'Okay.' I replied as I felt a wave of fatigue wash over me as well.
It was late... very late. I myself was growing weary from all the movement and from adventuring. I'm not a machine okay? I am also a growing and living animal... I mean gastropod. I didn't have god-like powers or skills that allowed me to stay up all night. I was tired. So tired that I couldn't even think about eating food or even though there was a sleeping gigantic piece of meat that was right in front of me.
Also, my buffs wore off so that may have been the reason.
...
Moving slowly, I tried my best to not wake the sleeping Lion. Even if I took initiative and bit the sleeping Frostfang, the conclusion of the battle would have been evident. I would win because I'm awesome and it would lose because it's not a great as I am. Hahahaha. Nope.
What? Coward?
Hey, I'm not a coward. I'm just smart. Who would fight a losing battle just to lose? Idiotic.
What happened to my I can do everything attitude and I got this attitude? I grew up okay? I was no longer as boastful and stupid as I was the days before.
...
I slid as quickly and as carefully as I could around the sleeping beauty (beast) that was beside me. Thoughts of finally exiting the frozen hellhole that I was in started to surface within my mind. Although, I was missing out on a giant meal. I knew that it wasn't worth the risk... not when there was a juicy crystalline fruit that was still dangling for me to consume.
Well if it was still there...
Inching forward, I finally got a clear look at the colossus that was in front of me. Towering over me like a four-story building. I knew that if we fought it would have been a scene from Attack on Titans. The Frostfang's legs were giant. Just smaller than the diameter of my shell her eight giant pillars called legs penetrated deep within the ice-covered floor. Long hairs the size of my eyestalks ran up and along her long legs which I tried to avoid.
Like a sneaky thief, I continued. If my life was a video game, I was a cheater. I entered the lair of the final boss and instead of fighting it, I was sneaking around it.
Did it work?
...
Minutes passed and I made it around the giant beast to the exit. A faint light shone through the thin wall as I knew that it was the only thing that separated me from the outside.
I felt the ground rumble.
Panicking suddenly, I looked behind me. The female Frostfang was shaking. Like it was looking for something, it extended its legs forward before pulling backward.
A movement in her deep slumber.
Sighing under my breath, I returned my attention back to the exit. Using my foot, I touched the wall. It wasn't elastic - it was hard.
Thump. Thump. I knocked my eye gently on the wall and but didn't seem to give even when I added more strength.
'Hmmm.' I thought while I opened my mouth.
'Maybe I can eat through it?' I suggested as I looked at the wall carefully.
Tiny gaps were present - tiny portals that allowed me to finally catch a glimpse of the outside. A gentle warm breeze was blowing into the mist and warmed my body.
'I'll give it a try.'
With my mouth unhinged, I tiled my head back. Like a lamprey, I attached my mouth against the solid wall that was ahead of me.
Chink. The sound of sharp teeth scratching against a hard surface.
Chipping. Small chips of solid filament fell off as I continued to create an escape route that was ahead of me. It was like my body was made for drilling holes into things. Lines of drill-like teeth, an almost endless supply of mucus (lubricant) and the best disposal service in the entire world (my stomach). I was the ultimate drilling machine stuck in a snail body!
Hey!
I'm just trying to make a boring situation more exciting okay? All jokes aside I was a just a snail that was eating a hole out of a wall made out of disgusting white stuff where the origins of it are questionable.
But as I did, small drifts of cold wind hit me from behind.
'It's just the Female Frostfang.' I thought as I shook off the feeling.
But I was wrong.
A rush of cold wind came from behind me and hit me. Followed by another. Unable to ignore the situation anymore, I titled my head backwards.
Eight giant pearls stared back at me.
She had awakened and she was watching my every action.
Almost jumping up in complete surprise I managed to hold on as tightly as I could as I pulled as hard as I could.
Snap.
The wall gave away as I rolled backwards with my own moment.
My heart pounded.
'Was I going to die here?'
I expected to get hit or at least attacked as I tried to regain my footing.
Getting used to rolling now, I almost immediately collected myself and slid forward once more.
'The light,' was all I could think about as I blasted forth as fast as my snail body could take me.
I felt a rush of air hit me from hind as a loud thud vibrated through my head.
I was too scared to look back.
Instead, I picked up even more speed as I spewed out streams of mucus behind me to speed me up.
Scrrr... The sound of scraping as my shell flew through the hole that I had made.
'I made it....' I thought before I was met by another situation.
My body instantly tilted downwards as the ground beneath me disappeared.
I fell.
Without knowing how high up I was on the branch I panicked and jumped off the figurative cliff in front of me.
Warm air rushed against my body as I began to roll.
[Status: Cold] entered my head as I fell.
Between the turns, I caught glimpses of the branch... my branch... the brown branch that I had been on - something that was other than white. It seemed to welcome me back to it as I fell. If a welcoming hug could kill, then that was the hug it had presented for me.
I knew I had to do something to catch my fall. Maybe that was why the Female Frostfang didn't try to stop me...
Channelling the feeling of coldness through my body, I tried activating [Frozen Shift] once more. But this time... the feeling didn't spread as quickly as it did previously. No... something was resisting it.
'The heat.' I thought as I stared my maker in the eye. Who would have thought that I escaped monstrous scary spider-like creatures only to be killed by falling? I didn't and it didn't stop my mind from turning.
Seconds. I had seconds to think of a plan.
I bit down.
Like you would sometimes painfully bite down on your lip while you ate, I bit down on myself as I felt my own cool icy poison spread through my veins as my body got colder.
Blurs of dark brown under the moonlight. The hard bark of the branch was getting closer. Badump. Badump. My heart rate sped up as I imagined my body being splattered across the surface.
The poison spread faster with my thoughts.
I closed my eyes.
Poof.
I became a pile... of Frozen Mist as my body vaporized just before I became a splattered mess of organs and flesh.
Pulling myself together immediately before I flowed downwards off of the branch. I collected myself.
Instantly, I fell my body slumping against the solid bark beneath my foot.
'Thank the heavens!' I thought as I kissed the branch before me.
Then I collapsed.
As if I had three consecutive all-nighters... I passed out from the exhaustion the moment I knew it was "safe".
...
Ding!
[Congratulations! User has completed mini-dungeon: Labyrinth of White]
[First Clear!]
Analyzing actions...
Clear method: Escape.
Side objectives completed: 1/2...
Hidden objectives discovered: 1
Hidden objectives completed: 0
...
Calculating rewards...
+ 10000 Exp (First clear bonus)
+ 5000 Exp (Side objectives)
+ 500 Exp (Hidden objective discovery bonus)
- 1000 Exp (Choice Penalty)
- 1000 Exp (Clear method)
+ 10 all unlocked stats
+ 32 DP
Total DP: 37
[Skill: Mental Mapping LV. MAX] (passive) (DP unlocked)
[Title acquired: Dungeoneer]
+ 1 all unlocked stats (passive)
[Title acquired: I am first!]
+ 5 initiative (passive)
[Title acquired: Magical snail] (Hidden)
+ 1 magical affinity (passive)
+ 5 intelligence (passive)
+ 5 wisdom (passive)
Compiling experience...
[Level 9: Reached]
+ 5 unlocked stats
+ 1 SP
[Level 10: Reached]
+ 5 unlocked stats
+ 1 SP
[Level 11: Reached]
+ 10 unlocked stats
+ 2 SP
Unused SP: 6
Next level: 8889 Exp.
[Quest: Let's get to level 15!] (Updated)
...
Summary of Day 22: I cleared the mini-dungeon called: the Labyrinth of White by running away.