When I took one last step, I fell...
Down into a bottomless chasm.
"What the hell?!", I exclaimed, largely disoriented.
My body swayed around like a ragdoll, the air rushing sharply around me.
I was falling, falling into God knows where.
Wha-what's going-on?!
I thought as I fell, surrounded by absolute darkness.
"Calm down! Calm down!"
I urged myself as I took deep breaths. My empty stomach and dry throats seemed non-existent before my current predicament.
I inhaled and exhaled, and then thought.
Alex calm down...I have Resistance...I can still somewhat survive if i-
Suddenly, the system resounded, cutting off my thoughts.
[Bloodlust detected.]
[The player is being threatened by an enemy.]
Instantly, my hair stood on end and my blood ran cold. A terrible shiver ran down my spine as I blurred out,
"Wha-?!"
Before I could even finish, I was struck by a sudden powerful blow.
BAM!
The attack threw me to the walls of the chasm I was falling into, sending me colliding against a rough edge.
CRASH!
[You have been wounded.]
"Argh!", I let out a pained cry, loosing my uchigatana in the process.
Silver Lining slipped out of my hands and fell down, into the dark.
Yet, I couldn't be bothered, because I had bigger problems to worry about.
Wh-what was- that?
As I stared up ahead while falling, I saw a pair of two red dots glint with murderous intent.
Then I saw...
[Level 9. Profane Cockatrix.]
"Oh...God...", I gasped, my eyes filled with a mix of bewilderment and cold dread.
I instantly broke into a cold sweat as I scrambled to get away, but...how could I?
When I was literally falling?
"Fu-", before I could even finish speaking, I felt another powerful blow.
BAM!
"Ack!", I screamed in pain once again as I was sent bashing into the rough walls again.
[You have been wounded.]
This time I struck my head against the walls, and felt my skin split.
A cool feeling emanated from the injury and trickled down my face. I knew it all to well though.
It was blood.
God...what is this?
I thought as I was instantly consumed by a deep sense of terror.
Not only was I literally falling in absolute darkness, I was also being hounded by a bloodthirsty creature that just so happens to be bloody Level 9.
This...is...
I gritted my teeth as I searched frantically in the darkness, trying to discern the position of my assailant.
But, I ultimately failed and it descended on my again, this time it left behind a deep scratch.
[You have been wounded.]
"Tss...", I let out a low pained hiss.
I kept falling asleep droplets of blood ascended from my wounds like a macabre reverse flow of rain.
I felt hopeless as I tried once again to find my enemy but it was hopeless.
I was Level 3 and the beast was Level 9...
How? How was I supposed to bridge the gap?
And that's not even taking the fact that I was disoriented to begin with.
"Screw this!"
I yelled at the impenetrable veil of darkness, as I swung my hands around to try grabbing the beast.
Instead, I got a nasty blow to my back.
[You have been wounded.]
"Argh!", I let out a pained groan as blood escaped my lips.
My eyes began to dilate as my will began to vanish.
...
He was just in too much pain.
Starvation, Thirst, Lethargy, Anemia, Disorientation and numerous aches and injuries.
It was a miracle Alex was able to hold out for a so long.
Maybe not, Resistance and Silver Lining played big roles.
Nevertheless, everything had limits and Alex who had long broken past his was now finally feeling the weight of putting his body through ruthless abuse.
Even if he had indomitable willpower and clarity in the bitter end...
He was still human.
Thus, the flame waned.
"Ah...", a small groan escaped his lips as he descended into the bottomless chasm of darkness.
The malevolent Cockatrice enshrouded in darkness, showed a hint of dark glee in its eyes. It had been stuck here for what seemed like an eternity, wasting away and driven to utter madness.
So when it sighted the falling lonesome figure, it broke into a mad dash, aiming to satiate it's profane hunger with the human's supple flesh.
"CREEEE!!!"
It let out a loud unbearable sound from it's ravenous beak before dashing down to deliver the final blow.
It's eyes showed a hint of satisfaction as it closed the gap in the blink of an eye.
"CREE-"
But just before it could hit, something materialised before the human.
A book with a quill on its edge and a strange mechanism on its cover.
The human with fast handling, flipped the pages quickly all the way past the middle.
The Cockatrice having infrared vision could see perfectly in the dark and thus, immediately laid eyes on the page before it's eyes.
In that instant, the contents of the page became frozen on its eyelids and following that was a terrible wail.
"CRRRRRREEEEEEEE!!!"
The Cockatrice convulsed violently as if it were experiencing an epileptic fit, the mad glint in its eyes vanishing. It shook for several seconds before fainting and then unceremoniously falling to the side.
A pale grin made it's way to the Alex's face as he whispered,
"Take that bastard..."
His eyes finally closed and his boy grew limp.
His body was growing cold with each passing moment as if his soul was approaching a white door.
Life seemed to be living his body when he suddenly opened his eyes!
"Oh hell nah!"
He instantly spun around, grabbed the cockatrice's scaly body before using it as a method to stop his fall.
Soon, both he and the abominable cockatrice fell to the depths of the chasm.
And after a few more minutes, he and the creature slammed into cold rock with a loud crash.
The body of the Cockatrice smashed into the ground with a sickening noise, the sound of bones breaking could be heard as the creature absorbed the terrible impact of the fall.
Meanwhile, the human landed atop the creature in a messy fashion but got off with the short end of the stick. He's body collapsed to the ground after he tumbled a few meters away from the body before finally, going out cold.