Absolute Dark

But again, as the light of the blue flame cut through the darkness, some semblance of noise would once again return to the world, at least enough for Minos to hear the sound of his own steps.

Once again, ironic as it was, the blue flame was actually helping him in this horrifying place, Minos not certain he could get by without it.

Because of that, he found himself between a rock and a hard place, wanting to escape the blue flame, but also aware that without its help, his journey would be much more dangerous.

After some thought, Minos decided to keep relying on the blue flame, at least for the time being.

Its speed was still within an acceptable range, so Minos planned on using it until it surpassed his comfort zone.

Once it did however, he would try to escape, even if it meant he had to deal with this endless darkness.

…

With the help of the strange blue flame, Minos made his way deeper into the abyss, the absolute silence nerve-wracking.

At his cultivation, even without his vision, his sense of hearing was so advanced that it could act as a substitute, but here, even that was deprived.

Nearly blind and deaf, it was foreign experience to him, one he hadn't even experienced back when he was a mortal.

The only sense that still worked was his sense of smell, which seemed more of a negative in this place that stunk of sulfur, a smell akin to rotten eggs.

But despite the awful stench, it at least was a reminder that he wasn't completely senseless, which strangely enough gave Minos a sense of comfort.

'Enjoying' the stink that helped keep him grounded, Minos kept moving, his eyes constantly scanning his surroundings just in case.

"Thud"

Hearing a sudden noise, Minos quickly whipped his head around, the hair on his arms standing stiff as he stared into the darkness.

He had clearly heard something, yet looking back, there was nothing there, just the blue flame that was still following from some distance.

'What was that…?' Minos thought to himself, his movement coming to a stop as he raised his guard to the fullest.

"Thud"

Once again, Minos heard the noise from behind him, and again as he turned, he saw nothing but more darkness.

At this point he was certain something was stalking him, and from its speed, it was clearly much stronger then he was.

The Hell Beasts from before were already beyond him, so one could only imagine how horrifying the creatures that survived down here were.

He was just lucky that it hadn't attacked yet, otherwise with how quick it was, it was very likely it could injure, or even kill him.

Thinking rapidly about how to deal with this unknown creature, Minos's eyes suddenly paused on the blue flame that was only a couple dozen meters away.

While he wasn't strong enough to deal with this creature, he felt the blue flame was, so without any choice, Minos began inching towards it, not moving too fast for fear of provoking the predator after him.

It seemed his slow movements helped in keeping the beast away, because while it kept making noises around him, it had yet to attack.

Minos knew the creature was testing him, seeing how he reacted before deciding whether to go for the kill or not.

For beasts like that, fear was their trigger, and the second they sensed it, it was over for whatever it was they were hunting.

Unfortunately for the beast in question, Minos had long since mastered his own emotions, making it impossible for it to gauge his true strength.

Finally, as Minos kept moving, he arrived just beyond the danger range of the blue flame, but unlike last time, he didn't stop moving.

With his Nux shield around him, he got closer and closer, the heat becoming so intense that his Nux began directly misting, as if the heat was eating away at it, which Minos didn't even know was possible.

Hearing the unknown beast still moving behind him, Minos grit his teeth and kept summoning more Nux to make up for whatever he lost, still not stopping his movements.

The blue flame was burning through his Nux at a tremendous speed, and Minos felt like he could only maintain this for a half hour at most.

Praying that the beast would be scared off by the heat before his Nux ran out, Minos could only hold steady.

But the beast seemed unaffected by the flame, the sound from its movement still got closer towards him.

Without any choice, Minos could only go deeper, his Nux burning up faster the closer he got towards the blue flame.

The half hour he had was quickly reduced, rapidly dropping from 30 minutes to only 20, then 10, and soon enough, only a couple.

By this point the heat was so intense that despite his Nux shield, Minos's flesh was bubbling, the skin on the surface melting into a liquid.

The sight was horrifying, not to mention torturously painful, but Minos kept calm, his eyes still peering out into the darkness.

For a couple minutes, there was no sound, Minos starting to believe that his plan may have worked, but before he could even let out a sigh of relief, a strange creature appeared out of the darkness ahead of him.

How to describe this beast? It was leopard-like, with black fur and a sleek body that seemed built for speed.

Its head had a large black mane that added a sense of majesty to it, and rather than having a single tail, it had what looked like nine.

On the tip of each tail was a small blue fire, similar to the one Minos was relying on to save his life.

As the creature finally came into sight, Minos's heart dropped completely, its piercing blue eyes staring him down, but still not attacking directly.

He'd never seen or even heard of a creature like this, but he knew one thing for certain, and that was that it was far stronger then he was.

However just as Minos was expecting it to attack, its vision diverted, its slitted-pupils quickly dilating as its breathing became more rapid.

Instantly, Minos knew it was looking at the blue flame, and it seemed like it was far more interested in it then it was in him.

This wasn't actually a bad thing though, and Minos planned on using its fascination in his favor, slowly inching away as it was completely absorbed by the blue flame.

This time, Minos actually got lucky for once, the creature losing all interest in him as it kept looking at the blue flame.

Like a siren's call enchanting seamen, the blue flame seemed to have an hypnotic effect on the beast, its body slowly moving towards it, despite the intense heat.

Unlike Minos however, this beast seemed to have a special immunity towards the heat, allowing it to travel much closer without any harm to itself.

Not interested in it or the blue flame, Minos just kept walking away cautiously, afraid any sudden noises would knock the creature from its reverie.

Before he could travel completely out of sight however, the beast and the blue flame finally came in contact.

Almost instantly, the blue flame traveled into the creature's body, its black fur igniting with a blue flame so vigorous that Minos's eyes were watering.

However this change didn't seem like a good thing for the beast, causing it to immediately let out a terrifying roar of pain as its body writhed intensely, as if attempting to put out the fire.

Minos knew immediately this wasn't a good sign, but again, he was afraid his movement would alert the beast, so he didn't pick up his pace.

Yet despite Minos's best attempts to stay quiet, the beast still seemed to notice him, taking a pause from its writing to stare him down.

The second the two's eyes came in contact, Minos knew the game was over, so without another world, he immediately bursted forward, hoping that the darkness could at least help him escape.

But as fast as Minos was, the beast was far, far faster, almost instantly arriving behind Minos as it swiped its claw at his back.

The heavy force immediately sent him flying forward, his body nearly torn into two pieces from the strike, just barely managing to survive.

After a bit of stumbling, Minos finally came to a pause, his breathing weak and his spine severed, completely paralyzing his movement from the waist down.

Raising his head with all his strength, Minos watched as the creature slowly crept towards him, ready to finish him off once and for all.

'You forced me!' Minos thought, deciding that even if he died, he wouldn't give this beast the last laugh.

Waiting patiently, Minos watched as the beast got closer, occasionally taking pauses due to the intense pain it was in.

Calculating precisely, Minos waited for the next pause to appear, using what was left of his strength to lunge towards the beast right at the same moment.

Due to the burst of pain, the creature missed the opportunity to attack, allowing Minos to wrap his arms tightly around its waist, causing the blue flame to rapidly spread to him.