dominated.
Contrary to my own experience, the Werewolf scouts that ventured out into the hall had all but been destroyed. No rather, they were roasted.
The wolves were all gone, dead and burned alive. At this point, Hina was now furiously working to quell the flames she had helped produce. From my perspective, it didn’t seem like she was using water magic to put the flames out, but rather, she controlled the fire directly.
As I stared absentmindedly at this, a question floated to my head.
“Did that basic fire spell ever give you this much control over fire?” I asked.
I knew a few things about everyone’s skills, and Hina’s basic fire spell should have only given her the ability to create fire as well as a small semblance of control. It was nothing of the level she was currently displaying.
Upon hearing my question, she briefly broke eye contact with the flames as she turned towards me. She flashed a toothy grin before answering. “Well, a few things happened…”
She answered as vaguely as I did, which kind of irritated me, but seeing as I basically did the same thing when she asked her questions, I let it slide…
Seeing my unsatisfied expression, her smile beamed even brighter, before she further elaborated. “Actually, when we were fighting, I happened to learn a new skill…”
She answered simply, which I received with a nod.
“Hmm… tell me more later.” I responded.
Hina nodded her head enthusiastically, further saying, “Sure, but you have to tell me your side of the story in return!”
I nodded vaguely to her, as I went quiet. I waited until a majority of the flames were put out, before I proceeded forward.
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Without pause, I began moving towards the Computer Lab, dragging Cielle along. Hina, who quickly noticed, soon trailed behind.
As I reached the front of the still closed, and highly heated door, I motioned to turn the knob.
“Ah-”
As Cielle was about to raise her voice in protest, my hand made contact with the knob. The searing pain of heat rocketed through my hand, but I gritted through it. Not caring for the damage it caused, I solemnly turned the knob and opened the door.
As the room revealed itself, a wave of white mist quickly seeped out of the open doorway.
I meekly waved my hand to disperse some of the mist, as I stepped forward.
Upon seeing the room once more, I paused.
[....]
It was all so… small.
In the darkness, this place seemed infinite. A neverending chamber which lacked light, and held only unspeakable danger. But now… it was all so miniscule. I fully comprehended how small the room was, and how my rattled, lightless mind had over exaggerated my perception.
In a way, it was a refreshing scene, but mostly, it only served as a grim reminder.
I entered the room, as Cielle and Hina shortly followed. When their eyes adjusted to the dim light, they both let out brief gasps of shock and surprise. Most likely they were taken aback by what the room currently looked like; A blood soaked place littered with dying wolves and corpses. Although, fortunately, the two quickly regained their wits as their faces turned pseudo-impassive and they bravely stepped into the room.
I walked further ahead, paying no heed to the 4 or so wolves that growled menacingly at me as they drew closer. They were the remnants of the pack that I battled. The rest of the wolves had long died, either from blood loss or suffocation, and these 4 weren’t in any better shape either. These creatures were delirious from the carbon monoxide poisoning and at this stage, due to the numerous injuries I had imparted on them, they were practically half dead.
I motioned to Cielle and Hina, as they quickly went and dispatched of the wolves.
Hina used a quick succession of her increased fire attacks to swiftly deal with two of them, while Cielle monopolized on the large mass of [Dark Gemini] she acquired from healing me to finish of the rest.
Now, all that’s left was the one I wanted to finish off personally.
I stared solemnly into the room, and right directly at the center, was a hulking lump of meat and fur. At first, I had presumed it dead; died from all the injuries I gave, but that theory was quickly refuted as my eyes focused and noticed the haggard rise and fall of its chest.
“What a stubborn beast….” I spat out, while I walked closer.
The Alpha Wolf was… practically dead. Even though its eyes had swerved to look at me, it made no indication of reacting- or rather it couldn’t.
It could barely keep itself alive at this point.
I approached absentmindedly, and before I noticed, my feet had stepped on blood soaked carpet. I briefly looked down, noticing the splotches of red which covered the floor. A mix of my own blood and the blood of the wolves. I grimaced slightly, before my eyes fell on a familiar object.
What was once a clear plastic bottle, had now been soaked from the top to its bottom in red. The insides on the other hand, had been preserved almost perfectly.
“....”
Without a word, I bent down to pick it up. With more effort than necessary, I lifted the bottle up as I unscrewed the lid. Through the small opening, I saw the mix of bolts and magnets slosh within the clear water I had placed them in.
“Hina, can you pick up a few pieces of dry ice for me?” I motioned over to the floor, where solidified Co2 still remained, albeit a bit smaller than usual.
With a dubious look, Hina nevertheless complied as she motioned to pick up some of the solidified dry ice using a piece of cloth she acquired.
After she gathered a sufficient amount, she moved over to give them to me. In response, I opened my exposed hand, waiting for the ice.
She hesitated for a moment, looking at my hand solemnly, before she carefully placed each piece onto my palm. I ignored the stinging pain of immediate frostburn, as I impassively began placing the ice individually into the bottle.
The water hissed as more and more ice compiled into the tiny container. Once I had filled the bottle with enough ice, to the point where the circular opening was now letting out white mist, I immediately closed the bottle again.
Almost immediately, the bottle began expanding. I wasted no time to do what I came here to do.
Walking directly to the front of the Alpha, I bent down with a grunt, and placed the bottle next to its head, while I forcibly opened the Alpha’s jaw.
I met slight resistance, but otherwise the Alpha was too battered to do anything substantial. Its jaw quickly opened, simultaneously letting out a stream of collected blood. With no hesitation, I reached for the bottle, and placed it gingerly inside the beast’s mouth, right alongside where its tongue would have went, had I not severed it.
The beast’s eyes widened for a moment, before it blinked tiredly. In my eyes, the creature was asking to die. It looked miserable, fully realizing its life was all but over… As the enemy who put it in that state, I had the obligation to finish it off, and right now, with my lack of strength, this was the only method that came readily to mind.
Once the ice bomb was placed inside its mouth, I carefully closed its jaw, before I got up and nonchalantly dusted myself off.
I motioned the girls to step back, while I moved my left leg to stomp down on the beast’s nose, holding the jaw in place. I kept its mouth securely shut, although I doubt it would have resisted either way.
With that, I maintained eye contact with the Alpha, all the while I counted down.
10...9….8….7…...6……..5……. 4…..3…..2…..1…..
After 5 seconds of passing the one second mark, a resounding BOOM! blared through the room.
My foot which stepped on the beast’s jaw, jerked up for a moment, before I stepped down in fierce resistance.
Most of the blast was contained within the monster’s mouth, although a few pieces of bolts and magnets did pierce through and chip away at some of the fangs that adorned the beast’s jaw.
After the buzzing in my ear had vanished, I looked into the Alpha’s eyes once more. They were now lifeless, husks, remnants of something that was once something more than just a corpse.
I broke eye contact, as my head naturally floated upwards to look at the opened ventilation shaft.
I silently looked at that ephemeral hole for a moment, before, in a quiet whisper, I muttered to myself,
“I feel better now.”
*****
After disposing of the Alpha Wolf, I gained a similar notification stating that I killed an Elite Monster. Like I had guessed before, the Alpha was also a [Species Leader], and its death led to the stop of Werewolf spawns, as well as an additional bonus of 3000 exp and +30 unallocated points.
The bonuses were much more substantial than when I disposed of the Goblin Commander, but I guess that was natural, considering the Alpha Werewolf was a much stronger monster. Not even mentioning how beneficial those +30 points were, the 3000 exp was enough to cause my level to jump up by one.
After reveling in my added bonuses for a minute, I plopped myself down on a rollable Office chair, as I gingerly asked Cielle to wheel me around the room. After a bit of convincing, she readily agreed, as the three of us began searching through the computers for a workable pc that survived my battle.
After 10 or so minutes, we found a relatively undamaged Computer that was tucked away around the eastern corner of the room. After confirming it was okay, Hina booted it up, and we waited anxiously. A few seconds later, the eerie blank screen blinked into life.
The three of us exchanged weary, but satisfied glances before we refocused on the screen. Hina did much of the moving, as Cielle and I watched from over her shoulder.
She quickly logged on with her student verified account, and clicked on one of the several internet icons on the taskbar.
After a couple moments, what greeted us was not the familiar page of the school’s website, but rather, the blank x icon that indicated the internet wasn’t connected.
Seeing this, I sighed despondently. Hina, not one to give up quite so easily, clicked on the several other available internet browsers only to be met with disappointment.
After a moment of silence, Hina bitterly spoke, “It seems like it isn’t working…”
I nodded, equally as bitter. “Yeah...I had thought there might still be a chance, considering the electricity’s still running, but I guess I was wrong….”
I sighed, as Hina turned to me with another one of her dubious expressions.
“Well… the electricity’s not really running you know….”
“?”
“To be more accurate, I doubt the nation, no, I doubt the city still has any of their electricity grids running… It would actually be safe to say that most of the city is probably in the dark at this point.”
Hearing this sudden blurb of information, my face scrunched up. “If what you're saying is true… then why is…”
I motioned to the clearly running computer screen. After seeing what I indicated to, Hina continued her explanation.
“That’s probably due to the school’s own generator. As you may have noticed, this school wasn’t meant to be a school in the first place. In its earlier years, it was suppose to be some fancy cathedral, built by a missionary, but after a couple of years, a few individuals turned it into a government owned Bomb shelter. It wasn’t after 50 years later that the government sold the property and some rich entrepreneur turned it into the school it once was.
“But while that may have happened, in its brief 50 years as a government owned facility, it had a few upgrades added in. One of these upgrades was the built in generator. The things were designed to last for quite a long time actually. They activate automatically, and if kept running indefinitely, they could last for about 3 weeks. Now, if someone were to redirect the electricity as to work only in one area of the school….”
Hina continued rambling, as I solemnly sighed and continued looking at the luminescent computer screen that symbolized false hope.
In the end, it seems like my flimsy basis that electricity throughout the city was refuted by information I had no knowledge on.
I sighed once more, absentminded in my own despair.
[I guess there really is no more internet… and at this point… I can’t really do anything….]
My mental fatigue seemingly multiplied as I came to this heavy realization.
I blinked twice, solemnly looking at this piece of equipment. This useless object, this unhelpful item...wait….
[Item?]
A hint of an idea formed at the tip of my tongue as I quickly went and confirmed whether it could be feasible or not.
Without a hint of hesitation, I inwardly spoke to myself.
[Identify!]
I held bated breath, expecting, half wishing for one of the familiar information panels to pop up once more.
As if in response, a single ding! reverberated in my skull, as my lips curved upwards in an expectant smile.
I quickly scanned over the information.
Personal Computer
A school mandated piece of technology usually used to access the internet. Although it might not be in mint condition, it is at least still usable.
Special Effects:
(???)
“....”
Those question marks left me a bitter sense of defeat. They were still a mystery to me and honestly, at this point, their constant appearance frustrated me. They were obviously a result of [Equip], but at this point, they remained a treasure, one which I did not have the keys to.
My expectant smile quickly faded and returned back into its original bitter scowl.
If only I could view what those special effects were… at this point, I could only guess as to what they entailed, but surely… I had a gut feeling that they would have helped my current situation.
I chided myself. I don’t know up to what level [Equip] needed to be for me to finally be able to view those damned question marks, but I quickly came to the realization that leveling up [Equip] was growing increasingly important.
Not only was it my primary skill, at its current stage, I had less than half of [Equip]’s potential unlocked and readily available to me.
I sighed once more, before I finally broke eye contact with the damnable computer screen.
I turned to look at the equally as depressed girls. Meeting each others eyes, we sighed in unison.
“....What do we do now?” Cielle asked.
“...I don’t know… just, I’m very tired right now.” Hina replied while rubbing her temples in bitter frustration.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the generator?” I tiredly asked Hina.
“Eh? Well, you never asked…” She replied.
“It’s not like it matters now though…” Cielle added with downcast eyes.
I nodded as well, prompting our trio to grow silent.
“...”
“...”
“...”
After a while, I stretched myself, sighing a I spoke up again.
“Well, for now, why don’t we see if there are any monster drops, and after that… we’ll call it a day?”
Hearing my suggestion, the two girls nodded tiredly.
Hina shuffled out of the room shortly, off to go see if any of the Scouts from outside dropped anything. As she left, she left a passing remark, stating, “I really want a shower right now….”
As she left, I looked down on myself and sniffed gingerly.
I sighed, replying to Hina’s statement, while mainly talking to myself.
“As do I… as do I….”
*****
Author's Note: As I stated above, I could not think of a proper title for Hide's new skill. At first, I thought something along the lines of [synesthesia] might work, but it doesn't really fit... Anyways, if anyone has suggestions, I am open.
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Next Chapter:Chapter 32