With one destination in mind, I moved forward as fast as I could.
I wanted to get to a corner. No. I needed to reach a corner. With walls on two sides, the Frostfang would be forced to attack from the front if it wanted to use the mist as cover. If it wanted to attack from the walls, I would be able to see it.
That was my justification.
...
It got colder as I slid forward.
I didn't know about Sim, but my mucus was freezing off at a noticeable pace.
[Warning: Hunger is growing]
The voice in my head warned once more.
"I KNOW!" I yelled out. "YOU DON'T NEED TO REMIND ME THAT I'M RUNNING OUT OF TIME!"
The floor and walls rocked with my shout as it was drowned out.
Barreling as fast as my weakened body could take me, I continued forward.
'Half of my stamina is left.' I thought as I looked at the yellow bar in the middle of my vision as it flashed.
My heart pumped even more as I felt the floor shake.
'It's recovered.' I confirmed as I felt another shake. This time it was closer to my body.
Without Sim's warning, I knew another attack was coming.
'I can't dodge anymore.' I thought. Impaired by stacks of icy poison and my lack of vision from my left eye, I knew I couldn't swerve to dodge.
So I pulled my body backward. Feeling my body slide to a halt, I continued to look forward.
Just as I expected: the mist in front of me broke apart as the Frostfang launched an attack.
Its two front legs pointing forward, it aimed to strike my body directly and miss. Quickly collecting itself, it pointed its face toward me and hissed. Two sharp fangs jutted out from its mouth as they dripped with white droplets of what I assumed to be poison. Its intent of playing with me had clearly disappeared with my swat a few seconds before.
'It's mad now.' I confirmed as I watched it back into the mist with its two front legs raised into the air.
I didn't care anymore. Changing directions, I burst forward through the freezing mist once more away from where the Frostfang had been.
My body grew colder as my extremities begun to tingle and numb.
'I need to move faster.' I thought as I shivered.
Suddenly, I felt a tap from the top of my shell.
'Another attack?' I thought as I stopped in place to evade another attack.
Seconds passed.
No attack.
Assuming the tap was just a warning from Sim, I started moving once more.
My stomach growled once more and I remembered that I was running out of time once more.
Seconds later, something unexpected happened to my body.
It felt lighter.
'Why do I feel lighter?' I questioned myself as I felt lighter again and felt myself gain some strength.
The metallic voice in my head seemed to agree as I heard it call out.
[Status: Icy] (Stackable)
- 10% speed
- 10% strength
Stacks: 2
'That's some good news.' I thought as I continued forward at a faster speed. 'The poison's temporary.'
Soon I saw a familiar sight.
A white wall.
The wall was a good sign.
Reaching the wall, I swiftly turned so my left side was protected. With half of my vision gone, I could only see out of my right eye. My left-side became a blind spot.
I stayed vigilant while I continued along the wall. I knew that if I followed it, I would reach a corner - a safe spot where the Frostfang could only appear from in one direction without being detected.
My heart pumped even harder in excitement.
'I'm getting closer... Soon Sim... We will be able to protect ourselves better.' I thought as I moved.
I looked into the mist for turbulence or any agitation with my one good eye.
I expected at least another attack.
But like before, nothing came.
Less than a minute later, I reached one of the corners of the room.
Stopping, I panted. I was tired. I was cold and I was dying from hunger.
Glancing at the yellow bar, I knew that I had depleted almost all of my stamina as I stopped moving.
Backing up into the corner, I watched as my stamina slowly recover and felt my heart that was pounding like a recess bell, slow down.
Seconds passed as I stared at the frosty mist. I looked for movement, a hint of grey, anything that would indicate another attack from the Frostfang. Having a better position, I knew I could defend myself against it.
And so, I waited.
The seconds became minutes as I looked through the mist.
'Weird... Why hasn't the Frostfang attacked me?' I questioned myself.
After the Frostfang's first attack, I hadn't seen it. Nor had I noticed any more movements of the filaments close to me.
'Did it give up for some reason?' I rhetorically as I stared into the mist in front of me. 'No that can't be it... it must be preparing.'
I waited in the corner for half a minute...
And then...
Nothing...
Absolutely nothing.
'Maybe Sim saw it.' I thought to myself as I looked upward on top of my shell.
Completely barren and scratched, the familiar shell of Sim was nowhere to be seen.
Adrenaline pumped through my veins as I begun to panic.
'Where's Sim?' I asked myself as I looked around the sides of my shell for an indication of where he went.
Panicking, I stretched the front of my head around the back of my shell.
No! I didn't care about leaving an opening for the Frostfang to attack me. I needed to check if Sim was alright!
...
As you expected. It was empty. Sim had fallen off.
Sliding forward I almost ran straight back into the mist, but I didn't.
Forcing myself to stop, I recollected my thoughts as I backed myself into the corner of the room once more.
'Calm down.' I told myself. 'You can't even save yourself, let alone Sim... Calm down.'
"Think," I said to myself as I stared at the white mist.
"Before worrying about Sim, I need to first make sure I survive." I thought.
So I spent the few minutes thinking of a plan, but I couldn't think of one. For once, I was all out of plans.
Instead of thinking about plans, I began to reflect instead.
I began to feel another emotion well up inside me that I hadn't felt for a day or so.
Regret.
I regretted entering the labyrinth with only Sim.
And that was the truth. If I listened to Mistra's and 7's complaints, the whole colony would have followed us into the labyrinth. If that happened, we would have easily killed the Frostfang with our advantage in numbers.
How can a single Frostfang take on a hundred or so snails?
It can't.
'Why am I so stupid?' I thought as I blamed myself further. 'Sim trusted me and now I don't know where he is. He might... be dead...'
If he had died, it was my fault. The past few days were brutal. I had lost siblings left and right. At the time, I didn't know if Sim was going to be a new addition to my long list of deceased siblings.
'Why am I always rushing headfirst? Why don't I ever think about the consequence?' I asked myself. 'I'm weak... why did I even think I could fight the Frostfang?' I continued.
Really though. Why did I fight the Frostfang?
Maybe as I was spurred on by the fight between the ancient snail and the hare at the time. Maybe I was just plain stupid and bashful. Maybe I was just too prideful - having won some minor victories through tactics alone that I thought I could fight head-on with a killing machine.
Maybe I thought that snails were actually strong?
'Why are other creatures so strong and snails so weak?' I asked further. 'Why was I born a snail?'
Snails were and will always be weak. I know that even though I'm... you know... now.
'The hare was fast and agile. It dominated the ancient snail who could only use its "Seeds" to defend itself and attack. Without the seeds it was nothing.' I thought as I thought back to its battle in an attempt to draw some inspiration for my own battle. 'At the very least, it had seeds. I have nothing. I'm nothing compared the Frostfang.'
And that was true.
The Frostfang had poison, a misty cover to ambush from and eight sharp legs that could penetrate through my body. It was faster, stronger and agiler. Supplementing its poison was its ability to produce sticky strings and ability to enrage the enemy... But what did I have?
Just a shell.
'I'm just a snail.' I thought to myself as I regretted my actions more and more.
And I truly was just a snail. A level 6 snail stuck in a level 10 labyrinth. Other than being larger, faster and smarter than some other snails my age, I was nothing. My shell - although sturdy could only take so many of its attacks. My mucus - although slimy and sticky, could only help me so much before it ran out.
'Snails are weak and I'm weak.' I told myself.
"But Master you're not weak and you're not like the other snails. You have me." A voice interjected my thoughts. A familiar voice that I had heard before.
...
The voice was right.
I wasn't an ordinary snail.
I was a mutated one.