Tears.

He collapsed to the ground. An unending stream of tears was the only thing he could see.

When he felt the air around him, air that wasn’t tainted with the smell of blood. It was awkward, but at the same time, it was refreshing.

When he felt the mana in the atmosphere. It wasn’t laced with brutality, but rather tranquil as a drifting stream. He felt his mental state clear up just by breathing it in.

There were trees in the surroundings. Green trees and plants. Beautiful plants that weren’t laced with poison.

He could only cry.

He couldn’t stop himself.

The tears flowed without his permission. It was only after his tear ducts ran dry that he finally stopped.

He stood up.

Now that the tears were gone, he could take the scenery in with fresh eyes.

He walked. He could teleport, but he walked. Teleporting would only lessen the time he could spend admiring the scenery.

It was quiet. The roars of beasts didn’t permeate the air at every point in time.

There was a sun in the sky.

No, just the fact that there was a sky was enough.

The dull scenery of the dungeon was gone.

Being surrounded by darkness on all sides was gone.

He had escaped that dungeon.

After 2 years.

2 grueling years of his life that would’ve otherwise been spent toiling away endlessly on earth.

He felt proud of his achievement.

Though, it also felt a little empty.

Was it just him, or were some parts of his memory hazy?

It felt like he couldn’t remember something important.

No, it was many important things.

Something that defined the current him, he had lost it. But what was it?

He didn’t remember.

The scenery quickly stole his attention again.

It had been a few hours since he started walking, yet the peaceful feeling was unchanging.

It was awkward, uncomfortable even.

His hands were itching.

Why were his hands itching?

There was something he wanted to do.

What was it?

He didn’t know. He just knew that there was something he wanted to do. But the current environment didn’t allow it.

His heart was beating rapidly.

His body began to feel weird. Like millions of ants were crawling inside his skin.

Why?

What did he want to do so bad that it caused such a terrible level of discomfort?

He didn’t know.

He wanted to know.

His hands were itching. They wanted to move.

He kept walking. Maybe he would find a clue if he did.

In the distance, he saw a beast. It was a lone deer that was grazing in a peaceful meadow.

Suddenly, he snapped.

Ah, that’s right.

He knew what he wanted to do.

He disappeared.

Blood spurted into the air.

That deer’s heart was in his hand.

It was still pumping as if it didn’t even realize that it had been removed yet.

His eyes were red. The amethyst color that usually shared his irises was gone.

He looked at the beating heart in his hand.

Blood kept flowing from it and dripping onto his body.

He licked his lips. It looked too appetizing.

His teeth had already grown into fangs.

He bit into the heart.

He tore into it.

Voraciously, he devoured.

The taste of blood on his tongue, it helped calm that itching feeling that had been irking him.

But it wasn’t enough.

His attention soon turned to the corpse of that deer.

It met the same fate as its heart.

But it wasn’t enough.

He wanted more.

Blood.

He couldn’t go a few hours without seeing it.

His awareness spread.

He found another beast.

He continued his hunt. He devoured everything.

His gluttony was insatiable.

The beasts in the surroundings had already felt the presence of a predator.

They began to flee with all their might.

He wanted to pursue.

But suddenly, he felt impact on the back of his head.

It was his companion. That beast he had picked up in the dungeon.

The impact helped him come back to his senses.

He looked down at his hands.

They were covered in blood. His body was soaked in it too.

He felt a cold chill run down his spine.

Was this him?

Didn’t he get better? Didn’t he overcome his bestial instinct?

It seemed he had overestimated himself.

He didn’t tame the bestial instinct, he just merged with it.

It was still there, baring its fangs in full force.

He only realized it now.

His heart was cold. He couldn’t go on like this.

Maybe he shouldn’t return to society.

Humanity probably wouldn’t accept him.

What if he started craving the blood of humans? What if he ended up devouring their hearts as well?

Maybe they’d hunt him to the ends of the earth.

He found a stream.

He bathed in it. He cleansed himself of the blood and grime that covered his body.

He looked into the water and saw his reflection.

He looked…human.

He didn’t look like a beast.

He looked human, but he wasn’t human.

But maybe, just maybe, he still had the chance to become one.

Or at least, to become more like one.

He put away his thoughts. He re-entered his character.

No, it wasn’t a character anymore. It was just him.

He didn’t want to stay in the forest any longer.

It made him crave the blood of beasts even more.

So he left.

He raced at full speed to anywhere that had civilization.

This way, he could take his mind off of his predicament.

He didn’t even realize he was avoiding the problem.

He soon forgot about it entirely.

When he felt the clean air around him, when he felt the serene mana in the atmosphere, when he felt the lush grass brushing against his feet as he ran…

It helped him forget all those things he no longer wanted to remember.

But things didn’t always go the way he wished them to go.

The memories all came flooding back together.

The memories of the dungeon and the memories of the actions he had just taken.

The memories of his weakness and the memories of his insanity.

But that wasn’t it.

Memories he didn’t have beforehand. Memories of things that would happen in the future.

They all came rushing back to him at once.

His name…he had seen it on the status screen many times in the dungeon.

He had even yelled it out while fighting against beasts.

So why couldn’t he remember it?

His name…

What was his name?

It felt like something important was happening.

He stopped in his tracks. His companion stopped with him.

They were in the middle of a vast open plain. There were mountains in the distance, and even signs of human activity.

But he didn’t pay it any mind.

He stared into empty space.

The space in front of him.

There was something there.

Something important.

Something he hadn’t grasped yet, but something he desperately needed to grasp.

But no matter how hard he looked, there was nothing there.

This time, he couldn’t just ignore it and continue on.

There was something there.

His name.

Was it there?

He needed to know it. He couldn’t live if he didn’t know it. He tried to check his status window, but there was no name there.

He could’ve sworn he saw it before.

What was it?

He needed to grasp it.

Whatever was in that space in front of him.

He reached out his hands.

He tried to grasp it.

Whatever it was.

He needed to grasp it.