21

My shoulders were starting to hurt from all the stabbing motions. Running up, and down through corridors of beasts. Putting big cuts in each one. Glad I had these sharp as hell mana blades. I was running into a slight problem with the right hand one that I hadn't expected. 

The blade was starting to give. My mana flowed into the blade faster then the blade could handle. It was an annoying, but overall minor problem. A problem I could probably get around once I got better at controlling my mana. Sand had made it's way into every crevice of what I was wearing. 

It was uncomfortable, but I hardly noticed the sand scraping away at the sensitive bits of my body as my armor drove it in slowly. I could complain about all that later when I survived this bullshit. I was a spinning tornado of death as I hacked, and slashed away at each of large toothy worm like beasts. Large slashes opened up on the beasts as my efficiency with my daggers went up bit by bit. My muscles sang as they snapped my arms around like bladed whips. 

My body followed suit. Instinct driving me mere inches from death constantly. I was managing to avoid death constantly. I'd never been on the brink like this in my entire life. This constant brush with death was more then enough to heighten my senses even further. 

What used to be a wall of undulating flesh was now a wall of solid muscle like fibers beneath smooth hard skin. I was starting to see the different muscles or whatever was holding this thing together. Cutting along those fibers instead of through them allowed me to cut faster, and deeper with each slash. At the same time my speed with the blade increased as my experience started to pile up. I was a little irritated with the fact that they hadn't stopped coming. 

How many had I killed? How many hours had it been? I'd lost all reason, and thought. I was in a complete blood fueled rage. Then I slashed, and there was nothing more to slash. 

I nearly threw the blade when my grip relaxed so I could move into the next slash. Mana, and health stopped coming in. I didn't have any stamina left. My legs gave out a moment later. I didn't know what to do now. 

All the pain I'd put my limbs through made it feel as if my muscles were on fire, but there wasn't enough left of my mind to think about it. I fell face down in the sand, and passed out. I literally didn't have anything left. I dreamed of dragons again. The dream was always the same now. 

I woke up to the sun burning into what little skin was exposed to the sunlight. There were multiple tears in the goblin skin armor now, and there wasn't a notification screen in front of me yet. That meant there were still monsters on this floor. I was surrounded by dozens of massive bodies. That gave me an idea of just how large this whole floor was. 

The fact that I wasn't done yet was just another annoyance. I'd been baking in the sun for hours on end, and I was thirsty even before I entered this floor. I needed some sort of nutrition, and some water, and I needed it soon. My vision was already failing. I could barely track the hand shaped blurs that were my own hands. 

I slapped both cheeks at the same time. My vision snapped into focus. Pain seemed to temporarily clear my failing vision. I needed something to eat, and something to drink. All I had was these corpses. 

My lips were cracked, and my eyes were so dry it hurt to blink. I guess I was going to have to decide which one of these I was going to try to eat. I used the free parting out skill I had. I knew it was a temporary bonus that would go away fairly soon. I just walked over to the one that seemed the freshest, and parted it out. 

I took the big vials of blood, and started gulping it down. It was the only liquid I had so I didn't have much choice in the matter. The taste was absolutely awful. It burned a pit into my stomach. I covered my mouth with one hand as I forced the disgusting liquid down. 

I couldn't allow myself to throw it up. It was the only nutrition I'd gotten into me in so long, and I was so weak. My heart thumped loudly in my ears as I continued to force myself to keep the liquid down. I went to sit down in the sand, but the act of bending over made everything try to come up again. I managed to keep it down by pacing, and I continued forcing myself to drink the vails of blood until there was nothing left from the one beast. 

My body wasn't feeling the greatest. Life sucked. I managed to keep it down somehow, and I was starting to even out when something new happened. My heart slammed into my ribcage like a hammer. Driving the air from my lungs. 

My ears popped from the force of the blood being forced through my veins by my racing heart. My lungs couldn't keep up, and there was a heat racing through my body that my brain couldn't keep up with. I closed my eyes to keep myself from feeling as if my eyes were going to pop out. Heat raced out from the pit of my stomach into the rest of my body. My legs felt as if they were made of lead, and my body wasn't much better. 

My ears started ringing, and for the second time since entering this floor I found myself facedown in the sand. It felt as if I had a knife blade slowly wrenching it's way through my stomach. 

Warning. Toxic substance detected.