NOVEL NEXT Chapter 39: Cecaelia
"What's going on here?" Feena asked, leaning against the wall.
Victor straightened up and looked ahead. "I don't know. This path feels like it's never-ending."
Kate furrowed her eyebrows. She whispered, "What should we do? We can't keep walking."
He stood up and took a step forward. He turned back; there was a one-step distance between him and the girls, but looking ahead, the path remained the same.
"What should we do?" He muttered. 'It feels like it is dilating as we move forward. Preventing us from reaching the end.' Then, like a light bulb, a thought came to his mind.
"Let's run!" He shouted and bolted onward. Both girls' eyes widened, and they jerked up and sped after him.
In a narrow tunnel, with a path only wide enough for one person to walk comfortably. Three people ran behind one another. As he saw at the front, the crevice was opening up in a chamber. He dashed, and he almost reached the end. He jumped through it and landed on the chamber floor. He collapsed, gasping for air. Feena and Kate reached close behind him and slumped beside. Their ragged breaths sounded like echoes in a silent chamber.
Moments later, Victor sat up and observed around. The chamber was round like the previous one, but the altar here was different.
In the middle of a cave, stood a faceless, grotesque statue, its four arms frozen mid-gesture. The statue's four hands held the naked women by their hair, and their tongues out in ecstasy. Their arms wrapped around its legs. Encircling the altar was the murky pond filled with ink-black water.
Splash!
Splash!
Suddenly, the water turned restless. The waves became stronger after each passing moment. It seemed like something was moving under it. Victor's eyes widened in shock, muscles tensed up. Before he could take out the revolvers, several sticky and purple-colored tentacles came out from the pond. And spread around.
Its disgusting smell hit his face like a punch. Nausea rose from inside, and he retched, "cough, cough!".
Girls' eyes opened up with a commotion, and they jumped upright. Their eyes widened, noticing the several tentacles wriggling around the hall.
"Kyyyaaaaa!"
Shocked, they screamed in unison. The appendages found them and wrapped around them tightly. The girls kept shrieking at the disgusting and nauseating feeling.
It yanked.
Thud!
They fell on the ground.
And got dragged into the water.
Victor's eyes widened the moment he was retching and heard the girl's screams. In another moment, they were already dragged inside.
They flailed in the water, and their yelping sounds echoed. He stood frozen, mind blank, and then a jolt passed through his body. He bellowed, "Kate! Feena!"
He took out the revolvers and lunged toward the pond.
Inside the murky water, Kate took out the dagger she got from the Moon Goddess and slashed.
Screech!
Feena transformed into a werewolf and started slashing the tentacles with her claws. She was ripping them into shreds. Monster wailed in pain and threw the girls out of the water.
Thud!
Kate fell on the ground. Silver werewolf landed on her feet. Her eyes were pale grey; the silver fur dripped with water. Her hand claws were like small daggers, glinting with golden light. She stood upright, her height 7 feet. She growled at the rising water of the pond. Victor took a relieved breath as he saw they were alright.
Splash!
Water rose like a fountain from the pond. As it reached the roof of the chamber, the water returned into the pond. In its place stood a half-human and half-octopus. Its upper body was similar to a human but its color was ink-black, and tentacles formed its lower body.
"Cecaelia!" Kate exclaimed, standing up.
It opened its mouth with sharp teeth resembling the maw of a shark.
Screechhhh!
Its high-pitched shriek pierced their brains like needles, and they groaned. Kate and Victor backed away. Feena, on the other hand, growled at it in rage.
"Grrr!"
Victor raised his head and looked at the monster with his skill.
[Basic Appraisal Skill]
[Level???]
His eyes widened as he checked above the monster; he could only see question marks.
"Its level is above 10," Victor muttered grimly.
"It is a Level-50 monster," Feena growled beside him. Shocked, he took a step back.
Kate laughed like a maniac and shouted, "Yes, a level fifty corrupted monster. It'll be fun to kill it. Hahahahahah!"
Feena grinned and pounced at the monster. Kate followed her example and lunged at it with a dagger.
Whisppish!
Several tentacles came at them like a whip.
SLAM!
SMACK!
Like a ragdoll, both rammed into the wall of the chamber.
"Ahhh!" groans escaped from them in unison.
Victor came back to his senses and muttered, shaking his head, "Why did they act recklessly?"
BANG, BANG!
He fired two consecutive shots, drawing the black blood from its tentacles.
ROARR!
It lunged forward, all of its tentacles aimed at him.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
He fired consecutively at the snake-like purple tentacles.
'I can not give it a moment to focus on girls.'
BAM!
A tentacle landed from his right side like a punch.
"Ahhh, Fuck" He groaned, stumbling backward.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Another four consecutive shots pierced the two tentacles.
It roared in pain. Its large black eyes turned toward him and exuding killing intent.
Kate and Feena stood up. They noticed Victor. Cecaelia was completely focused on him. Its tentacles were bleeding from several places. Feena growled and bolted toward the monster.
Kate cackled, "hahahaha." And chased behind her.
I have only two bullets remaining before I have to reload.
Slash!
Slash!
Feena jumped into a tuft of tentacles and started mowing them like grass.
Roarrrrr!
Monster roared in pain.
Grrrr!
Feena growled gleefully.
Slash!
Kate slashed completely, cutting off a tentacle thicker than a leg. Its head snapped toward her, and two tentacles came hurling toward her. Kate cackled and jumped in the air. She landed above the thicker tentacle than the previous one.
Victor became free as his attention was completely diverted toward the girls. He reloaded the guns and moved closer toward the main body above the pond.
Cackling of Kate, growling of Feena. Roarrr and screams of the Monster reverberated in the underground cave.
Victor aimed at its human-like back. 'I only have one chance; I have to make it count.' He took a deep breath and exhaled.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
He fired five shots in an instant, and only two found their aim in its back. It shrieked like a banshee.
Screech!
And then
BOOM!
A shock wave emerged from its body and pushed the trio into the wall.
SLAM!
Like a puppet without strings, they slammed into the wall. It didn't give them a moment to recover. It's all eight tentacles grabbed them by the legs. And held them in the air. They dangled upside down, their mind disoriented.
He opened his eyes, and dizziness hit him like a truck. He forcefully closed his eyes, but it didn't vanish; rather, it increased. He opened his eyes again and found the rough walls swirling around.
"Ffffuck!" He screamed, and blood oozed from his nose.
[HP:90/180]