7 Death quest

It was almost an hour after I started to walk towards the building where the flag was. I mean, it wasn't that my target was far away. Just my pathway blocked with various debris of broken building parts.

I felt good that I trained the past few days, else I won't be able to be this agile while climbing, jumping, and skipping through these ruins. It was a good thing that the system provided me with a rope, hook, dozens of water bottles, and a hiking stick.

After reaching my target ground, I looked up. This building was huge. I bet I did look like a centimeter in a foot ruler. Sigh. I have to climb up to the top at any cost to complete the quest.

The first part wasn't much hard as there were staircases up to halfway through the building. But, those staircases weren't complete either. Each time I met a disrupted staircase, I had to use the hook and the rope to climb up.

The tricky part was finding a safe spot to throw the hook so it could bear my weight until I finished climbing. I almost fell many times which scared the hell outta me. I had to sit in a corner until my shock passed before starting my journey. I still don't know how I managed to save myself in such dire situations.

But the second half was a nightmare. It took twice the time that I used to walk towards the building and climb the first half of it. Forget staircases. Not even the walls were preserved in this part.

I had to find the minimum gap between the two broken pieces to climb a step. Once I had to step on a broken window frame to reach the upper stair railing, FROM THE FREAKING OUTSIDE. As time passed I felt like this was a death trap more than a special quest.

I sat down again to have a break. My whole body was hurting like hell. I think it didn't hurt this much after getting beaten up by school bullies. I took out the seventh water bottle from the inventory to wash my face a bit and gulp down a little.

I opened the countdown timer.

03:15:24

03:15:23

I closed the timer and calculated the real-time now. If this hits 00:00:00 at midnight... It must be 08:45 p.m. now. It was a surprise that I didn't feel hungry right now. I wondered whether Mrs. Lance found out about my absence by now.

Even though she did, I couldn't do anything either. My main mission is to grab the flag. I looked up and saw that I had to climb more than 1/5 of the building. I couldn't give up. I stood up and started my gymnastic session again.

After two more hours, I reached the topmost floor that still allowed someone to stand upon it. By this I meant, the top two, three floors were smashed into pieces, resulting in only the broken walls as their remains. The flag rested on the topmost floor, between a wall and a remaining roof part. It faced outside from the building.

UGHHHH...THE PAIN.

I wanted to cry. Did this system think that I'm spiderman? How in the hell am I gonna climb these steep walls? On top of that, I was dead tired. I checked the remaining time.

01:53:02

I had to come up with a plan. Surely I couldn't throw the rope that high. I looked around to check if there was any kind of opening for me to reach the flag. If you don't have a way, you should create a new way.

From inside the building, it was hopeless to find a way to climb. However, from the outside, I saw a glimpse of hope. The balconies. I could climb through the balconies, one by one to reach the flag.

I knew how dangerous it was. Even my mind whispered to me to look down to see the depth, I didn't listen to it. If I do, I will surely be discouraged. I climbed this far to finish the task, not to give up. I took a deep breath and took the rope to my right hand.

I will never forget this life and death situation I went through. My heart was beating like crazy while sweat poured down on my face like rivers.

I always wiped my hands on dust in the debris before climbing onto another balcony. I wanted more friction between my palm and the rope. I didn't want to slip on my sweat and die.

I finally reached the last balcony. Should I just grab the flag using the hiking stick?

No, I couldn't risk the flag falling down the building. It would be impossible for me to climb all the way down again. I shouldn't act rashly out of happiness.

Suddenly the system started to speak.

"10 more minutes remaining."

Really? Did you have to say that to increase my anxiety?

I couldn't risk making much vibration near the flag or it might escape from the grip between the wall and the roof. What might be the safest way to grab the flag?

However, my mind was in a jumble. It only repeated the fact that I have less than ten minutes. My hands started to shake. Out of panic, I choose a dumb method to grab the flag.

To push the flag into the building and grab it before it falls.

Yes, I know I'm stupid. But, hey! I was panicking.

I slowly pushed the fag from outside to inside the building. I tried to steady my shaking hand. It almost succeeded but then,

"Five more minutes remaining."

I was startled and it resulted in the flag falling into the building. It reached the ground which was located two, three floors below.

Thwap. It was placed on the ground.

It was that moment I knew I F*CKED UP.

"Three more minutes remaining."

I didn't have time to climb down. So, I did the dumbest thing I ever did in my life. I jumped. I grabbed my head with both hands to secure me from instant death.

I was lucky enough to survive the fall with many broken ribs and a few dislocated joints. The pain almost blinded me. But, my mind encouraged me to crawl and grab the flag which was lying peacefully, a few feet away from me.

"One minute remaining."

I crawled towards the flag, bearing the tearing pain I felt all over the body. I felt like I might lose consciousness at any moment. I can't faint. I won't give up. I ground my teeth hard and continued to crawl.

"The countdown will end on 10, 9, 8,.."

Little more... just a little more...

"6, 5, 4,..."

The pole of the flag touched my index finger.

"2,1,"

I grabbed the flag.

"0... The time's up. The player had completed the mission successfully. He would be.."

"U..use the r...re...reviving potion," I commanded with my remaining strength. Then everything turned black.