End of the Tenth Night

The moon began to sink when the hidden lunar eclipse ended with the Water Sentinel forming.

The Pentafive was oblivious to what happened all this time and discussed a few matters that made them curious.

"Are there any places you know that the others could have gone to hide?", Old Ze asked in a serious manner.

These others he talked about were obviously the "people" they left there in Gantlet when they tried to kill the juvenile Giganslik.

They were all silent to this question.

"Another place? While I was here, I just stayed in this mountain. I didn't wander in this vicious land.", Veronia stated, "I always sneak and hide while I try to get chylefruits in the short vicinity."

"Same here. After I picked up a sharp and sturdy wood, I used it to defend any slime that came crawling into the cave. It was sure a hellish experience.", Sceke had a sour face when he said this. Remembering those times were already hard for him.

The five already knew the background of each other, however, even after repeating this discussion didn't lose its spark.

No matter what technique and plans they had to survive, it was already brilliant that they survived!

"I know you've heard this many times but the torches are the only tools I can use to defend those slime. These were my precious life-savers.", Hanzee looked at his own made torch deeply.

"But really, I know that surviving was hard for you, guys but I couldn't imagine what you went through when the flood came in.", Old Ze and Ye had their own story where both of them were transported to Gantlet at the same time.

It was their mysterious luck so Old Ze didn't want to rub it off the other three.

"Yeah...", Sceke saddened when he looked around the spacious cave.

The last time he was there, he was alone and had all the time to himself for twenty-five nights. It wasn't a fun experience at all.

'Every time I looked out that window, I saw terror...', he looked far away as he saw the moon was descending.

The other two, Veronia and Hanzee had gone through isolation as well.

This was their survival method.

After the first five nights, they survived on their own and when the flood came, they escaped the drainers and the scrapers and found this cave in which they stayed until the thirtieth night.

Every night, they bit little chylefruit as possible. Even if they went hungry, they endured, saving the last chylefruits they have until the end of the night.

Maybe that was the reason they couldn't handle too much chylefruits since that was they were accustomed to. This was true since the first ability given to a rune user was Adapt.

But the Pentafive was also oblivious to this and always thought that it was normal since the rune says not to eat too much chylefruits.

None from the City of Misfortune denied this.

"But from the books I've read in the only library in the city, there are other runes scattered across Gantlet.", Hanzee changed the topic in the hope to brighten the mood.

"Ohhh, I've never heard you entered the library?", Veronia lifted an eyebrow.

Sceke then smiled, "For his size, he sure can fit into any hole."

A nerve popped in Hanzee's forehead, "No, dumbass! I exchanged a chylefruit to enter!"

The library they spoke of was free to enter to anyone. Hearing that Hanzee had to pay one precious chylefruit saddened the others.

"So, what did you get from reading there?", Sceke spoke immediately.

"Near these runes are safe places like this mountain, indestructible.", Hanzee then continued, "Then I also learned the name of this mountain - First Port."

If it was in any normal world, it wasn't any shocking but in Gantlet, it was.

The others expressed their shocked faces. They knew Gantlet Woodland is vast that they could never hope to explore but receiving a clue like this...

If it was called the First Mountain, there should be a second one, right?

But the group had no idea about this even though they've been to the City of Misfortune, the place created by the survivors for the survivors in the second stage of Gantlet, Gantlet Desert.

But all sighed since nobody knew the meaning of this.

Hanzee only pointed out that there are other places that could've been as safe as this mountain, the First Port.

"Is that all?", Sceke asked in a rather silent voice but he was neither disappointed nor happy about it.

"Ah, yes", Hanzee continued ashamed, "I was dragged out before I could even finish the first page."

".....", the atmosphere tensed up even more.

"... ah... but that book only has a few pages so that wasn't such a big deal.", Hanzee tried to lighten the mood himself, "Only a few of those ruffians can read and write ahahaha."

"Yeah...", Veronia silently agreed.

Nobody could think to initiate another topic on their own...

'Ughh...', Old Ze had a sour face, 'So awkward...', but soon after,, something caught his attention as he heard water splashes.

Not just any sound of a splash of water, it was... massive.

Old Ze looked and took the attention of the other, "The Water Sentinel!", he exclaimed.

The hole that acted as a window in their cave was wide enough for five heads to fit into it.

Just like an undulating mirror that reflected the bright moonlight, the flood looked brilliant and spectacle at first sight that it made anyone who saw it forgot about what danger that lies beneath.

However, for the Pentafive, they did not forget since it was reminded them by the danger itself, swimming in the surface, creating tides big enough to reach a kilometer away.

It was truly a monster.

"If it wasn't for this mountain, we could've been swallowed by that monstrosity.", even though Veronia said something so grim nobody really cared, but they agreed.

"But the tenth night is already ending, isn't it too late on arrival?", Sceke brought out a question from his keen observation.

"Now that you've said it, it is either the others are too far away or that...", Old Ze didn't want to finish it but Hanzee did;

"The Water Sentinel is already finished with them and its next target is us."

If they couldn't capture water creatures any longer because of the appearance of the Water Sentinel and the expectation of there are other people are gone, shouldn't they leave for now?

Just thinking about it made them all gloomy.

"No, it's not set in stone yet.", Sceke positivity didn't let them lose hope and come back with nothing again, "We should wait first to see the Water Sentinels behavior. If the others are really just far away and in a safe place, it will come back and forth, and that will be our time to act."

Veronia nodded with a determined face, "Yes!"

This is the special trait of the Pentafive. After going through and surviving all these horrifying experiences, they understood that giving up is the same as dying, and none of them obviously wanted to die.

They are persistent!

After observing the Water Sentinel that just swam continuously around the mountain, the Pentafive felt relieved.

Nothing had changed and if this continues, then they will be safe as the last time.

They looked at the Water Sentinel like an exotic animal in a zoo, and since they had nothing to do. The five just lined up on the soiled window to view the surrealism of reality.

While the five relaxed and waited for something, inside the Water Sentinel, one was experiencing hell.

This was the most painful experience Renir had gone through yet.

Inside the belly of the Water Sentinel were just pure pitch black darkness and liquid that has an elevation higher than Renir's height that devoured him completely.

Feeling extraordinary suffering without rest, Renir shouted underneath this torturous liquid that made no sound.

His skin was slowly deteriorating as if acid was eating it away little by little.

Renir could feel his entire skin being pulled away and disappearing. His whole body relentlessly twitched and veins popped here and there.

The only thing that kept his consciousness was the terror of death!

In this light liquid, Renir desperately and hopelessly flailed as if he was in a space vacuum, freely floating and moving in any direction.

If he could see himself, he would puke out of pure disgust since his state was just a blood-coated humanoid without skin and thought.

This suffering, Renir couldn't think of anything to escape even if he was most desperate.

Because of his flailing and fluttering, he reached the surface of this torturous liquid but as he reached out his blood-coated skinless arm into the dark, he touched a hard surface...

That was when his struggles slowly stopped. Even if there was light, he couldn't see anything with his peeled eyes.

At the end of the tenth night, Renir had his second death.