– Sorry! – he shouted, running away. He did not want to get into trouble. He heard in his wake:
– Yeah, yeah, run… weakling, all you can do is run. – But Kopii did not care about these words. He had already heard such words from adventurers before. Kopii did not care what flew out of their rotten mouths.
Kopii ran until he reached the Tower of Babel. Entering it without hesitation, he saw the same scene he had not observed for three weeks. Kopii remembered Rose.
«I should visit her; maybe she already thinks I'm dead.» – he thought, moving towards the descent into the dungeon.
Kopii's tactic was simple: descend to the seventh floor and hold back the thirst with all his might. Descending lower and lower, avoiding all monsters, he doubted this idea more and more, and he wanted more and more to turn around and leave. He might get unlucky, and when all his strength ran out, he would remain here forever. Or he would run into other adventurers, which did not seem much better, for they could report him to the guild, and he would be declared a criminal; of course, that would only happen if they did not kill him, which was unlikely. Kopii did not want to choose between two evils.
There was also a third outcome, which Kopii hoped he would be able to achieve. In such reflections, Kopii descended to the seventh floor.
«I just need to calm down, pull yourself together!»
Kopii did not have to wait long; he heard that sound, so familiar and so distant at the same time, which he had not heard for a long while.
Looking in that direction, Kopii saw needle rabbits; there were four of them. Kopii decided not to wait for them to attack first, and struck preemptively. Leaping at the nearest rabbit, he cleaved it in two. Kopii felt the thirst and all-consuming hatred again.
«I can do it! I can do it! I can do it! I must hold it back! I must!»
Kopii again began to lose control and fully give in to hatred and despair. The rabbits attacked all at once, but Kopii cut them all down with one motion. Kopii paid no attention to the fallen stones and ran in a random direction.
His body was seized again by this feeling, full of hatred. Kopii could not resist it in any way; he killed everyone he met. His clothes became stained with blood, and each time more and more wounds appeared on his body. But this did not stop him; he needed more and more, to kill every last one in order to survive. His hatred grew with inexorable speed, taking full control over him.
At this pace, he descended to the tenth floor. His first enemies were orcs. Kopii dodged a blow and delivered a swift attack to the arm, cutting it off. But Kopii did not stop there; he continued to deliver cutting attacks and dodge simultaneously until the orc vanished. Kopii ignored the magic stone.
«I need more, more!» – He immediately attacked the next orc, cutting off its head, but did not manage to dodge as a fist flew into his face. Flying back several meters, Kopii coughed up blood, but even so, this did not stop him in any way; he felt nothing except thirst and hatred. He got up and rushed towards the orc that had hit him. Dodging the strike of the fourth orc, Kopii aimed for the head of the third orc.
His attack failed; the orc blocked. But Kopii did not stop there; gripping his sword tighter, he cut off its arm. The orc screamed in pain and counterattacked with its other arm. Kopii blocked.
CRUNCH.
But even so, he still flew into the air from its blow. Kopii regrouped in the air and, upon landing, immediately went on the attack against the third orc, dodging the attacks of two orcs. He made a perfect lunge into the chest of the fourth orc, striking its magic stone, thereby killing it instantly.
Kopii dodged a blow to the back from the third orc. He immediately counterattacked, cutting off its leg, but before Kopii could finish it off, the orc struck him in the head with its healthy arm.
CRUNCH.
Kopii flew back from the orc's blow and rolled several times before stopping.
He finally managed to return to his former self. The hatred and thirst vanished, as if they had never been there. The adrenaline began to drop, and he began to feel hellish pain.
– Aaaaa! It hurts so much! Why again! It hurts! – Kopii felt pain in all his muscles again, especially in his arms and head. His whole head was simply splitting. Kopii could not hear anything; the ringing in his ears was too strong. It was hard for him to concentrate on anything. But Kopii knew he needed to get up and keep fighting. He reached for his hip bag. After a couple of seconds, he found a healing potion. Kopii smiled through the pain.
– In fact, it's not all so bad. Ahaha. Kh kh. – Having drunk the potion, Kopii felt relief throughout his whole body, but the pain still remained, though it was now more or less bearable. His vision returned to normal.
Without thinking long, once he had more or less recovered, he immediately began to ascend.
Climbing to the ninth floor, Kopii reached for his bag, took out a potion, and drank it in one gulp. Now he could think more clearly; the pain in his muscles had almost gone, and all minor wounds were healed. But the pain in his arm and nose remained. It had not gone anywhere.
– Yeah, it's crooked! – Feeling his nose, he whispered to himself in horror.
Finally exiting the Tower of Babel, covered in blood and wounds, the ascent had not been easy. Walking home, Kopii noticed that people were shying away from him; he immediately guessed the reason: his appearance and, most importantly… The smell, the smell. What a stench. He perfectly understood them.
«Why is monster blood so stinky!»
Some time later.
Kopii lay on his bed, deep in thought.
«I managed to regain control when the orc hit me in the head a second time. My guesses were correct. After losing consciousness, I return to normal.»
Clenching his fist and smiling, he was glad that at least one of his guesses had been right. Kopii also had a second guess, in which he was also confident, but not as much; doubts still remained.
«If my feelings are stronger than hatred and despair, then I can suppress them. Which feeling is stronger?»
He looked out the window.
«It's not that dark yet; maybe he's still awake?» – Getting up from the bed, he thought: – «I should update my stats.»
From getting up so abruptly, his head spun, and he lay back down.
– Well, I can update my stats tomorrow. – And then it dawned on Kopii: – But why? I haven't descended for three weeks; in theory, my stats haven't grown even a gram. It would just be useless. A waste of time.
From this realization, he grew sadder.
With such thoughts, he fell asleep. The next morning, the dungeon awaited him again. Opening his eyes, Kopii decided to get out of bed; his head spun again, but he did not care. Quickly getting dressed, he left the room, wishing good morning to Naaza and Miach. Having quickly had breakfast and left the Blue Pharmacy, Kopii was in a good mood, walking at a brisk pace to the Tower of Babel. There he met someone he had not expected to see so soon.
Noticing him, he began waving his hand and approaching Kopii.
– Hi, Kopii, long time no see. You've already settled into Orario, I see.
Kopii watched as Raven came closer and closer; on his face, there was the same smile as always.
– Hi.
– ...
– ...
– As taciturn as always, right, Kopii? Well, never mind that, tell me, were you able to join a familia? – Kopii was not surprised by Raven's words. After all, he did not fully trust him and had decided to hide that he was an adventurer for his own safety. Right now, he had no reason to lie, but before Kopii could open his mouth, Raven preempted him.
– I understand, you don't want to talk about it, then let's go eat together; I know a good place.
«I hope tasty food will loosen his tongue.» – Raven thought.