"Fire!" Noah shouted. "Try fire!"
"Right…!" Astrid said.
It took some coaxing for the timid mage to bring forth the burning element, bringing fiery light into the cavern. The orange gathering of heat was cast forth as a fleeting mass, shining over the eroded stone. While it passed over, the shadow shrunk as the lanky body of the criminal suddenly emerged from the unseen.
"There!" Astrid called out.
Noah was already on the move, dashing right to the mole-faced man's position. He brought his boot down harshly with the intent of crushing whatever he had to, though just as his foot came down, the sly figure rolled to the side.
The missed stomp cracked the stone, though to not benefit as he found the lanky figure rising to his feet hastily like a serpent. It was a seamless movement that almost defied human anatomy; to be from a laid position to his feet, lunging both arms forward with his blades pointed to kill.
[The Snake's Eye]
As the daggers closed in, he instinctively closed one eye, observing each of the twisted weapons close in; the left aimed for his jugular, the right for his stomach. He took the path of least resistance in avoiding a gruesome stabbing, slipping back out of the daggers' range–
Swiftly, the perception of time resumed as normal, yet his change of position didn't throw off the killer in any fashion. Instead of swinging his weapon, Noah redirected himself into manifesting a shield instead, trusting his gut–CLANG.
Right against the conjured barrier, the blades struck from a distance that seemed impossible. He saw it; each of the zig-zag blades of steel straightened and extended, boasting a length threefold what they were capable of reaching before.
'I knew it–he had something like that up his sleeve,' Noah thought.
"Sharp instincts there," Bonid remarked under a quiet breath.
A stray fireball came in as support from the right, though the mole-faced man withdrew into the shadows once again before he could be torched. Again, silence was left as the figure hid in the moving darkness.
He looked around, as did the mage, watching the shadows dance across the cavern. The seconds of absolute quiet made it only more nauseating to have no clue where the man-eater would emerge.
Looking down at his feet, he led his vision towards the elven girl, who was no more than ten strides away. It was right by her pale boots; a drifting, expanding shadow.
"Behind you! Astrid!" Noah shouted desperately.
"Huh?--" The elf glanced behind her.
In that desperate, aching moment, the young men pushed every ounce of strength available into his legs. He burst forward with such haste, the stone beneath his boots shattered, but he moved himself as desired.
Within a second, he reached the girl, taking her place as the many-fingered hands emerged from the shadow beneath.
"Nngh…! Noah?!" Astrid gasped, stumbling to the side.
By the time he took notice, the grotesque fingers were already coiled around his ankles. Just as he gripped his axe with the intent to chop those foul digits off, the hands tugged him down.
"Nn–?!"
It was like being pulled into a pitch-black sea, immediately submerged into what felt like an ocean of dense ink. The grip on his legs vanished, and with it, the feeling of being surrounded by liquid did as well.
'This is…?' He questioned to himself.
He could breathe, though the oxygen was more sparse than the summit of a mountain. Absolute darkness was all around him; a temperature more chilling than the arctic brushed his skin, though he did not freeze.
"--This is the Unseen. A place far, far away from the light. There are no stars to judge us, only endless, apathetic darkness–"
The voice came from nowhere he could discern, though it was no doubt the same as the unnatural man.
"There's nothing here," Noah said, turning his head, only finding further nothingness.
"--That's what you see, but you're blind to it. Your eyes; they haven't adapted to the darkness like mine have. All around us is a vast world, where they lurk, they roam, they feed…Oh, they're so hungry, always so, so hungry–"
An unwavering feeling in his chest only grew more dense. It was completely from that of a monster's rampage; it was a distinct malice, purer than anything else.
["The unfathomable unknown."]
'I need to get out of here,' the thought hurriedly etched itself in the young man's mind.
A complete lack of direction consumed him; left in silence, he had zero idea where the man who dragged him into the Unseen was. He moved, though he was unsure if he had even taken a stride forward.
'I can't even tell if I'm moving. It's weird…like all my senses are dulled by this darkness,' he thought.
The only sensation he could even slightly feel was the smooth handle of the axe in his hand, gripping it tightly with everything he could muster. In the overwhelming unknown, he swung his weapon, though found nothing but sharp, unforgiving pain in return.
Teeth sank into his side; biting mercilessly with teeth like razors. He swung his arm down to bat it off, though hit nothing but empty space.
"--They're hungry, I said. I feel their same hunger; so vicious, primal. It's an unending void, never filled, never satiated. Make no mistake, if I linger here any longer, they'll tear me apart, just as they're about to do to you. So, I'll be taking my leave now and get back to that pretty, little elf–"
"You!--"
While rage ascended within him, he was immediately met by another sharp sensation running across his shoulder. It was quick, seamless even, though he felt a chunk of himself gone in that single moment.
[Muscle Hardening]
He flexed his entire body, opting to become as tough as stone if it meant not another bite being taken. Without knowing what was coming next, he braced then—teeth came.
The unseen maw latched onto his forearm, though the merciless teeth made it only past his skin.
'Got you…!' He hurriedly thought.
Bringing the axe up, it was swung down on whatever was attempting to take his arm. A sensation, finally; the steel edge buried itself into what felt like spongy flesh, cutting right through whatever had his limb in its teeth.
[EXP: +1,000] [12,700/25,000]
Whatever it was, he killed, though immediately was convinced there were many more. Onto his leg, his stomach, and even his chest–those teeth hidden in the dark latched on hungrily. He fought against it, though the more he thrashed around, it only seemed more teeth replaced those he removed.
Lost in the malicious darkness, "something" made itself known–it was faint, but in that boundless unknown, it was as bright as a star. He looked up, finding a small opening that peered at a ceiling of glistening geodes.
'The cave–he's leaving, going back…!' He realized.
Desperately, the young man leapt up, though seemed no closer in reaching the fleeting opening. He drifted in what felt like the low gravity hold of space itself, yet any attempt at ascending was stifled by the jaws that latched onto his leg.
'I have to–make it,' he urged.