'Man, this is wild. I've been walking for hours and I still haven't broken a sweat yet. I'm half tempted to start jogging' Damien thought eagerly as he followed along the river path deeper into the cave. 'It's been at least a day since I touched that tablet and I haven't felt the least bit tired on hungry since. I wonder if I should worry...' he continued to ponder as he began inspecting his hands and arms. Half expecting to see them mutating or something.
'I haven't felt that weird urge to conquer something in a while, so I should take that to be a good sign, Though I should probably inspect myself more closely when I get a chance. It wasn't all that pleasant feeling like I was someone else...' Damien concluded. Figuring even if there was something wrong, he wasn't in any position to do anything about it now.
'All things considered, this will just have to be a blunt reminder not to get complacent. Now I have to start thinking about all the supernatural stuff I could run into. One wrong move and I'll end up no different than Dharc did...' Damien thought silently as he considered what all his options really were.
With those thoughts in mind, Damien opted to take out something he'd kept stashed away for quite some time. In his hand, he held a simple dagger. At the time when he'd discovered his ability to infuse his staff with darkness, he'd decided to try to infuse other objects around him. One of the most obvious items he had to try was the dagger. Unfortunately, he was rewarded with only disappointment.
Any time he would infuse his bird staff with darkness, the staff would take to it with ease. It acted like a catalyst. Reinforcing the strength and sturdiness the staff could display. The moment he ran his dark magic toward the staff, it would act no different than another part of his body, offering no resistance or rejection.
By contrast, trying to infuse his dark magic into any other object felt more like trying to fill a balloon; if the balloon was a rock with a straw in it. It felt like a bad joke. He'd nearly written it off as literally impossible until he realized he was starting to make very slow headway. he could feel the small vestiges of his darkness entering the blade, and though it wasn't enough to offer any benefits, it was something.
With this in mind, he decided to dedicate his time to trying to infuse his darkness into something else. Feeling like he'd be a sitting duck without his staff made him uneasy. Especially since it was by chance that he didn't lose his staff when that monster decided he needed flying lessons. He was in desperate need of some other form of defense, and if he could make this work, he'd have just that.
As Damien continued to practice his infusion, His dark vision began to distort slightly.Rippling like waves all around him. He wrote it off to him allocating too much concentration on the infusion and disrupting his vision, but as he continued to move forward, he noticed it only got worse.
'Guess fatigue is finally starting to catch up with me...' He thought as he decided to store the dagger away for now and find a place to rest. Wasting no time, he gathered some water to fill his water skin, and sat down to rest against the stone wall. closing his eyes, Damien deactivated his dark vision. mentally preparing himself to welcome the total darkness he'd been so accustomed to.
This time, however, something odd welcomed his vision when he opened his eyes. light was refracting off the water in front of him. the flowing water creating waving patterns of light along the cave walls. Stunned by the site, Damien slowly turned his head toward the path ahead and saw it. The water could be seen running under a stone wall. Just below the surface of the water was a bright light. Bathing the water in a beautiful blue glow. A gasp escaped Damien's lips as any thoughts of fatigue were washed away by the glow.
Quickly making his way to the waters edge, he set his staff at his side and raised his hands up just over the surface of the water. Letting the light coming up illuminate his shaking hands. His first thought was to just dive in and swim under, but resisting the urge (Not wanting to damage his equipment or run around waterlogged), he instead gathered his wits and retrieved his staff. Walking over to the cave wall between him and salvation, he lightly ran his palm over its surface.
' It doesn't seem too thick...I should be able to break my way out from here.' With that thought in mind, he clasped his staff firmly in both hands and infused darkness into it. Not needing to dedicate part of his focus into his dark vision, he had a much easier time as he focused on expanding the radius of the dark flame, before bringing the skull staff against the stone. The dark flames quickly beginning to erode the stone. Even before he gained his most recent boost, the staff was able to grind away at stone with little effort.
'I can hardly wait to get out of this hellhole! Dharc's journal had some genuinely cool entries about the stuff out there. There's a lot of fruits and seeds that are very common to eat, but seems they tend to spoil quickly. It must be why Dharc had non on hand. Meaning I can finally graduate from dry meat rations! And the sun. Oh man I miss the sun!'
Many thoughts such as these flowed into Damien's head as he continued to grind away at the stone wall. The sound of the stone giving way and turning to dust resounding within the cave. He couldn't see himself, but he imagined the dumbest smile was plastered all over his face right now. His joy was cut short, however. As the most bone chilling screech came from the depths of the cave behind him. It started with one, then many. So many. A cacophony of screams followed by the sounds of many sharp taps along the stone. He didn't need to see them to know what it was. It was the same scream that insect let out. The sounds of tapping getting louder and louder as he desperately tried to maintain focus. Grinding away at the stone.
'Shit! there's more of them!? They must have been in different paths! I have to hurry!' Damien thought desperately. Contemplating if he should just cut his losses and just dive into the water. 'I've no idea how long it'll take to reach shore. If those things happen to be strong swimmers, They'll tear me apart before I even get close! Then again there's a good chance there's only more water on the other side of this wall anyway!' He continued desperately as his darkness continued to bore into the stone wall.
'Normally I'd just go with my gut, but right now I'm just getting static. Just a mess of fight and flight messages!' There was little time now. The all too familiar cold gust of wind pushing against his back. Signaling one had located him--The a second, third, forth--
'One, Two...,Five...--Twelve and counting!' Seeing no other choice, Damien chose to abandon the wall route. Swiftly cutting off the darkness supplying his staff and using it to instead reinforce his own body before making a break for the river. A flood of monsters charging at him from his peripheral vision as he kicked his feet desperately.
'Too late!'
Damien didn't get to a chastise to himself, As a familiar clawed limb came from his right. Striking him in the chest and sending him back into the wall several meters away. The darkness currently surrounding him along with the power from Unstable Evolution softening the blow considerably as he haphazardly scrambled to his feet. Zeroing in on the monsters and spotting the giant insect creature quickly approaching him less than 3 meters away.
'Shit!' Damien screamed as he quickly sent a charge of his darkness into his bone staff. Quickly swinging it at the approaching monster with all his strength. A loud crush resounding as his staff shattered the insect's exoskeleton and minced the soft tissue inside. What was left of its corpse shattering the stone floor below with the force of his downward swing.
"Holy shit!" Was all Damien could say. The frightening difference in his current strength and speed catching him by surprise. Though he didn't get to celebrate it yet, as a second and third monster climbed over the corpse of the first. One flanking to his left and swinging its clawed arm upwards and into his now guarding staff. Being once again sent airborne by the impact.
'Damn. I'm stronger, but I still weigh a fraction of what they probably do. I'm literally getting rag-dolled here!' He cursed as he fought to stabilize his body in the hopes of at least landing on his feet. 'I can't let them keep throwing me around, but there's too many for me to just sit still. They'll just dog pile me.' As he considered his options, he glanced down to notice the quickly approaching ground. Failing to keep himself balanced, he rolled backwards and quickly scrambled to his feet. Noticing he'd thankfully fallen far enough away to continue his train of thought.
'A full force hit is overkill. I made paste out of that last one. So I can afford to pull my swings a fair bit. Lighter, faster swings. Come on Damien, time to lean in.' He concluded. The next closest monster closing in as he readied his staff. Offering the creature a swift end with a sharp horizontal swing as he noted the rest of the swarm locked in on him already.
'I haven't felt any more of those gusts yet, so that means this is probably all of them. It also means these things see well enough with the light from the opening. I was kind of hoping they'd at least be blind, but no luck there.' With that new piece of information, Damien began to charge toward the river side. Keeping his pace controlled to make sure he didn't lose his balance as he swatted away two more of the monsters in his way. 'I should try to see if I can push some of them in the water. With any luck, these aren't the types of bug that can swim. Especially with how heavy they seem to be.'
With that next course of action in mind, Damien made an effort to get close to the end of the river. Unfortunately, The bugs seemed to not want him anywhere near the entrance. Swiftly flanking around and blocking his escape route as another pair of monsters swung their blades upward. Once more tossing him into the air and towards another of the creatures, Who was already swinging it's claw at his falling form.
'Shit!' Damien cursed as he haphazardly raised his guard. The blade partially breaking past his staff and cutting into his shoulder. The weight of the impact sending him tumbling across the stone floor as he desperately braced his body to stop before crashing into the next two monsters waiting in his path. Their blades swiftly coming down Damien as he swatted his staff at them. Somehow managing to push them away so he could get back to his feet.
'You gotta be kidding me!' Was all Damien could think as he raised his staff to swat away the follow up swing from one of the creatures. Swiftly smashing its skull in before having to scramble to block the next monsters swing. 'This isn't random. They're too coordinated!' Damien noted in a panic. Trying to swat down the remaining monster before another one flanked his side. Swatting him into the air once more as the remaining bugs began to charge to various locations below.
'This doesn't make any sense! If they're pack hunters, why the hell was that first one from yesterday alone!? I could have sworn they were ambush predators!' He cursed as he raised his staff. Already spotting the monster waiting for him to fall and deciding there was no point in trying for a soft landing. 'They're making a god damned pin ball out of me!' he continued to curse as he was once away swatted into the ground. A vicious cycle making itself apparent as they creatures continued to take turns throwing him in the air and slamming him back down.
A final resounding crunch reverberating in the air as the cave wall shattered under the weight of Damien's body. By this point he'd lost track of how many of the monsters he'd killed. Or how many times he'd been tossed around--but it didn't bode well that he could feel his bones creek under his weight as he struggled to his feet. A warm substance flowing from the side of his face as he struggled to push it away from his eye. His clothes sticking to him with what he'd hoped was sweat but was eerily aware was the dry blood he was now covered in.
Damien's darkness along with Unstable Evolution did wondrously keeping the damage to a minimum. However the sheer volume of constant attacks combined with the ungodly duration of the fight had worn him down significantly. That bottomless energy he'd been enjoying not long ago was now nowhere to be seen and what little energy he had left was waning fast. All he could do now is let out a series of sharp painful gasps of air. His trembling legs fighting desperately to keep him vertical as he struggled to know if he was even still holding his staff anymore. Though his fading vision was making even that a challenge.
'They're boxing me in. A perfect encirclement.' Damien noted thru panting breaths. He'd long given up on managing his breathing. There was little point now. His mind was now fully committed to processing everything he knew so far. Fighting desperately to piece together some way to escape this scenario. It was at that moment when he noted something he'd missed before.
Click Click Click~
A simple series of clicks that barely registered in his ears and the circling monsters seemed to respond to. Silently closing in the encirclement after it came. Damien's bloodied brow raising as it registered in his head. 'The first one I fought definitely didn't seem this smart. If it had been, it would have retreated for support the second it took the first big hit' He realized as he shakily observed the approaching monsters. 'Timed attacks, intentionally applying pressure to keep me off balance, cutting off escape routes? No, this is calculated--controlled.'
Following this realization, a strange feeling began to take over him. Bubbling up like something he'd held deep inside and was now struggling to restrain. A feeling of deep resentment or rage directed at an unknown enemy before him. 'Something else is involved. Something in my way.' With the realization made, Damien felt an overwhelming surge or new found strength. A second wind that reminded him of the time he'd first found the table of Unstable Evolution. His eyes emitting a new oppressive light as he glanced at the insignificant bugs in front of him.
"...Disgusting. Lowly bugs think they deserve anything but my heel..." Damien whispered through gritted teeth. Disdain at the thought that such lowly animals could have the nerve to even stand in his sights. Worse than that even. That they would turn their fangs toward him. "What do you bugs see when you look at me--?" he asked the bugs rhetorically. Not expecting an answer. "--Do you see food? Or some kind of easy mark? That sort of joke leaves a bad taste in my mouth..." Damien continued. Spitting out a mouthful of blood to sell his point as the dark purple aura he'd been feeling began to bubble to the surface. Mixing with the darkness he used to reinforce his body.
The oppressive aura radiating from Damien's body was now even having an effect on the seemingly emotionless insects. The monsters halting their advance as an eerie stillness overtook the cave. Everything but the flowing river and Damien's aura moving within the space. Or that should have been the case. As Damien's eye caught the movement of a creature crawling further into the darkness just past the wave of insects.
"So...I take it this is your doing." Damien stated coldly. His expression exuding an air of pride and arrogance as Unstable Evolution finished taking hold.