Litz was now level three after finishing his meal, and his body was a tad lighter than before.
With his sleeve, he wiped off the blood from the corner of his mouth. Even though he was reluctant, he tried to eat every part of the body, but the meat gave him experience. Its was grotesque experience that he almost vomited a couple time, but his body quickly adapted to the taste. Litz did not forget to gather the leftover flesh, fur, bones, and claws from the half-eaten corpse.
He began placing them into his cloak to see if there were any reaction, but so far, there was none.
He didn’t want to give up on the corpse’s body because there could be a chance that something there could save his life. As he rubbed thoroughly from end to end with blood in his hands, he noticed something different from the top of its head. A small horn that was the size of an acorn was lodged on it.
Litz used his thorn nails to dig it out to loosen it and then break it off from its skull.
“Can this work?” He inspected it between the tips of his fingers. It is similar to a bone, but there was some blood coming out from it from the end. Once again he placed another material onto the cloak.
“…”
“It doesn’t work… I really thought it would this time…” He muttered with disappointment. He could not completely grasp the ability of the cloak, and would not do so for some time.
“I should get going before something find this place…” Litz couldn’t get rid the metallic taste from his mouth. He wanted something to wash it away, but he pressed on with the disgusting taste lingering on his tongue.
Finding his way through the tunnels with light step to prevent any unnecessary noise, he continues for almost an hour as the stench of blood was trailing from his cloak. Litz knew that it was a problem and he deeply regretted not being more aware of his actions. His feet never stop moving, and his body was working full time as he dragged his sweaty body.
As more time went by, his breathing was more pronounced throughout the tunnel. Litz covered his mouth to muffle his breathing, but the air was thinner in the tunnel that his lung was burning with desperation for oxygen. It was as if with each step he was running uphill. He never stop moving telling that the exit was just around the corner. Occasionally he could hear the faint howl, which caused his heart to beat faster. For some reason, he was not found yet, but he know it was a matter of when. If it was if it was waiting for him to tired himself out.
Litz’s body was drained of energy until it got to the point that gravity forced his legs to give in. He sat with his back was pressed against the drywall behind him as he repeatedly gasped for air.
“I can’t… I can’t… anymore…” Grumbling as he drew in the dry air with each breath. After some time, Litz slowly calmed down to the point his lungs was not burning with pain. His fatigues had caught up to him and dragging him down. His MP was low even though he was stingy on using it. At the time, he trekked through the dark with only his ears to guide him through the tunnel.
When he was done, he sat cross-legged to recover his MP as much as possible. He was afraid that something could smell the blood, so he did not wait till the MP bar was full.
“I got to keep going. It can’t be much longer to find the way out.” He murmured optimistically. Litz pushed his hands onto the earth to propel his tired body upward. He urged his body to continue to not give up, to not submit to the tiredness he felt. He coerced himself to fight through all the pain, the cramps, and the burn, so live through all this. He struggled for an unknown amount of hours.
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With each minute pass which felt like forever, he soon began to lose track of time. He couldn’t tell that whether it was a minute or an hour that had passed. It got to the point that his body rejected his will to move on. He was stumbling all over as it was even difficult to even lift his heavy leg.
“Vibration Sense.” He froze. He surely thought he heard something growling at him, but when he activated it, there was nothing but endless corridors without ends. It was like he was in an ant’s nest or a catacomb. For all he knew, he was going in a circle.
Litz was mentally stressed that slowly his paranoia welled up inside that eventually he was hearing and seeing things in the dark. Without restraint, Litz eagerly activated his skill, vibration sense, without thinking of sparing his MP. He progressed at a quicker pace without relying on his sense, until eventually, he was out of MP.
The dark was slowly eating his mind and spirit. His mind was boggled with the sense of death and loneliness.
“I… Can’t…give” Litz suppressed the urge to cry out, as he tightly bit his bottom lip. The howled steadily got louder with each passing time. He knew that it was trailing him, but he could not get away.
He soon collapsed on his knees. He wanted to get up, but his legs was buckling with each step. “Get up… Get up!” He propped up himself up shakily only to fall back on the ground.
“Why?! I can’t die here,” Litz was afraid of dying alone in fear. The constant howling was proof of his upcoming death. Eventually he crawled with his arms with a panic face. The surface of his skin was slowly peeling apart revealing a dreadful burn that was slowly bleeding out.
“No! I don’t want to die here!” He shouted without concerning what can hear him. He wanted to stop due to the pain, but the sound behind pushed him beyond his limit till eventually he could not. He tried, but he knew he wasn’t getting anywhere. He did not want to die, but his body was trembling with pain and fatigue. Just thinking of being eaten by that thing. He wanted to shout in anger, he yearned to cry as he was forsaken all alone. He didn’t know where he was at, nor anyone that knew his location. There was no one that could save him.
Litz wanted to pray to anything, to god to save him, but deep down he knew that there was such thing.
His with unruly black hair bowing on the ground like a beggar, he wept silently. He couldn’t hold it in anymore, his mind and body were broken and exhausted. The tears were building faster and faster with each passing second. Litz tried diligently to keep pushing forward, to not show weakness, but in the end, he had failed.
He held himself tighter in the cold darkness as the sound of reluctant tears fell down quietly. It was a nightmare to be stuck in a game with no one to be there for him. No guildmates, no adventurers passing by, and no one to call for help. After all, Litz had experienced it first-hand to be damned inside a game.
“Log out…”
“Log out…”
“Log out…”
He mumbled for half an hour without achieving anything like a broken record. He laid down on his stomach without movement like a corpse.
Directly above him, there was a flower with three dulled rainbow color petals which was clinging onto the roof. The flower was once called the Nine Undying Astea that was recorded as a legend. Eons ago, many different beings would search for it because rumors had it that the last person to find it became a terrifying existence that almost conquered the world. But after many attempts of failure over the years, it is said to be a myth and eventually forgotten through time. That flower was one of the same, but the difference was that the colored on it was very dulled with only three petals. As it was now, it would not rival the legend. The Nine undying Astea’s was decaying and a petal fell off like an angel’s feather falling from the heavens reaching Litz’s cloak.
A message popped in front of Litz vision. It was considered bright after seeing only darkness for a long time.
[Nine Undying Astea’s petal has been obtained. Would you want the Cloak of Sha’ir to Absorb it? [YES/NO]]
Litz did not quickly respond to it nor did he read it properly since his vision was hazy.
“log out…” His mind was running automatic as he was not aware of what he was doing. He said it in a hoarse dry voice with his outer lips that could be seen cracking.
With his little energy, he had left, he inches his finger until it hit yes.
[Recorded.]
[Consumable item has been obtained, Nine Undying Astea’s petal]
[Recovering all ailment… Recovering HP and MP… HP increased by 1000… MP increased by 1000… STR increased by 100… INT increased by 100… DEX increased by 100… Time Duration: 1 hour]