Exhaustion-N

The floor is hard and cold. My entire body hurts like hell and this uncomfortable feeling of terror that remains in me after seeing that monster is not going away. I raised my hand high, and I saw it shivering without me being able to do anything about it, at least I could move unlike before, but I just don't feel like it. 

"We got separated..." 

I feel bad, I want to cry and scream, the worry is eating me from my insides. Being away from them is bad for my mind, those horrible thoughts won't stop harassing me if im away from them for too long. They are probably experiencing something similar, human beings seek comfort in others of their kind, and in this kind of situation, being with friends is probably the only thing separating them from despair...we are experiencing similar things for completely different reasons. 

Laying on the ground while shivering won't help me find them, so I muster whatever strength I have in me to stand up. My bag was close to me so I opened it and took out the small metal case containing the cigars. There were three left in it, so I took one and lit it with a match before putting the case back. That awful taste fills my mouth once more, is a taste that would make most people gag or throw up, but regardless of such a thing, it still manages to calm me down. Im not sure of how much time I spent smoking the cigar, but by the end of it, I was no longer shivering. 

I looked around me, this place doesn't seem to be particularly big. From what I can see this place is a large hallway, somewhat reminiscent of the hallways of the dungeon on the second floor. The ceiling is high, so much so that I almost can't see it, but is not very wide. Despite the absence of torches or any source of light, is not too dark, so I can traverse it without the need to light a torch. 

Every single step produces an echo that resonates through the entire hallway. Despite looking similar to the dungeon, this place feels different, more threatening, and ominous. There are no monsters in sight, not even traces of them, no blood or battle marks like the ones I've seen on the previous floors. That didn't mean that the place was clean though, it was full of dust and cobwebs. 

I initially walked cautiously, my hand in the handle of my sword and my steps slow and steady, but as I kept on walking I stopped doing so. Being constantly focused and wary of the surroundings is taxing for the mind, not even I am an exception, so I just started walking normally, after all the coat and leather vest should offer decent protection against enemies if I suddenly get ambushed, or at least I hope it will. 

My body is protected by the vest, while my arms are protected by a simple iron arm guard and the multiple pieces of armor that the knight we fought on the second floor used to wear, who Touji thinks was the dungeon chief. The knight armor was badly damaged, so not all the pieces could be salvaged, only the right arm parts were still usable except the pauldron, which was so damaged when we encountered the monster that it was easily destroyed by Sophia's spear. The remaining armor proved itself durable enough though since my sword was not able to cut deep into it. 

I kept on walking relentlessly for a while, the dim light and humidity in this hallway made it somewhat cozy for me, although I'm sure most people would disagree. As I was indulging in useless thoughts, a sudden mechanical sound reached my ears, the sound of gears turning rapidly and something being shot at great speed made me react instantly. 

I instinctively raised my right hand in front of my face, and a second later something struck me in the wrist with great force before bouncing off the gauntlet and falling to the ground, it was an arrow. The arrow caused my wrist to twist a little, so it hurts a bit but there's no real damage. The armor made clattering sounds as I twisted my hand to look at the wrist, where I was struck by the arrow. The armor didn't have even a small dent. 

Once I confirmed that no damage was done, I gripped the handle of my sword and kept on walking. A few steps later the same mechanical sound echoed through the hallway and I quickly dodged to the left as an arrow passed by, given its trajectory, it would have probably hit my stomach. Six steps later two mechanical sounds reached my ears almost at the same time, so I dodged to the right before unsheathing my sword and cutting the arrow that was directed at my head. If this had happened before we got ourselves into this hellish tower then I would have died before I could have even realized that I had been shot with an arrow, but now reacting to it was easy if I knew it was coming. This wasn't because of fighting experience or something similar, but from the strange phenomenon that seems to grant us strength the more we kill. 

Seeing that it wasn't very dangerous, I decided to try multiple ways of evading damage. Eight steps later another arrow was shot, the sound seemed to be coming from a lower altitude so I jumped, avoiding the arrow that passed below me before ducking just as the same sound echoed through the hall and another arrow passed above me. The next time, the arrow was shot directly at my face once again, but instead of trying to block or dodge it, I caught it with my left hand, which accidentally caused it to break in half since I applied too much strength. 

"That was cool...but breaking the arrow was not my intention" 

It had never been a problem before, but now controlling my strength seems to be somewhat difficult. I'm not used to being able to exert this kind of force, even though I have always been pretty strong. 

As I kept on walking more and more arrows came my way, but they weren't much of a threat, so I decided to test something. The next time I heard that mechanical sound that announced the shooting of an arrow I grabbed my coat from the inside and swung it to the side, deflecting the arrow with it. An almost metallic noise was produced from the impact before the arrow fell to the ground with the tip dented on the side. Another one was shot short after, so I blocked it with the coat, causing it to get stuck in it. 

Taking it out was easy since it didn't penetrate deep into the coat. Even metal arrowheads can't do much to this leather equipment, so the leather vest which is harder than the coat should offer full protection against such attacks, I still can't afford not to dodge or block arrows that come for my head or legs though, since they're not protected at all. 

"It hasn't even been an hour but so many arrows have been shot at me already, this place sure is full of traps, not that it matters though" 

Another mechanical sound resonated through the whole place and I raised my sword to destroy the arrow that should be coming my way. It was a little too late when I realized that it wasn't an arrow. My arm bent unnaturally as what looked like a metal bolt the size of my leg collided with my sword, I had to put a lot of strength at the last moment to deflect to the side so it wouldn't strike me. The bolt struck the ground beside me and raised a cloud of dust and rubble, I heard a different mechanical sound to my left side and rolled backward as a similar bolt was shot just where my head was just a moment ago, embedding itself into the wall with a sound akin to that of an explosion. 

Before I could drink a healing vial to heal my broken arm another bolt was shot at me, this time from behind me. The sound came from a lower altitude so I quickly jumped to avoid it, but another bolt was shot towards me as I did so, so I had no other option but to protect myself with my right arm. The bolt struck my raised arm, crushing the bones behind the armor but not the armor itself, the impact sent me flying back towards the ground. 

I crashed but had to get up quickly in case another bolt was shot. Luckily that wasn't the case, so I drank a healing vial to heal my right arm, however, this is the last one I should use for now as I only have 3 more. 

Cutting those bolts would probably be too hard to do so reliably, and pointless too, so I sheathed the crimson sword and grabbed the long sword that I took from the knight. This sword is a little too big for me, but is sturdy and durable so It should prove useful when blocking and deflecting the bolts. 

"I think I get how these traps work" 

At the start, I thought that I was accidentally triggering the traps by stepping on something without noticing, but I think differently now. That last bolt was shot just where I was even though I jumped and couldn't have stepped on anything, so that makes me believe they're activated once I cross some kind of threshold and are shot at specific areas of my body. How they know where I am is unknown, but at this point, I'm inclined to just say it's magic and leave it at that. 

"Okay, let's do this" 

I don't want to stay here for long, so I will run as fast as I can. As soon as I sprinted forward those bolts were shot at me again, they weren't faster than the arrows but these could easily injure me. I made an effort to evade them as much as possible, only deflecting them with the sword when I had no other option. It was painful to do so as the shock of the impact hurt my arms, but is not like I'm bothered by pain. Pain was not a problem...but exhaustion was. 

Each bolt is easily heavier than me, and they come at me with tremendous force. Even though I try to avoid it as much as possible there are moments in which I have no option but to block or deflect them, and naturally, my arms are paying the price. They are numb and I'm, in general, tired. Two hours passed like that and I still couldn't see an end to this hallway. 

Superhuman capabilities didn't prevent exhaustion, each time I dodged meant more tiredness accumulated, and each deflected bolt came at the cost of more numbness and a possibly cracked bone. It was just a matter of time before I succumbed to my tiredness or couldn't deflect the bolts anymore and be skewed by one, but I still didn't stop, I refused to do so. 

With another swing of my blade, a new bolt was redirected towards the wall. Another one was shot at me right after but even though I noticed, the exhaustion prevented me from dodging successfully. The bolt struck my left shoulder, damaging the wolf fur coat but not piercing it, however, it clearly broke my shoulder. With an incapacitated arm, wielding the sword wasn't impossible since I could still use it with a single hand, but deflecting any bolts is out of the question, I can't apply my full strength with a single arm after all. 

An incapacitated left arm and a right arm with multiple fractures. Seeing the state of my limbs I decided to sheat the long sword once again and dedicate my full concentration and energy to dodging. If necessary I will use my right arm as a shield. 

Rolling with damaged arms is dangerous if not impossible, so when I heard that mechanical sound once again I applied a lot of strength in my legs and dashed to the left to avoid the bolt, which struck the ground right behind me. Another bolt was incoming, so I jumped at the wall right when the bolt was shot and then immediately used the wall as a foothold to jump away. As soon as I landed I had to duck to evade a bolt that aimed for my head, and I soon stood up. Then something weird happened, I saw something flying fast towards me but I didn't hear the mechanical sound, it was too late when I reacted and I barely managed to move my head to the left, but the bolt still grazed and bruised my face, right above my left eye. 

Blood started dripping from the wound, getting into my eye before I got the chance to clean it. It felt as if my eye was burning, but I still opened it, however, the blood that filtered into my eye prevented me from seeing anything. Now half blind, this suddenly got way harder. 

Between my exhaustion and the loss of half my vision, my body was struggling to keep up the pace. As much as I wanted to keep going it was obviously impossible, so I stopped in my tracks. My body succumbed immediately, falling to the floor with ragged breathing. The sound of flapping wings prompted me to look up, and I saw a bunch of those flying eyes circling around me. I didn't even notice them before but now they are hanging around like vultures. 

"Fuck it...I need some sleep" 

As much as I want to murder these things, I simply don't have the energy. I turned around to look at the ceiling and closed my eyes, falling into slumber.