When he reached the end of the hall, he finally saw them. A middle-aged man with a baby in his arms, both of them covered in dust from the collapse. He was looking around frantically, as though he was unsure of where he was. When his eyes locked with Arthur’s, Arthur recognized him as the family that had been in the room with him when he visited Puffy. The woman was missing. The man was manic, his stammering starting almost immediately when he saw Arthur. The baby in his arms was still crying as the man stumbled toward him, panicked babbling the entire way.
“Wait, sir-” Arthur began to warn him about making too much noise, but he was cut off by a gurgling roar from around the corner. As he realized he was too late, he turned to the man and began rushing toward him. The man stood in frozen terror, a look of confusion and fear twisting his face into a rictus. Arthur put his hand on the man’s back and began pushing him forward.
“Come on, we need to leave! Now!!” Arthur yelled. He was no longer trying to be quiet, and knew that if they didn’t leave soon, things would get dangerous fast. The man wasn’t fighting, but he was difficult to move as his legs shook. It wasn’t long before it was clear that they were never going to make it, however. The monster’s spindled legs appeared from behind the corner, one, then two poking around as if prodding the area. Arthur watched in horror as the abomination’s body gradually made its way around the corner, its main body the remnants of a stingray. As it turned to face them, Arthur felt the man grip his arm in horror.
His hands were… shaking. Arthur could also hear the man’s hyperventilations, and the unadulterated fear in it was like a knife to the heart. Arthur had always been more empathetic than was good for him, and he was hypersensitive to the man’s terror. His own was an afterthought compared to that, and he realized he was instinctively pushing the man behind him. He didn’t understand why, but he hardly had time to think as the monster came into full view.
Stingray Abomination
Level: 5
Arthur watched as the abomination grew closer. He and the man couldn’t run as it was, as the abomination approached from the corner where he himself had come from. The current corridor they were in was in a T shape, with the only other way out blocked by the abomination. Arthur and the man were on the only side with a dead end. After a moment of silence, the abomination suddenly burst forward, and Arthur felt the man release his arm and scream. The baby’s cries grew louder, and the abomination added to the cacophony with another gurgling screech.
Arthur’s breath caught, and he charged forward without thinking. The abomination crashed into his trash-can lid, spindled arms stabbing against it. One made it through and hit Arthur’s shoulder, sending an explosion of pain through his body. Though he let out a yelp, he kept pressing against the monster with the strength he could muster. His arms ached, and his legs screamed with effort, but he only barely held the monster off. Luckily for him, the monster’s macabre arms were positioned in such a way during the charge that it could not reach its arms around the shield to stab at Arthur. Small mercies were far from enough, however, as the abomination began to overpower him and push him back.
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Arthur could practically hear the bones in his body groan as the abomination’s spittle spraying roars echoed behind his trash-can lid. He could smell its breath, like a half digested rat inside of a dead and rotting bird. The abomination never stopped stomping its spindly legs, as if throwing a tantrum that it’d been halted by a trash-can lid. The rhythmic thumping of its legs and its repeated shrill screeches were all Arthur could hear as he braced himself against it.
Arthur knew that if they were going to get away, that he’d need to move the abomination out of the way. He knew he couldn’t, however, as he quickly flagged. His legs were practically jelly, and his arms were far worse, held in place only because they were too rigidly set to let them down. Blood trickled down his side, the arm of the abomination lodged in his shoulder. Beads of bitter sweat touched his lips as he fought to keep his weary eyes from shutting. Just then, somehow over the din of noise, he heard the man’s whimpers behind him. He mustered the energy to look back for a moment, wide eyed. He saw the same unfiltered horror on the man’s face, this time adjoined by wetness in his eyes. He seemed just about ready to curl up into a fetal position, but for the baby in his arms. His legs were shaking, and the man closed his eyes with a miserable, heart-wrenching sob, tears now freely streaming down his fear twisted face.
Arthur turned back towards the monster with a determination and fury that burned his insides. The fire grew to every point in his body, until it felt as though it could burst out. The fire gripped his heart and took control of his limbs, which no longer felt tired.
Congratulations!
You’ve gained the
[Heart of Devotion]
Title!
Arthur let out a bellow that came from a depth within him he never knew he had. He pushed back as hard as he could… and began gaining ground. Slowly, the spindled legs of the monstrosity dragged across the floor, the screeches of the abomination becoming more manic and ear pounding. The sound of its sharp legs scraping against the glass on the floor added to the horrible noise as Arthur continued pushing it back, the slow pace becoming moderate. Finally, Arthur pushed the abomination past the conjoining hallway, giving the man a path out. Arthur wasted no time.
“GO… NOW!! NOOW!!!” Arthur screamed through the noise and his delayed exhaustion. He continued pushing as far as he could, getting well into the other hallway.
In the end, it was the shock of the abomination suddenly retracting its arm that caused Arthur to stumble. When it did, he’d toppled to the side only slightly, but it was enough. The abomination’s other arm was released from the lock with his trash-can lid, and it immediately stabbed him through the heart. Arthur jerked, a fountain of blood gushing from his chest and out his mouth. He looked down, seeing the crimson spike impaling him like a straw in a fast food cup lid. The newfound strength in his limbs left him as he began to grow cold. His legs gave out as the abomination lifted him towards its maw, filled with bone-like teeth the stingray could never have grown during its life. Another bone appendage stabbed into Arthur’s side to hold him still for the abomination to devour him, starting from his head. He hardly felt it, however, as the monster that killed him prepared to bite down.
Arthur wasn’t sure what happened next. He heard the abomination screech in pain, as he slipped off of its bone arms and onto the ground. He was unsure why he could still move at all, but he took that chance to inch his head towards where the man had been.
He was gone.
Good, Arthur thought. He hadn’t wanted to die, but this was the best death he could’ve asked for. He almost chuckled to himself, thinking about all the times he wished for death, only to realize that it was never true. In the back of his mind, he’d always known he was lying to himself. Despite that, however, he took comfort that his useless life could be spent for someone who clearly deserved a chance more than he did. He supposed that this wasn’t so bad, after all.
Level Up
You’ve reached level [2]
Your stats will be allocated appropriately for your class
You have [8] levels until you are allowed to allocate your free points.
You have [0] free points.
…What?
Congratulations!
You’ve reached Level 2
You may now choose your class
You have: 1 Class choice
[Audacity Knight](Legendary)
Would you like to choose this class?
YES - NO
Arthur used the last bit of his strength to press his finger against the “YES” button before blacking out, unsure of if he actually pressed it.