Chereads / Chicken's Rise / Chapter 30 - The Demon's mouth

Chapter 30 - The Demon's mouth

The Demon demigod ominously stood before me, his grime-caked claws gently tapping on the wicked sword that lay strapped to his leg. The monster stood 8 feet tall with a humanoid figure, his pale skin was stretched thin around his face, squashing any features he may share with a human into his skull.

"Guahaha... gege..."

With it's mouth still tightly shut, the creature made mocking noises while swaying his head back and forth, his many eyes trained on me. He clapped his hands together and made some clicking noises of amusement before standing up.

*PWOOSSHHH*

The Earth trembled and shook as it tried to bear his full weight over the area of his feet, small cracks and divots appeared on the pavement that he stood on. His feet were long and jagged, the demon's bones looked like they were moving underneath his skin as he took steps towards me.

I grimaced and bent my knees slightly, ready to spring up at a moment's notice. Seeing this, a small smile appeared on the monster's face, red-stained teeth on full display. My fear turned into adrenalin and my knuckles turned white as they clamped down onto the handle of my sword, the leathery handle had been worn down over time and was torn in some spots, but the blade was as sharp as ever.

The demon came within range of my sword, sparing no time I leaped into the air, my sword arcing around the demigod's throat while I released a guttural scream.

"OOAAAAGGHHHHHHH!!!! DIE YOU PIECE OF SSHHHHIIIII-"

My sword was millimeters away from connecting with the Demigod's neck, I tried to push it further in but something stopped me, with a *clink* my sword was thrown out of my hands and into a far-off space behind me.

I opened my eyes wide and looked up, realising that the creature had used one of his grimy claws to parry my Ultra-Special Skill decapitation strike.

'Ha! As if that will defeat my spirit you foul beast! Such insolence shall not be tolerated towards the great me!'

I reached into my boot where I had a knife hidden beneath the sole, I quickly extracted it and launched my second attack.

*clink*

The knife was sent flying.

I reached into my coat and grabbed another blade.

'No matter! I also have this kni-'

*clink*

I unstrapped a knife from my other boot.

'W-well this one's a bit blunt, but for someone like you it'll suffice for sur-'

*clink*

'Oh god.'

The Demigod bared it's teeth as the smile which adorned its ugly and scarred face began to expand in size, stretching beyond the edges of his skull.

His blood-stained teeth opened wide and revealed an abyssal black behind it, as the demon's maw stretched, creaking and snapping sounds emerged from the thing's mouth. From the abyss, a sharp, red tongue lashed out and swayed in the air, jittering as the wind breezed by.

I panicked and tried to jerk my legs up to run away, however, no matter how hard I pushed, my feet remained rooted to the ground.

Literally.

'Is that... bark?'

Shocked, I ran my fingers across my knees and legs that had seemingly transformed into wood and picked off some bark that covered them. My skin was nowhere to be found underneath the torn pants I wore.

*THUMP... THUMP... THUMP*

The creature got closer and closer as each second passed; I kept trying to move my legs but to no avail, I was trapped.

"Haaahhhhhh... hugegeh..."

I felt the cold sting of the demigod's breath on my face as he pushed his head right next to mine. The foul stench was unbearable, I almost puked in the creature's own face as he exhaled.

Once again, he revealed the abyssal black that lay behind his mouth, his jaw stretching beyond the limits of his face; creaking bones making way to extend the size. The creature gave me one last look, mocking me with his now barely visible eyes before jumping at me.

"OOAHHHAJHDGHFADAJHDAD"

I punched and flailed as much as I could, the abyssal black had now surrounded me, enveloping and crushing me in its grasp, the black expanse started to fade out and replace itself with a green one, was I in the creature's stomach? Were acid and stomach juices awaiting me the further I traveled down the Demon Demigod's mouth?!

Crushing panic took control of my body, I jerked my arms and thrashed about as much as I could; screaming as I descended down the creature's belly.

Then I woke up.

--------------

'There's no mistaking it... that's a Dryad's fist!' Eurydice thought, shocked at the new hole that emerged from his beloved shaking egg.

*CRACK*

Eurydice jumped back as another small fist broke the egg's shell, this time with more vigour and desperation. The arms started jerking around and shredding more of the shell, punching it in places; sometimes even slapping the edges to break them away.

"OAAAGHHHHAAAAAAAAAASDAASWHOOOOAKAKAKAKAKAAAA"

Eurydice almost jumped up in shock as a guttural scream emerged from the egg, it was chock full of desperation and fear, the Dryad activated Mindstill and clenched his fist, he loved the egg but he also loved living, this wasn't something he trained for. The Dryad stayed cautious.

The egg turned on its side and tipped over, the small creature that lay in it flopped out onto the floor, Eurydice immediately distanced himself from it and pressed his back against the cave.

'A kid! That's a Dryad child... and he's naked!' Eurydice started to theorise that the creature's species may have been what lead to his great affection for the egg, he had never felt this way before towards another living being, even one of his own species, but Eurydice had decided that it was the most likely reason.

All comprehensible thought however was quickly thrown out when the Dryad child started to crawl.

*THUMP THUMP... SLIDE, THUMP THUMP... SLIDE*

The Dryad child slapped one of his arms onto the floor and then the next, thereafter pulling himself closer towards Eurydice by dragging his body along, the visage was almost haunting.

*THUMP THUMP... SLIDE, THUMP... THUMP....*

Just millimeters from touching Eurydice's foot, the child tuckered out and gave up on pulling himself towards the adult Dryad; soft snores coming from the previously frantic creature as it gave in to it's exhaustion.

Eurydice looked onto the child's body with a conflicted expression. One on hand, Eurydice's beloved egg had been crushed by the child, or more accurately, demolished; on the other hand, Eurydice felt a comparable love and need for protection towards the kid...

"Gods... what's wrong with me..." Eurydice lamented on his strange new behaviors and picked up the child, wrapping his jacket around him; the kid looked no older than 12 and had a peaceful expression on his face as Eurydice carried him out of the cave.

"There's a human settlement nearby... for his safety... it's best" Eurydice swaddled the child and tip-toed out of the cave, careful as to not wake the kid up. Even though the adult Dryad didn't fully understand his feelings or actions, seeing the small child snoring peacefully made his mouth curl up at the corners.

"zzzz...zzz..."

-------

"Yes.... YES! WOOOHOOO YEAHHH!"

The boy threw his hands in the air, celebrating the video playing on his screen, potato chips being thrown into the air as he danced.

"Oh thank god for that Dryad! Thank you mysterious spy... Thank you! Without you... who knows? Maybe that idiotic chick would've spent it's entire life in that forest!"

The boy looked at Eurydice and tapped on his figure on the screen. "I'll be sure to pay you back one day...."

"Hey system! Estimate time for first contact!" the boy laughed out, wiping flecks of fried potato from the corners of his mouth.

[ Time Estimated at: 7 hours ]

"System..."

[ ? ]

"I'm gonna need a few chip packets for the wait"