Path To Survival

"Haa… haa…"

Hoarse breaths flowed through Des' lips.

"Ngh… a-ahh…" 

His bones rattled under the pressure, his vision blurring as both eyes remained glued to a horrific event that was about to happen right in front of him.

The warmth of blood that stained his cheeks, the desperate cries that pierced the air, and the entrails that danced all around him like maggots—all of those sickening details shot into his senses at once as his weak legs nearly gave out.

With wide eyes that captured the very essence of despair, he witnessed what true Horror was like.

Everything he witnessed told him one thing, and one thing alone.

'I… am going to die here!'

"E-everyone! Everyone wait! That Horror is—!"

Before he could utter a single word, another explosion echoed in the air, and Des found the body of the racing Philip completely blown to bits, turning to dust as he screamed.

Just like the others, he perished in the most excruciating way possible.

Des couldn't help but think it was his turn. He was going to die.

"U-uu… uuu…"

Even with that… even with the wide grin of the Horror behind him, and the numerous eyes that could see everything within the Floor, Des found his body moving.

There was no use.

It was all pointless, yet he kept crawling. 

Death stood behind him, having the scythe ready to slice through his throat and put an end to his miserable life… yet he kept moving.

Slow and steady—as he had told them all to do from the start—he kept his pace.

'Why am I doing this? It's clearly an irregular. It's going to kill me either way. I should run. I should hide. I should…' Numerous thoughts rang in his head, but his trembling limbs could only do so much.

'Move! Move! MOVE, GODDAMNIT!'

No matter how hard he gritted his teeth, and no matter how hard he cried… he continued to crawl like a lowly worm—grateful, yet horrified for every second that passed where he still had air in his lungs.

Then—

~RUMBLE!~

—He heard the sound of movement, accompanied by the tremors of the ground.

~RUMBLE!~

It pounded in his ears, and his powerless body bounced up with every shudder of the earth. Even at that… he kept walking. 

He didn't dare look back at the thing.

But—

~BOOOOOOM!~

Levi, who was about to reach the cave, was blown up as well.

The dying screams of the man burned into Des' mind, and the reality of himself being the only one left dug deep within his head.

He was next.

He was going to die here… he was going to die!

'No… there has to be a way! Isn't there some rhyme or logic to this? There has to be… right? RIGHT?!'

Who was he kidding? He was a fool who overestimated his abilities and determined that the Horror was something he could comprehend with his mind.

It was that hubris that led to the demise of all his comrades.

Just like the Dungeons, Horrors were largely unpredictable existences. To comprehend them was folly, and to understand them was stupidity.

There was no sense… no point… 

In the end, they represented DEATH, plain and simple. 

And now, Des was about to experience the excruciating pain that all his comrades suffered. Just like them… he wouldn't know when the blast hit him, and he would—

'H-huh… w-wait a moment….'

All of a sudden, it felt like the world had come to a standstill.

'None of them… actually looked at the Horror… when it shot those blasts…' His mind flowed, and the gears in his brain began to move.

'If we move quickly… it responds with a corresponding action. If we don't meet its gaze and travel a sufficient distance… it fires the blast…'

All the actions of the Horror thus far supported this theory, so perhaps—

'It's not an Irregular! It's a normal Horror!' This could have been nothing but the optimism of a desperate child, clawing at anything he could to survive, but Des decided to believe the only conclusion he could come to.

Since he was going to die either way, he decided to follow his gut.

"Haa… haaa…" Slowly turning his frightened body, he cast his gaze upon the colossal entity that was the Horror.

This merciless entity took the lives of all his comrades, and it now stood majestically before Des—just a few meters away.

As soon as Des laid eyes on it… the rumbles ceased.

The Horror stopped moving, and its eyes were fixed on him—like an obsessive gaze of someone who beckoned him to run for his life.

But Des did not give in to that temptation.

Instead, he crawled backwards, slowly and steadily. He already knew the direction of the cave, and he had even roughly calculated how long it would take for him to get there from his current position if he continued with his pace.

"Twenty-seven minutes… just slow… slow and steady…'

The Horror waited for him, and in due time, the distance between him and the monstrosity widened considerably.

Des was scared.

He wanted to just run away, forget everything he learned and give in to his instincts.

But… NO!

He didn't know what would happen if he was even the slightest bit faster, so he wasn't going to risk anything. Even now, there was a chance that he was wrong about this creature. Perhaps there were even more conditions that he wasn't aware of.

He didn't know.

He couldn't tell in the slightest.

But that was fine. He just had to stick to what he could glean from the Horror and keep moving backwards—far, far away from it.

Until…

'Five minutes more!'

… He finally…

'Two minutes more!'

… Reached his goal!'

Des felt the warmth of the darkness as he stepped in, slowly backing away as quickly as he could once he was inside.

But—

"Ack!" He felt something behind him, causing his boy to jump up in fright. However, that only caused his head to hit the very low ceiling, sending him to another round of pain.

"A-ahh… haaa…!"

He was bleeding in the head thanks to the concussion he took. His consciouness was even fading at that very moment, but he strained his eyes to look at what his back hit.

It was just a wall.

'Ahh…'

The wall was very close to the entrance of the cave, and just from what Des could gleam from the way it was carved, the thing could only fit one adult at its maximum capacity.

In essence… only one person would have been saved anyway.

Des did not know whether he was to take comfort in this. After all, it was only thanks to the death of the rest of his comrades that he survived. In this cruel place… his own worthless life had been exchanged for the lives of far better individuals. 

Unfortunately for him, he didn't have the luxury to mull over these thoughts. 

His body succumbed to weakness, and the darkness of sleep took him before he realized it.

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[A/N]

Thanks for reading!

I'm sure a lot of things took you by surprise throughout the course of these chapters, even though some things were fairly predictable.

Hopefully you enjoyed the chapter!