Chapter 21 - The Cabin

The Jackdaw party continued following the demon's tracks around the petrified ruins. Recently, they found a whole mess of tracks crossing over each other again and again. The demon had returned to this particular stone cabin many times, though the reason was unknown.

Before approaching the building, the tracker first knelt down, peering at the strange shapes stamped there by the demon's metallic feet.

The ground had originally been littered with petrified pine needles, grass and weeds. When crushed by the machine's feet, the stone foliage would turn mostly into a grainy powder. Currently, said powder was scattered all over this area.

In this cavern, there happened to be a breeze that would regularly blow through. It wasn't strong enough to blow the crushed stone powder away immediately, but with enough time the little piles of dust would move and scatter to follow the movement of the wind.

The tracker's eyes picked up on these details and tried to determine roughly how much time had passed since the demon was here. The tracker looked around for a while as the rest of the Jackdaws waited expectantly.

After a few moments, the tracker's gaze focused on one trail in particular, one leading out into the stone forest. That path seemed to be the most recent, as the crushed stone powder remained exactly within the demon's footprints. The tracker looked curiously in the direction of the demon's most recent wanderings.

How much time did they have before it came back?

Turning around, the tracker waved over Edmon, the party's archer. The Jackdaws had adopted a communication style of makeshift hand signals over the last few days. Using this, the tracker told Edmon to keep watch and pointed out which direction to be most wary of.

He was confident in Edmon's perception, and for good reason. Back when the party got ambushed by the abominations, Edmon was the first and only member of the party who realized what was about to happen. If Edmon hadn't been there, the whole party could have been wiped out.

Edmon gave a curt nod, showing he understood the tracker's signals. He grabbed one of the other men to bring along with him and made his way up a nearby hill where he had a better view of the area before settling down and turning even more vigilant.

The man he brought along didn't need to be told anything. He understood he was there to watch Edmon's back.

Seeing the lookout posted, the party's tracker looked around at the remaining men. Besides himself, there were four others left to survey the cabin while the demon was away. These men included the Boss, the burly swordsman, the Mortician and the scout who seemed too young to even be there in the first place.

The tracker pointed to the cabin, signaling for the team to search it. He also whirled his hand in the air, trying to communicate that they should be quick.

The behaviours of demons were largely unknown. Speculations and theories bred in the minds of the men when they first saw how many tracks were in this place, and when they saw how many times the demon had returned to this particular cabin. But for now, their theories would have to go undiscussed.

They cautiously filed into the stone cabin one-by-one.

Their mana lights brightly illuminated the interior of the cabin, helping them keep their nerves about them as they searched the place.

Overall, it looked like nothing was too peculiar. The inside of the cabin hadn't yet been petrified, so it looked a lot like an ordinary home from some old civilization.

The flooring of the cabin creaked wherever they walked. The wooden boards that covered the floor were incredibly aged, and the demon's weight likely wore down most of the flooring's remaining durability. There were even a few spots where the wood was bowing and splintered.

Everything seemed relatively normal until they came across the study. There, they found numerous books open and strewn about the ground. Some had pages ripped from the seams, but the books had not been carelessly thrown. Apart from the few damaged books lying open one ground, most had been removed from the shelves and neatly stacked into piles in corner of the room. The books had last been handled with care.

The tracker looked down, pushing a few books aside with his foot. There were scratches on the flooring under the books, the same marks that were found throughout the cabin in the places the demon walked.

It was tremendously peculiar.

He reached down to pick up one of the books, but froze when he saw his mana light change from the usual light brown color to a glaring red.

It was the signal.

Abandoning the study, the tracker grabbed everyone and rushed outside as quietly as possible. As soon as people started coming outside, the two lookouts hurriedly directed them behind the cabin. They rushed to a petrified cellar door and didn't even wait for the Mortician to use a silencing spell before they threw it open.

Edmon jerked on the petrified handle, causing a loud crack to snap through the air. The other Jackdaws thought they had lost their minds! Causing any sound in this place was suicide!

But before they had the chance to reprimand Edmon for his brashness, he frantically waved for them to enter the cellar.

There was no time for explanations.

It only took a few short moments for the whole party to throw themselves into the cellar. As soon as they were all in, Edmon closed the door above them then settled down and held still while staring at the cellar door above.

It didn't take long for everyone to notice a rumble in the ground. The cabin rattled on the surface and dust fell from the ceiling of the cellar. Confusion shifted to anxiety as the tremor grew to a rumble in the earth and an unholy chorus of shrieks could be heard in the distance.

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Seeing the countless eyes below, the machine threw the abomination aside and immediately began to run.

The chasm below trembled as countless creatures began to scale the walls. Shrieks were soon so loud that he couldn't hear the sound of his own feet pounding against the ground as he ran.

The sound reverberated with such force that petrified pine needles were shook from the stone trees. They fell to the ground, forming mounds at the bases of now-bare stone trees and filling the air with puffs of stone dust.

The machine was in a panic. He ran as hard as he could, but quickly found he was far slower than he could have imagined. He immediately spent all of his remaining GP on his speed.

GP -19
[GP: 0] (19 -> 0)

AGI +19
[AGI: 22] (3 -> 22)

The improvement was noticeable after only a moment. His legs began to swing quicker, his feet pounding against the stone more frequently. He made a frightened laugh in his mind, thinking he could actually escape this horrifying situation.

However, the AGI increase wasn't done adjusting quite yet. His legs got faster and faster. It was a welcome change at first, but it wasn't long before he began to struggle with control. His legs were pounding away with such speed that he didn't have time to process where to step.

He began to stumble. He caught himself a few times, but the speed kept growing. Going from 3 AGI to 22 was too great a change. Soon, he couldn't run at all.

He tumbled to the ground, crushing numerous petrified bushes and small trees as he slid across the ground.

He simply couldn't control his limbs at this speed, and would instantly fall every time he got up and tried to move.

Finding he had crippled himself, the machine pounded his open claw against the ground.

'Damn it!!'

The rumbling and shrieks grew deafening. Looking back, the machine willed himself to make a stand, even if he couldn't do so on his feet.

Surely, he would be fine. None of the abominations had succeeded in injuring him yet. One grain of sand was harmless, a few thousand grains of sand would be harmless too... right?

He turned to face the horde's onslaught, ready to fight. But in that moment, he realized how truly hopeless fighting back would be.

What he saw couldn't be described as a mere stampede. Countless bodies of pale flesh and emaciated limbs spilled over each other, almost as if they were being poured from the world's largest bucket.

The ground trembled with an absurd intensity. The shrieks became deafening. The machine stared at the approaching mass with unknown emotions. Nothing could be done.

In the next moment, the endless sea of noctic abominations swallowed the machine whole.