Chapter 251
Accept (3)
The creature launched itself forward, its body snapping into motion with terrifying speed. IAM's instincts screamed—he dove to the side, rolling across the slick ground just as the creature crashed down where he'd stood moments before. Its needle-like legs pierced the stone, cracking it like glass.
He stumbled to his feet, his heart hammering, and looked down at his hands—half-expecting, half-hoping—for a sword to appear again. Nothing. His fingers clenched around empty air.
The creature turned sharply, its head twitching as the clicking grew frantic, almost hungry. Then it began to crawl toward him quickly—its limbs stabbing the ground in bursts that echoed through the chamber.
IAM spun around and ran, his shoes sliding across the wet surface, every step matched by the rapid skitter of bone behind him. The sound drew closer, impossibly fast.
He risked a glance back—just in time to see one of its limbs slicing through the air toward his neck. He dropped instantly, ducking and sliding beneath the strike as it swept past with a shriek of wind, close enough to feel it brush against his hair.
Without giving it even a heartbeat to recover, IAM spun on his heel and bolted straight toward the creature. He ducked low, weaving between its spindly legs as they stabbed down to impale him. Each strike narrowly missed, slamming into the ground and leaving deep holes that oozed black residue.
He darted between the gaps, slipping past one, two, three limbs, his breath ragged as his body moved on pure instinct. The creature hissed out a distorted click, its body twisting unnaturally as it tried to track him, but IAM was already past it—sprinting in the opposite direction.
The monster jerked violently, contorting itself as it turned around, its many joints bending the wrong way with a sickening crack. That delay—just those few seconds—was enough for IAM to gain distance. He didn't look back. He just ran, his footsteps echoing through the suffocating dark as the clicking resumed.
He sprinted through the dark. Behind him came the relentless click-click-click, echoing off the stone like the ticking of a broken clock. Each sound was closer than the last.
He stumbled over something—an arm, one of the countless dismembered ones scattered across the floor—and barely caught himself before falling. He could feel the vibrations of the creature's movements through the ground, its long limbs scraping and slamming against the surface as it bounded after him.
He got up and veered left, his shoulder scraping the jagged rock as he pushed forward. For a fleeting second, the clicking dulled.
Then a long, boneless arm slammed into the wall beside him, cracking through the stone. IAM tensed for a second before throwing himself to the ground as the limb swept across, missing his head by inches.
He got up once again and resumed running.
The creature lunged. Its spindly frame moved unnaturally fast as it scuttled across the floor.
IAM ducked as a sharp limb sliced past his head, cutting through the air with a hiss. The creature's strike hit the ground instead, sending up a spray of black liquid.
IAM staggered, coughing as the heat in the air seemed to thicken around him, but he kept running, weaving between scattered heaps of dismembered arms.
He suddenly felt something was off. He glanced over his shoulder just in time to see the creature crawling along the wall, its limbs stabbing deep into the stone as it climbed higher and higher before shifting onto the ceiling. It was now completely unbothered by the heaps of arms that IAM had been hoping to use as barriers to slow it down.
It crawled frantically above, its movements sharp and erratic, clicking wildly as it chased him across the ceiling. IAM stopped abruptly and turned, and to his dismay, the creature mirrored his motion perfectly.
Then, without warning, it hurled itself downward, the creature plummeted like a boulder thrown by a god, its limbs slicing through the air with a shriek that made IAM's ears ring.
He dove to the side at the last second, the impact shaking the entire room as the thing smashed into the floor where he'd stood. Black liquid burst outward like an explosion, splattering the walls, dripping from the ceiling like rain.
Before IAM could even recover, the creature twisted and began to crawl toward him again.
He could only watch as it closed the distance in seconds. Before he could move, two of its limbs shot forward like spears, stabbing clean through IAM's legs and pinning him to the ground.
A white-hot pain exploded through his mind—raw, electric agony that tore the scream straight out of his throat. He writhed, trying to pull free, but the creature only pressed harder, its weight bearing down on him.
Then came another strike—one jagged limb piercing through his left shoulder, sinking deep until it scraped bone. IAM gasped, his vision flashing white as blood spilled freely down his arm.
Above him, the clicking grew louder—frenzied... Almost ecstatic. It echoed through the chamber like it was savoring the sound of his suffering.
IAM felt another jagged limb slam into his stomach, tearing through muscle and gut with a sickening, wet crunch. The impact forced the air from his lungs, and he choked, gagging as hot tears streamed down his face, stinging his eyes. Pain radiated from the wound in searing waves, each movement of his torso sending shock after shock through his entire body.
The creature gripped him with its other limbs, lifting him off the ground in a slow motion. IAM flailed violently, his limbs thrashing in both agony and desperate resistance, but the bony pincers held him unyielding.
The clicking of the creature swelled, filling every corner of his mind, drowning out even his own screams. It consumed his senses entirely, echoing in his skull with a symphony that felt alive malevolent.
The monster began dragging him toward one of its gaping holes, the darkness yawning wider with every step. IAM's chest heaved, his eyes wide in horror, as he was drawn inexorably forward.
He could only watch in helpless terror as the hole loomed closer and closer, swallowing the light—and then his head was submerged, plunging him into absolute, suffocating darkness.