88 The Blood Starved Beas

He found himself climbing some stairs that led towards a small square. Statues of the creepy women filled the square again. The women had arched backs and a veil covered their entire face. Their hands, held together, were a sign of prayer. And as usual, little messengers were clutching at the women's robes, looking up to them.

Surgit didn't understand the meaning behind those statues, all he could conclude was that messengers were also linked to Yharnam, not only to the dream. From the square Surgit could see a building far in the distance, at the end of a vast field. Stairs led down towards what used to be a park.

The only thing that remained from the park was dying trees, leafless and withering.He went down the steps and as soon as he reached the vast expanse, he heard a strange faint noise. It resembled a bell ringing in the distance and he couldn't find the source of the sound. He moved around the field while keeping his eye on the building in the distance.

It resembled an old church. Bonfires were lit around the park, next to some trees, which illuminated the area a little, giving it a gloomy look. Fire crackled in the distance and wind blew softly, pushing what resembled dying grass on the ground softly. The soil was dry and with every step, Surgit could hear his feet cracking the ground beneath him. No living soul was to be seen around; only fire, dying trees and an old church in the distance.

Surgit inspected the area and tried to look for the source of the sound of the bell ringing. He wasted his time searching for it to no avail. He then decided to head to the only possible destination: the old building in the distance.

As he stood in front of the open door, he noticed that the ceiling had crumbled away long ago and the doors were destroyed and non-existing. He looked up and saw way above the church, the shadow of the great bridge, linking Central Yharnam to the Cathedral Ward.He was at the bottom of the valley after all. He felt like an ant observing humans from below. The buildings around him were large and gigantic.

Unlike any other city he'd been in, Yharnam extended upwards. Its vertical layout gave it a majestic look. Towers shot up towards the sky while smaller houses hid behind the big structures. Just standing next to a church or a tower made Surgit look extremely small. Every door to important buildings was large enough to fit a giant. Surgit didn't know whether that was actually meant to allow giants in or show the magnificence of the city.

He got inside the church and walked along its nave. Benches had disappeared long ago and the pillars that stood on each side looked old and crumbling. The slightest damage could bring them down and the church along with it. He made his way towards the aisle and saw a figure in the distance.

He didn't know if the figure was getting bigger or if it was moving towards him. Suddenly he realized what was going on as pain shot through his brain. He was gaining insight for witnessing something extraordinary and the thing he was witnessing was the blood starved beast.

Its name was whispered to him in his mind quickly. The beast resembled the one he had seen chained to the chandelier in the other church, behind the clock tower. It had a red mantle which was attached to its back and covered its head.

Surgit knew that the mantle wasn't made of cloth but instead made of its own flesh. The beast was flayed and instead of seeing flesh on its limbs, Surgit could only see muscles. The beast's muscles were purple, as if devoid of blood, which would explain its name as a matter of a fact.

The blood starved beast ran on all fours and was coming towards Surgit at breakneck speed. He elongated his saw and got ready for battle. He wanted to keep the beast at a comfortable distance in order to get familiar with its attacks.

Seeing his action, the monster stopped and looked at Surgit. There were still some paces that separated both of them and Surgit wasn't willing to make the first move. The beast opened its arms as a sign of welcome, or taunt, as if asking the Hunter: Come at me, I can take you.

In a flash, the monster disappeared. Surgit didn't know where it was until he felt himself being lifted away from the ground. The beast moved too fast for his eyes to follow and came right in front of him, grabbed him with its arms and opened its mouth.

It was wide and filled with teeth. Its breath was nauseating and Surgit couldn't move, the beast was also too strong. He soon found himself in its mouth, being chewed to death by its sharp teeth. His leather garb managed to reduce the damage he took from the bites. However that was not enough to stop the beast from chewing harder as it held him firmly from both sides. His arms were caught in the grab and he couldn't move at all.

His legs, the only part of his body that stayed outside the beast's mouth, moved up and down which showed his desperate need to get out of that situation. His face got scratched and his head started bleeding from everywhere. Finally, the beast stopped and threw him away from its sharp teeth.

He landed on his back and started coughing blood. He tried to stand up but his legs couldn't support his weight and his vision became blurry. 'I guess I got poisoned again… damn it…' He fell to the ground, foam and blood gagged his mouth as he died in agony.

'That was unexpected…'

Surgit inspected his body and his belongings. He managed to come across a bigger challenge this time around. He died and all the monsters in Old Yharnam had been reset. 'Great, just great, die and come back again to fight small fry to weaken you and prepare you to die at the hands of the stronger enemy. I need to be more careful and take the blood starved beast seriously. Attack is the best defense, is it not?'

He was devising a plan of attack in his head in order to tackle the beasts in Old Yharnam and reach the old church as fast as possible.He dropped down from the plaza at the entrance of the town towards the tall tower, leading to the bottom of the city. The shortcut he had unlocked proved useful once more as he was going to avoid dealing with hordes of enemies while dodging the endless barrage of bullets coming his way.

He soon found himself in the main cobbled street at the bottom of the city, faced to the werewolf which attacked him from behind the tower's door earlier. The night sky provided him with good cover as he slipped behind the beast and decapitated it in no time. He knew that he shouldn't get overconfident with any of the enemies present in the area.

Confidence led to mistakes, and mistakes led to wasting blood vials. He needed the vials he had stored for the fight against the strongest enemy in the area. He was prepared for the worst, and his mind was lucid. He ran towards the end of the street and jumped on top of the shrine that divided it in two.

The smoke coming out of sewers hid not only the screaming female beast patient but also Surgit. He waited for the patrolling red eyed werewolf to pass by and jumped down on him, driving his saw cleaved deep down its thick skull. The beast died instantly.

Surgit immediately turned around and saw that the beast patient had spotted him. As she let out her scream, Surgit dashed forward. He jumped on top of the beast and placed his saw at the beast patient's neck, in a choking fashion. He pulled the saw towards him while the female patient struggled to get a hold of him. He had to act quickly, lest he got caught by the monster's sharp claws. He pulled the saw harder and moved it in a horizontal motion. He was trying to cut the beast's throat open.

Surgit was forced to come down though as the beast had almost pierced his eyes with its claws. He jumped behind the female monster and slashed her muscular calves open. The beast patient let out a howl and Surgit shot the open wounds, making the howls even louder. 'Click! Click!' The pistol ran out of bullets and Surgit cursed under his breath.

He put the gun in its holster and rolled forward just in time to avoid a body slam. The female beast patient turned around immediately and swung both her arms at Surgit. He jumped over the predictable attack and landed a few paces away from his attacker. The damage the woman had taken slowed her down. Surgit used the opportunity to quickly finish the fight. He jumped above the hands that tried to grab him and kicked his foe in the face.

The beast patient fell to the ground. Surgit's kick was strong enough to knock her down. He smiled as he drove his cleaver down the beat monster's throat. Blood splattered all over his body. He couldn't get enough of the feeling. Killing beasts and feeling their warm blood on splash all over his body had become addictive.

The main street was cleared and Surgit followed the road in order to reach the church. He decided to clear just the area that preceded the important fight he had before him. He hadn't forgotten about the promise he made to himself before, about getting rid of anything that could endanger living human beings. But he figured that if he died again against the blood starved beast, his prior fights would go to waste.

Besides, he would lose all the blood echoes he had collected before and he didn't see a point in wasting his time and energy fighting. He reached the clearing and heard the sound of the bell again. He didn't know where it came from or what it was for but he decided to press on. He had an important fight to undertake.