Inside the building, I was met with a totally different school than the one I used to know.

For starters, it was much larger than normal. Then there were the random monsters just roaming about, having made the place completely their own. Thankfully, I wasn't attacked on sight.

At parts the walls were broken and extended, reminding someone what it would be if you fused a cave with a school building. The lighting wasn't too bad, the windows were still there after all, though not all places were lit the same and some were definitely creepier than others.

At the same time, I wondered where the "prisoners" were. According to Konstantine I should be able to hear the already, but so far nothing. Well, I had already suspected something was fishy about the story he sold me.

Thankfully, with the imps paying me no heed I was able to continue wandering through the halls till I heard something resembling human screams. I doubt anyone could survive or escape from this place, apart from Konstantine apparently. There were just too many imps inside this place, and unless you were able to go completely invisible, there was no sneaking out of it.

I must have walked twice the distance of the previous length of the school's ground floor corridor before finding the stairs for the first floor. The screams were everpresent, but no matter where I looked there was no one here. No humans at least, just wandering imps that sometimes spoke to each other. As for their reactions to a strange monster casually strolling inside their dungeon? They gave me a glance at most and went right back to ignoring me.

Before opting to go to the first floor, I decided to check this one first. Around me where the teacher's lounge previously stood was a cave like opening with a narrow corridor that probably only the small imps could pass comfortably. I didn't know where it would lead, but I certainly wouldn't go inside there. If I had to fight, I would be basically a crawling dummy waiting to be hit.

There were also some other openings to other places of the dungeon that were previously storerooms for P.E, office rooms, and one particularly large amphitheater that was now an impressively large corridor leading beneath the school. I didn't know what awaited me at the end of that corridor, but I was scared properly of finding out. A small voice inside my head told me to not dare approach that place, and I decided to be a good boy and listen.

Perhaps it was the voice of reason, or my instincts, either way there was no human screaming the closer I got to the large corridor, so I also didn't have a reason to head down there besides morbid curiosity.

Walking back to the stairs, I noticed that two imps didn't roam randomly inside the dungeon and actually stood and watched everything that approached the stairs. It was actually guarded!

The imps themselves were very strange, almost reaching an adult human in height and carrying a sword in one hand. I walked right in front of them, wanting to see if they would let me pass like that. No luck there, as they crossed their mean-looking swords to block my path.

I backed off slowly and they relaxed their posture.

I didn't know what it meant for the dungeon to be incomplete, but if nothing had changed while I was "sleeping" for all these hours, nothing probably would change in the next ten minutes, so I took it slow.

If I started a fight here, I bet my ass over a hundred imps would come to flay me in less time that it took for me to start polishing their shoes and apologize for the missunderstanding. Or would it? The stairs were in a weird angle, so perhaps it was doable.

Backtracking, I started exploring the other rooms that I saw for no other reason than delaying the inevitable.

There weren't corridors only for previous rooms, but also new ones. Most weren't populated with imps, others were dead ends and one had even a pair of guards. The only exception to this was the underground amphitheater which not only had an impressively large corridor double the length of the others, but Imp Warriors also roamed around it a lot, though they didn't do anything to stop me from passing.

Plans change and I decided I couldn't be too cowardly. After all, once I forced my way into the first floor, every imp inside this dungeon could be coming for my ass. So I passed by the imps that didn't even spare a glance towards me and continued on. These imps didn't seem to like talking to each other, communicating mostly with grunts or not at all.

They seemed lost, as if their original purpose was to guard this place, but the master of it didn't want them bothering it.

And at the end of the corridor I met it guarding a large door ornately decorated with gold and weird symbols. Leaving the door aside, that was the single most terrifying Imp Warrior I had ever seen, towering over me in height.

The glint in its eyes made me pale more than I already was and the small trickle of curiosity in its eyes made me far more scared than the longsword on its back. At that moment I felt a ringing impulse that made me want to bow down and accept subservience.

I had to shake my head off for a bit, trying to calm down the rushing adrenaline. The enormous imp did not move, though I could see the corners of its mouth rising, as if welcoming me in.

I walked out of that corridor as fast as I could without breaking into a jog.

When I reached the exit, I learned that undead could actually sweat, which considering the experiment involved a beyond terrifying monster staying inside a large corridor, wasn't something I would like to repeat. I was in such a rush to get out of there, I forgot to check for the imp's level, if that creature could even be called an imp.

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it wasn't enough for me to throw my life away again. Actually, how many times have I died already? Do I count the maddening experience a few hours ago? Or dId it happen because of how close I was to dying?

Nevertheless, if I was lucky enough to end up like that again, dying might be better

I ended up going back to the staircase. Looking around me, I grabbed a small stone, hid, and threw the stone next to the guards.

Didn't work.

Seeing no way around it, I prepared for a fight! Currently there were no imps close to this place, and that had taken a lot of waiting.

I wonder how would the imps react if they saw no guards around this place? Or if they heard me fighting... would it attract even the big guy down in the amphitheater? All that considered, I was excited to fight with those imps.

Rare Named Monster - Level 7

Rare Named Monster - Level 8

Perhaps bypassing all of the imps to fight these guys wasn't the smartest thing to do, but at the same time if I fought the other imps, they would all be upon me before I could write out my dying screams. On the other hand, these guys were more distant than the other imps and the only annoyance was the random wandering imps that came by every so often.

I got up really close to the one I inspected first and expected it to take a glance and ignore me like all the other imps I'd seen. It didn't. They both started getting their weapons ready as they saw me getting closer, but didn't attack me yet.

With the dumbest plan out of the window came a dumber one... I charged at them. Originally I wanted to take them by surprise, but that didn't seem possible now, or ever for that case.

To add to that, I hadn't considered what an almost twenty more points in strength would do to my charge.

Instead of hitting the imp with my fist, I rammed into it. It crashed into the staircases making some noise, but what was scarier, was that the warrior was just fine. A hit like that would have turned the imp mages into a broken mess but these dudes only felt a bit dizzy.

Getting my thoughts quickly back in order, I focused on the still stunned imp.

I quickly punched its face before it could recover and grabbed its sword. I looked up just in time to see the other warrior rushing at me, leaving me only a few moments to kill the one in front of me. I didn't want to try a two versus one with these guys.

Yet, my hopes weren't seem to be. I slammed the sword down on the imp in front of me, targeting its throat, but before it could reach, the other imp bashed me away. Now I had two very angry looking imps charging at me, one with a sword, the other with its bare fists... yeah, I run.

Turning my back towards them, however, was probably not my smartest idea, as the other imp threw its sword at me the moment I turned my head, almost impaling me. Instead, the sword pierced through my shoulder like it wasn't even there, pushing me forward with immense force and half of the blade's length burried inside the wall after tearing through my arm.

My arm fell to the ground, and the only reason I didn't faint from pain was the adrenaline rushing through my body and probably the work of that pain resistance skill.

I could still do it! An arm meant nothing, besides now both of them were without weapons.

I turned around in a surprise attack, aiming to get the head of the first imp warrior. It again did not work. The imp caught my attack, grabbing the sword by the blade.

I could see it bleeding, and one of its fingers was cut off, but otherwise no reaction.

Reaping the sword from my arm, it punched me with the other moments before the other imp joined in the fun. But it didn't look like they were in it for the fun of it. With a serious look on their faces, they approached wearily, not letting their guard down even at this moment, heading to finish me off.

My mind froze up, Why are they so much stronger than the other imps?! This isn't fair! I am going to die. No...

The adrenaline turned into dread and despair. No, I didn't want to end like this. Even if I ended up in that painful state again, I didn't care, I didn't want to die.

So if I didn't want to die, I would fight.

The imp pulled its sword from the wall and run it through my stomach. I wanted to scream, but the imp's foot was pressing hard down my throat.

The Imp raised its sword again,

Insanity - level up!

And I felt something break,

Insanity - level 10

Weαkλing.

Blinking once, I found myself in the world where nothing seemed to make any sense.

Everything was so slow... the imp's sword barely moving to take my life. I took it that they were joking with me, like they were playing with their food, like what I was doing right now.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Chuckling a bit, I lifted the imp's leg from my throat with my remaining hand, grabbing a bite on the way. The imp had barely started reacting when I gulped down its flesh. Of course, this strength drained something from me, but I was certain I would regain it after being done eating just one of them.

Woah, this was gourmet! So delicious, I couldn't help but grab another bite.

Insanity - level 11

These living snacks are a choice selection if I say so myself... but perhaps it was because it was starting to hurt, I lost my appetite. Looking at the two snacks, I only hoped they wouldn't go bad if eaten dead.

Taking the imp's sword again, as it was so kindly offering, I swiped once to my right and its head disappeared. The other imp didn't seem to get the memo, so I did the same when it decided to charge at me... which to say I waited an entire ten seconds to see when it would move.

I could see two bright blue, slightly broken screens popping up the moment I killed the walking snacks. Honestly, it was very annoying considering how much energy I used for that. Whatever, my body had more of that energy than before, so I could afford to be a little wasteful.

Looking at my missing arm, I decided to fix that, willing the energy inside my body to come and help me. It was weird the first time, but I could do it by myself after feeling it once.

Quickly growing bored, I went to take a step up the stairs, but my leg just... gave up.

My right arm had regrown by now, but it was emaciated. I looked down to see what had happened to my leg, finding it broken, bleeding and nothing more than skin and bones.

My left arm was also bent at a weird angle from when I stretched... nevertheless, I pressed on, trying to take another step.

At that moment, my head felt dizzy, and I missed my balance

This stupid body was just breaking down on its own... perhaps I should have eaten before growing back a leg.

Insanity - level 12

I started feeling an immense hunger, one which was familiar to me, one which I thrived in! The world started losing its color, but I could still see the blood pooling under me.

This was fun, everything had become the color of blood!

And I kept on laughing, even while my body twitched and broke down, and my voice had turned into nothing more than howls.

I knew I wouldn't die, a Noble like me wouldn't die from something so small as this. I just had to turn my head and eat the corpse next to me.

I turned my head, finding it unresponsive.

It was so close, the meat, the energy behind the dead warrior!

Unable to move, I tried using the energy inside of me to power through, but that only made things worse. My laughter at the silly situation from before turned into screams of anger and hatred as my body kept degrading.

Any imp that walked by to see what was happening scarried away by the pressure exuded from my body. Although broken and lacking it's sanity, the pressure was such that no imp wanted to head into the room leading to the first floor.

A broken down body, laughing, screaming.

After the insanity started to die down, the hunger stirred my senses. I hadn't realised how hungry I was at first, but it was becoming more and more clear by the minute. It wasn't much at first, but without the insanity to hold it back, it quickly grew agonizing, much more than the first time.

But it was due to that, I woke up.

Another notification popped up at that moment, but I couldn't pay any attention to it. If I was half a foot on the grave before, now I was knee deep in shit and about ready to jump to the river Styx.

And so I gritted my teeth, turned my weakened head to the side, facing the headless imp next to me. Without the insanity to muddle the feeling of eating raw flesh, I began to eat.

The feeling was as gross as I imagined, but I gritted my teeth and swallowed. My whole body hurt and was mostly unresponsive to my commands, but if I were to thank this crazed state of mine for something, it would be the pain for motivation, and the hunger for making me move.

The taste wasn't as bad as chewing the rubber flesh and trying to swallow. If anthing, taste-wise it wasn't half bad, just a bit spicy.

Unlike the first time, eating didn't wake me up from the insanity, since I was already awake, but it did calm me down. The pain also started subsiding and the hunger seemed satisfied after I filled my stomach with what was equivalent to eating two monsters of my size.

After finishing both, I somehow felt full of energy, but all the energy in the world wouldn't do anything for the mental exhaustion I had. I tried remembering why the hell I had put myself through this and came up short.

Now, falling asleep in the middle of my own blood and bones of my enemies might be a bit stupid, but the decision wasn't up to me. My body shut down once everything returned to "normal".

When I woke up, I was still alive. I half expected the Mage Imps to jump on me while I was unconsious, but no such luck.

Since I was still alive, I considered this place semi-safe, opting to see the sea of notifications right now before I headed up.

The first notification was one hurting my head just looking at,

Insanity - level 13

I remember this notification from when I woke up from the insanity. Now that it's out of the way, I can focus on the more positive ones!

Essence Taken

Rare Named Monster: Imp, Level 2

Experience: 1520(+20%)(-66.6%)

Total Experience: 609

Essence Taken

Rare Named Monster: Imp, Level 5

Experience: 5360(+20%)(-66.6%)

Total Experience: 2685

Wow, that's what I'm talking about!

There was no way those Imps were worth the same amount as the normal ones.

Level Up!

Yes!

[Error]

No!

What do you mean [Error], I leveled up, didn't I?

Essence used by skill Insanity above received essence.

Essence used by skill Insanity above existing essence.

Essence used by skill Insanity: 19990

Despite being scared to look at what it meant to lose more Essence than you had, I opened my status screen before doing anything else.

Uncommon Monster Species Undead Name Mylas Cohen Status Dumbfounded Extended Status Level

0

Experience

0/2220

Strength 1.5 (1) Agility 0.8 (1) Vitality Null Intelligence 14 Wisdom 16 Unallocated Status Points 0

Well, I didn't know what to expect. All of my attributes had gone down and more importantly my intelligence and wisdom decreased by a large amount, below what I had even started with.

Thankfully I could still move, albeit with some difficulty. It was as if my limbs had atrophied after staying months in a hospital bed. Unfortunately before the system a cane and some rehabilitation would be just the medicine. Now it's just question marks.

At this point I only hoped intelligence and wisdom weren't tied to my mental capacity. It's one thing to lose the ability to walk and another the ability to think.

Well, no time like today to learn if you can raise your attributes without the system's help. Gotta look at the bright side of the things. Have to, otherwise I will go crazy... oh wait.

I shook my head again, this was becoming an irritating habit.

And I knew I had more notifications waiting for me, but this problem posed questions too important to be ignored.

First of all, my status page. I know the system is not perfect but how the hell can you lose experience?!

What did I do to myself and more importantly, how? The fuck does Insanity mean as a skill.

Perhaps I shouldn't tackle questions I'm unable to answer, they only made my head hurt more and it's not like the answer would change anything either.

I simply didn't know enough about the system, or my skills. I had some instinctual understanding about some of the skills I had and other aspects of the system, but when a skill wrote corrupting anywhere in its description there was either nothing or an error following it.

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I brought up the remaining notifications hoping for better news.

Skill level up list

Infected Bite level 7 -> 9

Infected Blood level 5 -> 13

Unending Hunger level 2 -> 3

Pain Resistance level 9 -> 28

Corruption Resistance level 5 -> 19

Minor Life Restoration level 2 -> 18

Breathing level 3 -> 17

Unexpectedly, these were good news indeed.

Something tells me I was really close to dying, and the skill gains seem to confirm that. I was like a train so far off the rails that anything worse than this would switch right back up to being a positive.

I was and still am ready to go and see what is going on in the second floor, but it seemed like my confidence had to be brought down a few pegs. If there are any Warrior Imps above, I won't be able to beat them. I wasn't able to beat them at my peak, let alone now. I did take the Warrior Imp's sword with me, though I knew it wouldn't help much if I actually needed to use it.

If anything, I was lucky to be alive right now. Well, not lucky, I had already died twice depending on how technical the definition was...

Heck, what would even be waiting for me up there? I can't imagine any human managing to kill any of these things, and even the Mage Imps are dangerous if you don't manage to get close to them fast enough. A few well placed fireballs and most of them would die, let alone if the imps started using the warriors as a vanguard to protect the mages.

But at the same time, I was curious... what was up there? I kept hearing people screaming since the moment I stepped inside the school, which means that someone has to be still alive for the screams to exist.

The imps are intelligent and practical, so there should be no reason for them to torture the students so... more questions? The whole situation was weird. Karma, luck and even forced quests...

Too many questions needing an answer for problems I was certain weren't common and my trip above lied with monsters not attacking me on sight. What could possibly go wrong?

Going back to when I first entered the dungeon, I was with a prey. When I fought with the other imps, they saw me eating their kind. When I fought with the Warrior Imps, it was I who started the fight, but besides that, the imps didn't attack me. It was how I got here in the first place.

It was at this moment I noticed a notification that was almost trying to hide from my vision,

Lost in thought, I barely realized when I'd reached the end of the staircase. In front of me was a completely different world, the original layout had completely given away completely to something resembling an actual cave, with little else showing this was previously a school's hallway.

The ceiling of the cave would be reaching the school's second floor and I am not sure if the school was as big as this place in the first place.

Walking a few more meters, this wasn't resembling a large cave, but more like a cavern with a large clear space further back.

As for imps, they certainly went with variety here. There were various different imps, not just Warrior or Mage imps, though they certainly were more common. The different ones stood further back so I couldn't identify them, which reminded me to check the radius for this thing if I survive this place.

Now for the good news, a huge imp was standing in the middle of the room and on its hand rested a large ornately carved wooden staff.

Rare Named Monster - Level 15

This wasn't a warrior imp, but a Mage one and if something screamed dungeon boss, this along with the terrifying creature below guarding that giant door was it.

Behind the imp lied dozens of unmoving bodies piled one on top of the other like trash bags and behind the bodies there were about twenty kids, huddled together, shivering, crying...

Aliyah wasn't among them, and my gaze turned to the pile of bodies.