The bridge creaked and swung with a real passion. Match was content in taking the first few steps but he was soon ushered back to the base island.

  Instead, Reyy took the lead and the rest mostly watched for a while. Sail stared down at the fog and look his first step onto the frist rotting plank. He soon took his next step, this one straight backwards to the island. A single step was all it took for him to appreciate the sturdy nature of the main island. The bridge was terribly structured and seemed adamant to cause a swift death.

  "I'm definitely not dashing across that Illi"

  "Well who knows, maybe it would work? I agree to not try it but dash gives you decent dexterity and footwork, never mind mad sprint. The speed might skip out the need to properly balance!"

  "Why are you acting like this is an actual idea.."

  Reyy kept slowly taking confident steps. After what felt like ages he looked up properly to see he had hardly really made much progress. He wasnt even half way towards the fog wall on the horizon and started making his way back.

  "The bridge itself is not so bad but the actual threat of this floor has likely not shown itself yet. The fog may be an anomaly or a poison and have some nebulous effect. We need test that as well

  For now, its best for each of us to practice taking small steps. There is no need to fear, I'll be alongside and catch you if you fall between the planks. If you hover immediately using the Battering beetle we can ensure safety"

  One after the next the team took turns wearing the battering beetle and wandered out a bit onto the bridge and back. In time everyone gradually became much more adept and fairly confident at traversing, but an air of making certain things were completely safe was still in place. A much more methodical and less frantic state of affairs then Sail's last climb which he much appreciated.

  Eventually, once everyone was more comfortable, the plan was decided to have Illi walk in the centre with everyone else in line. If anything were to happen then she would bail out the entire team. The bail only took a couple seconds to activate.

  After a week of attempts from Denim, this puffy green beetle jacket was the only thing that functioned well enough to get used. There was sadly no plethora of strong flying creature corpses or items. Only one giant beetle boss left to harvest from the 18th floor 'Nested and Infested'. After some discussion, Match ended up wearing the battering beetle for the crossing.

  Sail was fine offering it due to Match still having the hardest time navigating the bridge. It was decided that if anyone shouted at any point then this was the chosen sign for Illi to instantly bail.

  The walk began.

  The team each made subtle actions to try not disturb the bridge as much as possible. The walk was filled with talk but in time it gradually transitioned into a silent march. The tiny dots on the bridge all took their steps slowly one after the next. Every creak of the bridge always made one think it was liable to snap any second. It was here on this walk that a certain tension and a new found passion began arising in Sail's heart.

  For better or worse he couldn't help but find a twisted joy in this. Although adamant against it for a week, once actually inside these scenarios it was if a kind of home sickness was being quenched. Sail did not expect this feeling.

  Perhaps the tower was a giant anomaly that inflicted mental manipulation on its victims or Sail had become a touch twisted for this kind of thing. He smirked in silence. He could be completely silent if he fancied.

  The fog below warped ones perspective and made it hard to gauge the height. The plank distances were becoming natural to the subconscious and thus, as time began to stretch out into the hours, it became a war against becoming complacent.

  Lantern's pupils span about as she studied the nature of the fog and gave the verdict that it was safe.

  The team continued on as the fog enveloped them and seeing beyond a foot in front became impossible. The walk, once over such open space of the entire sky, now turned tight and isolating. There was only an array of disconnected voices constantly announcing presences.

  As the fog got more dense and the march continued, everyone across the bridge felt an encroaching sense of fear. The instant bail was the only thing keeping them going and Illi herself was itching to trigger it. She kept asking if they should just leave in a more and more shaky tone.

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  Sail took each step quite casually by this point. He found himself much more worried about the people he had met just this week then for himself.

  He quickly knocked such a thought away to focus on his legs. Stray thoughts were all to be banished in the pursuit of focus. But hearing the occasional burst of Lantern or Shillings voice kept a comfort for him amidst the fog.

  One step and then the next.

  Another step and then the next.

  Once more step and then another.

  This bridge may truly be an overpass over the entire sky. It was still veering downwards.

  Sail looked over at the fog and then checked to his left and then to his right. A sense of deja vu immediately hit him.

  In the fog sat an eye.

  Piercing upwards from below the bridge a sudden beasts flesh took up Sail's entire field of vision. The stomach of an enormous mountain sized manta ray could be loosely seen shotting upwards amidst the fog. It looked as though reality itself was suddenly racing upwards.

  Directly beneath Sail, the flick of a tail from the manta ray smacked the bridge. A sound echoed like the cracking of a whip spinning the bridge into a twisted knot and launching Sail straight of into the abyss.

  "..."

  "..."

  Before he could yell, Sail was falling. He was falling straight into fog with no sense of visual perception. The wind smashed against him as his body ragdolled down. He quickly turned obsidian and activated the one skill on the very tip of his mind during this whole thing.

  "Long fall"

  Sail kept falling.

  He kept falling.

  He continued falling.

  "..."

  '

  

  

  The body of a large shirtless man with long black hair lay out unconscious under the canopy of a forest/seabed/jungle. His being gradually came alive and looked up at the blinding lights that pierced through the canopy.

  'I.. Is this beneath the fog? My mental system, my..'

  "my ... my skills"

  The man briefly looked as though he was going to cry. He grasped out at the air accomplishing nothing as he came to a certain understanding.

  "..."

  'I died. I really died just like that. I've been reincarnated once more. I really died. Did.. Did everyone die?'

  Sail looked down at his 4th body. The body was incredibly buff and looked like a 5% body fat Tarzan. The body sat up and clenched its fist. It bit down on its new tongue and mumbled to itself.

  "damn it. damn it."

  Sail oscillated between being annoyed and sad. Why on earth had he taken such a risk as climbing the 27th anyway? What was going on in his damn head?

  'So much for a long fall. Maybe if it was the S rank edition of long fall he had a chance. How is everyone? Did they all get flung off? No way... That creature was there before i could react. God damn it. I couldn't see. I just couldn't see. Illi must have reacted immediately. She must have. Surely. The range of bail is fairly generous. She showed me. Minimum is that she must have made it, even if she fell off'

  Sail got up onto his feet and began walking his new legs.

  'I was in the back so the ones next most at risk were Match and Lantern in front of me. It could be fine. Maybe. Could be... Damn it. I got complacent. Can i even return to such a world? There's a chance. Only a chance. Only a theory. God damn it. I have no idea. Ive lost it all... really? Were there more than one of that creature? Maybe we were each attacked all at once?'

  Sail wandered into the bright light which fell through the canopy of trees above him. As soon as he stepped into the light his body completely melted like candle wax and he perished.

  "..."

  A girl led in a bathtub coughed profusely and spat out all the water in her lungs as she rose to the surface. She was thin with long brunette hair and currently quite a baffled expression. On the floor was a razor blade covered in blood and the shimmering glow of a mobile phone.

  Sail grabbed the sides of the bathtub and looked forth with a certain type of silence.

  His eyes soon began scattering about a dimly lit bathroom in fear. He didn't want to move. But perhaps he had to move immediately. Perhaps a threat was right here again. Move. dont move. His brain was trying to work out anything. The worst pain that he had ever felt flashed through his memory.

  As though his entire insides had skyrocketed to thousands of Celsius. As though his veins had turned into hot molten rods. His new small hands were still viscerally shaking and his mind was in the brief adjustment period from melding into a new body.

  "Ji? Ji honey are you in there?"

  Sail kept shaking. He got out of the bath naked and cold.