Blind Faith

Al and Cesar stood about 5 meters apart. Swiftly, Al rose to his feet, his gaze fixated on a massive gash on Cesar's left elbow.

Al turned his attention to a creature that defied description—a colossal, 8-foot slug adorned with a row of sharp spikes along its upper body. Two scythe-like pincers, responsible for Cesar's injury, protruded menacingly.

The creature's stomach bore a serene, meditative face with closed eyes, while its head resembled that of a bearded, hairy man, complete with two human-like arms above its imposing pincers.

The upper head appeared to be around 30 years old. Astonishingly, it opened its mouth to speak, but its voice was a garbling mess. The creature's gaze darted between Cesar and Al while the face on its stomach started drooling a green slime.

After careful consideration, the creature lunged at Al with astonishing speed. Cesar, unable to see anything, relied on his hearing. He could hear twigs snapping on the ground, resembling the sound of a giant centipede. While tending to his profusely bleeding wound, he braced himself for the impending impact.

If his hearing was accurate, the entity that had sliced him was now hurtling toward them at full speed. In response, Al swiftly pivoted and sprinted, prompting Cesar to sprint in the opposite direction.

Al skillfully ascended the nearest tree and leaped from its first branch, paying no heed to the creature following right behind. Moments after he jumped, he heard the branch above him snap. Rolling a few feet upon landing, Al quickly took his knife out.

Standing up, he found himself at roughly the same distance from the creature as when he had started running from it. The creature, struggling to navigate between agile moves and straight movement due to its weight, had fallen from the tree and was slowly regaining its posture.

Seizing the opportunity, Al flung his knife with all his might and yelled, "Cesar, look and watch!" Cesar watched while tying his torn shirt around his left arm to slow the bleeding.

With good force, the blade pierced what was just air, causing light to refract from the spot. Cesar couldn't see the creature, but he could see the floating knife.

The knife had struck the slug, piercing its right mid-trap. Although the creature possessed two human arms, it couldn't reach the knife to remove it.

Astonishingly, the creature twisted its human head, breaking its neck. It then used its mouth to retrieve the knife and, with a swift snap, restored its neck to its original position. The knife was flung back with tremendous force, shattering the bone in Al's right foot and immobilizing him in place.

"AAAAAGGGHH!" Al cried out in pain, reaching down towards the knife but hesitated to pull it out.

Although Cesar could now locate the creature by observing the refracted light caused by the creature's blood, he still couldn't see it directly.

He couldn't witness the creature's inhuman abilities, but he did witness the knife floating on nothing, then shooting out to swiftly impale Al's foot with twice as much force as Al had thrown it.

It was shocking. Cesar froze, unsure of what to do. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, opened them again, and sprinted towards Al, who was screaming in agony, "It's about to attack again!"

Despite his pain, Al never took his eyes off the creature, slowly advancing towards them.

Al was about to push Cesar away and urge him to get out of there when he was suddenly slapped so hard in the face that his left ear was ringing. Before he could even register the pain, Cesar decisively pulled the knife out as fast as he could.

Al sucked in gulps of air, nearly blacking out from the pain, but still, he managed to hear Cesar whisper, "Just buy me some time."

As soon as the knife was removed, Cesar sprinted towards the tree Al had climbed earlier. Meanwhile, the giant slug-like centipede-man ignored the sprinting Cesar and stood right before Al. Al turned his gaze towards the top of its head, thinking, "Damn, it's too tall."

Al exploded upward before the creature could move, channeling all his strength into his good leg and fist. His aim wasn't the creature's human head. Instead, he targeted the mysterious face on its stomach, almost at Al's eye level.

Al wasn't known for his speed, but he had a reputation for accuracy and tenacity. His fist came within 3 inches of the creature's lower face before Al threw himself backward, shifting his momentum at the cost of his stabbed foot and rolling away from the creature.

Blood slowly trickled from Al's chest onto the ground. The front of his shirt was torn by the scythe-like pincers. He would have been cut in half if he had been any slower.

As he looked closer, he realized that the creature was essentially a giant slug with a man's head, arms, and two massive pincers beneath those arms. It would physically change when it rushed at them. Rows of centipede-like legs emerged from its sides, partially retracting when it slowed down.

Al was on his knees, struggling to stand up. The creature really enjoyed watching Al struggle as it slowly approached him, taunting him.

It lifted its right pincer and sliced into its fat, slug-like body, slowly causing green blood to ooze out. The blood looked more like oil than actual blood.

While closely watching the creature, Al smiled inwardly as he saw what Cesar was doing through his peripheral vision.

The slug fed the blood to the face on its stomach as it continued moving towards Al. Suddenly, its upper head turned 180 degrees, and it caught sight of Cesar, who was sprinting toward it with the knife aimed at him.

Thinking he saw an opportunity, Al jumped and ran on one leg. The face on the slug's stomach frowned and spat a brown substance at Al's left arm and shoulder. The brown saliva quickly started dissolving the remaining rags on Al's body and his skin.

Cesar tossed the knife to Al, who caught it. Without hesitation, Al began carving out the boiling skin.

The stomach's face spat once more at Al, and he did his best to cover himself with his hands. Meanwhile, seizing the moment, Cesar ran towards the creature with a makeshift spear he had prepared using the knife.

The slug's human face turned to Cesar, who was sprinting with all his might. When he got within close range, the slug's left human arm reached out and allowed itself to be impaled in the hand, catching Cesar's spear and snapping it in half.

The other arm grabbed Cesar, lifting him into the air. It lifted its scythe-like pincers.

In the midst of the chaos, the creature also caught Al and suspended him in mid-air. Al was still trying to stab the creature, and its legs punctured most of Al's body. The slug laughed uproariously as if it had just won.

Al dropped the knife, but before it hit the ground, he kicked it as hard as he could with his only remaining good limb, his right foot. The knife shot like a bullet, piercing the face on the creature's stomach, causing it to screech and leak a reddish, soapy-like substance.

Its upper head screamed in pain. This was when Cesar made his move. The grip of the creature's human arm wasn't letting him go, so Cesar bit down on it with full force, managing to rip off its entire thumb.

Now that he was free, he reached for the tip of the spear, which seemed to be floating but was actually impaled on the creature's palm. He swiftly pulled it out and stabbed what he believed to be the top of the creature's head, driving the spear all the way down.

'Thump' Cesars spear penetrated the top of the creature's skull and exited out its jaw.

"Come on, Alexander, don't die," Cesar said desperately. All of this took place within a mere two seconds, from Al kicking the knife into the creature's stomach to Cesar biting down and stabbing its upper head.

Al was hanging like a puppet, propped up by the creature's legs impaled into his sides. However, Cesar couldn't see the extent of the injuries. To him, it just looked like Al was floating with his arms spread open as if he was on a cross.

Al's blood dripped down on him, and Cesar whispered to himself, "Is he... dead?" Al's right foot suddenly twitched as if in response.

Cesar slowly began to pull out and lower Al to the ground. He was completely oblivious to the creature's stabbed head struggling to move. Unaware of the creature's struggle, Cesar continued to bring Al down as quickly as possible.

Suddenly, the face went from murmuring to screaming in agony. The blood from its upper head mixed with the lower head's saliva, creating a pool of extremely corrosive acid, dissolving its body.

At the rate it was going, Al would also end up as a puddle of flesh. Cesar struggled to move as fast as he could, but the creature's legs were stiff as boards and remained lodged in Al's body like swords in stone.

The dissolving puddle reached Cesar's feet, dissolving his shoes and causing him to yell in excruciating pain, "Ahhhh, fuckkk!"

Unable to see what was causing the pain, he forcefully dragged Al and himself to safety. Al lay cold and unconscious, while Cesar fell on his arms and crawled to his side, his own feet were naked, and the skin was dissolving.

Turning back to the area filled with dissolving leaves, blood, and twigs, Cesar couldn't see the shimmering light caused by the creature anymore. They had emerged victorious.

Cesar then looked at Al and grabbed him by the shoulders, gently shaking him. "We did it, Alexander! You better not die on me! We actually did it!" Al didn't respond. His face was growing paler.

Seeing Al's unresponsive face was unacceptable to Cesar, who screamed at the top of his lungs, "Hellllppp! Someone, please! Helllppp!"

Just as he was about to unleash another scream, a tall man in purple robes appeared, standing beside the area with the acid pool. Accompanying him was a young blonde lady wearing glasses.