Chapter 22: Game in the Cave
The rustling sounds never stopped—endless, relentless—echoing through the dark Mine Shaft, where every soul trembled with dread.
Silence fell like a shroud over the crowd, each person frozen in fear, terrified of what might emerge from the Darkness. The faint creaks and whispers seemed amplified, layered over the thunderous pounding of frantic hearts.
Then—like a shadow from a nightmare—a massive silhouette darted across the far corner, slicing through the crowd in a blur.
Before a miner could even scream, his voice vanished into nothingness.
“Ah—”
“Gulp.”
A wet, crunching sound followed—chewing.
In the suffocating stillness of the cave, where even a pin drop would have been audible, that Chewing Sound cut through the air like a blade. Clear. Distinct. Terrifying.
Panic surged.
People surged toward the Mine Shaft exit, a chaotic stampede driven by primal fear.
Hart pushed his way to the center, forcing his voice steady. “Stay calm! If you see anything strange, throw your Spear straight at it! It’s just some cowardly Beast hiding in the Darkness—we just need to—”
“Gulp.”
Like mockery incarnate, the sound came again—crisp, undeniable.
Another soul devoured without warning.
Chaos erupted.
“Don’t eat me!”
“Monsters! There are Monsters!”
“Run! For the love of the gods, run!”
“Damn it, move! Get out of my way!”
Screams. Shouts. Cries. The Mine Shaft became a boiling cauldron of panic. Even the Overseer’s Whip was useless—no one listened. Not even the Overseer himself could resist the urge to slip away.
“I just want to live…”
“Almost there… just need to get out…”
But in the midst of the frenzy, in the noise and chaos, countless others were swallowed without a sound—dragged into the Darkness, never to be seen again.
Then, the first group—those who’d thrown caution to the wind—began scrambling up the narrow shaft, desperate to escape.
But the shadow was already upon them.
“Ah—!”
The lead figures vanished in an instant, swallowed by the void.
For a fleeting second, a Torch flickered—illuminating a towering Pale Blue Colossus, its form gliding through the air like a specter.
Where they’d stood, nothing remained.
The Torch went dark, plunging into the abyss.
The people behind, unaware, pressed forward blindly.
The ones in front, shaken by the fate of their comrades, dared not move—but were shoved from behind, forced to inch forward into the unknown.
The Chewing Sound was drowned beneath the din.
Hart stared, sweat pouring from his brow, dripping down his chin.
Despair clawed at his chest.
How? How do we run?
That Monster needed only a second.
It could sit at the entrance and feast—its Bottomless Stomach hungry for every soul that came near.
“Throw Spears forward!”
“Kill it! Kill the Monster!”
Driven by desperation, the miners obeyed blindly, hurling their Spears into the Darkness—random, unaimed, futile.
All they heard were sharp clinks, the sound of metal striking stone.
They screamed. They wept.
To them, the Darkness was no longer a cave—it was the mouth of death.
Then—laughter.
A rasping, guttural chuckle emerged from the black.
“Humans… your little tricks are adorable.”
“I’ve already eaten three giant bats, two Goblins, and eight of you. But my belly still isn’t full. Not even close. I could devour all of you.”
The Monster slithered forward from the shadows, its form slowly revealed by the flickering Torchlight.
Only its head was visible—its jagged, vertical pupils glowing with unnatural light. Massive, curved horns curled backward from its temples, like the horns of a demon.
Its maw, barely parted, could swallow three men whole.
Its body—long, serpentine—was a grotesque fusion of Crocodile and Centipede, covered in striped scales. Dozens of legs stretched endlessly into the darkness, dragging like a living wall.
In the wavering firelight, its face twisted into a grin—cold, cruel, and utterly terrifying.
“I won’t miss this chance. You’ve come to me, like a feast on a platter. Perfect.”
“No! Don’t eat me!”
“It’s over… we’re all dead!”
“Help! Please!”
“It’s coming—it’s coming!”
Panic turned to frenzy.
Men and women shoved, tripped, screamed—trampling one another in a mad scramble to escape hell.
But the Monster didn’t rush.
It followed—slow, deliberate, crawling like a Shepherd herding sheep.
Occasionally, it would pause, snatch one or two, and swallow them whole with a single, wet gulp.
“I don’t mind playing a little Game,” it rasped.
“Run. Run as fast as you can…”
“My mood is still quite lively.”
To the miners, its voice was the Call of Death.
Each word chilled their blood, plunging them deeper into terror.
Thwack!
Klu’s Arrow struck the Monster’s side—useless.
The weak Spears, tiny Arrows, and dull swords—no matter how hard they tried—were nothing more than pebbles against the Monster’s armored hide.
Even if one struck true, breaking its Armor Class, the wound was negligible against such a vast, monstrous frame.
Barbarian Scar could take it no more.
He stopped. Turned. Faced the Beast.
But his mighty body—once feared by men—was nothing more than a mouse before this abomination.
Scar drew in a deep breath, gripped his Iron Hammer, and roared, “After all these years, I’ve always been the one doing the playing. Never once have I been the toy!”
“AAAAAAH—!”
His eyes burned crimson.
Frenzy took hold.
He charged—like a knight charging a windmill—unyielding, berserk.
The Monster didn’t flinch.
It simply watched, amused—like a child observing a toy that refuses to stop moving.
“FRENZIED STRIKE!”
With a bellow, Scar swung.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Each hammer blow landed with thunderous force—cracking the Monster’s chest plates, sending shards of blue-tinged scales flying.
A trickle of pale blue blood welled from the wounds.
“Interesting,” the Monster chuckled, its voice dripping with mockery.
“I’ll give you a death worthy of your struggle.”
Scar, now wild with rage, hammered again and again—desperate, blind.
But soon, he realized—his world was shrinking.
The Monster’s body had begun to coil—slow, deliberate—wrapping around him like a cage of living stone.
Not wrapping. Not binding.
It was trapping him—entombing him in a prison of flesh and scale.
Scar felt the pressure close in.
His muscles strained. His breath came in ragged gasps.
And then—through the roaring in his ears—came his final thought.
Guess I’m… dying of suffocation.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
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