Ensnared in Stitches

Hardening his expression, Damian felt an instinctual fear freeze his body as human-like bellows fell from above

"We need to move." Yulie immediately took action, carefully waking the others.

Unfortunately, while the four recruits would have wished for a longer rest, their time here proved to be limited as the echo of numerous terrible abominations signaled their approach.

Mika and Aricin groaned at the sudden interruptions, shaking off their fatigue as best they could. In final preparation, they began to feel the walls around them, making out the pathway of a singular tunnel forward. In their blind discovery, the tunnel thankfully appeared to be a few meters in height and width, easily accommodating their presence.

As each of their hands brushed along the cold cave surface, they stumbled carefully,  traveling deeper into the tunnel.

"What do you think is down here?" Mika anxiously questioned.

"...I'm not sure…the fact that there was an old ladder leading here means there had to have been people down here," Yulie whispered, unsure.

As they trekked the unknown passage, Damian slowly turned his attention back to the rune artifact held in his hand. With its string untied, he curiously attempted to peak into the pouch even in complete darkness.

Deep within its confines, however, a dozen small marble-like objects appeared visible in the darkness—a similar state to that of his vanity marks. 

Damian stared into the pouch, unamused:

'God actually gave me a bag of marbles.'

Although, even if he thought this, he still felt a hint of excitement at the abilities this new rune artifact may bestow him. 

As he inspected the many marble-like objects, each held a unique depth of diverse patterns and colors. They all seemed to resemble a porcelain or glass material, all slightly smaller than that of a human eye. Sadly, while they could be seen in the dark, they did not glow or shine.

Captivated by their presence, Damian reached into the pouch, pulling out a singular rune marble. From its glassy sphere lay a mesmerizing swirl of an ethereal red. The inside remained in constant motion, shifting into striking shapes and patterns.

Damian nodded in approval:

'Even if it's something as simple as a bag of marbles, I guess the gods still always end up giving out something incredible. But what the hell are these things supposed to even-

Disrupting his train of thought, Damian bumped into the person in front of him, accidentally dropping his rune marble onto the cave floor.

'Shit!'

As Damian quickly eyed the fallen marble, a foreign clicking noise resonated in the tunnel.

'..Oh no.'

Damian carefully looked up. What was most disturbing was where the noise came from, leading the four recruits to break into a cold sweat:

"Above us!"

At Yulie's abrupt announcement, a clear shrieking pierced their ears from merely a breath away. Without hesitation, Damian shoved the person next to him away as he braced for impact.

In immediate succession, a large beast fell directly onto him. Damian scrambled to defend himself from the rabid abomination, only striving to use his gloved hand to keep its gaping maw from biting into his neck.

Damian struggled helplessly, unable to identify the strange creature assaulting him in the pitch-black darkness. Only the crude sensation of what seemed like squirming maggots ran across his skin, sending him into a state of grotesque panic.

Engaging in his blind dogfight, the beast littered him with periodic scratches as he tried to force the unknown creature away.

From nearby, he could hear similar struggles from his companions mixed in with the constant screeching of many other dreadful creatures.

Damian threw his gloved fist into the beast's jaw as he kicked it away, buying him a fleeting moment of space, Damian's eyes quickly gravitated to the singular visible marble resting at his side.

In his monetary freedom, he snatched the ethereal marble as he rolled away from the fast-approaching beast beside him. Unable to escape, the two fell into yet another brutal dogfight. As he fought, he could feel the presence of large knife-like mandibles pressed against his gloved hand as two slender arms twisted and scratched at his body.

Once again narrowly protecting himself from losing his face, Damian resisted the beast's sporadic movements, searching for any sort of opening. As he located its maw once again attempting to rip off one of his limbs, Damian maneuvered the rune marble in his gloved hand, ruthlessly shoving the red pearl directly down its throat.

'Eat this, you vile gremlin!'

As the seconds passed, Damian nervously awaited its fate, sustaining several more gashes in the process.

'Can this marble do something already!?'

Moments after, the beast quickly seized uncontrollably, giving Damian an opening to shove the abomination away. In an instant, the strange creature melted into a dark deep sea of red, igniting the cave. Small flames spawned from the corpse then after its near disintegration, finally bringing light to the unknown tunnel.

Watching the scene in awe, Damian swiftly turned to the others. In perfect timing, they too, were able to succeed in slaying the ruthless beasts. Or more specifically, Yulie. All around her, Damian spotted the numerous corpses and carnage she had left in her wake.

Yulie stood amongst a plethora of severed limbs, slumping corpses, and streaks of scattered organs. Puddles and stains of blood painted the cave as a similar liquid rhythmically fell from her glass blade. Her disinterest in the situation remained etched in Damian's mind.

"Uhh…nice job." Damian complimented, in deep unease.

'Who was the real monster in this situation? How did she even kill so many in complete darkness? I could barely handle one of them!'

Upon closer observation, however, the corpses around them appeared to be severely…wrong.

Each body held a myriad of disparate characteristics and incongruity. Similar to the beast he had fought inside the library, every one of their limbs seemed connected by countless stitches—a forced amalgamation of revolting anatomy.

Although Damian couldn't exactly identify the beast he had slain due to the severe burns and the melted state he had left it in, the many other corpses held drastic differences from one another.

Each of the dead yielded mixed features of impressive furr-coated limbs, insectile shells, feathered wings, or human parts—some even equipped with a multitude of arms and legs attached in unusual places along the body and face.

The four of them inspected the scene in horror.

"These…creatures…were sewn together. Who could have possibly done such a thing…" Mika uttered in blank fear, hardly repressing the urge to vomit.

Unfortunately, no one had an answer to her dreadful question.

With no other choice, Damian made his way around the tunnel, closely scanning each corpse. Eventually, his eyes lit up as he picked up a slim insectile leg lying alone amongst the many corpses.

Approving its sturdiness, Damian then approached one of the few flames lighting up their environment. Connecting the flame atop the sturdy limb, Damian improvised a makeshift torch for their future travels through the unknown tunnel.

"Now that we have this, we won't need to worry about getting ambushed. Does anybody else want one?" Damian announced, exhausted.

Aricin examined the flames, unsure:

"This tunnel is an enclosed space. We need to keep moving if we don't want to suffocate due to breathing in smoke—we can keep the torch, but we need to be careful."

Nodding in agreement, the four recruits continued forward, deeper into the tunnel.