’Fuck.’
The word didn’t slow Grey’s reaction in the slightest. The moment he felt himself slip, he was already conjuring up Heart Lance.
He slapped out a palm and a thin blade of crimson shot out, piercing into the wall before he could fall far.
The rock face was torn into, his fall slowing considerably before his body pulled taut against the Automatic Rope.
Before the rope itself could even give out, the Spear of Purpose whined, its body pulling out from the wall.
Suddenly, Grey’s four-foot climb had increased to almost five times that.
A jerk pulled at the rope and the Spear of Purpose slipped again.
’Fuck.’ Grey cursed again.
He just noticed that Heart Lance hadn’t cut into these walls at all. He had been so distracted by the imminent fall to his death that he hadn’t noticed that the tips of the blades he tried to form had actually shattered.
It looked like it was gliding him to a stop, when in reality it was just gliding across the surface of the rock face. It had probably slowed the speed of his descent a bit, but not by a substantial enough margin to matter.
Grey grabbed at the wall, trying to find a decent hold. But it wasn’t until now that he realized just how much heavier his body had become. If not for the Chad Suit, he wouldn’t have a shot.
A biting cold licked at Grey’s skin and he couldn’t help but shiver.
’Was it always this damned cold? Focus, Grey.’
Maybe he had become a little too desensitized to death because he shouldn’t be this nonchalant right now, especially not when he didn’t even have a revive to use.
Grey grabbed onto any rock he could find hard enough that his nails bled. Then, communicating with the fang daggers, he summoned one and struck down. He tried to find a balance between striking hard enough to get a hold, and not quite hard enough that he would send himself flying backward.
BANG.
It was a good thing too, because even his Legendary fang daggers didn’t leave a dent on the walls. If he had hit it any harder, the backlash would have sent him falling to his death.
’You’ve got to be kidding me...’
Grey quickly put the fang dagger away and grabbed at a ledge with his fingers. He could only take every step slowly and deliberately.
The cold chill was only growing, making his muscles feel as though they were slowing and growing weaker.
He didn’t understand it at all. It hadn’t been nearly this cold up on the cliff, and he had definitely felt the winds hit him. It was almost like there was something constantly sapping at his energy here, something bleeding him dry from the inside out.
Grey reached for the top of the cliff, having finally made it back, but his eyes felt dull and shut for a moment as though he was a fatigued driver drifting out of his lane on the highway.
Suddenly, Center of Balance kicked in and his fading eyes snapped back to reality.
Just in time, he grabbed the edge of the ledge as the rest of his body slipped out from under him.
He took deep breaths, gasping for air before he finally managed to pull himself the rest of the way up.
Grey lay flat on his back, gasping for breath.
He could feel the frost on his fingers, a crackling of ice mere moments from ripping him to shreds. And here he thought his greatest worry was lightning suddenly smiting him out of nowhere.
’Come on. Get up.’
Grey pushed through the weakness in his body. When he looked at his stamina, he had barely lost two or three points. This definitely wasn’t a normal sort of fatigue.
He pulled out the crack pipe and a strand of the black weed.
’That better have been fucking worth it.’
He put the black weed into the pipe and for a moment, nothing at all happened. Grey wondered if he was getting screwed or if he had to figure out how to spark a flame.
The only easy method he had of getting a flame was Prometheus, but there might not be enough units of energy left to do that.
Since Joaquin had a flashlight, he might have a fire starter of some sort. But something felt wrong about using a matchstick to light up a Legendary item.
Luckily, before Grey could start cursing up a storm, a smoke began to waft from the crack pipe.
’Don’t be a stupid joke. Don’t be a stupid joke.’
Grey put his mouth on the end of the crack pipe and took a deep breath.
Was this how people did crack? He had no idea.
Did it feel right? Probably? He didn’t know that either.
What he did know, though, was the sudden eruption of light air that seemed to inflate his body like a balloon a second later.
Grey looked down at himself, half expecting to see a perfect replica of the piggy before his death. But instead, he saw that he looked completely normal.
—
Class Herb: Lifedraft
Description: A Class Herb fond of darkness, cold, and harsh winds. It embodies lightness. Don’t be fooled by its swaying, this is a defensive mechanism implemented through years of evolution to allow it to blend in. In reality, this Class Herb is formless, tasteless, and untraceable.
Effects Applied: Lightness. Lightning immunity.
Rare Ability Triggered: Double jump.
—
The Legendary crack pipe allowed Grey to interface with it and get these answers. It was one part encyclopedia, and another part buffer.
Grey could even feel that if he wanted, there was no reason he had to take on these buffs himself. He could direct the smoke toward others.
"Well, this is not bad."
Grey finally managed to stand to his feet to face the gap between himself and the other side.
Now... if he made that jump was he going to get smited?
It seemed that the answer to that question didn’t matter.
Grey paced backward until he got a good running start. After a few practice jumps nearly smashed his head against the ceiling, he grinned ear to ear.
Maybe these sponsors weren’t so bad after all.
He blitzed a path forward.
...
"FINALLY!" In an unknown location, Muskrat stood to his feet, roaring at the top of his lungs.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t the only one reacting to this.
The moment Grey’s feet landed on the other side, the previous lightning not having reacted in the slightest...
Baron Giyoto’s eyes shot open.