*Pant Pant*
I ran with all my might. My bare feet stomping against the cold floor, not daring to look back.
My focus wavered, my eyesight blurring. Though there is not much difference seeing as the cave was pitch black.
「Instinct is warning you」
A cold shiver runs down my back. I look to my left. Nothing.
I couldn't see, hear, or smell anything, but the feeling still persists.
A moment later, an animal appears–well it wasn't exactly an animal per se.
The creature was small, around half my height. It had burly arms and legs, both of which were covered in numerous cuts and bruises. One of it's eyes were bleeding from a wound–which judging by the looks of it was still fresh.
The creature was staring–glaring at me and it didn't take me long to realize that I was in a dangerous situation.
「Instinct is warning you」
I hurriedly looked around for something–anything I could use to defend myself.
The creature took a step. The sound of its footsteps reverberating in my ears. My jaw slackened, my fists clenched, and feet came to a dead stop.
Everything pointed to my inevitable death. Lost and forgotten in this godforsaken labyrinth.
No
The creature dashed towards me instantly and I struggled to even keep it's grotesque appearance in my field of vision.
「Instinct is warning you」
I immediately ducked. The sound of something heavy crashing echoing behind me. I glance at my side, regretting that I did so.
The creature was looking at me. Not with it's hate-filled eyes or its bloodthirsty glare but one filled with terror and fear.
I took a few steps back and noticed that the creature's arm was stuck on the cavern walls, it's own power betraying it.
This is my chance, I thought with malice, the idea surprising even myself.
I picked up a flat rock with a somewhat pointy edge and raised it high.
The creature noticed my intention and immediately tried to unstuck it's hand, but to no avail.
I swung the rock as hard as I could. The creature noticed and belatedly dodged.
I missed, I thought bitterly, immediately raising the rock again, this time, I looked straight into the creature's eyes.
I probably looked more of a monster than he did to me and I wouldn't blame him.
The creature dodged again and again but his injuries were just too severe for him to continue any longer. Eventually, his stamina ran out, he groaned from pain and huffed from exhaustion.
I was tired too, but my mind was too desperate for survival to accept that matter.
Finally, the flat stone crashed against the creature's head, piercing through it's skull. There was something pouring on the wall but it was too dark to tell whether that was blood or something else.
「A new evolutionary path has been unlocked」
「Your evolution is imminent」
My body sank, the fatigue finally catching up to me. I leaned against the cavern walls, right next to the creature's corpse taking it all in.
My stomach flipped. In a second, I was already puking whatever it is I had eaten in the past few hours.
After a good thirty seconds or so of embarrassing myself to nobody, I laid down on the ground.
My mind was hazy, my body screaming for rest. My eyelids felt heavy and I couldn't keep my consciousness awake.
I'm so tired
Sleep opened it's loving arms for me and I unhesitatingly took it.
「Because of the lack of paths the selection process will be skipped」
「Your evolution will now commence」