Nightmare Mythos

Chapter 41: Awkward Standoff

'Are you serious?'

What walked through the shade of the hallway was a figure so unfamiliar to Cesar, yet so deathly as well. The disjointed proportion of its body, the malignant feelings it permeated, and lastly, the wrongness surrounding the unknown individual itself.

It wasn't a human.

Cesar jolted awake as he hopped away from the figure that trod its way toward him, menacingly and carefully taking its sweet time to approach him as if his mere existence was an ant ready to be squashed into oblivion any time.

Cesar wasn't having any of that right now.

'God damn it, it's a corrupted human! Just what are the chances this thing landed on me after minutes of idling in my position?'

As if the goddess of luck was returning back everything it lent to Cesar, he faced situations he wasn't even expecting a few minutes after he landed in the unknown hallway.

At this instant, the corrupted human finally came to a halt and a revolting creature was standing meters away from Cesar.

With a tall figure and a misshapen face that seemed to have been sewn together for it to stick, the corrupted human had a dark imposing aura. With three arms, one of its arms elongated at the shoulder of the other, it brought a revolting sinister image. Its skin was burnt and there was no visible chest or abdomen in this figure, making it rather revolting.

"Well, shit…!"

Cesar swiftly pivoted around and sprinted his way out from the corrupted human who started following him at the same pace.

Whoosh—!

Passing through the vast hallway, seeing the same walls, floor, and curtains from time to time, Cesar persistently dashed away from the corrupted human that was following his trail.

"Damn it!"

For the first few minutes, the relentless chase was the only thing that was happening between the two.

It started to change when the human capabilities that shackled Cesar started to wear his speed off.

He was growing tired.

He didn't have the endless amount of stamina the corrupted human had if they even felt tired at all. The creature that remained on the move slowly closed the distance between them which was starting to be apparent.

'This can't go on forever… Do I have to fight this creature with only a revolver, daggers, and a facet which I'm unsure to use at this point of the situation?'

Cesar analyzed the capabilities and arsenal he had on his side before coming to a hard decision.

'If I don't see any change in a minute, I'll fight it with everything I got,'

Hoping for some change in his current predicament, Cesar believed and remained running. Yet as those seconds passed that kept slapping him nothing would change, his face turned worrisome before he accepted the reality he was facing.

"Okay…"

With a mutter under his breath, Cesar timed the placing of his foot very well before taking a huge turn to the side of the wall which was almost impossible to pull due to them going in a straight line for quite some time.

Yet Cesar managed to pull it off without any hiccups.

Whoosh—!

In quick succession, Cesar hopped at the side wall before using the momentum to do a roundabout kick towards the corrupted human, putting all his strength around his legs.

Pak—!

Caught by surprise and unable to respond on time, the corrupted human got hit at its sewn, misshapen head which made it fall backward.

Seeing it out of balance, Cesar didn't waste a single second and rushed to the falling creature and pulled out his revolver, aiming at the creature's knee before shooting it.

Bang—!

Knowing the bullet that hit the corrupted creature was a sleeping shell, Cesar immediately switched his weaponry into daggers and plunged it right into its chest to deal more blow.

Thud—!

Picking up the second dagger and wielding it at his other palm, Cesar followed up his relentless attack by pinning the creature to the floor.

Not a second after successfully pinning the creature down, Cesar put more strength into his dagger and sliced its way up to the side until it revealed a gory and bloody black liquid and misplaced body organs inside.

It was swift execution that was pulled to perfection.

Cesar was about to continue until his perfect execution wasn't so perfect anymore as the corrupted human's arms reached out to him to snatch his head away from his body.

'Crap!'

Rolling to the side to avoid being grasped, Cesar was slightly distanced but wasn't lucky enough to do so as the creature's other arm managed to touch his knee and dragged him back towards itself.

"Fuck!"

As the corrupted human dragged Cesar, its other arm which was composed of two limbs, the one it used to try to take him earlier, aimed at his head and tried to use its tight grip to instill some damage to him.

The corrupted human managed to stand while doing so.

With a quick maneuver, Cesar managed to defend it by using his two daggers to defend.

Crackle—!

Facing the two arms while the last was holding his leg that was trying to shake him off, Cesar was lying on the floor, looking at the monster he failed to execute.

"It didn't work?!"

Shouting with denial in his voice, Cesar struggled to maintain his stance as the blood from the monster kept gushing out the black blood juices from its chest continuously pouring at his face.

Disgustingly tasting some taste of it which was the least of his concerns, Cesar couldn't help but be shaken as he realized that his plan earlier failed miserably because of one thing.

The sleeping shell isn't working.

'Melinda! You fucking bastard! I'm going to kill you once I'm outside of this shitty place!'

Knowing those shells came from a scammer, Cesar felt scammed at this outcome. Still, those shells didn't look fake at all which made his stance confident.

Hence, taking this from another perspective instead of blaming a person who wasn't there, he calmed down and assessed the situation at the awkward standoff.

But he couldn't.

He was struggling to maintain his position where the strength of the corrupted was pressing him on the floor to take his head. At the same time, the leg which was defenseless and being dragged by the same creature became more unbearable to hold on.

Yet by the looks of it, the creature was trying to regain its full focus at the kick it received from Cesar which must've hurt as hell as the corrupted human had lost balance when it got hit.

Though that happened a minute earlier.

With the sleeping shell not working as it was supposed to, Cesar became in a vulnerable position where a single mistake might end his life.

What came next wasn't even a mistake on his part.

No matter how strong he persevered or struggled to maintain his current position as he thought of a way out, the corrupted human wasn't going to idle around and wait as well.

The weak point of Cesar, which was his leg being held on, was pulled very strongly, making him grumble due to how intense it was.

But that was enough time for the corrupted human to pull off its sly attack.

"Shit!"

Cesar loses his grip on his dagger after being pulled on his leg yet immediately put on a quick stance as two of its arms are aiming at his head.

Once more, Cesar defended one of its arms ramming at his head with hastened movement but for the other… he was second too late.

The other arm was much faster to move.

Cesar managed to pierce his dagger right between the palm of the monster which he wasn't able to do earlier… but its two long fingers managed to poke through his left eye.

"Argh!"

Painfully shouting at the excruciating pain he was feeling, Cesar gritted his teeth and continued struggling but the damage was already done.

With only his right eye working currently, Cesar's chances of survival dimmed.