The whole world seemed to shake and rumble. Sandrine could only hold on as much as she could to the edge of the roof, securely fastened to the thick wall, with her bloody fingers. Her wrists looked so purple they were turning black, and she couldn't really move them anymore, but desperation was her engine.
She saw the pit grow bigger and bigger, engulfing all the tiles and bringing light into the dilapidated cathedral, until all the roof had been swallowed, and only the edges above the walls remained. With the loud rumbling gone, the only thing filling the silence was Sandrine's unnerving laugh.
She needed to go down quickly. Right now, adrenaline was pumping through her veins and she could somewhat move, but when she would calm down for a bit and the pain would become clearer, her whole body would stiffen. At that point, there was no way she could climb down. Staying blocked so high up was just asking for death. No matter how much food she had in her inventory, if she didn't travel the 30km on Paquerette's back, the game would kill her.
So Sandrine didn't take a second to take a break. Once the building had stopped crumbling, she looked into the pit. Amidst the cloud of dust, she saw that she had to climb down for a dozen meters before reaching the height of the rumble, and then she could have it easier. Without waiting, she made sure Gribouille was still safe in the pouch and started moving.
The puppy wasn't shaking anymore. It was peeking its head out and looking at Sandrine with big wet eyes. The girl didn't pay any attention, focused on grabbing a sculpture and using it to lower herself. She hesitated to use a rope and to rappel to the ground, but she wasn't a climbing champion, she knew nothing about that. And the sculpture didn't seem that solid anyway. Nothing seemed.
As she was climbing down, she slowly felt her fingers growing stiff, her wrists weren't working properly either. Then her bitten ankle just stopped moving, and she only had one foot to rely on.
Thankfully, she was only two meters above the rumbles. Falling from here could give her a few scratches and maybe a rolled ankle, but wouldn't kill her. She didn't hesitate and let go.
She fell on her feet but the surface was uneven and she tripped forward, using her arms to cushion her fall. A piece of rumble pierced the palm of her hand, but she wasn't about to notice something so small right now. She got up with difficulty and half slid half walked until she reached the ground.
It was at this time that her body decided that it was enough. When her foot touched the stone floor, all the pain came rushing to her and her nerves tightened all at once, cutting her laugh short. It was as if all the air was sucked out of her lungs and all her limbs refused to move. She saw herself fall as if in slow motion, the whole cathedral turning 90 degrees. But even as her head touched the ground, she never forgot to protect the little pouch made with a vest on her torso.
She wasn't really clear on what happened next, she might have fainted briefly or had hallucinations due to the pain, but she was alone. Gribouille was gone.
"Baby… You're too small… Don't go alone… It's not safe…"
Her thoughts once again spilled out of her mouth, but her voice was so soft and fragile, as if it would break with the slightest of winds.
She felt blood flow from her temple, and also from her hand and her ankle. Her arms were in such a terrible state that they didn't look human anymore, in a strange dark purple color with splashes of blue and yellow. There were also red spots where she had hit something, scratches, and the usual bruises on her backside as well as the wounds on her thighs. There was no space untouched on her body.
The blood flowed slowly, and she felt her life flow with it. In this state where death was coming closer each second, Sandrine almost remembered something.
She felt like it was a happy memory. She had gotten hurt at one point and was sure that she would die all alone. However, at this moment, someone came for her. This person rushed to find her so that she wouldn't be alone. A dark moment immediately became happy and comforting.
And this person… This person was… They were…
Sandrine felt her eyes close slowly, her vision darkening.
Then a very loud neighing woke her right up. It was a very familiar sound.
"Bestie ?"
Sandrine forced her eyes open and used all her strength to look towards the cathedral's entrance. The door had come loose long ago, and now there was a very small ball of fur running towards her with very cute barks. Behind it, a larger figure was following quickly, each of its steps making the ground shake.
Her colorless gang.
"So brave… So loyal…"
She really wanted to get up and pet them, but she couldn't move at all.
"Did you… Go and get your auntie ?"
Sandrine had a hard time speaking, her whole body felt stiff and was slowly turning cold. Gribouille reached her first and started licking her face. Sandrine found it cute and took a picture with her game panel. It showed him in front of her with a worried look, his tongue out ready to lick. Definitely an adorable picture, one AlphaWolf and MomImThristy would like. Paquerette wasn't even visible on it, the mare had gone the other way to check on Sandrine's ankle. It was the perfect picture to send.
She had nothing else to do anyway, she might as well send it.
She opened her private messages and first saw AlphaWolf's, thanking her for the water collector and asking what she wanted in return.
Then there was MomImThristy's.
[MomImThristy : That's such a useful thing, it's too valuable to exchange for a bit of water. Did you get that in a chest ?]
[MomImThristy : I tried going outside the road but the difficulty has been heightened compared to yesterday, it was too dangerous. With something so valuable sent to me, I guess you ventured deeper ? Be careful]
[MomImThristy : I'm getting anxious without any answer from you. Your profile isn't grey but the number of players on the server is decreasing each second… Are you okay ?]
Sandrine thought only AlphaWolf was cute, but it looked like the serious MomImThristy was too. She sent the picture and got an immediate answer.
[MomImThristy : Why is the point of view from someone lying down ? Is this a crumbling building ? I see a puddle of blood on the ground, is it yours ? I see Gribouille has blood on his tongue and judging from his pose, he was licking you. Are you alright ? Are you severely wounded ? Considering that you sent me something valuable, I can pay it back by sending you a few bandages]
How come she had gotten another puppy ? Sandrine couldn't believe how cute both her friends were.
Anyway, MomImThristy didn't have to tire himself out, she was way too weak to bandage herself. Even if she got all the medical supplies in the world, it would be useless if she couldn't use them.
But losing blood wasn't the worst of it. She wasn't wounded enough that she would bleed out and die. At worst, her wounds would get infected, she would lose a foot, have a high fever, and maybe die eventually if her constitution didn't rise enough. This wasn't worrying in the slightest.
The worst of it was her inability to move. She needed to travel 30km today to stay alive, as well as taking care of her needs and those of a growing puppy and a horse that had to move everyday. Her responsibilities were the real problem.
On another note, this meant that if she succeeded in moving, she would be okay. And thankfully, she had the best horse in the world.
"Bestie ?"
Paquerette raised her head from Sandrine's ankle and looked into the girl's eyes.
"Need to… Move…"
The mare seemed to understand and came closer, nudging Sandrine's armpit with her nose until the girl gathered her strength and managed to raise it slightly, just enough so that the horse's nose could go beneath, and use this to pull her up.
Shakily, Sandrine grabbed a handful of the black mane, and held on tightly. Her body felt awful, she felt nauseous because of the pain, but eventually she succeeded in using Paquerette's head as a crutch and got up.
Now that she was up, she could think of the next step.
Suddenly, Paquerette started walking towards the heart of the cathedral, where most of the rumble was.
"Girl ?"
Sandrine was surprised, but the mare was walking very slowly so that she could follow, so she didn't complain.
It took so long to reach it, even though it was only a few steps away, Sandrine was drenched in sweat, and Gribouille was carefully walking behind her, making little encouraging yelps. Eventually, Sandrine lifted her head and her heart started beating faster.
In the center of the platform, where the altar was situated, there was a gigantic sculpture of Christ on a cross. Despite the terrible state of the cathedral, the sculpture still seemed in a fairly good state. At least it would have been, if a disgusting llama creature hadn't fallen right on it, impaling itself on the cross, soiling the holy figure with dark blood, greasy thick fur falling like tentacles tainting the divine.
It was grotesque. Horrifying.
However, this wasn't what had made Sandrine so excited. It was that underneath this statue, behind the rumble, there was a chest. Not the familiar wooden chest, no.
A golden chest.
She had the feeling that she needed it. Right now, she absolutely had to have this chest.
Sandrine looked in front of her, but there was absolutely no way she could get over there, scaling this pile of debris. Even walking a few steps had been a challenge, she couldn't possibly climb on a bunch of stones.
She leaned on a nearby wall and let go of Paquerette's mane. She could hold on for a short while like this.
"Girl, think you can grab it ?"
The mare snorted and trotted quickly towards the chest, grabbed a side handle with her teeth, and pulled it all the way towards Sandrine. It seemed quite easy for her, probably because she had a high strength stat, and because unopened chests were the same weight as empty ones. As long as you didn't open it, it had the same properties as her backpack, bigger inside than outside, and weightless.
Sandrine didn't feel well enough to open it, but she planned on putting it in her inventory. She always had her backpack on her, it had been tied to her when she got it. She could make it appear, like when she wanted to fuse it with backpack extensions, but by default it was transparent, physically not here but still accessible.
Paquerette brought the chest over, and Sandrine touched it with the tip of a finger. It was enough to send it to her inventory, as long as her hands touched it.
Now with this taken care of, the most urgent thing was to get back on the road. Sandrine didn't have the energy to use her chest and rope strategy. She just piled empty chests under her feet and slowly, carefully, groaning because of the pain, she got on Paquerette's back and abandoned the empty chests. Now, she really couldn't move.
Sandrine was just laying on Paquerette, astride her but with her head on Paquerette's neck, as if her mane was her pillow. She was trying her best to stay awake, in case they were attacked while going back. She wasn't very useful, but at the very least she could throw herself in the way if a dangerous enemy appeared. After all, she was already in a bad state, one more wound wouldn't change much.
However, maybe the llama creature had been the boss of this place, the only things they encountered were packs of small critters like rats and stray cats, things Paquerette could take care of thanks to her high stats.
Sandrine was spacing out, sometimes completely losing consciousness, trying to stay alert but only managing half the time. She didn't exactly know when or how it happened, but at one point they were back on the road.
It was the exact spot where she had left Paquerette earlier, it was obvious because there was her feeder and her through that Sandrine had left before going out, as well as several chests that Sandrine had filled with stuff in order to make some space in her inventory.
Her brain wasn't working very well right now, but she knew she needed to take everything back. They needed to leave and do the 30km asked by the game.
So Sandrine sent a message to MomImThirsty, the one who was worrying so much.
[84jojo84 : Alive but brain fog. Need make space. Can hold on things ?]
She had discovered today that he was a cute guy, and she had a tendency to put her trust in cute things. That was why she sent a bunch of stuff to him without thinking, so that her inventory would have enough space.
Sandrine didn't have enough strength to get off Paquerette's back and deal with the stuff on the ground, but the mare might have been in an extraordinary good mood, she lowered herself and bent her front legs in a bow, allowing Sandrine's dangling hand to touch the stuff and put it in her inventory.
"I knew you could do it like in princess movies…"
But doing so on the asphalt would scratch Paquerette's knees, and Sandrine didn't like that.
Anyway, with her stuff dealt with, Sandrine passed out again. She went in and out of consciousness a few times, sometimes they were moving, sometimes they were stopping and Paquerette would lower herself so that Sandrine could take a chest in her inventory. She remembered letting hay and jerky fall out of her inventory for her colorless gang, and she also bent her foot once, so that Gribouille could use it as a ladder to climb with her on Paquerette's back.
Except for that, the rest was a blur.
As the day progressed, Sandrine started to feel better. But it was probably because she had abused her constitution stat so much that it had leveled up.
[Player : Sandrine Legrand
Nickname : 84jojo84
Species : Human
Vehicle : Paquerette (Select to see profile)
Job : Tamer
Health : 14
Fatigue : 79
Strength : 7 (Average human : 7)
Constitution : 8 (Average human : 6)
Agility : 10 (Average human : 7)]
In fact, all her stats had grown.
"It's worth it to almost die, right ?"
Paquerette stopped immediately and turned her head towards her, as if to say 'Are you crazy ?'. Even Gribouille growled and gently bit her nose. Sandrine laughed weakly.
"Sorry, sorry, I won't do it again…"
Except if the situation called for it, obviously. There was still a day left for the off road event.