The battle with the monster turned out to be more difficult, but the team managed to pull through. In the anti I was given the task to collect all undamaged useful monster parts, like their pelts, which weren't completely singed. Or their livers, which were useful in so kind of alchemical concoction.
It was a ssy affair, and I didn't even bother to hide the scowl etched on my face. They hadn't even let snag a few XP points. Petty bastards, I cursed inwardly.
After wrapping up the task, the five of us stood in the clearing, away from the sll of offal and burnt at. I groaned at the weight resting on my back, but the others barely registered my struggle and chattered among themselves.
"Is that everything, Markus?" Edith asked, finally deigning it worthy to glance my way. Sure, I lacked in strength when compared to others, but at least my looks weren't inherited from a monkey, like so of the others had. However, the woman hardly ever offered any words.
I was a petty bastard myself, so I offered similar treatnt. "Yeah," I answered curtly, not bothering to elaborate.
"I'm getting hungry; let's leave already." Finn groused, fingering his dagger.
An event remained sealed for about three days before it would rupture and spill out the monsters, like the wounded world leaking pus. From what the guild had inford us, it had only been a day since the event had co into existence.
Of course, I wasn't going to refute Finn, because I was also giddy at finally returning. Since this would mark our tenth outing, I would finally be getting my pay of 10 Silvers.
I recalled the armor in old man Lark's shop and felt an almost palpable sense of excitent take hold of my heart.
Just before Elias could formally confirm our departure, a rumble went through the ground.
"What was that...?"
Confused looks passed among us before another heavier shaking almost took us off our feet.
"Shit! The Event is collapsing!"
What? But that should be impossible! I couldn't understand how the Guild could've made such a mistake.
"Run, everyone! Run toward the exit!" Elias' voice bood, breaking the rest of us out of our stupor.
We ran.
Despite his mage build and Edith's lack of strength, the duo actually managed to outpace . I groaned at the weight resting on my shoulder and pushed my legs to move faster. I even activated my talent—Sprint.
I could finally keep up, albeit barely. At this rate, my reserves would run dry before we reached the exit.
"Hey dumbass, hand that over." I saw Theodore reach his palm in my direction. Before I could even process what he ant, his grip enclosed the straps of my bag and yanked it with force that put off balance.
I fell, face first, nose hitting the ground. "What the fuck—?"
My curses fell on deaf ears as the bag was removed from my shoulders and taken away. The shaking had intensified to eleven; I could even make out fissures in the ground.
I had to run. Cursing and fighting could wait for later. I had to escape first.
I pushed myself off the ground. With the weight removed from my shoulders, I was able to display the full extent of my D-rank talent. It was too bad the Sprint relied entirely on my agility, and while my highest attribute, it was sorely lacking compared to the others.
In that ti I was eating dust and getting up, the other mbers of my party had already closed the distance between the exit and themselves. Thankfully, with my speed, I could make it in ti.
The event space was fracturing every which way, the ground overturning and trees toppling over. I dodged one ashen trunk and slipped beneath the other.
The exit was in front of ; I could make it.
Suddenly, however, from behind , the ground exploded, sending mud and flora into the air. I chanced a look behind and imdiately regretted it. Whatever that was, it was advancing and advancing fast.
"Fuck! Faster! Faster, dammit!"
Theodore and others had left the portal, but that didn't matter. I pushed my talent to the fullest, exhausting my mana pool, and finally managed to arrive before the portal.
"Yes!" I felt an almost physical sense of jubilation radiate from . I had made it.
And then I crossed through.
BAM!
"No!" All the joy left as the impact thudded against my chest, sending careening back into the hellish depths I had just escaped from.
The last thing I saw was the glowering look etched onto the bald man's face.
I feel and fell and fell.
The gates of hell had opened to take in.
"Oh God!"
My heart thundered in my chest, the wind cutting on my cheek. I was falling into a sinkhole alongside the thousand other debris.
"I am going to die."
For that brief instant brought forth by my powerless nature against this very instance, calm sohow overtook . And I thought about my approaching doom.
Death didn't faze ; my resolve had already been shaped the mont I took up the mantle of a hunter. No, it was my unfinished dreams, my goals, and my desires. I wasn't going to fulfill them; I would never get the chance.
I thought about my father and wondered if he would feel any remorse at the loss of his son. I thought about all the people I had co to know in the last few years during my stay in Erdwatch. And I wondered if my death would an anything to them.
I wanted to feel angry, to direct my rage at those bastards who pushed into this situation. But I couldn't. Not with what I was facing at the mont.
Death!
It was an eternal truth, and nothing mattered beyond it.
And that truth that had led to my current situation: strength. Or lack thereof.
In this world, strength was the one truth we all believed in.
My lack of strength was what made seek companions who treated like shit. My lack of strength was the reason behind their derogatory behavior toward . My lack of strength was how I wasn't able to survive that kick by Theodore.
And my lack of strength would spell my death. Or it already had.
Looking below, I could see nothing except darkness. Above the event had collapsed entirely, burying the field underneath the gloom of darkness.
I have heard stories about people getting trapped inside the Event Space. So who had voluntarily remained after the event closed. Needless to say, none survived.
And I would neither.
"Goddammit!"
So much; there was so much I wanted to do. But my fate was decided from the mont I awakened that Common Tier Origin. I would have never surpassed the E-Rank in all my life.
But there was hope. Faint, almost nonexistent, but hope nonetheless.
Now, it was gone.
WHOOSH
I spread my arms in an act of resignation and closed my eyes. My body, obliging the laws of gravity, was pulled down, and then even further.
I didn't know where I was going to end up. It may very well be Hell on the other side. But I had accepted my fate, so it didn't matter.
Never did I expect that my fall may very well last an eternity. Well, not exactly an eternity, but this was marginally better. And never did I anticipate that it may turn into a journey full of introspection.
Looking back at my life, I had made mistakes. So where I could've handled things better, others where I wasn't decisive enough. If I could get a second chance at life, I would never give two fucks about other's comfort anymore. Especially not when they treated worse than trash.
Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen. I wondered if this was a 'life flashes before your eyes mont.' While I was thinking about all those things, the end had finally arrived.
I fell through a hole and out into a spacious cavern. Down below the ground rushed to et , my fall only hastening with every passing second.
This is it, I thought. This is how I would die.
And I closed my eyes, ready for the cold mistress, death, to take in its embrace.
Instead I felt nothing. Not even the wind that had been rushing past all this while.
Surprised, I opened my eyes and found the ground inches away from my nose. But I wasn't falling. Sohow my body was suspended mid-air, saved from the fate of becoming a at patty on the ground.
And then I fell. But this was a gentler drop, even more so than my et-up with the ground earlier.
I was trapped inside an Event space, or wherever this was. I survived the fall that would've killed even D-rank hunters, and now I had to find my way out.
After all, the universe had given a second chance at life. And I would have to be an idiot to waste it.
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