Chapter 11
It took about a half hour before someone found Zeth buried beneath the rubble.
He knew these cookie-cutter houses like the back of his hand, and chose a section to collapse on himself that he knew had little above it other than basic roofing, leaving most of what fell to be dust and a few lighter chunks of hollowed-out wood. However, it certainly hurt to be crushed beneath the support beam. It fell onto his stomach and midsection, pressing his body into the wooden planks beneath him in a way that wouldn’t kill him, but certainly wasn’t comfortable.
Still, despite all the care he’d taken to ensure he’d be safe, it still hurt like hell.
As he lay there, he glanced inward at his Status.
Seriously? No Self-Destruction unlock? All of this wasn’t enough ‘life-threatening harm’ caused to myself?
It hadn’t been the main purpose, but a part of him had hoped this stunt would bring the extra benefit of unlocking the Self-Destruction Skill, which would be extremely useful to him. But apparently not. Just how much would be necessary to unlock it? Was it even possible?
So it was there he was stuck, crushed underneath the support beam, waiting for someone to come find him.
When Turin’s face popped into his vision, desperately shouting his name, it didn’t take much acting skill to look relieved. Turin reached down and helped pull the log off of Zeth’s body, gasping when he saw the injuries and burns covering him. “Good gods, man, what happened?”
“I ran into town when I saw the fire,” Zeth said with a weak cough. “Tried to help people out of the burning buildings. But when I was in this one, the fire got to it too fast, and it collapsed onto me. I think I extinguished most of the fire fast enough to save myself, but I couldn’t pull the log off.”