Chapter 38: Darkness Personified Pt.1

Servus 132-X could hear his heart beating violently as if it was about to burst out from his chest. The light on his rune slowly flickered and dimmed as the ghastly figure slowly walked towards him. There was no light source from where the humanoid monster stood, but his bony face could be seen clearly.

As it inched itself towards him, he noticed how it hovered over the foul waters of the cave. A strangely formed shadow covered the entirety of its body like a coat, only exposing its pale white head, its long bony hands and feet.

The fear he felt as the humanoid approached was heavy and intoxicating. It was a kind of fear that both elicited awe and dread all at once. It was a feeling that he never thought he would feel again. It felt like meeting a Demon Lord for the first time.

He knew it too well. As a man reincarnated 364 times before, Servus 132-X knew that a Demon Lord's presence had always felt the same. It was dark, heavy, and fear-inspiring, but at the same time, his presence gave a hint of inspiring awe to those who felt it. Servus 132-X was truly certain about it—he might be in a presence of a Demon Lord.

The figure stopped from approaching him mid-way. It looked at him, baffled. The figure stroked its chin with its long and bony fingers while tilting its head side to side. The creature looked like it has never seen a human before.

It opened its mouth and started to talk, "Asss…saaa…kak…gi—kan?" The creature asked as its grotesque face moved horrendously as it spoke.

Servus 132-X had never heard a voice so shrill and coarse at the same time. It sounded like two metal blades scraping against each other. Aside from that, he could not understand the language. It sounded like the language he had on his homeland, but he might have misheard it.

The monster raised its head and began to shake it violently, "AKKAAAAKAAAKKKAAKK!"

The screeching sound echoed throughout the cave. Servus 132-X felt something warm flowing from his ears. It was sticky but at same time, runny enough to flow out from his ears. He moved his eyes to see what it was as his body was still frozen from the monster's aura.

His heart pounded faster. The monster looked pleased at him, as it slightly tilted its head and cupped its hand into its ear. The monster grinned happily as if it heard the beating of his heart. Servus 132- X still struggled to move, alas, he remained still like he was wrapped in shackles. He couldn't even lift his finger. The only thing that he could move around was his eyes.

He slowly looked down at his rune as the light slowly faded from it. It flickered more violently to the delight of the creature. As the light flickered the monster slowly waltz from where it stood. The grotesque creature danced gracefully while it hovered over the water. The fluidity of its movement as it raised its arms to the air as its hips slowly was hauntingly beautiful—like a slow dance of death.

Suddenly, Servus 132-X could hear the heap of bones moving behind him. It sounded as if it there were things coming out from the heap. The clattering of bones became more audible. More creatures seemed to be coming out from everywhere, as he heard the tapping sounds from the dark canopy.

A cold gust of air blew from his back. It sent shivers down his spine, a shiver that made the horrifying creature in front of him smile even wider. Cold hands began to touch him. Servus 132-X could only stand in terror as disembodied bony hands started gripping on his feet.

His light flickered and faded even more, that he could no longer see the disembodied pale and bony hands gripping his feet and legs. He glanced back to the macabre anomaly in front of him, but it suddenly vanished just as he blinked.

The light was now too weak that its glow only lit up a part of his hand. As it happened, the monster showed its grim-looking face just in front of him. It was so close to him that Servus 132-X could smell its foul rotting breath of death.

The monster's face was pale and white with bony prominences protruding on its forehead and cheeks. The closer it was, the more Servus 132-X realized how grotesque its features were. Aside from the bony prominences, it also had eyeless socket, gaping from its face.

It also appeared to have suture linings on its face. As he looked at it closely, he saw the suture linings run from the base of his chin towards the lower part of its lip, then from the base of upper lip another suture ran until the space in between its eyes.

The suture seemed to throb with every breath of the monster, as if it were flaps trying to conceal something. But was there anything more hideous than what he was seeing in front of him? He soon found out the hard way.

The creature faded once more into the shadows and as it did, the cold hands slowly loosened its grip on him until it gradually faded. Servus 132-X was able to move again but his heart still violently pumped from his chest. His hands were cold and clammy. His body shivered from overwhelming aura of the monster.

The rune started to flicker once more, but this time, it glowed a bit brighter just enough for him to see his way. Thoughts of his impending demise filled his mind as he tried to move his body. He tried shaking them off, but the feeling of death was too overpowering to push aside.

Instead of just standing around waiting for the inevitable, Servus 132-X decided to move and get out of that hellhole. His body was numb in both fear and pain. He dragged his body out the cave, slightly limping towards the exit.

As he came closer to it, he noticed his light flickered once more. He tried to throw away the rune, to use a new one, but something stopped him from doing so. His instincts dictated him to keep the same one for now. It was a weird feeling but instead of heeding it, he quickly changed his mind and took a new rune, lit it before throwing the other one.

As he continued his way, he noticed the light flickered and the glow became weaker as he reached the mouth of the cave. He flicked the rune hard before infusing it with more or what was remaining of his exousia.

As he took a turn to the exit, he suddenly froze in fear, right in front of him some paces away, were a horde of tall, pale and bony humanoids standing while others crawled maliciously towards him.

His light flickered again, and the glow slowly faded—being eaten by the darkness that would consume him as well. He felt a heavy feeling looming behind him. His heart was about to burst from his chest as the feeling lingered.

Servus 132-X was currently at the crossroads of a grisly death. Suddenly, he felt a cold heavy hand resting on his left shoulder. He stood their petrified in fear. With the last ounce of courage, Servus 132-X slowly turned his head to his left.

He saw the grinning menace once again. But this time there was something different about it. The sutures on his face seemed to be opening up. Servus 132-X cannot see anything around him as the light was slowly being snuffed out from his rune. However, the monster's face was very clear to him, like he watched it at daylight.

As the monster slowly unfolds its gruesome form. Black viscous fluid started to flow from its sutures. Slowly, the sutures moved individually as if it tried its best to prolong Servus 132-X's agony of his death.

After the sutures opened, the creature unveiled its gaping mouth by opening all four flaps of his sutured face. Like a flower from hell, the creature bloomed and revealed the rows of teeth on each flap with fangs big enough to puncture a centipede's carapace. And to top it all off, strange tentacles started to emerge from its throat.

Servus 132-X's heart dropped as the rest of monsters surrounded him ready to devour him—engulfing him with darkness.