The two were staring at each other as they walked around the tree, their minds taken to a distant place as they remembered their childhoods, being taught how to hit a wooden dummy.
Both could imagine the tree as if it were a giant wooden doll that they had to hit, the steps stopped in the water and the two positioned themselves while remaining silent.
All the sound in the place was just their breathing and the liquid that flowed from the tree, remaining silent for a few seconds, until the two lifted their feet in sync.
With a quick movement, the two advanced on the sides of the tree and each one cut one side, causing that black wood to be pulled out and sent to the air.
The two looked at their back seeing that the tree did not react, just pouring the strange liquid in the part where it had been cut.
There was no reason to stop and again they advanced on the black tree, one more advance and another cut by both of them was made in the tree, leaving four deeper marks while those of the knife remained light, but still tearing pieces.
While the tree remained inactive, they continued to attack, leaving more marks on the tree revealing its slightly whitish interior, but which was soon covered by the strange liquid.
The entire side of the tree was full of cuts that were cut again opening more and more towards the interior of the tree, the silence of the place was replaced by the sounds of quick steps in the water and grunts when attacking.
The sounds of the cuts echoed as the liquid spilled more and more, until the two began to feel their bodies heavy and tired, but they insisted on continuing.
Christopher attacked continuously, with the short weapon he could move more easily and attack with speed while trying to open a path to the other part of the tree.
Arthur continued to cut with powerful blows, the pieces of the tree flew and he felt the sweat go down his body, but he continued without stopping, even if the orange glow had disappeared in the first blow, he continued to hit reaching deeper and deeper into the tree.
The bark in front of him was practically gone, leaving a whitish part from the blows and absence of bark, again he widened his eyes feeling all the fatigue and once again used the [Activation].
His body became faster and stronger as the glow went down the trail where his body passed, he with all his strength did a spin and hit the tree once more.
However, that blow had been different, as soon as he landed, his sword didn't tear any more shards and seemed to have been stopped by the tree.
In moments after the blow, Arthur's bright eyes returned to their usual brown hue and he saw something that caught his attention holding the iron sword.
There were completely black fingers gripping the blade tightly, the fingers were absurd and even if he tried, Arthur couldn't remove the sword.
The blonde's blows continued frantically, until he saw Arthur holding his sword as if he had nailed it and he looked confused, but then questioned.
"Arthur? What there was-"
At the moment the blonde stopped his blows, he saw only a shadow in front of him and felt something quickly hit his face without being able to react.
Christopher had his feet knocked off the ground with violence and his head was thrown back, the power of the blow was so great that he was thrown back just disappearing from Arthur's sight who saw something hit the blonde's face before sending him away .
Arthur had no reaction other than to scream.
"CHRISTOPHER!"
The scream echoed, but nothing was heard and just moments later he heard the sound of something hitting the wall hard as he grunted and then hit the water, making a dripping sound as the water was lifted.
It was as if something had been inside the tree for a long time, the branches began to retract as the bark was knocked off, revealing the completely black interior that had the shape of the branches and soon assumed a more malleable form as it continued to trap the bodies of the residents.
All the pieces of black bark that remained began to fall off, revealing that behind the wooden masks there were as if they were black tentacles entering the faces of the residents, showing that they left their victims with a painful expression.
The bark continued to fall and something inside began to move, making the parts of the tree begin to break, revealing its interior as if it were a wooden defense that protected something that was hidden in the core.
The tree continued to move until the hand tightened even more on the sword, making it tremble while from inside it was possible to hear an agonizing and strident noise similar to a violent scream.
The whole tree was shattered when another black tentacle began to come out of the tree, destroying it, leaving space for a creature with a completely unknown appearance to rise, because all that was in its face was darkness.
The humanoid structure and thin body revealed the tentacles that came out violently through its body, letting the residents fall into the water making the sound of dripping, Arthur stared at the creature with a frightened look and still disbelieving what the tree had become, while the torch that was previously trapped fell, seeing only the last moments of the object before hitting the water, turning off and leaving the whole environment in complete darkness.
In front of him, Arthur could only see the gigantic creature standing in front of him completely immobile, until a huge line opened the creature's torso, expanding rapidly like a mouth full of sharp teeth that emitted a high and shrill scream.
"URAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH."
Arthur felt his body paralyzed by the scream that echoed through the place making the sound seem bizarre and distorted, Arthur's mind saw the image of the creature similar to the drawing they had found, he had found the monster responsible for the Miasma.
The scream gradually subsided and the creature kept looking forward, until it squeezed the sword harder, making Arthur widen his eyes when he saw the monster raise his hand ready to strike.
Making a little more strength, the swordsman moved his body putting the sword pointed down and moved behind it, in a defensive posture he placed the sword in the middle to block in an attempt to get rid of the damage.
The creature attacked and the sword blocked it, but the strength of the creature's blow was absurd and made the sword go back violently, hitting Arthur's arm that widened his eyes when he was pushed back.
In terms of strength, the creature surpassed Arthur and threw him away, the young man had his feet off the ground, but managed to resist landing in the water while sliding closer to the exit.
Arthur put his hand on the ground to force his stop while the creature walked towards him, step after step, seeming not to care about the opponent.
The swordsman stared with wide eyes as he frowned, his arm hurt from being hit by the sword and seemed to have taken some major damage, making him squint in pain as he continued to watch the creature that continued to walk.
The tentacles on his back continued to move chaotically, seeming to react to the discomfort, but suddenly the monster stopped walking and stood still, staring at the swordsman.
Even after recovering, the consequences of the blow lingered and Arthur felt his arm gradually stop moving, continuing to watch the creature that was standing and still while the tentacles began to extend even further, their strokes raised the water and hit the walls, but she remained still.
Arthur soon raised his guard and tried to get up, holding the sword with both hands, he would emit a low grunt when he felt the pain and the creature would raise its head, reacting to the swordsman's weapon raise.
The thing quickly let out a high-pitched screech as it reared up in a quadrupedal position, drawing Arthur's attention, his eyes widening.
In a quick movement the creature advanced opening its arms and its huge mouth full of teeth, its speed was very high and Arthur clenched his teeth in reaction.
The swordsman released his hand with the injured arm and positioned the sword behind his head with just one hand, his eyes glowed back to their orange hue, demonstrating that he was using [Activation], but unlike before, the sword's iron glowed. slightly.
[Beruh Style: Pierce]
Thoughts of him made the sword cover itself with an orange aura lightly illuminating the place, the blow was a high-speed thrust that met the monster's face that it could not dodge by its aggressive jump.
The blow made all the power go against the monster's face, the sword hit and the orange aura pierced hitting the creature that had its face thrown back emitting an orange glow as it dissipated as the monster was thrown away back into the darkness .
Arthur backed away feeling his weapon vibrate from the blow as if he had just hit a huge stone and threw it in his direction, feeling his arm ache internally as he realized that the creature had disappeared into all that darkness, being possible to hear only haunting grunts in the midst of darkness.
In the place the sound echoed and it was not possible to know where the creature was exactly, Arthur seeing that looked at the surroundings while still feeling his arms hurt and then he screamed.
"HEY, CHRISTOPHER!"
The swordsman's call echoed through the place, until he noticed a grunt farther away, seeming a little lower, but it was a human who was speaking.
"Ugh…damn…"
It was Christopher who spoke and when he heard, Arthur smiled, looking relieved, but soon he heard the sound of the wind being cut in his back along with an agonized grunt, his eyes turned slowly until he saw the black figure on his back, with several tentacles disturbed where he had been cut, emerging in a crazed fashion.
In the blink of an eye another blow arrived, Arthur put the sword to block, but again he felt the blow hit his arm and once again he was thrown into the cave.
Arthur felt as if something gigantic had collided with his body, making him contract feeling all that power in the air.
Moments later he landed hitting his back on the ground and raising the water around him while he felt the sword come out of his hand, stopping shortly after feeling the air escape from his lungs.
The swordsman was panting and felt the pain forcing his body to contort while the orange light of his eyes went out, but soon he knelt down and went looking for his sword in the midst of all that darkness, the sound of water being stirred made the silence break. become smaller and smaller as the chaotic snarls of the monster returned.
Arthur felt something under the water and saw that it was the metal blade, looking for a few more moments he felt the hilt of the sword and then raised it, using support to lift it.
Even if he managed to stand up, he soon felt his strength go away and his body leaned to the side, starting to cough and feel dizzy from the lack of air.
The monster's grunts diminished as Arthur coughed and he stared at the shadow of the monster that was against the light that entered through the hole, clearly revealing its quadruped form while the tentacles continued to be chaotic, even those inside its face.
Arthur tried to catch his breath and stood still leaning on his sword while he watched the creature, soon he felt he was out of breath but little by little he regained his breath as he tried to position himself, not knowing where he was, not even managing to see anything beyond the exit that allowed him to see. the monster's body.
The swordsman squinted while still feeling his body and arms hurt, but soon the creature started moving again now running in a quadrupedal pose while the tentacles returned to move chaotically, hitting the surroundings without having a specific target.
Arthur noticed that the monster was a little slower, but remained agile as the tentacles approached, by the light he could see one of the tentacles approach and again he widened his eyes using his [Activation].
His reflexes sharpened and he felt some strength return to his body, the tentacle came and he again wielded the sword counter-slashing the tentacle, cutting off the black part while Arthur widened his eyes in surprise.
But in moments his surprise was gone and he was hit again, being hit in his face by the tentacle, feeling a violent blow and making his orange eyes go out, but soon after he used his two arms to protect himself.
The tentacle strikes were heavy, but they couldn't compare to the creature's physical strikes.
Seeing a chance, Arthur tried to retreat while holding the sword, but soon he felt the remaining tentacles attacking his body, hitting his legs and unprotected corners, making his base gradually lose strength as he saw the exit light moving away.
All the strikes in sequence made his vision darken as his arms grew heavier, it soon looked like he was going to give way until both the swordsman and the creature heard something.
Quick footsteps were heard in the water raising all the sound of drops, as Arthur looked towards the exit he saw Christopher running in a hurry with his face bleeding, the previous blow had landed squarely and even though he ran in a poorly coordinated way, he still approached the exit drawing the creature's attention.
When the monster heard the footsteps, it stopped moving its tentacles aggressively and positioned itself, heading towards Christopher at high speed, chasing after the blonde, who widened his eyes as he looked back.
Arthur's eyes widened when he saw the creature leaving and then he positioned his sword as he began to chase the monster.
The accelerated steps made the creature look back, but it kept running chasing Christopher while Arthur again felt his vision darken.
Her body was starting to tire while the blows were still having an effect on her body, the light was getting closer and closer, but the monster took an even greater distance for the advantage and knowing that her target was close, soon she howled while the tentacles of her face started to move chaotically again.
Upon hearing that shrill roar, Arthur already knew what was coming as he saw the creature assume a lower forward stance, leaning its body and preparing to leap as it left the ground, all Arthur could do was scream.
"CHRISTOPHER"
As the blonde turned around, he saw the monster jump towards him with open arms and tentacles about to hit him.