Upon finding out that symbol on its wrist, he subconsciously retracted a few steps away from the statue. His eyes, wide with a mixture of dread and disbelief, fixated upon the statue before him.
"This... this can't be real..."
Words of denial escaped his lips in a trembling whisper as he tried to convince himself about the impossibility of the presence before him.
"How.., can this be real?"
Astaroth was the name of the fallen angel banished from heaven for defying God. And, he had learned about its existence in his previous world via a note he had encountered by chance. However, he didn't think much of it at that time and only considered it folklore.
But, right now that same being's statue was present before him. Just how could he bring himself to accept the existence of the being he had read in his previous life?
From the limited knowledge he had of this world, he knew that it was an entirely different world. But yet he found some semblance of the thing from his previous world in this world. Was it only a coincidence? Or was there some kind of interrelation between these two worlds?
He couldn't be sure of it. And, the more he thought about it, he got even more confused.
Creak!
Then while he was contemplating, he heard a sudden creak almost similar to the sounds of rocks grinding. Immediately upon hearing the sound, he jolted his gaze towards the statue.
No sooner had he turned to face the statue than he was met with a horrifying sight. Some kind of thick red liquid almost similar to blood was oozing out of the inanimate statue. It appeared almost as if the statue was bleeding.
This horrifying scene caused him to shudder as he felt a sudden chill run down his spine.
"What.., what's happening?" he murmured with his eyes opened wide, trembling.
Immediately, he then ran away, pulling some distance from the statue. Though he couldn't tell what was going on or what had caused such a phenomenon, he knew one thing for sure— he had to escape.
Then without looking back at the statue, he ran as fast as he could. But as he ran, he noticed that it wasn't the only statue that was tainted red. Just like it, all the other statues in the hallway were in similar condition.
If it wasn't already horrifying enough, soon while he continued his escape, those inanimate statues started moving as well. All of a sudden all those statues started coming to life.
It only added to his worries as it scared the shit out of him. Now, what if they start attacking him? How would he fend off?
Those statues were humongous, almost thrice his height. And, if they were to attack him, it'd be almost near impossible to escape their entanglement.
"F*ck...., What the f*ck is happening?" he cussed out loud while continuing his escape.
However, he couldn't even be sure whether he was moving forward or not since everything around him looked the same no matter how much he ran.
Swoosh!!
The thing he had feared the most, happened.
All of a sudden, during his escape, one of them flicked its punch towards him. To avoid the incoming punch, he slid down, barely missing its gigantic arm by a hair's breadth.
Though he avoided its monstrous attack, he couldn't shake the feeling of the pressure it brought with that destructive strike. If it had only managed to graze him, he'd have been sent flying. Just from the wind pressure alone, he could tell how much fearsome its strike was.
However, despite avoiding one of its strikes, he didn't get any moment to catch his breath.
Bam!! Bam!! Bam!!
Multiple strikes from other statues rained down on him like monsoon downpours as he was bombarded with punches and kicks without any rest. Luckily none of them used any weapons or magical attacks, or else it'd have been even more troublesome.
Even so, he couldn't afford to lower his guard even for a mere second. Though they weren't quite agile, every one of those strikes was packed with monstrous strength, enough to send him flying.
Why are they attacking me? Why are they after me? Can I even survive? Just where the hell am I?
As he continued to evade their strikes, several questions popped up in his head.
All along while he continued to evade their strikes, it didn't even cross his mind once to face them. Just based on their sheer number and strength, he could tell that it was a bad idea to face them.
This is why, despite the suffering, he continued to evade their strikes, tirelessly without any pause.
But after a while, he could no longer do so. His legs started to give out as they started going numb from exhaustion. And, if not for the adrenaline rush, he'd have already stopped moving.
Despite the pain coursing through his veins, he couldn't afford to slow down. With sheer desperation to survive, he continued to move his body.
But still, there was only so much he could attain with his desperation. After all, regardless of his desperation, there was only so much his body could do.
And, by now after evading countless strikes, signs of exhaustion were already becoming visible. Unlike a moment ago, his movement was starting to become more and more sluggish with every passing second.
Meanwhile, those statues weren't showing any signs of slowing down. They were still as energetic as ever; targeting him without any pause.
It was like a mouse trapped in an alley full of cats.
Finally, after struggling for quite a long, his body reached its breaking point.
Bam!!
He got sent flying as he took a direct hit from one of the statues.
"Argh....."
An agonizing cry escaped his mouth while at the same time, blood splurted out of his mouth and nose.
Thud!!
He crashed roughly against the wall which severely injured him. Multiple bones broke rendering him completely paralyzed. Yet for some inexplicable reason, despite suffering such a serious blow, he didn't lose consciousness immediately.
But before he could even fall after the collision, a barrage of punches headed his way, plastering him in the wall, and turning him into mincemeat.
Bam!! Bam!! Bam!!