'Huh?'
'What?' I asked as I opened my eyes once more.
My body ached all over. My core was frozen. It was an understatement that I was cold.
'What... happened?' I managed to say in my head through the pain. 'I don't remember a thing.'
Shaking my body, I managed to get into an upright position as shards of broken ice fell off my body and bounced off the floor beneath me. Cold mist brushed across my body and my vision was completely blocked off by the mist.
My health flashed.
50%.
'How could one ball hit us so hard?'
'Twice...' I thought as I looked around.
Sure enough, large chunks of ice poked themselves out of the mist like tiny islands within a shrouded sea.
'The second rumble I heard.' I confirmed.
Hastily pulling out the ice shards that were protruding from my body, I recalled what had happened.
'We had been hit by two balls of ice... and we plummeted to the bottom of a pit... Phew. Luckily, I had cleared out the two walls that had sealed me in. Otherwise, we would have been squished.' I recounted.
Knowing how to deal with the mist, I didn't waste any more time as I cut the floor apart with streams of mucus. As I worked to remove the mist, I tried to break the silence.
'Say... how long do we have left?'
<3 hours... Master...>
'I know. We need to hurry.'
Minutes later, the mist cleared and I had only a single problem left - getting out of the room.
Staring at the straight walls that surrounded us and propped my body on top of an ice chunk. Instantly I knew that it would have been impossible to scale the walls upward as the walls were coated completely with a sheet of solid ice. Reinforced - no matter how I tried, I wouldn't be able to melt it in time.
Reaching with my foot, I touched the wall. My body freezing instantly against the wall, I knew that climbing it wasn't going to be an option.
'Hmmm.' I began to think. Like always, I was sure there was some way of escaping the pit that I was in. Some type of backdoor that the creator - a Frostfang could have used to get out of the situation.
As I was thinking of a solution, the light in the room began to brighten. It was mid-day outside, but I was stuck in a frozen prison with no way to escape.
'If only the heat from the outside could enter and melt this trap.' I thought as I continued to slide around as I thought. Drifting closer to the hole in the floor that I had made to drain the mist, I looked down. 'Should we head downward?' I questioned, but I soon shook that question out of my head. I knew that the end of the labyrinth was near: the fog above us had thickened and there were more and more ... well, traps to stop intruders from progressing. I didn't want to backtrack and end up going through another set of traps later.
I was in a predicament.
'If only... wait. It's ice.'
<... another idea Master?>
'Yes.' I replied. 'It's worth a try.' I thought.
Shifting my body around I backed up and away from the nearest wall.
I needed space.
With the back of my shell against a wall, I steadied myself before I burst forth. With my well oiled 9001 horse-powered, I mean snail-powered body, I smashed against the wall icy wall with all my might.
My intention should be clear to you.
I wanted to shatter the wall. Learning from dealing with the cold ice, from the previous battles and me using my frozen mucus, I knew that it was hard but it was also brittle - very brittle. I would be an idiot if I didn't notice that.
But as soon as I hit the wall, I knew that was going to take everything I had as quickly found out that running into a solid wall wasn't the smartest idea.
BAM.
My head was knocked back by the rebound of force. You know an equal and opposite force hit me back. With the strength that I put in, I was met with the same strength - that's how the new-age concept of physics. Yup. Physics...
What... how do I know what physics are? Well, somehow my title of best big brother snail became obsolete and somehow became known as the best scientist snail somewhere down the road.
Yup. Master of the sciences, alchemy and magic - the trifecta.
Don't believe me?
Well, you know I'm obligated to tell you. Well forced to tell you. So you know I'm not lying hahaha.
Anyways, back to my story.
....
I watched as my health bar flashed while I was knocked backward by my own charge. Taking 4% recoil damage, my health dropped to 46%.
My head spun as I was surprised that a wall could actually hurt me. Yes, I was an idiot. But a smart idiot who was able to make a single small white speck onto the wall.
<...>
The gluttonous voice wanted to speak out immediately but seemed to hold itself back as it held in whatever it could say.
But it was probably "
But I didn't care about its sudden muteness. Instead, I chose to yell at the wall like an idiot.
"YOU! How dare you hit me back?!"
It wasn't the first time that I was met with an inanimate enemy. Cough. Cough. The clouds. But that didn't stop the Reward System from giving me a new quest.
[Quest initiated: Destroy that Wall!]
'Oh, I definitely will destroy you.'
I pulled my body back before I prepared for another run. But as I did so, I felt my stomach grumble once more followed by the sound of a ding.
[Skill: Hungering LV. 1]
Current stacks: 7
+ 35% all stats
The metallic voice announced.
Instead of worrying about my starvation, I actually celebrated it! Like a saving grace, I felt stronger and I needed it.
Charging up my strength, I launched myself at the wall once more in full recklessness.
BAM!
I was back on the floor. What did you expect? A crack? A seam of some kind?
Nope, just a white mark where my shell and the ice had made contact.
"AGAIN!" I shouted as I pulled myself up from another run.
Another hit. Another rebound.
My health flashed dangerously low at 15% as I felt my whole body ache. I didn't care. Nope, not at all. I beat up the wall and my body as I imagined the image of the brothers and sisters that betrayed me.
Yup.
I was crazy.
I had little demons that were eating me away from inside.
...
*Ding.*
[Quest initiated: Destroy that Wall!] (Completed)
+1 Exp
Next level: 2887 Exp.
[Title obtained: Ice breaker] (Hidden)
+ 0.01% Cold Mastery
+1 stupidity
...