Chapter 39: The Weight of a Thousand Years
(Part 2 – The Breaking Point)
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Time Stops Meaning Anything
I don't know how long I've been here anymore.
Days? Weeks? Months?
It doesn't matter.
The skies are always red, the air always thick with the scent of blood and sulfur. There's no sun, no moon, no stars. Just eternal fire and darkness.
And me.
Alone.
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I Am No Longer Human
The Derrick Steins that fell into this abyss is dead.
I don't mean that figuratively.
I mean he's gone.
What's left?
Something else.
I move through this world like a predator. I don't scavenge anymore. I hunt. I don't fear the monsters. They fear me.
The first time I ripped apart a hellhound with my bare hands, I realized—I don't need weapons anymore.
My flesh has hardened. My muscles don't tire. My stamina is endless.
And yet…
I am still starving.
Not for food.
For something more.
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A Thousand Years in Hell
I should be dead.
No one survives in Hell for this long.
Yet here I am. Existing. Changing.
My hair has grown long and unkempt, my nails have turned black, my eyes reflect something monstrous.
I see it in the pools of dark water when I stop to drink.
I don't recognize myself.
I don't feel pain the same way anymore. Wounds close too fast, flesh knits together on its own.
I don't age.
I don't weaken.
I don't die.
But why?
What the hell have I become?
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The Weight of Isolation
I don't speak anymore.
Who would I even talk to?
There are no humans here. No voices, no warmth, nothing but me and the silence.
At first, I tried keeping track of time. Scratching marks into the cave wall.
That stopped centuries ago.
I only move, hunt, eat, sleep, repeat.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Until my mind starts to fracture.
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The Cave Feels Like a Tomb
There was a time when this cave felt safe.
Now?
It's a prison.
I sit in the darkness, listening.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Water leaks from the rocks above. A constant, maddening sound.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
I can hear my own heartbeat.
I can hear the breath of the creatures outside.
I can hear things whispering that shouldn't exist.
The silence isn't quiet—it's alive.
And I am losing my mind.
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I Laugh for the First Time in Centuries
I don't know why.
Maybe it's the insanity creeping in.
Maybe it's because I finally understand.
I thought this place would kill me.
I thought this place would break me.
But it didn't.
It made me something else.
I stand up.
I walk to the cave entrance.
And I step out.
Not as prey.
Not as a survivor.
But as something more.
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A Jealous Complaint
I let out a humorless laugh, shaking my head.
"You know," I mutter to myself, "this is some bullshit."
I sigh, cracking my neck.
"Every damn manhwa I've read—those guys get overpowered systems, divine blessings, or some ancient god telling them they're chosen."
I glance at my battered, scarred hands.
"Me? I get dropped into Hell with nothing. Not even a tutorial."
I exhale sharply, staring at the crimson sky.
"No cheats. No skills. No mentor."
Just pain. Suffering. Endless struggle.
I let out a dry chuckle.
"Well, screw it."
I roll my shoulders, stepping further into the burning wasteland.
"If nobody's gonna help me—"
I clench my fists, feeling the raw power coursing through me.
"—I'll just do it myself."
Because at the end of the day…
I don't need a system.
I am the damn system.