Chapter 287 287. DEATH

Noah stood atop a cliff several hundred meters from the surface beneath him. His eyes looked lost in thoughts but that wouldn't be too far from the truth, but it also wasn't close to it.

His eyes being fixed on the floating set of words directly in his eyes, continued to gaze at the panels' words trying his best to figure out what they truly meant.

Of course, he understood that it meant he had two chances at making things right in that situation. But why such was even necessary now continued to baffle him.

Why hadn't the system told him that during his fight with the serpents? Surely he could have died there. Would he have truly faced death in such an outcome or would something else have happened? For the system to communicate that he could die and be revived meant it could do that for him anytime within the dungeon.

'What surprises are waiting for me down there,' Noah thought eventually focusing his gaze on the world below him. Truth be told he remained in a wondrous state at that sight. A forest  inside a dungeon, he had thought.

The environment he had come out of resembled a mountain, only that something wouldn't allow him to see its top. He could only classify it as the system's way of blocking him.

Each time he glanced up there, he would feel his eyesight get blurry. So blurry that everything simply became a mixture of colors. The first time he tried it, fear had gripped his mind into thinking he had actually gone blind. But lowering his gaze to the swampy forest below him disproved that suggestion.

"How do I even get down there," Noah muttered. His question being more of a complaint than literal. Of course, he could create a platform of dense wind that would allow him to float down there. He could also create a structure made out of ice that could allow him slide down. Either was okay.

Seeing as no means whatsoever would be provided by the system, Noah could only go for one of his available options.

Choosing to go for the easiest which was of course utilizing his control over the air to create something durable enough to endure his weight.

Noah slowly lowered the platform of air, and he soon found himself nearing the purplish fog of sorts, and his instincts tingled at it, causing him to disperse it with a powerful gush of wind.

He placed his feet on a mushy ground surface and cringed in disgust. The wet sound the surface made at his arrival seemed to resound in his mind, but he quickly got over it.

Sweeping his gaze on the place he was supposed to survive, Noah found that it looked like nothing more than a forest abundant with water. Plain.

A sigh escaped his mouth at that point. He didn't for once doubt that something capable of killing him existed within that plain-looking environment but only found it troublesome that he would need to watch out for something he didn't know.

The heavy environment, however, was a sign to his mind that the forest was far from normal.

'How do I find the exit,' Noah wondered seeing as he was not provided with any map. The place didn't look that immense, but it was wide enough to allow him to wander aimlessly for days.

"If I were an exit in a swampy forest, where would I be," Noah spoke under his breath; slowly scanning the environment. His consciousness even went forth to begin its search, but the place was more than ten times wider than his consciousness could encompass.

Noah felt tempted to simply run around searching, after all, he would be able to cover more ground with that. Unfortunately, the threat of something unknown, and his constantly tingling instincts would not allow him to move about carelessly.

His instincts continued to tingle mildly, which remained part of the reason he understood that the forest was dangerous. However seeing as his instincts reacted to everywhere around him, he could only give up on obtaining any clues.

Needless to say, Noah had to begin his journey at some point, and he felt the urge to check out the immense wall in the distance.

The night-like environment couldn't be more annoying, but a small ball made out of generated static electrical energy solved the light issue with its radiance.

If one looked at the forest from above, one would notice the bright deep-yellow light slowly traveling towards the mountain on the other side.

Keeping his spells at the edge of his mind in case something randomly jumped at him, Noah had to spend a bit over an hour before his instincts picked up in intensity.

Furrowing his brows while he stopped walking, Noah left his consciousness unfolded. Then it began.

The ground beneath him began to rumble, and seeing as the entire forest had large ponds or small ones, like the one he currently stood in, Noah could only find that event troubling.

Suddenly everything went silent, and so did the tingling of his instincts. Needless to say, that event shocked the hell out of him, but he didn't have much time of peace, since he noticed that a purplish gas suddenly burst out of the ground all around him.

His instincts went mad at that point, but Noah barely had the chance to react when the trees around him seemed to gain sentience.

Something huge and strong smashed into his back in an instant after the events began, sending him barreling forward, but shockingly the trees parted ways for his passage, until a thick vine of sorts riddled with razor sharp splinters caught hold of his leg.

Noah felt pain flood his mind as something deep and dangerous bypassed his skin to ravage his muscles and begin to spread.

[You have been infected with a strange poison]

[You body is struggling to battle it]

[It is advised that you amputate the infected body part to prevent more spreading and death]

This panels washed into his eyes further raising the bar of how scary his situation had become.

The vine of sorts began to randomly swing him up and down, making sure to bash him into the ground or into trees. This event left Noah breathless while he felt blinding pain gush into his mind almost making him pass out.

Ice burst forth from his figure at the split second the vine seemed to have halted, but the vine swung him away before it could get hurt.

Noah found him self being flung away and rapidly approaching the ground again. His figure crashed into the wet lands of that forest sending dirt and even wet soil flying everywhere. Noah received no damage upon impact, but the pain he felt made him wish something would distract him from it.

Deep groans of pain followed his tries to move. Sitting up, he glanced at his left leg and slowly pulled up its sleeve, jolts of pain reaching his mind at the slight contact his hands had with that limb.

His heart skipped multiple beats at the sight he laid eyes on.

His left leg; up to halfway to his knee had turned an incredibly deep shade of purple, almost black. Not only that, but pus-filled boils riddled his leg causing him skin crawling pain.