VRMMORPG [Brink]: For The Money

Once again, I leave them and walk toward the darkness. But, this time without any light source to guide me. With the Dirk on my left hands and free hands on the right, outstretch into the darkness.

Finally leaving the boundary of light I tread carefully. Listening to every sound I can get from my surroundings and process it into information I can use.

I don't know how far I've been walking but pretty sure it wasn't that far. So, why is the light behind looks so far? I wondered.

*Blub!*

Something squishes my leg from ankle to my knee really hard. Without thinking I cast Impact and release it into the thing creating a rippled wave. From the feedback I've got, this one is a slime. After releasing Impact on whatever body part it is I continue with a stab using the dirk on my left hand. With the position of the knife on, I didn't pull the knife out rather I push it down to the ground, slashing the clingy slime. Possessing no vision, I can't attack it fiercely. Lest I injure myself.

Once again, I cast Impact on the slime. I sheath the knife and grip the slime that trying to cripple my leg. I feel like the muscle and the bone on my leg are creaking, screaming it would break apart. With the information my brain gets, I relentlessly attack the slime with Impact. The only skill I can think of that would hurt the slime.

[Disease Slime killed!]

Finally, seeing the notification I back off and took out a bottle of health potion. I gulp down the bitter-earthy and fishy liquid into my throat. Next, I make a motion with my fingers like grabbing sand from the ground and fish out the food pills, five pills filled my mouth which enhances the bitter taste of the health potion furthermore and make it lingering in my mouth cavity longer than it supposes to.

Rudy teaches me that we, players can register a five motion to take out an item from the storage instantly. I register four for consumable items, health potion, cleanse potion, food pills, and lastly water bag.

I open my status and check my condition. There, on my body status, a small internal bleeding and another minor acid burn shown on my right leg where the slime squished trying to melt the leg into its nutrition's.

Even after my health is recovered fully the cripple status still doesn't go away.

Is this fate? My thought strayed. Thankfully I get clear-headed less than a second later before something fly to my face.

Instinctively I move my head back and catch the thing that trying to latch onto my face. The thing is a short-furry animal with long tail coiling on my arms. It's struggling, trying to bite my finger off but with the current position I hold it, it can't do much. Still, it may not be able to bit me but for sure its claw can scratch me to shred. But, whose would let their finger get bloody and shredded to pieces by its enemy? Not me for sure.

I give its side-belly a kiss of Impact. The shocks pass thru the critter into my palm traveling to the end of my fingers. But, the critters, possibly a rat, struggle harder giving me a hard time to hold the furry creature. I move slowly towards the wall and give it a hard slam to the wall, head first. The rat lasts until the fourth slam until giving in and cease to move, dead.

Receiving the notification of the kill and EP I drop the rat. Checking my health, the rat took two-fifth of my total health plus the help of negative ailment, Disease lv 2 makes me dying fast.

Touching the wall and make sure it safe, I lean my back on it and slid down slowly. I didn't drink the health potion this time and check the power of my Regen skill if it can keep up and heal me. I don't know how long I waited but it sure feels weird staring on the floating hologram of information in this void of darkness. The hologram doesn't glow lighting the surroundings but I can still see it clearly.

I keep on tapping the hilt on my blade soundlessly for each passing second and a thirty-something second later, my regeneration keeps falling behind the negative ailment. If this goes on, I'm dead in less than four minutes without getting attack by any mobs. Reluctantly drinking the glass of health potion to rise my health and a few food pills to keep my satiety on a higher level. I'm thinking of using the cleansing potion but with a limited bottle in hands, the most effective use would be when the Disease reach level 3.

Taking a deep breath, I stand up slowly with my right hand on the wall to reduce any noticeable sound I may have made. Previously I had to use my feet to measure the distance rather it can be said I feel the edge of the path so I wouldn't fall into the gooey substance.

Seeing the unending darkness, I know here in this darkness I am the prey, even though I plan to be the hunter but with my chance getting slimmer each passing second because of this negative status so keen on getting me killed. I've no choice but to increase the speed of my supposed death exploration.

With an increase of speed, I noticed each movement I make give away my position to my enemies. Is it because of the silent darkness that makes me so conscious of any sounds I produce?

Continuing my journey to the west… was it east? To get the- anyway, it's a one way to thread on.

Sometimes, with weird thought came up in my head makes me less tensed in this eerie place.

Keeping tabs on my status, I see that the persistent disease had leveled up. With hand motions, a smooth potion container appears in my hand. I bite the cap to open the slim container and drink the liquid. It was bitter like a white pith on lemon skins. The bitterness stays in my tongue for a good minutes before it slowly recedes.

The potion doesn't remove the ailment completely and only reduce it to level 1, the starting level. With the help of the cleanse potion reducing it to level one. Now, I can fill my health with only my regen skill. Not long after my health is full it suddenly decreasing again because of the ailment leveled up, again.

It might be an airborne or some sort that would worsen the victim condition until taking the life of its victim. In this case, me.

I'll go as far as I can as I stamped my resolve.

Suddenly I felt a bad premonition toward the center of my c.h.e.s.t. Moving my body closer to the wall I can feel something fly past and less than half a second later I can hear I water like drop sound on the ground behind me. Now that was probably a spit from Disease Slime signature moves. I take out a stone from the inventory and throw it blindly towards where the spit comes from.

Straining my ears I heard a 'Thud!' like sounds and a 'Plop!' sound indicating the stone hit something soft. I don't know how far it is but based on the sound of the impact it shouldn't be more than 7 meters. Still, I start moving two to three steps faster worried it may spit another acid at me until I reach the slime. I can feel the jelly substance of the slime at the foremost point of my toes and backed away hastily.

Knowing the position of the slime I slash at it's with the dirk in my hands and followed by Impact. Before retreating I put another slash on its body and stand from the hard-to-defend position. I take out another stone and I throw it with all my strength.

A few seconds later I get closer again and slash downward toward the slime with gravity and my body weight on it. Whereas my right hands charge and prepare Impact as a follow-up.

*Phush!*

The sword cut through the slime body and hit the floor. On the other hand, Impact was halfway to hit the slime which was dead. Thinking it may be a waste of ether I disperse the skill, impact thru my finger. Which was a pretty bad idea giving me another negative condition.

Impact itself works by using the ether from the heart, it releases the force within a heartbeat and flow via the muscle of the arm to fortified and amplified the power and momentum into the palm evenly releasing a blunt impact like a hammer. And I, because of the law of energy conversion thought it was a good idea to transfer the stored and ready to release(explode) energy to another form resulting in a broken finger, five broken fingers. Normally it shouldn't damage me that bad but it felt like I was trying to change the direction of a fresh-propelled bullet still in its muzzle, barehanded without any superpower.

Again, I check my status, my health seems stable and rising while the EP needed to level up was still in the hundreds until I reach another level. The job exp keep on rising as well significantly I expect it will rise in 5 or so hour if I keep up the pace.

An half-hour later, I already defeated a bunch of slime and seven flying rats. I was left with only three health potions with forty-percent toxin currently running in my body stream and no cleanse potion which was the thing that stopping me get kill by the ever-leveling disease. Left with no choice I make a sound from the b.u.t.t of the dirk by hitting the wall. My plan is if I can't come to them then let them come to me. I'm dead otherwise.

Sure enough, something leaps at me from the back of my head. I move my head to the right and stab its belly with the knife on my left hand but, the sensation of the stab doesn't feel like a belly stab I know from my other previous encounter. I probably only hit its furry membrane that makes them fly or rather glide around from one place to another.

I can't give a chase due to no available vision.

*Thud!*

I felt some weight on my right shoulder, suddenly a cold sensation accompanied by crazy goosebumps at the right side of my neck. I reach my hand and grab the thing and slam it to the wall. It screeches it lungs out calling for its comrades for help. Before I can kill it another one lunge at me. It crashes into my c.h.e.s.t and immediately climbs toward my neck with its body momentum. Hurriedly, I pull back my undefended neck but the rat still successfully put a scratched on me with its little claws or teeth.

Another one latched on me at my t.h.i.g.h. My response was becoming more slower each time they attack and the battle zone I had shrunk with no vision available to support me, whole. I may be able to dodge here and there with something akin to instinct but I can't rely on it all the time. It was like a six sense that I always had which rely on my body response, with my normal human body I can only do what a 'humanly' possible to do. I might be able to dodge a sniper bullet aimed at me, as for the second one? Lesse, my guess was, less than 30%.

Now that I think about it, this feeling (instinct) was the one saving me from that accident. Such a shame that I save that ungrateful bastard as well.

May there be a chance for me to kill her. An eye for an eye, blood for blood

*Thud!*

A rat magnificently lands on my neck from behind.

What am I thinking about while in a battlefield… Erasing any distraction thought on my head, I reverse grip the dirk in my hands and with a b.u.t.t end of the dirk, I hit where it heads supposed to be and heard a muffled sound followed by ripping clothes. The rat falls somewhere to the ground from the impact but at the cost of my robe, I feel like it doesn't worth it and take off the robe and store it into the inventory. Storing the robe, I slam the rat on my hands to the wall as hard as I can once again before throwing it away to what I imagine where the black water sewage is.

*Chump!*

Something, a rat was biting my left heel. I fix my posture and stomp the rat with my feet as hard as I can. Feeling the bite loosen, I grab its body with my toes and slide the body away towards the blackish smelly substance, the sewage water.

Not letting me getting any breathing another one lunge at me toward my face and yet another one already latched on my left arm trying to chomp-off my triceps. But, that's not the end. A few dozen of them start swarming and biting and scratching me all around. Knowing I can't get enough protection and cover or counter I slam my back towards the wall and sheathed the knife.

I don't know how long I've been fighting and struggling like this but, I know that my time's up. I've used my potion and available skills except for the crucial one that had a long-time recovery.

And here I am standing in the temple of resurrection.