(Chapter 5) starvation

For the first time since I had arrived in this dungeon, Night came, although there was no visible sun in the sky, only clouds and mists all around me, before the sky was at least bright but now….

Everything darkened.

I had set-out into the mists on the rope bridge a few hours back. I didn’t waste any time after killing the witch as I was bitter and hungry and she didn’t leave me many materials to salvage.

I did make another cloak from the curtains of her hut though, the cloth was stronger and the cloak I was wearing before had been burned.

The rope bridge swayed violently.

The weather was getting worse and worse…. And for the first time cold creeped into the air. The frigid winds battered my body and sent me shivering, combined with the darkening sky a sense of foreboding filled me.

So hungry…….

Another few hours passed and the sky had completely blackened. There was no visibility and I couldn’t even see anything ahead of me. At this point I used the rope rails to guide me forward. Many times where the wooden planks were broken I would stumble and catch my self-using the rope rails, I dared not let go of them. Without something to hold onto, I would have long ago stumbled to my death or have been caught by these frigid gusts of wind and carried off into the darkness.

Step by step, I trudged onwards, slowly losing my sense of reality. My mind started thinking about all sorts of irrelevant things as I continued walking forwards with my hands wrapped around the rough rope of the bridge….Ah…..now that I think about it…..a few months ago why didn’t I just cut part of the bridge and use its rope?.....How short sighted of me……I had spent all that time creating rope from scratch for nothing……..

I had been so excited back then, experimenting with the plants and fibers of the tree I just didn’t realize something so simple……..

Mortals can be so short-sighted sometimes……….

So hard to stay awake…………..So hungry. So tired. So cold.

--Rumble….

The sky suddenly started making loud booming noises and then…….

-Crack!

A streak of lighting flashed only about 300 meters away from me! I was shocked into alertness, the loud noise of the lighting had deafened me momentarily.

Feeling disturbed I continued on slowly and then……. With a loud crackle the sky opened up and it started raining heavily!

I was already damp from the mists but now I was soaked and it was getting even colder….

My teeth started chattering uncontrollably and I wrapped my cloak tighter but still, after only a few minutes the cold began to seep into my bones….

So…..hungry……………

Then after another few moments the flashes of lighting got more and more frequent and the wind started picking up…….I was on a rope bridge in the middle of a storm!

I was panicking as the bridge swayed wildly and now my progress was even slower, I had to carefully edge little by little while desperately holding onto the rope rails.

---1 day later---

So….hungry…..

With sunken cheeks and heavy legs I kept continuing, step by step, on this cursed bridge…

The storm had not let up even once, it was still going strong after a whole day….

So…..Cold…..

A small amount of spiritual energy had recovered a while ago and I was using it sparingly to heat my body up so I wouldn’t get hypothermia. But I could only use it every now and then and only for a small amount of time or I would die from over exhausting my mana….

Every time I used my mana, an excruciating pain would shoot through my stomach and I would feel uncontrollable hunger pangs take over my body…

At this point I had no plans about what I would do when I finally got off this bridge. All I knew was that if I gave in to my exhaustion and stopped moving forward I would die….

-Howl……-

Is my mind playing tricks on me? From the flashes of thunder I could see…. Shadows of howling demons all around me in the rampaging wind…….

What……Is this nightmare………..

-12 hours later-

It has now been……. 2 or was it 3………?

3………. days since I last ate…..I think………I wasn’t sure of anything anymore

I ran out of the ability to heat my body 6 hours ago……my mana was now……….completely exhausted……………

My ears, hands and feet felt like they were burning…… The cold……..what is it doing to me?

While I was lost in thought suddenly, the mists parted in front of me…. The Fourth plateau of the Third guardian had appeared!

As soon as I arrived to the ledge I collapsed onto the ground and shuddered softly…..

I almost passed out but then a painful hunger pang jolted me awake……right…….I had to beat the guardian.

Maybe, maybe finally I would be able to eat…….I’m so hungry…….

I willed my body to stand and after a minute, started shuffling up the stairs leading to the top.

On the top of the plateau were….. bones of all sorts of animals and creatures scattered everywhere…….besides that there were no hints of life………I roamed around but I couldn’t find anything but a sea of bones everywhere I looked…..where was the Third guardian….?

-RATTLE!-

I looked behind me and saw……that the bones were coming to life!

After 15 seconds some bones came together to form…. a Wolf like skeletal beast!

Its eyes had glowing white flames within them.

I….I knew I should be preparing for battle but suddenly I felt so weary…..what sort of sick joke was this?

Was there some sort of god… playing with me? Every step forward I took in this dungeon was like……walking deeper and deeper into my own demise……It seemed like everything was planned from the beginning to make me fail……………….

Now here was a monster that was just bones……Nothing to…..eat……

While I was having my depressed thoughts the undead beast rushed at me and head-butted my body!

“Ah!!!!” I screamed

I was thrown away from the impact and my bones creaked as i soared through the air…..

Slowly, 30 meters from where I was standing before, I rolled to a stop amongst the bones….

I now also had my flesh ripped apart by the sharp bones on the ground when I landed…..

Cuts and bruises littered my body and fresh blood poured out onto the dried blood from previous battles.

Was I ….. Going to die………….

I don’t want to die…………….I am so hungry……………I am so…………………

So……………………scared……….

Although I was a prince of the devil…………currently my body was that of a five year old and for some reason…………..for the first time I felt like a child…..

Someone…………someone please…..help!

Help!

I don’t want to die! Please I don’t…….I don’t…………..

No………..no one is coming………I am all alone….I’ve been alone the moment I entered this Heavens Dungeon…………

That sick Outer God……….Did he think that I was capable of doing something like this………Death……

HaHa! His name is Death……………. How ironic, I met Death………..and in exchange……he gave me Death......!

Well Fuck him…………I’m………….not going to die………………………..

A blood red haze slowly came over my eyes …………….. My vision……………….everything was getting blurry………

Hungry…..So hungry……… This beast is going to be my food I’m going to………..eat ……………..

I felt something change inside me……………..like…………something was breaking and all thoughts left my mind……………….Till there was only one remaining…………

Eat.

-Yuzu here, hope u liked the chapter, the next chapter I have planned is going to be really fun for me to write as there’s some cool things in it! Thanks for reading! <3