A split moment later the world around them blurred before darkness ensued. The darkness lasted only several seconds before the two found themselves in an underground cave, the smell of rotting flesh clogging the air.
[Ugh, what's that smell?] wondered Azrael, right before Ella let out a ear-piercing scream. She stumbled backward, hitting her head against the wall behind them.
"W-we have to get out of here, we have to get out of here," she screamed, clawing at the cave walls as if they would magically open up.
[What is this bitch on about?] wondered Azrael, looking at the floor directly in front of him a little closer. Chunks of flesh lay sprawled all across the moist cave floor, forming part of a revolting human soup that consisted of blood, flesh, and what looked like human faeces.
[What happened here?]
All the corpses -or what remained of them- had been thrown into a pile. And though disaster had only struck about an hour ago, their bodies seemed to be in the latter stages of decay.
"This makes no sense," whispered Azrael, subconsciously approaching the pile to get a better look.
"You can't really be considering going close to that thing, can you? We have to find a way out, stop wasting t-"
"Calm down. We have to find out how they were killed, what kinds of weapons were used, or if weapons were used to begin with. Whatever did this to them is probably still down here. Don't you think we should collect information while we can?" Azrael explained in a soothing tone. Ella was panicking, it was evident by the way she was shouting, and the way her shivering had come back.
"Well, I don't plan on staying down here. You can inspect them all you want, I'm getting out of here," she retorted, before turning back to the wall.
[I'm glad you get to be the first person I kill. I don't think I would enjoy this as much if you weren't the way you were,] mused Azrael before going to inspect the bodies.
"Why don't you use your powers to search the caves. Wouldn't that be faster?" asked Azrael as he pulled a severed arm from the pile, nearly retching out last night's dinner.
"Of course, why didn't I think of that," shouted Ella excitedly, before closing her eyes.
As Azrael was inspecting the injuries the corpses had sustained he spotted what looked like a glass spear a few meters away from the pile. It seemed to exude a soft white light, though the light was dim, barely enough for him to make out in the darkness of the cave.
"Find anything?" asked Azrael as he walked towards the spear. The moment he touched the spear, a stream of information was fed into his mind.
『Glass Spear』
[Rarity: F-]
[Active Ability: Shining light]
[No other effects]
"This'll do," smiled Azrael, before walking back to Ella. She still had her eyes closed, and from what little light bounced off her face, he could tell she looked distressed.
"I can't see anyt-"
*Shlick*
Azrael thrust the glass spear at her leg, gouging deep into her flesh. It took her a moment to process what had just happened before she screamed out in pain. She tried crawling away, but Azrael twisted the spear, churning her flesh around.
[+1 Agility, +1 Strength, +1 Stamina]
"If whatever that thing is couldn't hear your shouts before, then I'm sure it'll be able to hear this, you dumb bitch," snarled Azrael, his face turning to one of pure rage.
She grabbed onto the spear, trying her best to pull it out, though the blood that gushed out made it slippery, making it hard for her to remove it. Azrael saw what she was doing and punched her in the face, before pushing the spear even deeper.
[+1 Agility, +1 Strength, +1 Stamina]
[+1 Agility, +1 Strength, +1 Stamina]
[+1 Agility, +1 Strength, +1 Stamina]
[Targets stats depleted]
Azrael stopped what he was doing when he heard the sound of footsteps echoing from deeper within the caves. By this time Ella's screams were less pronounced, perhaps she had torn a few vocal cords, or the pain had become numb. Whatever the reason, she had served her purpose.
Azrael pulled the spear out, letting even more blood gush from her thigh
"Looks like I'll have to end this," whispered Azrael, his hands shivering from the thought of taking his first human life.
[No, this will be fun. She's a bitch after all, she deserves this... they all do.]
*Shlick* The spear punctured her chest, gorging her heart before thrusting out her back. The last sound to come out of her mouth was a silent squeak, akin to that of a mouse being killed. For a moment, the sound of silent laughter filled the cave. Though Azrael's hands shook, the smile on his face was genuine.
[Level up!]
[[Star Gazer Lvl.1] Added to abilities.]
"They're exactly like mice," he laughed. It was ironic that it was the last thing to come out of her mouth, in fact, it was a hilarious realization for Azrael.
{Aghwah} A strange snarl came from the dark edges of the cave, right before dozens of glowing red dots appeared into view. Azrael ran behind the pile of corpses and helf his breath, preparing himself for what he was about to see. A moment later, the footsteps became louder and more rapid in succession. It sounded as if there were at least seven of them, though that was just Azrael's rough estimate.
The sound of wet flesh being ripped echoed throughout the cave, Azrael peeked ever so slightly to see what exactly was going on. It was an unholy sight, sickening even for someone like Azrael. They were humanoid creatures, though their bodies were disproportionate. They had long stringy arms and large round bellies, but their frames were all skin and bone, their grey flesh hanging loosely to their bodies.
There were at least ten of them, one of the monsters had Ella's throat in its mouth, crunching down on it with a wide toothy grin. The others began ripping off her clothes, their red eyes beaming with excitement.
[Interesting,] was all that Azrael could think of as he watched the monsters dig into her flesh with their soiled black nails, ripping out large chunks of flesh as they began defiling her body. Azrael was uncertain how he felt about the brutality of their necrophilic slaughter, though one thing was certain, the monsters had no class. If they followed any logic, it was based only on primal desire at best.
[So... how to kill them?], thought Azrael, brandishing the glass spear in his hand, Ella's blood still dripping from its sharpened end.