I still had many questions to ask the system, but they could wait. I had to figure out what my situation was and how I could escape.

  It was completely dark and very cramped. Though the damp walls were squishy and springy, they were too tough to move to any significant extent. I could hear a low pulsation, a heartbeat. Other than that, there was nothing sensorily worth mentioning.

  I already knew my user-interface menus didn't emit any light since they were all inside my head. Though I could try asking it where I was.

  "Where am I system?"

  …

  No answer. Not that I was expecting one.

  What led me to where I was now? If I could remember this, it might help.

  I could remember getting… shot… Then I escaped, right?

  For whatever reason, there were holes in my memory. I remembered making it back to the group. I remembered them carrying Adam away. But, for whatever reason, I can't remember what happened next.

  "Did I pass out?"

  The essential question now was what could've happened between me passing out and getting to where I was now.

  While I pondered the timeline of events, a textbox appeared, stealing away my attention.

  Crop of the roc? Isn't a roc a giant eagle-type bird?

  "Open crop of the roc."

  Now that I knew exactly where I was and what I was in, I could start concocting a plan. Although first, I wanted to learn more about the quest itself.

  "I can get attribute points from quests. That's cool, but what the hell is that ability Suicide Alternative?!"

  Time was of the essence. If I didn't want a slow, painful death, I would have to quickly come up with something.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Reaching my hands forward, I felt around for any unseen bits and pieces that might prove useful. My fingers brushed over something familiar in form.

  It was the face of a human or at least a humanoid creature. It was motionless and unreactive to my touch, signifying it was either dead, dying, or unconscious.

  Tracing my fingers down its face, to its neck, and then chest, I realized it was wearing a buttoned-up shirt and had a male physique. Reaching further down, I noticed a sudden cutoff where its stomach should be.

  "What the?!"

  My finger sunk down into something sopping-wet and slimy. Ripping my hand out, I barfed up bile, realizing I had just run my hand through someone's entrails.

  "Shit, I'm sorry. Rest in peace."

  I didn't have any time to get depressed about it; I wasn't sure how much longer I had left.

  Since one half of that man was down here, I was willing to bet that the other half was as well. If he had a knife or anything, it would better than nothing.

  Rubbing my hands on the surface neath me I felt another face, and then another. Abruptly, the realization struck me that I was sitting atop a mound of bodies.

  "Fuckin hell," I gagged.

  Enduring the textures and sensations of dead people, I kept desperately searching in the dark.

  Somewhere in deep amongst the bed of corpses, I felt something hard and sturdy. Then later realizing it was two things, I hastily grasped and navigated them out of the stinking tunnel of flesh.

  Rubbing and tracing the edges with my finger, I surmised that the objects were metallic, had handles with an ergonomic rubbery grip and pointed ends.

  I smiled in the darkness after concluding what I held in my hands were a pair of ice axes. It was the luckiest find for the situation I was in, but I wondered why anybody would be using them in early spring.

  "Thank you, Lord!" I cheerfully praised, smacking my hands together in a gesture of prayer.

  I crawled to my feet slowly and carefully as to not lose my footing on the slippery and unlevel mound of bodies. Then without a second thought, I slammed the ice axe into the flesh wall. As I did this, an immensely powerful squawk shook the entire wall.

  Ignoring it, I kept clawing and climbing my way up, unabated by the constant vibrations and powerful shrieks. Nearing the top of the pouch encasing me, I entered a small tunnel, which I knew to be the beast's esophagus.

  The roc's esophagus was a narrow fit for maybe four or so people. It kept squeezing in to push me back down, but I was able to keep my grip on the axes every time it did.

  "Oh yeah."

  I had completely forgotten about the quest and the reward. The question now was how I was going to spend it.

  "Spend it on senses, please."

  I had a feeling senses were the most crucial attribute for the situation I was in.

  I carried on climbing up from the esophagus with my improved senses. It was a very subtle difference, but It did feel like I subconsciously had an easier time understanding my surroundings through the mediums of feeling and hearing.

  ***

  After what felt like hours of climbing the roc's esophagus, the squawking had grown shriller and louder. I knew I had to be nearing the top.

  "Escape, maim, or kill?"