Something still plagued my mind... that day. No, it wasn't my grief resurfacing... but it had to do with it slightly.
'Hey.' I called out within my head as I waited for a response from the gluttonous voice.
'So... can we both agree to tell the truth to each other.'
'Then I have a question for you...'
'Did we eat Sim?' I asked hesitantly. Although I accepted my situation, I still didn't understand 7's accusation that I had eaten Sim's body. Though it would have been another story if I had eaten in my sleep or the gluttonous voice had made me do it.
Replying almost immediately the voice replied.
'Okay... you're not lying to me right?' I thought as I didn't quite trust the gluttonous voice yet.
'Right... Okay...' I thought to myself. 'Then what happened to Sim?' I asked rhetorically.
Was I set up?
I don't know.
...
Clearing my mind of Sim, I slid forward through the passageway as felt the air begin to cool around me.
The temperature dropped once more.
'Nothing has changed. The same walls the same turns.' I confirmed while I continued sliding forward.
Approximately an hour later, I made it back to the dead-end. The dead-end with a hole in the ceiling.
I stared up at the gaping hole above me and the ceiling around me. It was much closer now. Having grown to a larger size, I easily crawled upwards into the room that laid above the passageway as the voice in my head chimed.
[User: entering Arena of Frost]
[Skill: Hungering LV 1]
Current stacks: 4
+ 20% all stats
"I'm back," I said out loud as I entered the room.
I looked around. I didn't know what to expect.
Did the room reform itself? Did another Frostfang take the place of the first?
The answer was no. Nothing had changed. The marks from the battle, the blue blood stains, the cut floor, everything... everything was the same as when I had left.
I looked at all the possible paths before me.
'Which way should we go?' I asked.
the voice replied.
I slid into the centre of the room and looked around.
I sighed as I didn't know where to start. There were too many paths... and I didn't have time to check them all.
'If only Sim was still alive...' I began to think. 'If he was alive we could have easily found the exit with his skill.'
The gluttonous voice agreed but in its own way.
I laughed.
'If I knew my siblings would have exiled me, maybe eating Sim might have been the right idea.' I thought ironically. 'But let's not talk about him anymore. He is gone... his body is gone as well. Let's decide on a path to go down...' I thought as I looked around more closely at the passageways.
Symmetrical rectangular passageways ran through the walls and even the ceiling. There were too many paths. I didn't know what to do as I stared at the twenty-six different possible routes - five per wall, six on the ceiling above me.
Nothing set the passageways apart. Except for the passageways that were on the ceiling which flowed with mist. It was just a Labyrinth of White.
...
'How many hours do we have left?' I asked the voice.
<6 hours.> it replied.
'6...' I thought. Without wasting any more precious time, I decided to take any route - the closest one that was nearest to me.
Without a plan, I moved forward without thinking. It didn't really matter to me at that point. I lived for myself. Either I would die in the process of finding the exit, or I won't it was as simple as that.
I'm not sure why I did that. Normally I would come up with a plan, but I didn't. I just wanted to get out of the labyrinth as quickly as I could... Maybe I was still suffering from my grief?
Maybe.
...
I slid forward through the passageway...
The same as the corridor from the entrance, the passageway was white as well. Irregularly straight walls and ceilings lined both sides.
The same... everything was the same.
I continued down the corridor until I reached the end minutes later. A divide.
Up or down.
I didn't know.
I went up.
I was smart enough to leave a bead of mucus behind. Freezing quickly with the coldness of the room, it left a semi-permanent mark of where I had come from.
I continued down the corridor and followed it.
Minutes later, I was met by another divide.
'Left or right?' I asked myself as I paused...
'Right.' I decided as I moved forward.
Minutes later, I was met by another divide.
'Left or right?' I asked the voice in my head.
It said as I followed the instructions of the voice while I left another bead of mucus behind.
A minute later I was met by another divide.
I stared upwards and downwards at the crossroads between the passages.
My stomach grumbled.
[Skill: Hungering LV 1]
Current stacks: 5
+ 25% all stats
'I can't do this.' I thought.
'We can't move forward like this anymore... what I mean is... this isn't like me. Why are we just moving forward with no direction?' I asked
'But that doesn't mean there isn't a solution to the labyrinth.' I told the voice while I turned around and rushed backwards from where I came from.
'Me too. I want to eat too... but this isn't the way to go.'
It took some time, but we made it back to the room - [the Arena of Frost].
'How much time do we have left now?' I asked
<5 hours, Master.>
'We wasted an hour... but it doesn't matter. We can still do this.' I told the voice. 'Don't worry.
I looked around the room again.
'There must be some way to get through this maze. There must be a solution.' I thought as I tried to convince myself that there was a method in the madness of the maze before me. 'There must be a way for the Frostfang to travel around... I don't believe that it could memorize an entire labyrinth.'
I looked at the walls. Gaping holes leading to more symmetrical passages... nothing out of the ordinary.
I looked at the ceiling. High above me, streams of mist flooded out of the passageways as I felt the cool mist collect together and drain down into the hole I had made the day before.
I waded through the cold mist as I approached one of the passageways as I felt a chill spread through my body as the metallic voice called out.
[Status: Cold]
- 25% strength (+5% from: cold resistance)
- 25% speed (+5% from: cold resistance)
'Wait...' I thought to myself.
'I think I know what to do!' I answered as I suddenly had a revelation. It made more sense as I thought about it. The Frostfang... the White labyrinth... the cold room.
But I needed to be certain of what the metallic voice had said when it introduced the Frostfang for the first time to confirm my suspicion.
As if the metallic voice heard my request for it, its voice boomed within my head once more.
[Run system.archives(Silver_backed_Frostfang); Yes or No]
"Yes," I said out loud as I hoped it would repeat the information once more.
[Prompt: accepted]
[The Silver-backed Frostfang ♂] (defeated: 1, devoured: 1)
+ Hiding within the cold frost created by the female, the tiny male Frostfang dwells. Named for their venom, they use venomous bites and poisoned feet to freeze and drain energy from their prey. Temperament: Sadistic (Source: System database)
"That's it!" I shouted. "That's the solution!"
...