"No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness." - Aristotle
*****
"Nobody is coming…." I muttered as I fell flat on my back and let the pages of the book droop over my tear-stained face.
The helpless feeling rushing throughout my body was strange as it made me feel calm yet scared at the same time.
My completely lifeless eyes looked at the book page as I raised it above my head.
"Nobody is coming… nobody is coming… nobody is coming to save me," I muttered as I read the two panels woven into the page.
Each time I repeated the hopeless phrase over and over, I felt my senses dull, and my eyes began to lose their light.
"Nobody is coming," I muttered before glancing over at the few lizards beside me.
Grrrrrr
"I hate you,"
The book in my hand seemingly reacted to my will as it suddenly disappeared into thin air as I slowly stood up.
I glanced backward at the vine behind me, and a plan began to formulate in my strangely clear mind.
"Wait," I muttered before glancing up.
『Status』
[Name: Atlas]
[Race: Human]
[Level: 1/10] (1/100) XP Needed
[HP: 15/15 MP: 15/15 SP: 15/15] - Normal Human
[Strength: 1] - Sub Human
[Speed: 1] - Sub Human
[Magic: 1] - Sub Human
[Wisdom: 1] - Average Human
[Intelligence: 5] - Average Human
[Skills: [Book of Wisdom]
[Passive Skills: [Calm Mind] [Dead Nerves]
…
A few panels appeared in front of me, but I didn't feel much, even as I saw my stats altogether drop to a sub-human level of power.
I was so weak right now that it was embarrassing… but that didn't matter now.
Rawr!
The lizards lunged towards me, and just as I rolled out of the way, I used the momentum for ripping the vine off the wall at the sacrifice of my nails.
The lizards quickly recovered and then lunged towards me again, but I blocked their teeth from sinking into my body by shoving the vine into their mouths, causing it to explode with green smoke.
FWOOSH
It immediately began to fill the hallway, and before it could even so much as graze my lungs, I jumped back, stupidly far away from the gaseous green poison.
"Nobody is coming… nobody is coming…." I muttered as the lizards all swiped away the smoke with their claws, but the gas had already done too much damage.
Their bodies fell to the ground, completely limp and unable to move.
Fwip
My book appeared in my hand, and I continuously bashed it against the heads of each lizard, slowly denting their skull with my pitiful strength.
SMASH SMASH SMASH SMASH
"Hey, don't you know how lonely I'll be down here? You all fucking chased me away from the one chance of escape I had, and now I have no idea where to go… This is all your fault…." I muttered as I bashed in the head of the first lizard.
[1 XP]
[1 Yavern has been added to the Yavern Section]
SMASH SMASH SMASH SMASH
"Don't you know I'm already past my limit? Don't you know I had a peaceful life with a family?"
[1 XP]
[1 Yavern has been added to the Yavern Section]
"Do you know how hard I had to work to achieve just a well-paying job that put me above the rest… and then this fucking selection ripped it all away?"
SMASH SMASH SMASH SMASH
[1 XP]
[1 Yavern has been added to the Yavern Section]
"Since I was a sacrifice, that also means my entire family is a sacrifice. They're all dead... All fucking dead. They're all fucking dead! Do you understand?!"
[1 XP]
[1 Yavern has been added to the Yavern Section]
"HUFF… HUFF… HUFF… HUFF…"
I thought I was going to cry again, but strangely, the feeling came, but no tears flowed from my eyes, nor did my breathing stifle.
The sadness and anger felt as easy to contain as breathing.
.
[You have unlocked the Yavern Section]
.
I glanced up at the panel in front of me, still writhing over the fact that my situation was absolutely terrible.
But, once again, it felt containable.
"Hahahaha…. HAHAHAHAHAHA! NOBODY IS COMING! DO YOU HEAR THAT!? NOBODY IS COMING TO SAVE ME!" I shouted, grabbing my temples as they began to ache.
[A few gods pity you]
[A few gods smile at your pitiful state]
"Ehehe… Seriously? You watch over me now that I've lost everything!? EVERYTHING?! AHAHAHAHA! SERIOUSLY!?" I shouted once again at the top of my lungs.
Once the adrenaline washed out of my body in the blink of an eye, a euphoric calm overcame my body, filling me with a few drops of serotonin.
My situation didn't feel as hopeless, even though I could already imagine my daughter and wife being slaughtered like animals.
"I'll kill them… Those fucking pretentious elders… I'll kill them! EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM! THEN THOSE GODS! EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!"
All of a sudden, a loud grumbling interrupted my thought process, and a raging feeling of starvation began to claw at my parched throat and empty stomach.
My head snapped in the direction of the mushy corpse.
It looked so unappetizing that my hunger tried to dash away, but I knew that if I didn't eat or drink something soon, I was going to die… and I had no choice.
It was raw, mushy, bloody, and most likely filled with poison, but I pushed it down into my stomach.
My body tried to reject it immediately, but I continuously forced it back down.
[You have been poisoned]
Suddenly, a searing pain comes from my eyes and ears, but thankfully, that only lasted for a couple of seconds.
[Wisdom of the Yaverns has protected you]
[Your body has slightly adapted to the poison of the Gaseous Poison Seed]
The book that I forcefully disappeared, reappeared in front of me, revealing some panels that I knew saved me.
.
[Wisdom: Yavern]
[Description: A lizard-like monster that scavenges on the corpses of already dead beings, but normally, their raging appetite causes them to lash out at living beings.]
[Weakness: Poison | Underbelly]
[Strengths: Bite Force | Claws]
[Wisdom Buff: +2 Strength | +1 Wisdom | Poison Resistance]
[Wisdom Debuff: Extreme Hunger]
.