Almost as soon as Rain registers that the Fel was actually wounded by the trap, the sounds of his other bolt-tent being violently smashed apart are accompanied by more tortured wails from the unseen creature. Soon after, the sounds of something large thrashing violently against the walls and floor of the corridor join the terrifying symphony taking place around the corner.
As the sounds draw closer to Rain's position, the screams become more sorrowful, and the thrashing more sluggish. Only moments later, he can hear that the Fel is about to come into view...he can't wait any longer. Gripping his weapon tighter to stop it from shaking in his grasp, Rain takes a deep breath amidst the violent cries of the Fel, then lunges from his hiding position.
As he leaps forward into what could very well be his gruesome death, Rain's whole field of perception is dulled by pure terror. The second he rounds the corner, he only registers a large, humanoid shape that's thrashing wildly down the corridor towards him, as it spins in circles. The creature is clawing at its own torso as it screams, and two grievous wounds can be seen in its stomach and chest.
This is all the information that Rain's fear-ridden brain has time to process as he barrels towards the rabid creature with his makeshift javelin pointed out in front of him. In the span of what feels like seconds, he's sprinting at top speed, about to close the remaining meter between him and the raging Fel, which is now facing him with rage burning in its eyes.
A split second later, Rain thrusts the tip of his weapon blindly up towards the Fel's face as he slams into the injured creature and sends them both toppling onto the floor. All Rain feels is the tip of his weapon piercing flesh as he lands with his knees on top of his foe, who screams out in pain. Without delay, the frenzied Rain immediately begins yanking the shaft of his weapon wildly from side to side as he yells out in pure fear, hoping to tear the Fel's flesh as violently as he can.
As his barbaric jerks of the weapon send mists of blood flying into the air around him, obscuring his vision, he faintly hears another muffled scream from the creature...but it does nothing to falter his merciless assault.
Without warning, the fearful haze shrouding Rain's senses is penetrated by the sharp pain of something tearing through the flesh of his arm and landing a heavy blow on his chest. If not for his frightening grip on the weapon anchored in the Fel's chest, he'd have been thrown back. Still, the air is forced from his lungs, and Rain's ruthless tearing of the monster's flesh stutters for the briefest of moments. However, the pain ultimately only manages to drive him deeper into his terrified frenzy, and the gasping Rain redoubles his merciless flesh-wrenching efforts.
Eventually, the creature falls silent and still, leaving only the sounds of labored breathing and tearing flesh from Rain. However, that soon stops as well as an exhausted Rain collapses forward onto the shaft of his weapon for support, gasping raggedly. As his mind slowly starts to clear, he registers the whispering of the Echo is his head.
[You have slain a Harbinger...]
Then, he collapses into a pool of blood beside the Fel's corpse.
*****
Several minutes later, Rain has returned to a calm enough state to rise from his spot on the ground and take in the aftermath of the battle. Ignoring the putrid blood covering him and his clothes, he stands over the body of the Fel he killed, studying it.
The creature resembles an almost three meter tall human, but its skin is dark grey and wrinkled, its body is devoid of any hair, and its severely hunched back suggests it lumbers along on all fours. Its fingers and toes also end in long, sharp claws. Those and the way it likely walks explain the rhythmic scraping sounds that he heard earlier as it approached.
Its torso has two gaping wounds – one right above its groin and another near where its heart should be – courtesy of bolts from the trap. As for Rain's strike...it seems his first blow landed in the creatures neck. However, after his vicious efforts to tear its flesh apart, the creature's head is barely attached to the rest of its body anymore. There's almost no tissue left around the neck, just mushy carnage, and its spine is clearly visible. It appears to have been severed as well, which may be why the creature didn't land another blow after the first one.
All in all, its a gruesome scene...enough to completely deter any appetite that Rain accumulated during his first day in the Labyrinth without food. Despite that, neither the sobering spectacle of carnage, nor his loss of control during the fight are what is currently worrying him most.
'I remember...the Echo said that this was a Harbinger...'
He wasn't expecting to encounter a Fel that strong right away, and possibly not at all. From the little he knew about the Labyrinth, it should mostly contain Fallen, since they're still much stronger than him. They're already physically comparable to a post-Trial Marked...a Champion. But a Harbinger...they're on Chosen Aron's level...like Paragons. If those are present at all here, they should have been exceedingly rare.
'Unless that was just crappy luck on an unbelievable scale...I might be in serious trouble.'
As things stand, those Paragon Prestige bolts were barely strong enough to pierce its flesh, and anything less than his Demigod-equivalent armor would have crumpled under that blow from the creature. It's not an exaggeration to say that he only emerged alive from this encounter due to several layers of dumb luck.
Putting those troubling thoughts aside, Rain returns his focus to what he needs to do to move forward. First, he needs to take what he needs from the corpse of this thing, then drag it further into the Labyrinth so that it's past the trap. Then he can reset everything and retreat behind the safety of the trap while he prepares whatever else.
Rain lets out a deep sigh, then grabs one of the nearby bolts off the ground. Gripping it far up the shaft, near the bladed tip, he tries to wield it like an awkward knife. It's far from the most efficient butchering tool, but he doesn't have any other choices. He's certainly not going to use that terrifying God weapon, Fate Shard. Gritting his teeth in anticipation of the grisly sight awaiting him, Rain bends over and gets to work carving into the creature's chest.
Biting back the bile rising in his throat from the putrid smells coming off the corpse, he tries to shut off his mind as he cuts into layer after layer of flesh. He's searching for two things – slices of meat, and the Fel's Ego. After a while, he has several presumably appropriate slices of flesh set aside, but still no Ego. Of course, Rain doesn't really know what they look like, just that they form somewhere near the heart.
However, after a bit longer, he notices something that looks...unnatural. Cutting around it meticulously, he eventually excises it from the creature and gets a chance to inspect it. More or less, it reminds him of a small, partially transparent peach. Inside, dynamic swirls of yellow and orange are visible.
'Well....that certainly seems like what I'm looking for...'
Walking back to his sleeping spot, he carefully places his cuts of meat and the Ego into the water stream so that they'll be rinsed off while he works. Then, he returns to the creature's corpse. Next, he slowly drags the heavy Fel's body past the trap – carefully avoiding the pressure plate – and around the corner into the new part of the Labyrinth.
After that, he returns to the trap area and resets his bolt-tents before ultimately returning to his sleeping spot. Once back to safety, he spends a few minutes listening to make sure there are no other creatures approaching. Satisfied, he beings stripping off his clothes and armor, and rinsing them and himself in the flowing water of the aqueduct. When everything is sufficiently clean, he wrings his clothes out and lays them to dry, then turns his attention to the wound on his arm.
It's deeper than his leg wound, but not fatal. Much like the first one, it's also already starting to scab. At this point, he's basically certain that his healing has accelerated to some degree. Mulling over what further preparations he should take, he realizes that he's still tired. He must not have gotten to sleep very long.
'I guess I don't have anything I have to do right now...and everything I was wearing except for Ideal Protection is basically useless in a fight. Although, it got scratched up in that fight – maybe I should leave it dismissed and let it recover some more...'
After a brief contemplation, he decides that he's confident his traps will alert him to any approaching Fel, and that he'll have enough time to summon his armor back if he needs it. So, he leaves his armor dismissed and his clothes laid out to dry, pulls his bolt weapon closer to him, then curls up in his nearly naked state and closes his eyes.
After a few minutes, he drifts off to sleep.