Chapter 20: Presence
Chapter 20: Presence
His vision went dark. Buried beneath the beasts, smothered by teeth and claws, he felt something crack loose inside him.
[Savage Feed // -3SM]
[Mutation // Active]
A foreign sound tore from his body. Not a roar. Not a scream. A snap.
At the edge of the chaos, the Alpha froze. Its glowing eyes widened. It stepped back. Something about the scream was different.
Where the imp should have been, where its pack should have been tearing him apart, an enormous black maw erupted. Rows of jagged teeth spun wide, swallowing everything nearby in a single violent snap.
[+5 Exp]
[+5 Exp]
[+5 Exp]
[+5 Exp]
[+5 Exp]
[+5 Exp]
Notifications flooded his vision, but he didn't care. He couldn't. He remembered using Savage Feed last time. That desperate pull, that mindless hunger. But there was no timer. No control.
His mouth, massive now, stretching wide enough to bite down multiple bodies whole, snapped again without hesitation.
[+5 Exp]
[+5 Exp]
[+5 Exp]
[+5 Exp]
[+5 Exp]
[Demonic Will // +4 HP]
[Hellfire // -1SM]
The Alpha screamed. Instantly, the advancing hounds halted, confused. The imp didn't.
He lunged and bit deep.
[+5 Exp]
[+5 Exp]
[+5 Exp]
[+5 Exp]
And again.
[+5 Exp]
[+5 Exp]
[+5 Exp]
[+5 Exp]
[+5 Exp]
[+5 Exp]
One after another. Whole demons vanished in a blur of gnashing black.
The pack broke, the ground shaking as the Alpha signaled the retreat. It's body rippled, oily flesh peeling and stretching, its frame bulking.
Chomp!
The imp's jaws closed on nothing but air. He froze. Hunger surged in his gut like molten lead as a single notification blinked.
[Savage Feed // Deactivate]
[Cooldown // 24 Hours]
[Demonic Will // +4 HP]
[Hellfire // -1SM]
His jaws cracked. Grinding. Shifting. Snapping back to shape with sick, wet pops. Steam bled from his shoulders and spine as his body readjusted. The cleavers stayed ready in his grip, shaking slightly as the recoil hit him.
Even after killing more than twenty, it wasn't enough. Savage Feed at F Rank gave no bonuses beyond raw experience. No extra healing. No boosts. Just the kill.
He quickly glanced at his UI. He had to think fast.
[HP // 56/70]
[SM // 7/13]
[EXP // 497/616]
[Hellfire // Active]
[Demonic Will // Stack 5]
[Rend // 2:46]
He had three AP. It wasn't enough. Even if he threw them all into agility, he wouldn't outrun the Alpha. Not even close.
He clenched his teeth. Pain crawled through him, backlash from Savage Feed tearing his insides raw. He ignored it. Couldn't show weakness. Not now.
Eyes forward, cleavers steady, he faced the pack. He didn't shrink. He bared his teeth, dragging the cleaver blades together with a harsh scrape, letting the sound bite the air.
Then he laughed.
A broken, wild sound. Full of spite. Full of hunger. Full of defiance.
An Imp laughed, and something cracked in the air. The demons hesitated, then every last hound took a step back. Even the Alpha. For the first time, the D Rank demon looked uncertain.
Its sickly skin rippled, muscle twisting as it glared at him. It knew something was wrong. This wasn't prey anymore. This wasn't a normal hunt.
The imp's grin strained. He was bluffing. His new skill he'd just unlocked was unlikely to be some godly trump card. There was no divine ability coming to save him. No hidden spell. Just the bluff.
He stepped forward. Slow, deliberate, and aggressive.
The pack flinched.
A dozen hounds shuffled back, muscles tight, heads low. Even the Alpha, six feet tall at the shoulder, hesitated. Rage and confusion mixed on its snarling face.
Then, the imp screeched.
"AGHEEEE!"
The sound wasn't random. It wasn't rage. It was older than that.
Only a real demon could scream like that. A challenge. Something inside the Alpha buckled. Its instincts screamed in unison. This wasn't prey, this was a predator. The wrong fight. Without another sound, the Alpha turned and fled.
And so did the rest.
"...Huh?"
He didn't know. Neither did the system.
The Alpha, imposing, dangerous, able to dominate any hound it found and bind them into its pack, was at its core just one thing: cautious. A hunter that lived by one rule.
Flee. Fight another day.
And as the imp stood there, frozen, mouth half-open, he watched in disbelief as the Carrion Hounds fled. Not scattered in panic, but organized. A few lagged behind, screaming and thrashing, likely left to cover the Alpha's retreat.
He didn't care. None of that mattered.
He just needed to run.
"System! Look for hiding places while I move!"
He didn't wait for an answer. Tail whipping behind him, legs pumping, he bolted.
Hellfire faded with a thought. He couldn't afford it anymore. Only five Soulmass left. Demonic Will flickered out soon after since combat had ended. His body felt exposed now. Vulnerable.
Every sound felt wrong. Every shift in the flesh beneath his feet sent panic spiking through his gut. His head swiveled with every breath, convinced at any second jaws would snap shut around him.
He vaulted a twisting wall of flesh-teeth, landing hard and running again. That's when the system finally cut in.
[Potential safe location northeast of User's current position.]
A marker pinged in the corner of his map.
He snapped his head in that direction. Three black spires stabbed into the sky ahead, jagged and crooked. Stone. The first he'd had seen on the surface. That alone made his heart leap.
He shifted course instantly, sprinting for them. Stone meant high ground. Walls. Somewhere to climb and hide.
Blood, filth, and grease clung to his body. He could feel his skin overheating, his thoughts spiraling between panic and desperation as he ran. Every breath burned as—
He tripped.
Cartilage, wet and thick, caught his step. He hit the ground hard, rolling and scrambling back up with blades raised in defense.
...Nothing.
Just a lump of dead meat.
He stood there for a second, panting. Heart slamming against his ribs like a war drum. Then it hit him.
Really hit him.
"I'm alive..."
He started moving again, slower now. His feet were heavy, but something new swelled in his chest.
His lips curled. He wanted to laugh, but holding it back, the grin stayed. Wide. Proud and satisfied.
He'd lived.
And as that realization settled, another thought crept in. Strange and uninvited, but warm in its own way.
'I wonder if Charon would laugh if I told him about this...'
Still smiling, still tasting his own blood on his tongue, he crossed the final stretch.
The black stone towered ahead.
He wasn't safe yet, but for now, he'd lived.
And that was enough.
----
High above the flesh field, tucked inside a jagged crack of stone, the imp finally found safety.
Pressed tight against the dark surface, body low, blades back within his flesh, he might as well have vanished. Unless something had special eyesight, he was practically invisible here.
He'd survived.
[System // Notification]
[Quest // Flee!]
[Condition // Successfully escape certain death // COMPLETE]
[Reward // Survival Skill Choice / Exp // Distributing....]
His heart pounded. He never expected to make it. As the glowing red panel lit his face, he couldn't help but grin.
[+100 Exp]
He watched the bar rise, inching up like blood filling a vessel.
[Exp // 497 -> 597/616]
Close. Almost there. That alone felt good. But then came the true reward. A new screen blinked into existence. Two options.
[Rotflow] and [Splatterspine]
No explanation, just names. Annoyed, he tapped Rotflow first.
[System Skill // Rotflow]
[Rank // F]
[Description]
[Dissolves the body into a biological fluid for escape.]
Tilting his head, he started to pictured it. Melting down into sludge, slipping into cracks like a bug.
"...Doesn't sound fast."
He touched the second option.
[System Skill // Splatterspine]
[Rank // F]
[Description]
[Stores foul-smelling pus along spine. Can explode to create cover.]
His nose scrunched. Disgust overrode curiosity.
"Seriously? That's the best you have?"
[User is still F Rank. Recommendation: Lower expectations.]
Blunt. Fair.
Sighing, he chose the lesser evil.
[Reward Accepted]
[System Skill Unlock // Rotflow]
"I'll check the details later."
He swiped it away. His attention was already drifting. Something else gnawed at him. A skill he hadn't yet checked. The one from his level up.
Navigating to his User Profile, he scrolled fast through the familiar menus, stopping dead the moment his eyes caught gold lettering.
His jaw dropped. His claws twitched.
"What?! S+?!"
He almost fell from his perch, hissing in shock.
"System, why didn't you say anything?!"
[User did not request information.]
He glared at the panel. He couldn't even argue that. Instead, his eyes locked onto the glowing text, heart hammering in his chest.
[ACTIVE SKILLS]
[Rend // F]
[Desecration // S+]
His claws hovered for a moment, then stabbed forward.
He had to know.