I felt at ease...
With my new profound prowess it gave me the push I needed to confront that "thing" outside.
And maybe...
Just maybe I could get out of here in one piece...
I readied myself unsure of how I could use my powers but there's always a start to everything.
Yet I felt confused...
What was that?
What were all those skills and effects?
Am I in a game?
Nonetheless I'm unsure on how I can use my new found powers. Additionally what was that passive effect?
At Death's Grasp?
Everything else felt self-explanatory but that one stood out the most to me. But it's not the time to find out.
If this is how I gain power in this world then I'll make the most of it.
A terryfing outworldly scream went through the building.
'Enough stalling I need to get this done.'
It's close...
Only a couple meters away from me.
I quietly went out of the closet, as I went out I caught a glimpse at the doorway seeing the slight silhouette of the "thing's" back.
Meaty...
Fleshy...
Mutated...
Something that's not where I came from.
I shut the door.
What's left of it anyway...
Barricaded it with a neaby wardrobe I was just in.
Just then my eyes darted around the room till I saw an overturned desk.
I dashed towards it—my hands shaking as I rummaged through its splintered drawers. Papers rotted with age, ink bottles dried.
All useless...
That is only then I touched something metal.
Under all the debris I found a rusted case with engravings of nobility etched all over it.
It's latch fussed with the case.
The case wouldn't budged.
My fingers scraped gainst the rusted latches that refused to give out.
The metal bit into my skin as I pried harder.
Just then, cold shiver went through my body.
It's movements became clearer to me—more accurate.
More closer...
BANG!
The door shuddered violently, wood splintering beneath the force. Dust rained from the frame.
'Well shit...'
Everything in my body is telling me to stop.
To run.
To hide.
Yet I kept trying
"Come on… come on!" I cried out, jamming my fingers beneath the latch. It groaned, unmoving, as if fused by an outworldly power.
BANG! BANG!
The closet creaked. A wardrobe door snapped off with a sharp crack.
Something scraped against the other side—slow, deliberate.
Not mindless.
Not random.
Hunting.
My hands slipped. Smeared with rust and sweat, then tried somethinf different—this time I slammed the latch onto the floarboards.
Nothing.
A low, guttural sound seeped through the door.
BANG!
A splinter shot inward, skidding across the floor.
"OPEN DAMN IT!" I smashed the case down onto the floorboards with everything I had.
The metal shrieked.
Then—
CLICK!
The latch snapped open.
I ripped the lid off.
Velvet lining.
Untouched.
And there, resting like it had been waiting—
A revolver.
Old.
Ornate.
Pristine against the decay.
Silver engravings curled along the barrel.
A heirloom of noble origin.
Old...
Heavy...
Empty...?
"No. No. No." I whispered to myself as my hands shook.
My vision flickered.
A faint outline burned into his sight—unnatural, like a stain over reality.
BANG!
The door shook violently again.
I dove back into the case—fingers frantic—
Six.
Bullets.
Bullets made of materials that felt far too foreign to me.
I fumbled them in my panicked state, even dropped one.
"Damn it!"
I snatched it back quickly, snapping the cylinder open.
If only I could stop this panic...
Then I remembered what was on that display.
[Skill Activate: Panic Suppression]
With an immediate effect.
Unsure how I activated it.
I felt...
Strangly calmer—
Calmer than any reasonable person would do in this situation.
My fingers that trembled so badly a moment before.
Felt more at ease.
One in.
Clicked.
'Never thought playing all those games would help me here' I jokingly thought trying to calm my nerves further.
Maybe taking back on how that old life compared to the situation I'm in.
Two.
Three.
BANG! CRACK!
Part of the barricade gave way.
Four.
Five—
My breathing turned cool and even.
Six.
I snapped the chamber shut—
Aimed.
Silence.
For a moment, everything stopped.
It came all at once.
No pounding...
No scraping...
No movement...
The air itself seemed to freeze.
My ears rangin the absence of sound.
I didn't move.
Didn't breathe.
Seconds stretched.
One.
Two.
Three.
Nothing...?
My grip loosened, just slightly.
'…It stopped?'
Another second passed.
Still nothing.
A fragile thought crept in.
Did it… lose interest?
The idea felt absurd.
Impossible.
But the silence pressed in, thick and suffocating, convincing.
Maybe it left?
Maybe—
A thought rose inside me that didn't feel right.
My head turned, slow and stiff.
The pounding had never been the threat.
It was a distraction...
"…No—"
BOOM!
The wall beside him exploded inward.
Rotten wood and plaster burst apart as the creature tore through, a mass of limbs crashing into the room.
I raised the revolver.
And fired.