Fallen

As the young man took notice of his loss of balance, he hurriedly attempted to regain it. However, his body was uncontrollable due to the abruptness of the situation. Thus, he fell just as he tried to get a grip on the rocky mountainside.

"U-Ugh..." Shinto gritted his teeth as he soon pulled out a sword from his inventory. Then, he wasted no time as he rammed the steel blade into the ledge of the cliff—soon opening up the opportunity for Shinto to momentarily stop his fall by grabbing onto the hilt. "Hah... This is going to be a problem..."

Though he had managed to successfully stop his fall, it was only for a short amount of time. At any moment now, the blade of his sword would break and send him for certain death. As below him, was the forest of Gaveln, that would welcome him with open arms as he pitifully fell to his doom.

Thus, he had to act fast to escape from the situation. With deep breaths as he calmly observed his surroundings—Shinto began devising a plan for his current predicament whilst his body swayed to the small winds helplessly.

"...hmm. With the current situation that I'm in... I'd either need a high enough jump skill or a platform that I could use to hop back to the ledge with ease, but..." Shinto muttered to himself. "...I have none of that." 

He had neither the two options he had come up with. Although Shinto had a jump skill within his skill set, it wasn't high enough for him to close in on the distance between himself and the ledge without any problems occurring in the middle of it.

"Tch... Is there no other option for me?" he frowned at the crisis that he was in. "No... The option's still available for me. But... Would it be possible?" his eyes soon averted away from the ledge and towards the rocky mountainside.

In theory, Shinto could activate his skill and leap towards the uneven rocks of the mountains, and then proceed to use his strength to push his upper body upwards and latch onto the ledge of the cliff.

But, that sort of option was extremely risky. As in the scenario that Shinto was to fail any of the steps during the process—he would then be greeted by death, without a chance for redemption.

"...sigh. It's the only option for me, so..." Despite the forthcoming of his plan to be with flaws—there wasn't any choice in the matter. It was either death or death if he continued to stall for time. "...I'll just roll with it."

Putting his mind into action, Shinto began swaying his body to the sides to gain momentum. Then, with his attention focused on the ledge, the grip of his hand on the hilt slowly loosened as he pushed his body upwards—soon leaping to the steep rocks.

In the next moment, Shinto activated a skill—[ Crescent Dawn ], which allowed the user to jump up higher than normal. Not only that, but it would also momentarily increase the user's speed by 20% and damage dealt whilst in mid-air by 25%.

And so, with the buff he had given to himself, Shinto successfully grabbed onto the rocks of the mountainside. But, he wasn't done just yet. With one final push with all his strength, Shinto's upper body moved upwards—finally reaching the ledge, though just barely.

"...phew," Shinto sighed out a breath of relief as he was now out of the situation. "Now all I need is to—" However, just as he was about to stabilize himself back on the mountain—a slight crack could be heard above him. "—@#$%!"

At the melody of the crackles ringing above him like a loud alarm—he cursed, belatedly noticing the almost broken ledge that he was holding on to. With helplessness all around him, the ledge broke off—inevitably making Shinto fall in one fell swoop.

This was the worst possible thing that could happen to him.

In the likelihood of such a scenario, it was all but a lost cause to attempt to save himself now. He had no magic to fly nor did he even have the capabilities to miraculously find another way out of his death.

He was completely helpless at the situation before him.

"...dammit, do I have to use that?" though despite the helplessness of the predicament he was in—there was still one more option. But, at the end of it, it would still guarantee his death as it would leave him completely defenceless. "Ugh... I better not waste it. It's too long of a cooldown to only end up dead later," he sighed as he closed his eyes in defeat. "...I guess, I would have to accept death?"

For Shinto, it had been far too long since he had last died. Perhaps it had been two years worth of in-game time? He too didn't know, as he had long lost track of it.

Thus, he now waits for death's door. His body remained unmoving throughout the fall.

...

Waiting and waiting, for what seemed to be an eternity of waiting for his death's notification—Shinto still felt alive. His senses were still here, though it shouldn't be post-death.

"...?" he was confused. Though, his eyes remained closed throughout the process. "...this is taking way too long, I couldn't be that high up in the mountains, right?"

For that long of a wait, it was far too suspicious. Just as he was about to open his eyes to see what was going on—Shinto felt a sudden pull of gravity forcefully pulling him down. Then, he soon heard a loud splash following after.

"What?" Feeling a cold chilling sensation that surrounded his body, Shinto wasted no time as his eyes slowly opened, soon revealing to him a body of water in the vast vicinity. "...w-water? I'm underwater?"

He was dumbstruck at the realization. There was no way a body of water could be here, waiting for him to break his fall. The last time he had checked the area below him, he was only greeted by the sights of thorny vines and the bushy forests of the evergreen. There wasn't any indication of such a large body of water at the bottom of him. If there was, he would have surely noticed.

Confused and extremely doubtful, Shinto's head glanced over to the top of him, where he saw that of a shining ambience of light slowly seeping into the sea—giving the young man vision to see his surroundings. In the next moment, Shinto swam up towards the radiant ray, no longer wanting to stay underwater.

Shinto continued swimming upwards, finally reaching the surface of the body of water. There, he was greeted by the bright sun, and with that—he felt awestruck by the sight of it. It almost seemed as if it had been such a long time since he last saw the sun, but, all of this had only just happened in a matter of minutes. To Shinto, however, it felt like forever.

"..." Shinto remained silent as he continued to gaze at the sun for a short while, however—he soon averted his eyes away and began scrutinizing his surrounding area. It was filled to the brim of unfamiliarity. "...just where the heck am I?"

He had not seen such a place within the forest before. Although he could see the reminiscence of the thorny vine trees of Gaveln all surrounding the area, Shinto knew for fact that, he was no longer within the forest, but an entirely new area.

"...this place," Shinto thought deeply to himself. The body of water that he had fallen into and the fact that he found himself in a new place felt all too surreal to him. "If I'm no longer in the forest of Gaveln... Then..." As his eyes proceeded to glance around the area—he spotted something of interest. "...?"

By the north side of him—an entrance of a cavern could be seen in the distance. In front of it, multiple strange obelisks stood in its place, catching his eyes.

"A cavern in such a place like this..." bewildered by the sight, Shinto hurriedly swam over towards land. In the next moment, he quickly made his way over to the entrance of the cavern. "...is it a dungeon?"

Shinto felt a sudden thrill in his heart. A feeling which he had not experienced for a long time, excitement. The four obelisks that stood in front of the cavern's entrance made it clear that he had found himself at the site of an ancient ruin. This was especially prevalent when one noticed moss covering each structure.

"By some miracle... I found myself here, huh?" with a slight smile on his face, Shinto stepped foot onto the stone grounds of the ancient site. At that very moment—a system prompt appeared before him.

[ Congratulations! You are the first player to have discovered (The Caverns of Altric) ]