Vince ran for his life. He ran so fast he heard the howling of the wind, his skin started to turn cold even more, and his eyeballs dried up. Even though he was running for his life, he felt free like never before.
The lifespan he threw into the [Agility] was immediately clear.
But it wasn’t without downside.
Vince stumbled to the ground every here and there. Sometimes, it was because of a thing like a stone, a stray ship piece, or a corpse, but most of the time, he ran so fast he couldn’t control his speed and lost his balance. He dodged Drowners, showing up on his left and right, but because of poor control, he always fell to the ground and immediately stood up before rushing away.
In a couple of minutes of running, Vince’s body was filled with bruises and cuts made by his falls.
When he hit the five-minute mark, he exited the shipwreck maze but felt dead tired. He spent all of his stamina in his short run.
I… I needed to give… some [Vitality] or [Endurance]... Whichever boosted my stamina. Damn… I never felt this tired.
Vince took cover in a boulder and leaned to the boulder, trying to control his breath. He was still carrying the plank he first picked up but had no strength to swing it.
He opened his status window and glanced at his [Attributes] and remaining life span.
Name: Vincent D’Raan
Age: 3 hours
Rank: Extinct
Citizenship Tier: T1 [+] (1 Years)
Remaining Lifespan: 2 months 29 days 1 hour
Talent: Dormant [+] (6 months)
Path: [None.] (Seek a Monolith of Power.)
Skill(s):
* Dormant (Select a Path to Unlock Skills.)
Basic Attributes:
* Strength: 10 [+] (1 Day)
* Agility: 33 [+] (3 Days)
* Endurance: 10 [+] (1 Days)
* Vitality: 8 [+] (12 hours)
Special Attributes:
* None.
So I spent all of the lifespans I gained from impaled man to the [Agility]. I don’t have enough lifespan to upgrade my other [Attributes]. Fuck!
If he did give [Attribute] a couple of points now, the feeling of fatigue would return, and that is a thing he needed the least.
Vince peeked from the boulder to the shipwrecks and saw many, many purple lights shining around like fireflies. Hearing the ambient chewing sound, Vince subconsciously looked at the place where he left the impaled man. He saw most of the purple light gathered there.
Remembering the dying screams of the man, Vince closed his eyes in a grimace and leaned his head to the boulder while murmuring to himself.
“I did what I must have done. I couldn’t help him. Even if I had, I would have died. He was dead the moment he was impaled. He knew it, I knew it. He was just trying to fool himself...”
Vince strangely felt guilty because of the man’s death, but he quickly buried it away as he heard the growls of the drowners. When he peeked again, he saw purple lights that became lively as they rushed out of the shipwrecks. Some of them even head in his direction.
I need a place to hide.
Vince looked around in order to find a place to hide but only saw the sparse forest and selected a distant silhouette of tall cliffs that surrounded the shore. Maybe there was a way to exit the shore between those cliffs, but it was too dark to discern.
“Haaa.”
Vince got goosebumps as a weird breathing sound drew near to him. When he turned back, he saw Drowners were near.
He couldn’t sit still anymore.
Vince took his plank and started to run toward the distant cliff, but this time, his run was more of a jog than an actual sprint; he couldn’t risk being out of breath anymore. He quickly left behind the Drowners and entered the trees.
When Vince looked left and right, he saw some drowners entering the forest and wandering around. He slowed down a little so he didn’t stumble upon Drowners in his rush, as they were clearly visible with their shining purple eyes and hearts.
Vince made it deeper into the woods as the trees got denser and plants were more plentiful. He needed to look at where he was stepping now. As he was turning in his direction because of a Drowner nearby, he heard yells of people.
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“Damn! I never saw this many Drowners in one place. How many people drowned In-Between?!” A middle-aged woman swore tiredly.
Finally! Other survivors. I hope they know a safe place. Vince cheered inwardly and made his way to the sounds as he listened.
“Put down your volume. We are here to make a quick fortune before going to the cave. Others will try something stupid soon en—Shit! Behind you!” A deep voice hastily warned.
“Help meee!” She screamed in terror.
Vince hastened his steps as he saw two torches in the darkness. He quickly arrived at the location but needed a moment to comprehend the scene before him as he hid behind a tree.
Blood, gore, and decimated bodies were everywhere as one of the torch holders, a dark-skinned man, held the club in his hand to smash down a Drowner on the ground. The dark-skinned man crouched and picked up something from the corpse before turning toward the bleeding woman. She was holding her bleeding shoulder in one hand, the other hand pointing a torch to the dark-skinned man.
“No. Don’t come. I…I am fine.” She desperately swung the torch in her hand weakly.
The dark-skinned man indifferently looked at the woman and said, “You are already showing signs, Soph.”
When Vince heard that, he frowned and looked at the woman. He couldn’t discern it at first glance, but now he saw purple veins appearing on the woman's face, and her eyes slowly turned violet and shone.
So that is turning? Are those Drowners something like zombies?! Vince sweated coldly, thinking about the possibility of being bitten.
“Shut up! You only want my cores, you filthy murderer,” Soph screamed with a tongue dripping with venom as she dropped her hand on her shoulder and grabbed a pouch on her belt.
“Coming rich from you, Soph. I killed because I was ordered to do so. You said you became a death-rower because you have raped a couple of men. You didn’t even let them live after you were done with it.” The dark-skinned man shuddered indifferently and lifted his club.
Soph pleaded with tears, “Please, Nash. I want–”
She never finished her sentence as Nash blew up her head. Indifferent, Nash wiped the blood on his club to Soph’s clothes before picking up the pouch. Then, he turned to leave but suddenly stopped and glanced at the tree where Vince was hiding behind.
Vince felt his gaze and froze on the spot. A feeling of mortal danger descended on him.
Nash looked at Vince’s direction for a long moment before turning back. He then disappeared in the direction of the cliffs.
Vince released the breath he subconsciously held and peeked. When he was sure Nash was gone, he walked to Soph’s corpse. His stomach urged him to puke as Vince smelled thick blood coming from the corpse, but he held back the urge and took the torch on the ground.
Vince turned to leave when he saw something shining underneath the half-collapsed corpse. Feeling curious, Vince pushed the corpse to the side with his plank and looked at the open pouch brimmed with softly shining blue rough stones.
When he laid his eyes on those stones, his body screamed with need and greed. He needed to have them no matter what.
Vince’s body moved on its own, and he dipped his hand into the pouch. Vince felt the same lively and energetic force from those stones when the impaled man gave him his lifespan, but it was in little pockets. Remembering that feeling, Vince subconsciously willed the force to move into his body. Soon, he felt the same bliss he felt last time as he drank the force that was several times denser.
Vince's body rejuvenated as his mind was cloud nine. He was the king of the world. He could do anything: thousands of push-ups, kilometers of swimming, and be awake for a month and never be tired.
When the feeling faded away, a craving appeared.
He needed more. He needed to kill Drowners and drink their lifespan. He needed to feel that bliss more. Why not kill right now? Right. He should rush toward those Drowners right now.
No. He must.
What the fuck?!
Vince quickly suppressed that craving and crushed it without giving it a chance to sprout. He hastily pushed himself back. When Vince looked at the now fine dust in the pocket, fear appeared in his heart.
Are those things addictive? I feel like that whenever I drink lifespan?
Vince saw a couple of shining stones dropped to the ground and lying there. When his eyes were drawn to them, he felt the same need but not so overwhelmingly.
“Haaa.”
Vince sharply turned his head and saw a Drowner walk out of the darkness, and more was in the way. They almost surrounded him when he was lost in bliss. He quickly picked up the remaining stones, torch, and plank, then sprinted to the direction Nash vanished.
With the torch, he didn’t fall to the ground as he could see the obstacles on the way, but he saw more and more drowners before him. He needed to use his plank to put himself out of several situations.
Vince looked at the horizon and saw he was almost upon the cliffs. After making the last push, he arrived at a clearing where he saw people climbing the cliff while holding torches, and more rushed to the cliffs. At some point, some of the climbers threw torches to the ground and disappeared into darkness.
As more and more Drowners filled the clearance, they rushed at the people and pinned them down before swarming them. Strangely as it was, only a couple of slower and cumbersome Drowners went for Vince as strong and fast ones directly went for fastest and bulkiest among the runners.
Vince dodged and pushed some Drowners with his plank while in breaths and arrived before the cliff. He threw his plank and bit down the shaft of the torch before starting to climb. He was aiming at the spot where he remembered a man dropped the torch before disappearing.
The stones were sharp and pointy. Vince’s hands bleed as he tiredly grabbed one opening after another. His vision was only limited to little surrounding torch illuminated. Rush the bliss gave him slowly faded away as he slowed to crawl.
“Shit! Shit! Shit! I don’t want to die.”
Vince spared a glance below and saw a man desperately fighting back against Drowner waves as he was slowly swarmed. At first, one Drowner slipped his defense and bit his thigh, then another bit his shoulder. Before long, the man let out one last dying scream and collapsed.
Vince urged his body to climb higher and higher, but his body was slowly giving away. It was taking too much time to spot an opening to grab. He pushed himself harder and harder, but his grip slipped as he started to fall.
Vince felt desperate as he opened his mouth to scream, letting the torch go down. He fell from the cliff while screaming, but then someone grabbed his ankle and pulled him into a cave.
“Damn. I thought you were already dead, kiddo.”