Encountering the harrowing horror that is the cause of all the misfortune for steel. Maybe not all the misfortune.
Some can even say that he shouldn't be blaming others for his own misfortune. It isn't like he was dropped in here without his own consent, he literally walked all the way from his cozy home to be here.
He should take responsibility for once for his own actions. But then again, he is a demon. So taking responsibility isn't what he should be doing. Like if the Mother demon had taken her responsibility then these Devil spawns wouldn't even exist.
So let's learn from the elders and blame the hideous mindless and scary abomination for all his misery. Not the one who created it though.
Now that his conscious is free from all the guilt for putting himself in this situation. He can worry about the actual concerns. Like getting the hell out of here, somehow.
Currently he's taking shelter for five minutes in a narrow crack while above him the abominations are slaughtering each other for that damned flesh. It is a nightmare.
His body only suffered through few scratches and bruises, also that deep wound caused by that slug. Anymore encounters with these creatures would mean certain death.
'I better get out of this death zone..'
If he have to guess, he has crossed half of the distance needed to escape this place. After that, he wouldn't be in the open and his elusive nature would keep him somewhat safe. But the last half is gonna be the hardest to cross.
Weaker devil spawns would be in the outer rings of the death zone. Devouring flesh far away from the more harrowing devils.
Even if they're weaker than those that are in the inner circle. They can still rip Steel apart without any effort. In times like these, he wishes that his skin was as hard as steel too, not just his will.
But alas, he isn't luck enough. If he was lucky he wouldn't even be here from the beginning.
Only plan he can come up with is to go through a slightly deeper fissure. There could be wounded devil spawns there, heck it would be more difficult to run away in that tight space. However, it would be dark and his stealth like ability would work best for that situation.
Darkness would also be an hindrance but he can manage. Probably.
He would've asked for some feedback from River. But all that planning was happening in his mind so she probably had heard it all. So no worries.
Plan is set, so he leaves his narrow crack and looks at the sky. The sun is still high up in the sky, but soon it will be going down.
'better pick up the pace…'
Steel runs while keeping safe distance from the devil spawns and looking for narrow fissures to climb inside. It would be impossible to find a fissure that makes a straight line to the outside, that would be too convenient to exist.
So only hope he has is to find relatably long fissures and go through them. Away from the devil spawns, that way he can take a breather too. Dealing with these devil spawns and all this bloodshed is stressing him out.
While Steel is focused on looking for an escape route and at the devil spawns. An sweet voice speaks in his head.
[our old companion is back…]
Steel gets alarmed. Failing to understand what he just heard in this head.
'what..'
She was looking through the same pair of eyes. How can she see more than him? He has been paying attention at every possible place. At front, behind him, left and right and even at the ground.
What did she even mean by "old companion" anyway? Only thing that comes to mind is that ugly slug? But didn't he left it with some way bigger devil spawn? It couldn't be possible for a smaller devil to kill a bigger one.
Steel is stressing out. He suddenly stops near a deep fissure and notices something in his peripheral vision. An explosive moment.
That Damn slug was hiding from him. Stalking him all around like he was his prey. Waiting for the right moment to strike.
Steel was so oblivious to all of it. He didn't even noticed those little moments at his peripheral vision. He was too caught up with the rest of the world. He had trusted that his ability to hide but it wasn't enough. That slug probably had killed or it just ran away from the other devil spawn just to kill him. Now it had found it chance to attack.
The slug is jumping at him with full force. Its singular arm stretches outward to pierce his heart. Steel would be dead in just four or five seconds.
He can't do anything. Even if he had time, an ordinary knife is useless. That isn't enough to kill a devil spawn. He is certainly dead.
So with no other choice at hand, he stops worrying about the consequences and sway himself off into the deep fissure. Ready to fall in the deep dark darkness of the fissure.
He narrowly avoids the claw of the devil slug.
With whatever quick motion he can perform before plunging down inside the dark abyss. He wraps his arms around River's small body to prevent any excessive damage. She is like a rag doll, so keeping her arms and legs close to his body is important. Otherwise, they might break during the fall.
Steel's body hits every possible edge as he falls down. Slowing his descend to some degree.
In no more than ten seconds, he's down in the deep fissure. The ground is sand so it somewhat cushioned his fall. But it still hunts like hell.
His back hurts like hell, at least it isn't broken. Some blood is coming from the back of his head, it is a miracle that he hasn't lost consciousness. Rest of his body is also bruised and hurt.
River seems to be fine. Looking at her creepy stitched face doesn't really make him feel any better though.
In the end, the fissure wasn't that deep. Just the journey was a little bumpy.
'atleast I escaped that ugly slu-'
And then he heard the sound of something else falling inside of the fissure too. It also suffered during the journey but had a better landing than Steel.
It is the Devil Slug.
"oh come on, leave me alone. I'll even apologise to you for calling you ugly.."