Chapter 32- Origin (Part 1)
The world around them was submerged in an eerie quietness. Their breathing jumped a notch higher and even the sounds of their bodies and the rustling of their clothes dominated their ears.
Keth looked around him and tightened his fist.
"A tough fellow…" He murmured.
"What? Huh? Where?" Toru looked around with a panicked look on his face. His sword was already in his hands as he turned around like a spinning wheel.
As for Akio, he didn't stop his sprint as he tried to get out of the mist. But, the more he ran, the thicker it got. At some point, he could barely even discern the way ahead of him from how thick the fog is.
'This is bad, really bad! I won't make it before whatever abomination appears.' He reckoned in his head.
The distance he crossed in these few seconds wasn't big by any means. Hell, when he looked behind, he could still see Keth and Toru. So, instead of wasting his energy on running when his chances of making it out are slim, he might as well see what kind of thing is surrounding them with mist.
It's dumb, risky, and very much could end up with his body inside the stomach of a monster. But, in Akio's head, after experiencing this insane growth, his confidence also rose considerably higher than before. Not enough to turn him into a foolish death companion but still enough to make him curious enough to see what kind of creature is targeting him.
"Oi, little brat! You seem like you can see better than me! Is there anything?!" Keth asked Akio.
Giving him a brief, cold glance, he shook his head in denial.
"Figured! We are still completely trapped. I can sense its presence everywhere. It's all around us."
"Everywhere!! For the sake of gods, are we going to die?!" Toru said as he hugged his sword.
"We will if you stop being a pussy for one second straight," Keth replied coldly.
"O-Ok, I will try… But, if I die, I hope we will be friends by that point." Toru said.
*Rumble*
Suddenly, the ground beneath them started shaking violently as if an earthquake had hit the Serenity Abyss.
'What the fuck is this now?' Akio thought as he stabbed his sword into the ground to keep his balance. The whole world shook, throwing the trio left and right as it wished.
"WOAAAAH!! I'm falling!" Toru announced as he fell to the ground.
As for Keth, he didn't need anything to keep his steady and strong posture. All he did was cross his hands and stare around him ready for anything. Cracks appeared in the stone beneath them and spread everywhere. Small debris fell from above on the trio's heads. The roof of the Serenity Abyss was strongly affected by the rumbling.
The shaking continued for a few seconds and then suddenly stopped in one moment. The place was then submerged into silence again as if the whole mess that just happened was all an illusion.
"Fuuuh this wa-" Toru tried to speak in relief.
But, in the blink of an eye, the ground beneath them crushed, revealing a deep hole that was never there before. The trio couldn't even notice the abnormality before it all happened. The three Crusaders started falling down at a high speed.
'Shit!' Cursing in his head, Akio tried to adjust his body in the air.
"Nooooooo!! Mother! Save me! I hate heights!" Toru screamed as tears fell down his cheeks.
As for Keth, he merely kept his gaze fixated on the way down.
The fall was high, extremely high. So much so that Akio feared for himself from the instant death that was waiting for him down there. So, as an attempt to stop the fall, Akio stabbed with the Blood Eye Odachi into the nearest wall of the hole.
"Ugh!!!" The moment the sword pierced the stones, Akio felt extreme pain assault his arm along with violent vibrations. The pain was akin to his bones being broken into pieces. So, without hesitation, he pulled the sword out and didn't try again. The friction and vibrations of the sword slashing through solid rock at that high of a speed almost destroyed Akio's arm.
The waves of pain kept pulsing in his whole arm.
'Ok, that was a really bad idea! Fuck!' Holding his hand, he sighed.
From an outsider's point of view, this sight was very ridiculous, to say the least. Toru was just hugging himself and begging for help like a small child, as for Keth and Akio, they just fell silent. Neither of them made a sound at all.
Are they even humans? is what many would think but neither of them would probably have an answer for that. Akio found this situation to be either death or living but for what reason should he scream? If he is really going to die, then no one can save him. What merit would he have from begging a bunch of gods?
As for Keth, he was a fearless man who didn't care about death at all. In fact, his life in and out of itself was a near-death experience cycle that never ends. So what if he was going to get his legs broken into pieces when he lands? He can just put a bandage on them and they will be back as good as new.
Both had a different approach to the situation but it all ended up reaching the same conclusion that making any excessive reactions is not a good choice.
Eventually, the fall reached an end and the group hit the ground… or what they thought would be the hard ground, at least. Instead, they fell on something, soft and sticky.
The hit was strong but wasn't strong enough to hurt any of the three Crusaders. Their bodies barely sustained any injuries. After leveling up, their bodies went through a visible change as they became sturdier.
"U-Ugh, a-am I in heaven?" Toru murmured as he got up and touched his head.
"We fell on something sof-" Keth was about to say as he looked down and his voice stopped.
Then, his face visibly frowned gradually. Seeing that, Akio was confused but he also looked down just to have the same reaction as Keth.
"Why are you two-" Toru was the last one to follow after them.
The trio just stood there, staring down at the sight beneath them. Neither of them said anything. It was just something that can't be commented on.
The soft things they fell on were precisely the skins of some kind of creatures.
"These are human skins," Keth said with a serious, emotionless tone.
"It is…" Akio replied as he lifted one leg in disgust.
Indeed, the skins were those of dead humans, rotten and mixed with old blood that made the smell even more putrid. One whiff of it and one would feel nauseous in a second. However, what made it even more horrible is the sheer number of them.
With a mere glance, Akio counted at least 200 hundred human carcasses. All of them were either shredded to pieces or decomposed beyond recognition. All kinds of bugs and worms were going around, eating the meat.
'These all are prisoners that ended up in this place throughout the years.' Akio reckoned in his head.
"What kind of thing did we get ourselves into?" Toru asked in a calmer tone than usual.
"Shhh…" Keth shushed him quickly as he pointed at something far in the distance. There, something was lurking in the darkness as two eyes were staring at them. The two pupils were slitted like those of a snake and were as cold as those of a monster.
*Ptuh*
Suddenly, the thing spat out something right in front of the trio. The thing fell to the ground, rolled for a few seconds, and then stopped.
(A//N: Thank you everyone for supporting the book with power stones, golden tickets, and comments. I'm deeply grateful. Let's all keep it up :) )