What.... Have you done?

Boom!

"Argh!" Exhausted beyond his limits, Eren found himself staggering through the dark tunnel of a cave, all hope of survival scattering with each step he took.

It shouldn't have come to this.

If only he had spent the wasted hour trying to create the array on finding a way out of this wretched forest. Perhaps the situation wouldn't be as severe as it was now.

At this point, all hope was lost.

He…

…was done for before he even got to start.

"ROAAAAAAHHHHH!" A sound as ear-piercing as it was paralyzing reached his ears. Eren forced himself to move even faster, deeper into the unknown.

Before him lay a darkness unlike anything he had ever known. It was so dark he couldn't tell the difference between having his eyes shut or open. It was all the same; it was all darkness.

BOOM!

As suddenly as it was petrifying, something slammed into his back, sending him flying through the air.

"AHHHH!" Eren cried out as he crashed into what he hoped was a wall.

"Ugh," he groaned, struggling to his feet.

He looked forward, but there was nothing before him, just a darkness so profound it was disturbing. At this point, he began regretting his decisions.

It seemed that every decision he made was the wrong one.

Perhaps there was a way he could have handled the creature back at the entrance of the cave, a way that would have given him a chance to outsmart it. But given this unnatural darkness, he was left with no advantage whatsoever. He was completely screwed.

He grabbed his now sprained shoulder and somehow managed to find his footing.

He had no idea why, but it felt like…

Like…

Everything in here was…alive?

He leaned desperately against the cave wall, pressing his back against it with enough force that it seemed as though he was trying to merge with it.

But…

…who could blame him?

He was more or less blind at this point.

"Hah...HA...Haah..." His breathing was unnatural and raspy as he tried to focus every sense on the silence that had befallen him.

Psykrophytes.

If he was right, that was the creature he was trapped with. It was a nasty beast capable of defeating even an Origin Level 6 guardian.

And that alone spelled doom.

How did he know this?

Well, to explain that, he'd have to go back to when he had so much free time on his hands that he'd sidetracked the missions he was given in the game. Just like players of a certain gangster game who found themselves deviating from pre-programmed events and missions to go on random adventures or explore maps—either out of boredom with the monotony of the missions or after coming into contact with cheat codes and special weapons—Samael, when he was Samael, had found himself exploring the vast game map whenever he grew frustrated with certain story arcs.

That was the thing about this game; it wasn't like the usual adventures he sometimes played. There was so much freedom and detail, enough to make you question just how much time had been put into creating it. It always begged the question of who exactly the creators of the game were and why they were so enigmatic and literally non-existent.

Anyway, though he didn't accomplish much during those ventures, as he always got killed when exploring uncharted territory, he gained much experience. One of those experiences was his constant encounters with a certain tentacled monster called a Psykrophyte.

A monster not just dangerous due to its natural combat prowess, but also because of its special ability.

"Oh no, damn this parasite,"

was all Eren managed to say before…

…it all went…numb.

And then…

"Mael… what… have you done?"