Chapter 8: 8 - The Need
Chapter 8 - The Need
Written By Curiostyx
~[The Wyrm]~
-Cough... Cough~!*
Inside the Middle Stratum of the Elroe Dungeon, the Wyrm suddenly jolted awake as he released a few draconic coughs as if a frog had climbed inside his throat.
'Shit... What the hell happened...' He had fucked around and found out, that's what happened.
The Draconic Shrimp appraised his surroundings, searching for the Guneri squad, but was relieved when he saw that his pursuers had given up on their chase.
After confirming the absence of any immediate threats, he took a quick glance at his Status.
~HP - 12/50 ︱MP - 7/50 ︱ SP - 0/50 - 17/50~
'Huh... Not looking good.' His status was quite poor, perhaps he would have just died if he didn't manage to wake up.
Though sleeping did recover some SP and MP, he doubted he actually slept for long since only 7 points of MP had increased.
'Hey, how did my overall status cap increase to 50? Hmm... I guess it's because of the level-up.' He concluded. Leveling up seemed to increase both his Stats and Status cap... Sadly, it did not recover what was already lost.
This meant that if he were to level up with full HP, his HP limit would increase but he wouldn't have full HP anymore.
The Wyrm moved his limbs as he steadily climbed the weirdly skin-like boulder, a stream of blood gushed out from his severed backside as a trail was formed behind him.
He had already thought of a way to deal with the wound, but he concluded that it would be better to find a better vantage point first.
Since he was already on top of a rock, he might as well use it.
A couple of minutes later, the Wyrm managed to reach the boulder peak as he consumed the beautiful view.
'Is this... Hell?' Okay, not so beautiful.
River streams of magma flowed through the Stratum, illuminating the Dungeon and smelting the surrounding rocks as it devoured them.
A red hue reminiscent of blood covered the Stratum like a veil, painting everything crimson.
Large clouds of steam and ash infested the sky, which was nowhere to be found as a ceiling covered with stalagmites had replaced it.
Countless ash-covered Monsters burning in the inferno roamed the cavern as they trudged about, in a never-ending search for food and EXP.
This place looked like the optimum choice to shoot a Star Wars fight scene... It didn't help that he also had the high ground at the moment.
'But this is probably Heaven for me...' As a Fire Wyrm it should be the ideal real estate, no? It's even free...
Such a statement could even apply to him, as even if he had compared it to Hell, he actually felt... Satisfied? Content? Somewhere between those two.
But then...
A sudden wave of emotions barraged the Wyrm's Soul like a tsunami, all the fear, pain, and guilt that had been suppressed now drowned him in an endless rush of turmoiling emotions.
'Wha... This... Feels... Bad... Stop... Stop... I-I... Don't... Want... No... STOP!' The impact of all that he had experienced finally caught up to him.
Isolation for what seemed to be an eternity, making up imaginary friends to fill that void, destroying the Souls of unborn infants, being called a freak by God itself, his own kin murdering his Mother and hunting him down...
Greed is a Skill that puts you in the best possible mindset to fulfill your goals... Such distracting emotions were completely unnecessary.
But now that he got out of his Mother's womb and escaped from his pursuers...
"Raaagh...!" His world spun in an endless spiral as his mind was pulled into the Abyss, tortured by its own emotions.
It wasn't that he couldn't deal with being sad, but it was the fact that all those suppressed emotions had come to him so abruptly and so unannounced.
ALL of those emotions. Everything he should have felt since getting the Skill but didn't because of its effects.
He had died as a Teenage Boy full of the angst that came with such an identity... But in the end, those negative emotions were mostly made up because he had little to no adversity to face.
But now... Now...
"Ichi-san!" Kanata called out with his nickname as the Wyrm looked up.
"Stop whining and man up, Bro! I'm sure her rejection wasn't that bad, right?" Natsume said with his arms crossed.
"Y-Yeah... You're right... It isn't really a... Big deal..." However, when he looked up...
There was no one there.
'What?' Natusme and Kanata... Where did they suddenly go off to?
'Hey, this isn't funny, Guys...' The Wyrm muttered as he searched the surroundings for where his friends could have possibly gone off to... This place is rather weird.
It didn't look like his high school, but he ignored that fact.
The Wyrm got higher up in the boulder as the trail of blood followed him, though he seemingly didn't notice.
He almost reached the top when he suddenly heard Kanata's voice again.
"Ichi-san, we're at the top!" Kanata shouted from above.
"Kanata? Wait for me!" He shouted back as he accelerated his climb.
But after just a few steps...
"Ichi! Why are you going to the top!? We're at the bottom!" Natsume shouted from below.
'...'
'...What?' He looked down, Natsume wasn't there but he had sworn he just heard him shouting at him.
"Oi! Ichi, come down!" Natsume shouted.
"Uh... Okay!" The Shrimp-like Wyrm said with a confused tone before turning back.
"Ichi-San! What are you doing? We're up here!" Kanata's voice resounded in his mind.
'Huh...?'
"No, we're down here!"
"At the top!"
"Below the rock!
"Above!"
"Ichi-san!"
"Ichi!"
'Stop...'
"Ichi-san!"
"Ichi!"
'No...'
"Ichi-san!"
"Ichi!"
'...SHUT UP!' As if the electricity had been turned off, the voices disappeared.
The Wyrm opened his eyes. The scene in front of him was that of Hell itself.
Natsume's eyes lost their glimmer as his dead body was devoured by the magma. Kanata's corpse fell from the top of the boulder, splattering on the ground, a massive hole could be seen on his forehead.
'Wha... No... No... What have I done-' His thoughts were interrupted as the boulder that he stood on shook and produced a loud rumbling.
-RUMBLE...~!*
The Wyrm slipped from his position and fell.
The Boulder stirred awake from its slumber and stood up as the Wyrm slipped from his forehead and landed on top of his nose.
"Grrrr..." The Budhefrog growled menacingly as it saw a Small Fry between both of his eye's fields of vision.
'Uhh... Hello there?' The Wyrm had truly fucked around and found out.
-Hachoo~!*
The Goliath of a Frog suddenly sneezed as the Wyrm was launched from his position and crashed back into the magma. The heat of the lava embraced him back like an ex-lover as he felt it coming inside.
'SWIM, SWIM, SWIM!' He couldn't afford another Heat Wrap but simply swimming faster was still an option.
The Budhefrog looked amusingly as the fleeing Gunelift... It looked funny, hehe.
Fortunately, it did not seem to care that much, as the Wyrm was only a literal Small Fry and therefore wasn't much of a concern.
The sound of the Budhefrog's feet hitting the floor reverberated through the cavern as it left the area with rumbling steps.
'...Thank God...' It was at this moment that he truly realized just how much he took his previous life for granted.
'𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫...' At this point, it wasn't a "want" anymore... No, it was a "𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝".
He needed more power. Being at the bottom of the hierarchy had proved to be nothing but Hell...
So what if his entire kind is hunting him down? They might as well just be EXP and Skills for him to plunder, damn it!
It was at this moment that his previous rush of emotions had vanished once more, now with a more solid desire to be suppressed under...
===
"There is no such thing as coincidences. There is always a story reason why things happen, you guys need to remember that when reading this" - Remark.
This Goose demands MORE Reviews, HAHAHAH!
Special Thanks to <1y_the_first> for posting the First Review, I'll never forget it!
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