In Pain, In Pieces, But Still In The Game!

It hurts...

My body, my sides, my limbs. They all hurt.

Well, that's to be expected. After all, I did lose not only a leg (which is barely hanging by a thread, by the way) but also a small portion of my torso. It feels like I'm holding myself together with nothing more than sheer willpower along with some shoddy, under leveled regeneration. But hey, let's look at the bright side; at least I'm still breathing... for now that is.

Sadly, I know that complaining isn't going to help. I mean, deep down, I know it's pointless. Complaining never helped me back then, and it sure as hell isn't going to help me now. The most I can do now is endure and move forward. It's not like I've got any other options, right? Besides, that's the only thing that I'm good at after all. No matter how much it hurts, I just have to keep moving forward.

. . .

A few hours have passed since my last episode... or rather, my sudden collapse of sorts. After that nasty encounter with the wasp—still shuddering at the thought of that sneak attack—I knew that I had to rest. Not because I wanted to, which I did, but because my body was screaming at me to let it rest. I felt like I could just drop dead at any minute, and let's face it, that's not exactly an outcome that I'm thrilled about.

So with the time I had, I decided to check my status screen again, because, why not? Before starting anything, one must first look at their prospects. Plus, it's not like anything bad or sudden is going to happen to me if I take a small peak.

--------------------------------------

〖Reynold〗Skill Point: 0

Level: 2 (II)

HP: 18/26 | SP: 16/46 

Strength: 15 | Constitution: 13

Agility: 23 | Mind: 25

Traits:

[Poison Attribute]

Skills:

General:

[Dash Lv.2] ; [Evasion Lv.1] ; [Self-regeneration Lv.1] ; [Stealth Lv.1] ;

[Digging Lv.2]

Senses:

[Appraisal Lv.4] ; [Keen Sense Lv.3] ; [Night Vision Lv.2]

Offensive:

[Venom Fang Lv.3] ; [Paralyzing Venom Claw Lv.3] ; [Plague Breath Lv.2]

Defense:

[Scales Lv.2]

Tolerance:

[Resist Poison Lv.3] ; [Resist Paralysis Lv.2]

Species: Venenum Basiliscus

--------------------------------------

10 and 16, huh? Yup, that makes a lot of sense. Barely hanging on by a thread, huh?

Taking my stats into consideration, I decided to drag myself out of the spot where I'd collapsed. Maybe I was heading toward a nearby tunnel, or maybe I was just wandering deeper into monster territory. Either way, I knew that I had to advance. The further away I am from that wretched wasp, the better. 

It wasn't long before I found a suitable place to start digging. Immediately, I started digging a long, narrow burrow, which was just big enough for my body to squeeze into. It wasn't much, but I'd at least keep myself hidden for a while as I tried to rest. It's not like some random monster would just willingly locate and enter a burrow in this darkness. As I settled in the darkness of the abyss wrapped around me. I lay in the burrow, as I hoped for some peace and maybe some quiet.

Yup, nothing, huh...

Minutes soon passed, but sleep didn't come easily. My body was wounded, throbbing, and exhausted, yet my mind wouldn't stop racing. Maybe it was the leftover adrenaline from my near-death experience, or maybe it was just plain fear. Fear that after everything I'd been through, letting my guard down would be the end of me, a death sentence of sorts.

So instead, I was alone with just me and my thoughts in this silence.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name...

This really does remind me of the past, mainly when I used to pray for the good times. I've heard countless people mention that prayer was useless, that it was just a waste of time. But regardless, I reverently prayed. Each prayer back then kept me hopeful that perhaps something might change; now I pray to keep my sanity in check and perhaps to get out of this hopeless situation.

Please! Please save me! Take me out of here! 

I will do whatever you tell me to do! I'll do anything if you just let me out of here! Please just help me!

.

. .

. . .

No response, huh...

What am I even doing? What's the point? I'm stuck in this hellhole with no way out and no end in sight. It's not like someone is going to save me. Who would save a monster anyway? 

Am I just prolonging the inevitable? A part of me, probably the rational part, says yes.

As if responding to my exact thoughts, a system prompt appeared.

[Do you wish to commit suicide?]

Fuck off!

I won't die! I will survive whatever it takes!

I can only change something if I'm alive.

Yes, that's exactly what I will do; it's thanks to this other part of me that I've been living this long after all. I refuse to give up. Especially since I've come this far, I'm not going to throw in the towel now.

So rather than being depressed, I should think of possible solutions to get out of this place. To be honest, roaming around in search of tunnels hasn't been yielding any results. The only way I could leave here is if I leveled up not only my skills but also my level, at least to the point where I can gain more skill points to purchase that mana skill. If I had that then, it wouldn't be a stretch to think that I would unlock other mana skills. With magic moving through here, it would be a breeze.

Alright, so my primary goal is to leave this place, but to do that, I need to increase the level of my attack and night vision skills, and I need more skill points.

Good. Good. At least I'm finally making some progress.

Hours soon passed like that, with me lying in my makeshift burrow, lost in thought as I was formulating strategies to increase my survival. Eventually, exhaustion won out, and I drifted off into a fitful sleep.

. . .

When I awoke, I was still in pain, but at least the exhaustion and pain that I felt had decreased. My regeneration, which was knitting my body together, had done its job—well, sort of. The thread-like tendon holding my severed leg together finally gave out, which led to the middle part of my leg falling off. Even then, the leftover parts of my leg, albeit looking like a mess, weren't bleeding anymore. Unlike my leg, however, my torso had been stitched back together, even though it felt like it was stitched back with some really bad thread. The results weren't great, but I'd take it.

With my fallen leg in hand, or rather, mouth, I crawled out of the burrow, every movement sending sharp stabs of pain through my body.

Well, isn't this lovely?

Regardless of the pain, I couldn't afford to stay put any longer. Rest time was over, and I needed to find food and level up. The hunger that I was feeling right now was getting more and more unbearable by the second. I felt like something was gnawing at me from the inside like a relentless beast.

As I traversed through the darkness, my thoughts returned to my status screen. Both my health and stamina had slightly improved compared to how they were previously.

--------------------------------------

〖Reynold〗Skill Point: 0

Level: 2 (II)

HP: 18/26 | SP: 20/46 

Strength: 15 | Constitution: 13

Agility: 23 | Mind: 25

Traits:

[Poison Attribute]

Skills:

General:

[Dash Lv.2] ; [Evasion Lv.1] ; [Self-regeneration Lv.1] ; [Stealth Lv.1] ;

[Digging Lv.2]

Senses:

[Appraisal Lv.4] ; [Keen Sense Lv.3] ; [Night Vision Lv.2]

Offensive:

[Venom Fang Lv.3] ; [Paralyzing Venom Claw Lv.3] ; [Plague Breath Lv.2]

Defense:

[Scales Lv.2]

Tolerance:

[Resist Poison Lv.3] ; [Resist Paralysis Lv.2]

Species: Venenum Basiliscus

--------------------------------------

The abyss was as silent and empty as ever, or at least that's what it wanted me to think, but every now and then, I'd see leftover prints on the ground. I wasn't alone down here; that much was clear. The other monsters were lurking, and that was exactly what I wanted.

In here, my night vision clearly wasn't doing me any favors, either. Everything was still a blurry mess; it was fuzzy like looking through dirty glass. But at least I could make out some shapes, plus it was better than roaming blind. That would have sucked. The last thing I needed was to stumble into another monster and die.

Alright, here should be a good spot.

Without wasting a moment's rest, I dug another burrow. However, the burrow itself was different. The burrow in question was dug so that the tunnel narrowed toward the entrance, forcing anything that tried to enter into a cramped space where it couldn't easily maneuver. And since the work was intricate, I had to make the tunnel lead toward an exit about a few meters from the burrow entrance.

With the use of the digging skill, the entire process went off without a hitch. It wasn't perfect by any means, but it would at least work.

After finishing my small construction project, I proceeded to exit the burrow from its exit. Once I reached the surface, I paused for a moment as I stared at the dismembered part of my leg that was caught between my teeth. The entire time that I had this leg in my mouth, the hunger gnawing at me became almost unbearable, and despite the disgust that I felt, the thought of consuming it left me drooling.

As repulsive as the thought was, I knew what I had to do. So with a deep breath, I bit down hard on the severed limb, the tough scales and muscle offering some resistance before yielding under my fangs. The taste was bitter, metallic, and slightly nauseating, but despite that, a small part of me found it to be filling.

To think I would find cannibalism to be filling. 

Well, regardless, I wasn't eating my own flesh just to stave off hunger. I expected that the taste of blood, although revolting, would attract the attention of other monsters here. I mean, if you think about it, the only way monsters could survive here would either be if they had a night vision skill, which I doubt, or if they have highly sensitive senses excluding sight, such as smell. And that in itself was the key to my survival.

Curently It was too risky for me to keep wandering around, blindly stumbling into one lethal encounter after another. With my current condition, I couldn't afford to fight a monster since the next encounter that I could have with a monster could very well be my last. But if I could lure an unsuspecting monster to me, I might be able to turn the tables and ambush it in a trap of my own making.

After finishing the small portion of flesh that I could eat while also injecting as much venom as possible, I left the rest of my severed leg near the entrance of the burrow. The scent of blood and flesh was more potent now than it was earlier in this cold, stale air of the abyss.

Let's just hope that it would serve as the bait that I needed.