Chapter 7 Abyss of death

"Newt, how do I get out of this place?" I stared in horror downward. I was still keeping my balance to avoid falling down. As I shifted my feet, small stones shifted and fell down. I didn't dare to imagine the height of this place, I couldn't even hear the sound of falling rocks. I'm sure that there's no bottom down there.

[Calm down, Master. You must not panic. Once you lose your balance, I'm not sure where you'll land.]

I let out a long breath. Newt's answer didn't help at all. While I was thinking, I heard strange noises. They sounded like crows cawing at each other—more like fighting. I knew this after seeing two giant birds pecking at each other and advancing their wings, as if they were fighting. The two birds were not far from where I was standing now, and were getting closer and closer.

My eyes widened when suddenly the two birds were in front of me.

"Woaaa...!" I screamed as suddenly one of the bird's wings fluttered and hit my body, causing me to bounce. But fortunately, my hand was able to move quickly and hold on to the edge of the rock.

"Shit!" Now my body was dangling. Below me was a thick, cloud-like mist, obscuring my vision, making it impossible for me to know exactly what was down there.

"Newt. Will I die if I fall down?" I asked with difficulty. I glanced to my right and saw the muscles of my hand tightening and bulging. It's a good thing I'm used to manual labour so my hands don't get weak and tired easily. I could stay in this position longer than anyone else.

[No one knows, Master.]

Again, Newt's answer did not satisfy me. "Ach...!" My hands were starting to feel tired. I glanced at the two birds, who were still busy with their battle. "Calm down, Leon. You have to think fast or will you die?"

In a situation between life and death, I was still trying to make my brain think. My hands were getting more and more painful and my breathing was getting laboured. I looked to my right and I saw the claws of one of the birds not far from where I was.

I struggled to move my hand closer to it.

[Cheer up, Master. You can do it.]

"Shut up!" You're useless! I said to myself.

As I got closer, I let go of my one-handed grip and tried to grab the bird's claws. The noise could still be heard up there. It seemed like no one was going to budge in this fight.

"Argh...!" Just as my hand was about to reach it, suddenly one of the birds lost its balance and fell. I hurriedly withdrew my hand and returned to holding the edge of the rock. My chest rose and fell, catching my breath that was becoming ragged. My heart seemed to stop beating when I accidentally looked down, as the bird continued to fall until it was no longer visible.

I was in shock for a while until I finally came back to my senses. The winning bird was still not far from me. It was looking down. I don't know if it was true or not, but I could see it smiling. Maybe the bird was happy because it had beaten its opponent.

I didn't want to waste any time. I moved closer to the bird again. My strength was getting less and less. I felt my arms getting hot from exhaustion.

I got closer and deliberately stopped. I took a deep breath to regain my lost strength, even though it wasn't entirely successful. After I felt that I had the maximum energy, I gathered strength in one hand as a fulcrum, and the other hand tried to grab the bird's leg.

I groaned, holding my body as best I could. I didn't want to fall and break. The muscles of my body tensed up. Sweat dripped from the tip of my forehead, falling down.

Damn it.

Just a bit more, but suddenly my arm muscles went limp, and I couldn't hold it all together. I screamed loudly as my body collapsed.

"I'm going to die, Newt!" My voice seemed to fall on deaf ears. I didn't hear a clear answer, just the sound of a broken radio in my head. I was sure this was the end of my life. Still, I was relieved to have tasted wealth and humiliated Sofia and Ian. At least I could die in peace.

I could imagine how deep the place where I'd fallen was, even though I was still floating for a while and hadn't touched the bottom.

[DANGEROUS SITUATION]

[DO YOU WANT TO GET OUT OF THIS SITUATION?]

[YES] [NO]

Suddenly, a holographic screen appeared in front of my face, even though I hadn't asked for it to appear.

"Why is it appearing now?" Without thinking, I pressed the 'YES' button. It just occurred to me that there hadn't been any warning about the status of my HP. When I was hit by the zombie poison that time, the notification about my reduced HP kept appearing in front of my eyes. Why hadn't I seen this before?

Before I could find the answer, something hit my body. I felt something clutch at my chest. When I looked down, I saw a huge claw gripping my body.

Curious, I looked up to see a large beak in front of me. I swallowed my saliva, imagining that this beak could devour my body in one fell swoop.

Isn't that the bird from before? Where would it take me?

This was the winning bird, I remembered the dark circles in its eyes that the losing bird didn't have. I looked up even more when I saw something hovering over its head. I frowned when I saw the bird's status.

[BIRD STATUS:?]

Why didn't the bird's level appear, just a question mark? I tried to guess for a long time, but found no answer. I let out a long sigh and gave up. I didn't have the energy to think about something so complicated.

"Newt, why did the bird status only show a question mark, and why did the holographic screen not seem to work earlier?"

My forehead wrinkled as Newt didn't answer as quickly as he usually did. "Newt...?" I tried calling out to him again in the low voice I always used when speaking to him. But I didn't get any response.

"What happened to Newt? Maybe he ran away?" I muttered quietly. "Fuck if Newt ran away. I need to survive this place and complete the task so I can get out of Smoky Hollow."

"Kwak... kwak...!" I was on tiptoe when the bird suddenly made a noise. It sounded like a thunderclap above my head. Its large wings flapped, causing a cold sensation all over my body. I relaxed my hard-working body. All my muscles were limp from being forced to use all their strength.

As far as I could see, there was nothing but white smoke and towering rocks like the one I had landed on earlier. What exactly was that?

I let out a long breath, because I couldn't think of anything logical. I closed my eyes, feeling tired. Until suddenly my body was thrown off, and I heard a noise around me.

When I opened my eyes, I was shocked to find myself in the middle of a group of birds that were bigger than me. They were moving and making noise as they looked up at the bird that had taken me earlier. I was sure this was the bird's nest, and these were its chicks.

"What the hell? Did the bird take me as food for its chicks?" Immediately, my body went limp again. Surviving one abyss of death but falling into another.