Elias had created a slight gap between himself and the statues behind him, but this space was rapidly closing as the statues began to shed their stone shells, revealing bleeding flesh beneath, black blood rising from their bodies like tentacles.
There had been faint traces of light emerging from the tunnel, but the cave Elias was running through was dark, and only his now increased senses allowed him to see, as it seemed as if his increased perception gave him a sort of weak echolocation, but he knew that it was most likely his Supernatural Detail Obsession from his perception reaching 31, his highest attributes by far.
Without his perception, Elias was sure that he would not have been able to see anything inside the tunnel, let alone the cave he was running deeper into. If he were not a Reawakened Siphon with attributes reaching the level of a Fury Forge, how could any Level 0 Wisp be able to survive a single second in this place?
"Elias!" a shrill scream rang out behind him, closer than he would have ever wanted. He had only a few seconds before these creatures tore him apart, "Return to us our blood, give us back our souls… we burn Elias… we burn!"
A strange light flickered in Elias's eyes. In the screams of these creature were not just rage; he could also hear a familiarity that should have been impossible to replicate.
These voices remembered his knife, his clamps, the careful cuts he made on their flesh, the boxes, the paste, and the molds. They remembered him!
Elias shoved the sudden terror that rose up from his spine. He frowned because the fear seemed not to be natural, as if the voices behind him had a way to summon fear in his body even if he did not want or need to feel this fear.
His Will at 28, which not only gave him Mental Shelters and Unyielding Code, was what he suspected also gave him the capacity not to freeze in place when he heard the cries of the creatures behind him. One of them should be able to tear him apart, but behind him were thousands.
A thought entered his mind, and a portion of his Status Screen flashed before his eyes.
- Yseult's Blood Fragment (Single-Use – Fate-erasing strike; restriction decay: 9%)
Maybe it was because he was running and under incredible stress, but the restriction on the Commander's blood was loosening increasingly faster.
Suddenly, the tunnel sloped downward in such a drastic manner that if there were not blue streaks of light emerging from the walls of the cave before him, Elias would have bashed his skull against the roof of the cave.
With more grace than he had ever had, despite his body still not being in top shape, Elias bent at the waist, but his legs were still moving forward. Loud thumps that shook the cave and sent waves of wind buffeting Elias came from behind him as his pursuers had not stopped quickly enough and had slammed into the roof of the cave.
This should delay them for a time, but Elias knew that he had just bought himself a few seconds and nothing more. He exhaled, feeling the air growing heavier and colder, tasting of iron and age.
As he ran, he had to lower his head, but he was not too inconvenienced; he could imagine that the creatures behind him, being twelve feet tall, would have to be crawling through this cave, and this should delay their speed and could give him a chance to retaliate.
Running would not solve all his problems, especially when he suspected that there may be worse creatures ahead of him. He had been running for long enough; he should begin his payback.
The slope of the tunnel was getting steeper, but his feet were almost like hands as they grabbed the rough, stony ground, allowing him to keep his balance, and his sight was getting better due to the veins of Lumina that were becoming more prevalent in the cave, lighting it up with a blue glow as if Ember Orbs were hiding in the walls.
He continued running, backpack slamming into his spine, with his heart pounding with something that was closer to joy.
The hunt had reversed, but he was still the hunter, and hunters, good hunters, never stop moving.
He had killed Fury Forge when he was a mortal, and now that he was a Reawakened Siphon, perhaps only a challenge like this was worthy of his first hunt. Elias believed that as long as he was not instantaneously killed, he could reverse the situation.
He sprinted deeper, the tunnel narrowing, the walls closing in until he could almost touch both sides with outstretched arms, that is, if he still had two. There were sickening squelching sound behind him, and Elias glanced back to see a mass of bloody flesh and long arms reaching for him.
This passage was tight for a single giant, but dozens of them were trying to reach him at the same time, and they were crushing themselves into a ball of meat. The sight was truly horrifying to see, but from the way the walls of the cave were being caved in, this blockage would only slow down his pursuers, not stop them.
It was slightly confusing to Elias how these giants would exhibit smartness in some instances, and in others, they were more like mindless animals. This detail was extremely important, and Elias knew that he had to figure it out before too long or his hunt might end abruptly. He did not want to be confused in the way or manner that his prey behaved, or he would make costly mistakes.
The air grew colder, thicker, tasting of wet stone and old blood. His bare feet slapped against rough rock, each step sending jolts up his half-healed legs. His eyes were focused ahead of him, disregarding the cries of his name from the giants behind him, and so the first trap almost ended him.
A faint click under his right foot, so soft he almost missed it. New instincts screamed at him, and he threw himself sideways and forward, slamming shoulder-first into the wall and sliding a bit forward.
Behind him, the floor where he had stood dropped away like a trapdoor, revealing a pit lined with jagged stalagmites, each one sharpened to spear-points by some ancient hand. The hole was perfectly square, ten feet on each side, and deep enough that the bottom was lost in shadow.
Elias's breath came in sharp gasps. If he had been even half a second slower… If he had fallen, this would have been the end for him.
He found himself smiling, then laughing… he had never felt such fear before… he had never felt so alive!