He had almost been beaten to death by mere wolves.
What was his purpose?
Was it to get stronger?
No matter how much he tried standing back on his feet, he stumbled back down almost instantly.
Was it to protect those dear to him? He'd failed in that too. He had let Halrig and the others die, now he was failing in this Dungeon.
He couldn't continue on like this. He didn't even want to live anymore. His body felt as if it was burning, from head to toe.
He tried harder and finally was able to open his eyes, just slightly.
They were in the same room where the fight happened. Lara and Ros had set up camp here, by the looks of it.
He grunted as he tried to push himself up against the wall, but every movement sent waves of pain through his body.
"You're finally awake." An audible voice came from nearby. It sounded cold, but had a tinge of sympathy in it.
He shifted his gaze to where the voice came from and saw Ros. He was hugging his staff with one arm while sitting down.
"Why would you revive me?" he asked.
"I wouldn't let a member of my party die in a place like this," Ros answered, forcing a slight smile on his face.
His eyes widened as he'd always thought Ros never considered him a member of the party. He never expected him to care. Not him. But maybe he was wrong.
Even as his body was trembling in pain, he felt a bit of relief hearing this.
Lara was asleep, he quickly noticed her as she was sleeping next to Ros.
They'd wasted their mana pool just to heal him. He didn't know how they got rid of the poison, but it definitely must have cost a lot.
Taking a quick look around, he also realized that Ros had set up a barrier to protect them.
Barriers especially take a long time to visualize and produce, that's why Alos was taking so long to make one, so they had to rely on artifacts more.
"How long has it been?" he asked Ros. It could be for hours or even days.
"Not long. I'd say around six hours. I can help and coordinate my attacks more, but I'll need more time to replenish my mana," he answered.
He assumed that Ros would at least need another hour before fully being able to fight again.
That being said, he also needed time to rest. The poison and injuries were gone, but the pain still lingered. He felt like his head was about to burst.
Even with the barrier around, he felt a bit uneasy. But he couldn't even move a muscle, so he had to rest as well.
He leaned back on the wall and closed his eyes, feeling a bit uneasy and a small relief thanks to the barrier.
He didn't tell Ros that he'd be heading back to sleep, mainly because there was no need to. Anybody would've been able to tell by the state he was in.
"My head hurts!" he grunted.
Opening his eyes slightly, he found himself standing in a different place. Ros and Lara were nowhere to be found.
He looked to scan the area around him. He was standing on what looked like a road carved on a large cliff. The sky was dark blue, and there were tall trees on one side, making him unable to see what was down the cliff.
It was definitely an illusion. Just like that time with the snowy field, this was the same. He needed to keep his composure.
He started walking on the road carved along the cliff as the cold air started blowing on him. The place by itself looked even more eerie than that snowy room.
He kept shifting his gaze from one place to another, in order to find anything. Even slightly suspicious.
Having no idea how to leave this illusionary place, he was in a rough spot.
He was barely saved last time, but that was because only Lara woke him up.
Was he asleep now? Were Lara and Ros alright? He thought.
His worry kept growing to no end. His chest felt heavy in this eerie place, which he had no idea how to escape from.
A noise came from behind him, it was a twig breaking. He jumped out of shock.
He looked back instantly, but there was nothing. He assumed it'd be better if he went backwards then.
As he looked back he clutched his sword tightly, ready for anything.
The place showed no end. He walked on for minutes and minutes, but it felt like he hadn't made any progress.
He grew more wary as he kept hearing sounds of twigs breaking, and he should have been able to spot them, because this was a tight spot to hide in.
But, he was also scared. He was all alone, under a dark sky in an unknown place.
He heard the noise of footsteps from right behind him once more. This time he was sure it was a person.
He swallowed as he looked back, and what he saw sent shivers down his whole body.
It was a large, monstrous beast. Resembling a bear, but far larger and terrifying. It was dark in color, and it had spikes covering its back.
Its eyes were glowing in red under the dark blue sky, and its body was covered in voidlike black.
He noticed the same mark that was on the corrupted was embedded into its chest, growing brightly with the same book symbol.
However, it seemed as if it hadn't even noticed him.
He didn't know what it was, but every fibre of his body was telling him to not move an inch. The beast was strong. Stronger than a Hollow.
He swallowed once more as he quickly put his hand over his mouth. He grew nauseous as his head was still aching, and his body—while better than before— hadn't recovered completely.
His eyes widened even more as he was standing still, the beast now almost directly in front of him.
His hand was trembling as it was still covering his mouth. He hoped the monstrosity wouldn't notice.
The beast kept exhaling, its footsteps shaking the entire ground.
He knew this was an illusion, but this seemed far too real. Even with Form One, he might be unable to beat this. He didn't even want to try.
He stood completely still, like a frozen statue. Barely able to hold back his fear.
The beast passed by him, not even glancing in his direction.
It was drooling as it kept muttering words he didn't understand, but it bore a striking resemblance to a language that was in his world.
It kept walking forward, without looking back.
Slowly, it disappeared in the distance. He instantly let go of his hand, to breathe again. He hadn't even realized it, but he was holding his breath.
He kept inhaling and exhaling before he finally was able to breathe normally again.
His hands were still shivering, his resolve barely able to make him keep going. He was tired, completely tired from all of this.
Clutching his sword, which had been the only thing that stayed with him all this time, he started walking ahead.
He frowned while walking. He tried and scanned everything but he couldn't figure it out.
This place was looping and he had no way of breaking out of it. He'd lost count of how long he'd been in here.
And if he didn't make it out now, that beast would come back.
More twigs started breaking simultaneously, as chills ran down his whole body.
He looked quickly and noticed the same shadowy figures. They were either standing still or peeking from behind a tree.
He was frightened by the sight in front of him. One shadowy figure stepped up as the rest of them also followed.
All of a sudden, they came charging at him. He was very close to just shouting the fear out of his mouth.
But he drew his sword to face them. There was no other option.
He had to kill them quickly. Before the beast came back. He thought as he furrowed his brows nervously.
While fear still lingered in his body, he threw a stance and waited for the shadowy figures to get closer.
Finally, two of them closed the distance and jumped at him.
He threw his sword to the one running at him, driving his sword through its head. While powerful, they seemed to have no intelligence or experience.
They were like a child version of a Hollow.
It fell on its back before fading into nowhere, as his sword was stuck on the ground.
Instantly, he punched the one charging from the other direction. He enveloped his hands in mana before doing so, in order to get a stronger hit.
More of them came at him before he dashed to grab hold of his blade once more.
He reached his sword, then quickly held it with both hands and grabbed it out of the ground.
His emotions felt all over the place. He swallowed as he felt close to vomiting.
He raised his sword and slashed one of the shadowy figures in half, seeing it disappear into small particles in front of him.
But more of the figures came into sight, and they all jumped at him at the same time. Almost completely like the time in the snowy field.
He couldn't react in time to fend off an attack coming from all directions.
He quickly cut through multiple of the figures that charged at him, but he was too late.
"Form—" he said loudly, before he was heavily interrupted.
One of the figures kicked him directly in his face, which caught him off guard.
He was left in a vulnerable position, which the figures took advantage of.
More blows came and his whole body shivered in pain. He was knocked backwards, near the edge of the cliff.
He looked down and saw fog covering up what was down below, and the trees still stood tall, but above the fog.
With no intention of falling he held his ground again, but it was to no avail. There were too many of them.
He was hit again and he stumbled downwards. He fell and kept falling as the whole world was spinning.
He was rolling down the cliff as his whole body was breaking down.
The cliff never ended. He reached the fog, but that's what he thought. He just continued on falling as the fog kept growing more distant.
His whole body was screaming even more in agony now. His face was completely battered by the cliff, his legs he couldn't even feel them. He was screaming due to the sheer pain he was facing.
He tried to grab hold of himself with whatever he had left using his hands,
Damn it!
He grabbed the cliff by hand, but he was already falling too quickly. His nails broke and his fingers exploded in pain.
Tears were welling up in his eyes, his nose was broken and his jaw was going to be the same sooner or later.
"Just… let me die already!" he shouted, holding a terrible look on his face.
Then… he finally realized it.
To get out of this looping place, all he needed was one thing.
He needed to die.