14 The Sixth Night - Part 2 - Hopeless
Renir touched his chest and chills covered his whole body when he remembered the black slime's one and final attack.
His ribs got cracked and spontaneously some of his organs got raptured. That was the most blood he threw and the most gruesome experience he went through.
Renir kneeled in front of the river and drank some water. He didn't need it, but he wanted to.
He didn't feel the slightest discomfort when he kneeled on the bed of rocks. A hard stone caught his sight which he took.
After staring at the hard stone, he slowly clenched his hand into a fist. Cracks and crackle could be heard as the stone broke into pieces...
Does gaining this power worth the suffering he went through?
Or was he just dissatisfied by the gain after the pain?
When he ate the black slime, his internal and external wounds briefly healed, and from then on, he doesn't quite remember.
All he felt was the stinging pain from his crushed body before waking up by the sound of a shriek from afar, while he stood amidst remnants of slimes he might've massacred in his sleep.
A core was held in his hand while some in his mouth... does his body moved on its own?
If he ever feels he will go unconscious, Renir decided not to let his body control its own.
There was no disadvantage at that but he fears that if this continues, his instincts will reign supreme over his body and he will just become a mindless beast!
After woking up to consciousness by a shriek from afar, Renir was startled and fled from the scene.
He was in speculation of people were in there other than him and that sounded like a shriek of a little girl.
The sound from terror and fear was not unusual in Gantlet after all. He was not the least ashamed to admit he was always the source of that.
Without thinking, he hurriedly ran to the other side, closer to where he came from - the mountain with the cliff.
In his head, if that shriek was from others then they must've been in trouble...
Renir realized he was still humane and that felt good. That continued to keep his sanity from receding.
He didn't know if he can reach them or her before they are gone or periled. So he kept his speed accelerating and before he knew, he reached the river before the cave after climbing the cliff he fell from the other night.
'Eh?', Renir was surprised, 'Didn't I run this distance for almost.... half an hour.'
He paused to think but shrugged it off immediately, thinking he might've not noticed the time while running in a hurry.
But when he got there, there was nobody. It was quiet and that brings the present where he contemplated on the riverside.
He was in a half-conscious state earlier so it wouldn't be strange to hear hallucinations, he thought to himself.
But after a while, he sighed, 'I shouldn't waste time.'
So he stood up and crossed the river as if he crossed a road. Just a bit more and he could walk on water, but even if he ate a thousand water slimes, that is physically impossible.
When Renir was about to walk away, but with his sharp senses, almost nothing goes unnoticed. In the middle of the bed of rocks was a piece of white clothing.
He knew this smell, it was chylefruit, and there were other clothes as well.
Renir's eyes widened, "So... there were people here?"
This couldn't have been from him and the smell of the bland but magical chylefruit was still a bit fresh.
By then, he focused on his surroundings and ran.
'Am I just too late?!', Renir frowned, and soon he reached the mountain and the cliff he was woken up atop on it.
But, the cave... he couldn't find it, he knew it was there but a strange and massive object was covering it. It was at least thrice as tall as he is.
It was like a huge boulder with sharp edges that dropped the mountain.
Renir touched it, "The appearance and its texture seemed famili-...", he mumbled.
'No...'
His eyes shook and widened while his whole body froze, how could have he been so stupid?
Maybe he averted that thought since it was too terrifying to be true, its size was intimidating...
It showed Renir what true terror is when it glowed dark and burst in a fire, illuminating the whole area creating stretching shadows!
'I...I'm going to die...', his hand was burnt by the burst as he fell on his back, he truly felt that way but his body moved on its own and kicked the ground.
The giant was so hot his resistance to fire was futile.
Boom* the ground exploded as Renir leaped through the air and at the same time, either did the giant.
An ear-shattering sound exploded when the giant soared through the air, burning and crushing everything on its path until its force was stopped by dozens of trees - that turned into ashes.
Renir wanted to scream as both his right hand and right foot were burnt but no matter what, he needed to escape.
No matter how much Renir improved, he had no hope of defeating that.
'There's another one?', Renir thought in grief, 'Are there more? Or...'
'That thing was the cause of that shriek?'
Renir already thought how strange it was for the only black slime to spawn right in front of him.
And if there were other people or a person considering that shriek, the black slime must've spawned to them too, and that caused the shriek.
"Did... they leave that here?", Renir sadly whispered.
He was thinking if this kind of monster would only spawn in an area where there are people but he couldn't think straight when he saw his shadow stretched in front of him while black and red light surrounds it.
"Ugh!", he jumped sideways as fast as he could but his burnt foot made him groaned.
He, at least, needed to find chylefruit as he escaped from that monster, and while at it, think of a way to... defeat it.
"Can it be beaten?!", Renir shouted as he looked back after another ear-shattering sound boomed behind him and saw the destruction caused by that monster.
Out of fear, his senses blurred and made him tripped over a root of a tree.
He blamed himself for looking back as he stood up. Sweat was pouring for his complexion and his whole body, it was not from the running but from terror.
If that giant hit him even once, no amount of chylefruit could bring him back to life.
His emotions were not filled with rage against the person who left that monster here. It was not like it was their intention, he thought.
If they knew he was here and planned to kill him, they should've already done so a long time ago when he was so weak...
Maybe, it was the same for them and did not know Renir was there or another black slime spawned on the other side.
'It wasn't their intention...', Renir kept that in his mind, 'They were victims just like me!', he kept repeating so not to put the blame in them.
He was doing this so when the time comes for them to meet, Renir will saw them as allies, not enemies.
"But, if that monster is here, and they're not...", Renir closed his eyes along with his mind as he fled. He didn't want to think of this anymore.
What he needed to do was to find a way, no matter what!
In his mind, there was no way he could defeat that giant by mere fighting. No, he shouldn't even think about using his strength against that monster!
"How many slimes did that eat?!"
Even if Renir eat thousand of slimes and the black slime, only a hundred, he still had no way of defeating it.
From just its size, Renir can speculate it must've eaten more than a hundred slimes.
How strong is that compared to that last black slime who ate not more than ten?!
Renir only received one of its attacks and almost all of his organs got raptured at the spout some blood!
It was a miracle that he survived earlier.
A Boom!* then a Swoosh!* as loud as a bomb exploded and that was the cue for Renir to jump sideways!
"Argh!", he groaned again. Renir hadn't seen any chylefruits on his way or that he just didn't notice. One of his feet was still burnt so using it for a forceful leap was torturous.
At that time, Renir laid on his back as the giant stopped on its launch in front of him, leaving only on its path broken land and ashes.
Even with a distance, Renir could feel its heat.
"Why is this monster not in need to replenish itself?!", he shouted miserably but when the giant flattened and glowed, Renir got out of there in a panic.
On the back of his head, Renir had an idea why the giant was not in need to replenish itself, but he doesn't want to accept it.
If it also ate wind slimes as it should, then it will only need air to replenish its energy.
That was the cause of its ear-shattering booms before it launches itself faster than both wind and water slimes!
But he didn't want to think of this, because if he did accept that, then it would be truly.... hopeless.
Renir leaped and escaped from the monster until the end of the night. Struggling to keep up and find a way to overcome it.
There was just... no way...
